Salam alaykom,
Today I went to a remembrance ceremony for the martyrdom of Imam Hussain at TTS. It was organized by a Shiites society. Well, actually I didn't plan to go there at first because it was so a random decision for me to attend this majlis.
All right, the story began like this...
After having dinner at SA building with my friend (sitting at the open air area and facing the lake, around 7 p.m), I waved at her as she went back by riding motorcycle. And, I went back into the SA to buy a bottle of drinking water.
After that, as I walked back towards my residence hall, suddenly I saw my Iranian friend from the distant, wearing black abaya. Well, as usual we will greet and hug each other, saying "How are you?", "Where do you wanna go?", stuff like that you know. And, she told me that she was going to attend a ceremony, in remembrance of Imam Hussein. And, she was waiting for her friends to pick her up from campus to TTS.
Since I could not control my excitement, I told her that how much I wanted to listen to the story of Imam Hussein. How did he become a martyr in Karbala. And I even told her that how I wish to cry while listening to this historical story! I've been wanting to know you know! All this while (these past 2 months), I just got the "smell" of it, but not the real taste. I mean about the story and certain things about Shiites faith.
So, she delightedly invited me to come to the ceremony and she really really welcomed me to join the majlis!
So, what was my reply?
Of course I wanna go! I was not that busy at that night and yeah...why not? The door was opened for me and I would never know when such opportunity will come to me again right? So, I just said to her that I wanna go and it just that I felt quite shy to follow her and I was afraid that the Shiites might feel awkward with my presence. But, again she really really welcomed me sincerely and Alhamdulillah after that we just had to wait a couple of minutes before her friends came to pick us up.
When we arrived there...
When we entered the house, the ceremony had just begun with the poem recital (it was played from radio or laptop, I'm not sure and it was in Urdu). So, we headed directly to a special room for the sisters and I met this one lady and my friend introduced me to her. She's a Pakistani or an Indian, I believe. After some time, the lecture began. But, it wasn't presented directly from a scholar but, it was a recorded one played from the laptop, I guess. Or the radio.
So, everyone listened attentively and the room was quiet for some time. But, I couldn't really catch up with the lecture actually, but I did get the gist of it. About Imam Hussein for sure. And towards the end, the lecture went so emotional. The cries accompanied the lecture. Everybody started to cry and they were crying till the end of the lecture. MashaAllah! I made efforts too, to cry but not a single tear coming out from my eyes! So sad:( I think it's because of I didn't understand the story thoroughly and due to my unfocused attitude during listening (well, I had to reply my friends' messages; about the coursework, so I needed to respond to them as well).
All right, when the lecture finished, everyone stood up and began to recite poem (well, it's actually a kinda introduction words from Ali Akbar to the enemies before they started the battle). It's like he was saying he is the son of Hussein, grandson of Ali and great grandson of Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wasallam. While reciting that words (in rhythm of course, but the voice was in Urdu), they also patted their right hand on their chests. I could hear the loud patting sound from the brother's side. And all I did was just standing and not following the patting. At first, my Iranian friend said "it's okay, you just sit". But, I just stood to show my respect towards them and their activity.
After the reciting and patting session, they gave salam to the Prophet and ahlul Bayt. They were still standing but they moved slightly their direction of standing (twice or thrice, I don't remember) a few times while giving the salam. Then, the session ended.
The lady served us a lot of naans. They were expecting more people to come, but very few came. It was just four of us, women and I don't know about the brother's side. Accompanying the naan were the curry and pepsi. During the eating, the lady told me so much knowledge about Shia faith and we had some discussion about faith. The Quran, the Prophet bloodlines and the Imams. I also shared my opinions and experience about what I've learned about Shia when I was in college. I really had good time there.
After that, we went back to campus.
Alhamdulillah, certain things were made clarified to me. Even though I didn't produce a single tear, but InshaAllah I wanna learn more about Imam Hussein through reading. I think it's an intimate way to achieve knowledge. But, acquiring knowledge through a teacher or shaykh is a primary way which we should follow. It's the sunnah of the Prophet by the way.
All right, as a conclusion I wanna share a link regarding the relationship between loving the Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wasallam and Imam Hussein.
http://muxlim.com/blogs/kidman/imam-hussain-grandson-of-prophet-muhammad/
Wassalam,
zara
No comments:
Post a Comment