Why Do Shias Cut And Bleed During Moharam ?

Why Do Shias Cut And Bleed During Moharam ?, originally uploaded by firoze shakir photographerno1.

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We don't hit ourselves because of the death of Imam Hussain (as) and his companions, we do it because of the pain they suffered to save Islam. Owais Qarni (ra) knocked all his teeth out when hearing that the Prophet (saww) lost one tooth, and the Prophet (saww) praised Ovais Qarni very highly. The Prophet (saww) loved Imam Hussain (as), and Allah (swt) loved Imam Hussain (as). The narration of the Prophet (saww) is that Hussain (as) is a part of me, this means that this wasn’t just the murder of Hussain (as) but in fact, the murder of the Prophet (saww). Imagine the pain the lovers of Imam Hussain (as) have when hearing that he was slaughtered, his companions were slaughtered, his 6 month old baby was beheaded alongside the rest of the companions, imagine when you hear that the 4 year old daughter of Imam Hussain (as) had her earrings torn off her ears and was slapped by Shimr (la), imagine hearing the story of the women of the house of the Prophet (saww) having their Hijabs taken off and their tents burnt and then taken to Damascus barefoot with chains around their necks and feet. These things bring tears to the eyes, and just like you perhaps have seen footage on the TV where the Palestinian or Iraqi, or as I have seen before, even Pakistani individuals are beating their chests or heads over the death of their loved ones, regardless of being a Shia or Sunni, we also do matam over the martydrom of Imam Hussain (as) and his companions. You can even find traditions showing the Prophet (saww) beating his chest over a matter, or Imam Ali (as) hitting his thighs (when he saw the dead bodies after the battle of Jamal). When the news of the blindness of Yaqoob (as) was told to Yusuf (as) by Jibraeel, Hazrat Yusuf (as) started to hit his head, and he wished that his mother didn’t give birth to him so he would not have been the cause of such sadness to his father. All the above points are in Ahlul Sunnah sources, but last but not least, it is recorded that Ayesha mourned and cried for the Prophet (saww) by beating her chest and head as well. Matam is just a manifestation of the utter grief that we feel. When one person dies in any household, isn't the environment sorrowful? If this is the feeling we have for humans, Imam Hussain (a.s.) was the holy Prophet's grandson and the leader of the youth of heaven. And each time we remember this event we mourn over it, and the Prophet (saww) had already said that a group of people will mourn for Hussain (as) and commemorate his martyrdom each year in every century. That is the phenomena of the tragedy, for after so many centuries have past from the incident it still moves the hearts of men, women, children and even non-Muslims alike. Every single time one hears the incident that took place in Karbala it brings tears to the eyes. We even forget the grieve of losing even the most dear ones in our lives, memories may bring sadness but not tears after many years, but our tears never end for Imam Hussain (as) and the family of the Prophet (saww) – who are not just limited to the events of Karbala. On the day of Ashura Imam Hussain (as) was left all alone at the end and he cried out ‘Hal min nasir yansurna?” which means “Is there someone who will come for my help?” Scholars and philosophers have pondered over this sentence, and one of the explanations is that our Imam (as) was calling upon all Muslims till the Day of Judgement and urging them to rise against evil and stand up for the oppressed people whenever they can. Today, by this concept of Azadari we are replying back, InshAllah. There is an annual event called the Muslim Congress, and there a convert was present and he gave his conversion story based on the fact that he saw the Shias do matam and that was the sight that gave him that final push to convert, because he felt that these people must believe in something really strongly to be doing such a thing. That’s just one person’s experience, not everyone shares the same view. Some may say it gives Islam a bad name, but then again, so do a lot of other matters of Aqaaid give Islam a bad name to the non-Muslims, like Hijab, which is seen as oppression, and the list goes on... I hope you understand. Salam.

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