In the name of Allah (s.w.t)
The event of Ashura is such an epic for which the hearts of Shias, Muslims and even non-Muslims bleeds. Many of us consider this event as a historical tragedy meted out with the grandson of Holy Prophet (s) and consider the commemoration of this incident only as a means of expression of our love and sympathy towards Hussain ibn Ali (a.s), his family and his companions who got martyred on the plains of Karbala. Over a period of time due to several causes this incident got transformed into merely a commemorating ritual ceremony thereby loosing its true philosophical attributes.
In reality Ashura should become part of our routine lives as a culture and tradition whereby we practice the lessons of Ashura in every aspect of our life. (unfortunately we give our culture the colour of Ashura during the mourning period of Mohurrum and Safar), This was the same problem which became the cause of this tragic saga and this event of Karbala. After the demise of the Holy Prophet (s) though the Muslim Ummah was successful in geographical expansion of Islam but gradually lost out on other front. They suffered from degradation of morals and values which the Holy Prophet (s) had taught and practiced with them during his Holy tenure. This degradation of values was so severe that Wilayat (Guardianship); the divine system of governance first got changed into Caliphate, then into Kingship and finally into Yazidiat.
An evil tyrant like Yazid ibn Muawiya comes into power; raises the slogan of Liberalism and the Ummah remains silent. This was the degradation which the Muslim Ummah has suffered, and this degradation in context with this book is termed as degradation of Islamic and human values.
Islam is a religion of values and the privilege of human being in this world and hereafter lies in the possession of divine values and attributes. Honour, Sacrifice, Covenant, Patience, generosity, Sacredness are examples of these values which should be possessed and practiced by human beings in their entire life. At times the values degrade, distort and certain evils are recognized as values. These are the situations which demand a revival and reformation of the system of values as obligatory. Such revivals are only possible through the pure and sacred blood of personalities like Hussain ibn Ali (a.s), through the martyrdoms of infants, teenagers, youths and elders of the camp of Hussain ibn Ali (a.s) and through the captivity of the women of his family. As He (a.s) said himself that how can a person possessing divine values like me (a.s) submit to a person like Yazid possessing evil vices.
Hussain ibn Ali revived these values in this tragic journey towards Karbala and the process which He (a.s) adopted became a formula for all the generations to come till the end of the world. Even today we see in many instances that the basic human values are not present in societies and get concerned since we can’t find any solution on how to resolve this and how to reform the Ummah. In fact the solution is present in Karbala and Ashura. It just needs to be excavated and brought out in its true form and the entire world can be reformed for the establishment of righteousness.
Karbala and Ashura are not just limited to a single dimension; they have several dimensions, multiple chapters and several angles. It contains pure and unique realities, esteemed teachings, deep recognition, and lamp of guidance, knowledgeable discourses and several lessons.
The present book is a collection of intellectual, research full and thought provoking speeches on the topic of Values of Ashura (in Urdu) by Ustad Syed Jawad Naqvi. These speeches are presented in an organized book form by Bethat Islamic Research Center (BIRC).
The purpose of this book is to first introduce the purpose of the uprising of Imam Hussain (a.s) and then present ten selected values which Imam Hussain (a.s) revived on the day of Ashura. The author of this book, Ustad Syed Jawad Naqvi, a leading scholar of the Urdu speaking world from Qom is the first to present such a perception of the event of Karbala in an organized manner. The beauty of this work is to enter the valley of Karbala from an approach which is different from the traditional approach. The author has selected these ten values, first by proving these as human values in the light of Holy Quran and traditions, and then he talks about these values in relevance to their revival in Karbala and the day of Ashura.
The readers are assured that a conscious and thoughtful study of this book can transform and revolutionize their hearts inspiring them to start a righteous movement in their society. The elegance with which the author has selected and presented different incidents, traditions and references are only possible by a person of the calibre of Ustad Syed Jawad Naqvi. This book is a gift of life for the followers of Aba Abdillah (a.s). Those amongst us who believe and raise the slogan “Karbala is our university” then this book in practical sense teaches what is meant by Karbala as a school, as a university and definitely as a practical ground for theories.
It is necessary to mention that Ustad Syed Jawad Naqvi is a scholar of current-era. He is amongst those few scholars who present Islam as a solution to the current problems of the Muslim Ummah. Hence in this book as well the author has been successful in linking the lessons of Karbala to the current era and the current socio-political issues of the Muslim Ummah.
Bethat Islamic Research centre has taken a mission of publishing the works of Ustad Syed Jawad Naqvi in English so that the brothers and sisters from the non-urdu speaking world can also get benefited from this. This book is the sixth English publication of the works of Ustad Syed Jawad Naqvi. We have adopted a very simple language translation so that the English readers from across the globe can understand the messages delivered in this book very clearly without having any complex language or vocabulary related difficulties. We apologize for any errors or mistakes during the translation of this collection.
Syed A V Rizvi