In news– The Prime Minister of India has recently recalled the sacrifices of Hazrat Imam Hussain (AS) on the day of Ashura.
A brief note on Hazrat Imam Hussain-
- He was the son of Hazrat Ali and the grandson of Prophet Muhammad(son of Fāṭimah).
- Muharram commemorates his martyrdom and it signifies an expression of sorrow over his martyrdom in the Battle of Karbala which took place in the 7th century.
- Muharram is the first month of the Islamic calendar and on the 10th day of Muharram(Ashura literally means ten) Imam Hussain Ibn Ali and his followers were killed in 61 Hijri or 680 CE at the brutal battle of Karbala(present-day Iraq).
- The day of Ashura means differently to Shia and Sunni Muslims while for Shia Muslims Ashura is part of the mourning of Muharram and they observe the day by reenacting the battle against caliphs, Sunni Muslims fast during this day.
- Revenge for Ḥusayn’s death was turned into a rallying cry that helped undermine the Umayyad caliphate and gave impetus to the rise of a powerful Shiʿi movement.
- He is revered by Shia Muslims as the third imam (after ʿAlī and Ḥusayn’s elder brother, Ḥasan).
- He is remembered for his unwavering commitment to truth and his fight against injustice.
Fāṭimah-
- Fāṭimah, also spelled Fatima, also called al-Zahrāʾ (the Radiant One) was daughter of Prophet Muhammad (the founder of Islam).
- Muhammad had other sons and daughters, but they either died young or failed to produce a long line of descendants.
- Fāṭimah, however, stood at the head of a genealogy that steadily enlarged through the generations and which became venerated as Ahl al-Bayt.
- Fāṭimah accompanied Muhammad when he emigrated from Mecca to Medina in 622.
- To the Shia’s, she is particularly important because she was married to ʿAlī, whom the Shia’s considered to be the legitimate heir of the authority of the Prophet Muhammad and the first of their imāms.
- The sons of Fāṭimah and ʿAlī, Ḥasan and Ḥusayn, are thus viewed by the Shia as the rightful inheritors of the tradition of Muhammad, a further ramification of Fāṭimah’s significance among Shiʿi believers.
- Accordingly, many Islamic traditions give a majestic if not miraculous quality to Fāṭimah’s life.
Source: PIB
