In seventh century Arabia, a messenger was given a
divine message.The message was the Quran,the revealed scripture of Islam,and
from it flowed,like an immense system of tributaries, a body of laws and
spiritual practices, a worldview and patterns of behaviour that have imprinted
countless generations of people from western Africa to Indonesia, a flowering
of sciences and arts that became crowning achievements of a great
civilizations,and above all from it reminds every soul that there is other
world and dimensions of existence awaits after the joys and difficulties of
this life are finished.This is Islam.The divine religion.
With the sighting of the new moon the Islamic new
year is ushered in. The first month muharram,is a month of great reward and
virtue.Muharram itself means ‘sacred’ and is from those months which have been
mentioned as sacred in the holy Quran.There are four month that is ‘sacred’ in
Islamic calendar which is Muharram,Zul-qaedah,Zul-hijjah and Rajab.Almighty Allah
states in the holy quran,
“The number of months in the sight of Allah is
twelve(in a year)- so ordained by Him the day He created the heavens and the
earth, of them four are sacred: that is the straight usage. So wrong yourselves
therein, and fight the Pagans all together as they fight you all together.But
know that Allah is with those who restrain themselves.(at-taubah:36)
Abu Bakar(May Allah be pleased with him) reported
that the prophet (peace and blessing of Allah upon him) said:”The year is
twelve months of which four are sacred,the three consecutive months of
Zul-qaedah,zul hijjah and muharram,and rajab mudar which comes between jumadah
and sha’ban”[Reported by al-bukhari, 2958]
Muharram is so called because it is a
sacred(muharram) month and to confirm its sanctity.Allah’s words(interpretation
of the meaning):”..so wrong not yourself therein…” mean do not wrong yourselves
in this sacred months, because sin in these months is much worse than in the
other months.So,sin in these months is more serious and good deed brings a
greater reward.
Virtues
From out of the four scared months,Muharram has been
blessed with certain specific virtues:-The holy prophet Muhammad saw said: “The
best of fast besides the month of Ramadhan is the fasting of Allah’s month of
Muharram.”(Muslim).The phrase “Allah’s month” connecting the name of the month
to the name of allah in a genitive grammatical structure,signifies the
importance of the month.Al-Qari said:” The apparent meaning is all of the month
of muharram.”But it was proven that the prophet never fasted any whole month
apart from Ramadhan,so this hadith is probably meant to encourage increasing
one’s fasting during muharram,without meaning that one should fast for the
entire month.
The Day of Ashura.Although the month of muharram is
a sacred month as a whole,the 10th of Muharram is the most sacred
among all its day.It is one of the most important and blessed days of Allah in
the Islamic calendar.According to Ibnu Abbas ra,when he holy prophet migrated
to Madinah,he found that the jews of Madinah used to fast on the 10th
day of Muharram.they said that it was the day on which the holy prophet Musa as
and his followers crossed the Red sea miraculously,and the pharaoh was drowned
in its water.On hearing this,The holy prophet saw said ” We are more closely related to Musa than
you ”.So the prophet saw directed the
muslims to fast on the day of Ashura.(Abu Dawood)
According to other hadith,it is more advisable that
the fast off Ashura should be either preceeded or suceded by an additional
fast.It means that one should fast two days: 9th and 10th
of muharram or the 10th and 11th og Muharram.The reason
of this additional fast is that the jews used to fast on the day of Ashura
alone,and the holy prophet want to distinguish the islamic way of fasting from
that of the jews.Therefore,He advised muslims to add another fast to the day of
Ashura.
Innovations
common on Ashura
However there are some legends and misconceptions
regarding the day of Ashura.Majority of
it does not have authentic islamic sources to support it.Among it is:
1)The day the prophet Adam AS was created.
2)This is the day when prophet Ibrahim AS was born.
3)This is the day when Allah accepted the repentance
of prophet Adam AS.
4)This is the day when doomsday will take place.
All these and other similar whims and fancies are
baseless and the traditions referred to in this respect are not worthy of any credit.Some people take
it as sunnah to prepare a particular type of meal on the day of Ashura.This
practice,too,has no any authentic islamic sources.Meanwhile,some other people
relates the day of Ashura with the martyrdom of Sayidina Husayn ra.No doubt,the
martyrdom of Saidina husayn is one of the most tragic episode in islamic
history.Yet,the sanctity of Ashura cannot be ascribed to this event for the
simple reason that the sanctity of Ashura was established during the days of
the prophet much earlier than the birth of Al-Husayn.On the contrary,it is one
of the merits of Al-Husayn that his martyrdom took place on this blessed day.
Wrong practices in celebrating the month of Muharram
Another wrong practices related to this holy month
is to hold the lamentation and mourning ceremonies in the memory of martyrdom
of Sayidina Husayn ra. Plus,the people of pre-islamic ignorance era used to
mourn over their deceased through loud lamentations,by tearing their clothes
and by beating their cheecks and chests.The prophet saw prevented muslims from
doing so and directed them to observe patience by saying “Inna lillahi wa inna
ilayhi raaji’un”(To Allah we belong,and to him is our return).A numbers of
authentic narrations are available on the subject.
As a conclusion,muslims should celebrates the month
of Muharram with the right and approved practices by the syari’a.Furthermore,as
Muharram is the first month in the islamic calendar,we should try our best to
keep the momentums of our good deeds throughout the whole year by starting
brightly in the month of Muharram.May Allah give us the strength and passions
to take the most benefits out of this holy month.
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