Muharram ( the first month of Islamic calender) is very important month for muslims. As it reminds the struggle by grandson of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) against the injustice, his firm stance against tyranny and eventual martyrdom of his noble companions and family members.
Muslims all over the world remember Hazrat Imam Husain(ra) and his great sacrifice for humanity and pay him rich tributes.
Bellow is the extract from study of Muhurrum processions and rituals.
for complete paper
http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/2004-June/003786.html
**The Everydays of Eternity
**
Any study on Muhurrum cannot be complete without analysing the proliferation
of literatures on Muhurrum. I’ve made a feeble attempt. I need to get deeper
into the resources, only it seems like looking for a drop in the ocean.
Shireen
The Eye that Cries: Concepts of Love and Suffering in Marsiyas, and their
Appeal to Shia Women
Even if streaks of blood now flow from our breasts
May our hands never cease
Let this matam continue on behalf of the one who was wronged
For as long as Fatima’s cry comes forth
(Ali Javed Maqsud, Zehra Ke Dua cited Pinault, 2001, pg. 80.)
Stories must be told because they are crying out to be told. They have an
existence of their own. They bring vision when they are told. For the eye
needs a vision as it cries.
The story of rebellion and suffering of the Prophet’s family and their 72
companions against the established regime of the Umayyad dynasty and its
tyrannical ruler Yazid, is a story narrated, written about, sung, performed
and enacted since 680 A.D. The gathering of the devout where the story of
Imam Hussain is told by shedding tears is called a majlis.
Generally a majlis begins with soz, literally meaning burning, in which
poetry about the events of Karbala is chanted sometimes to an Indian raag or
raagini. Even though musical instruments are not allowed in mainstream
Islam, in some cultural contexts drums give the beat for the songs.
After the soz comes the Salaam, a eulogy of Hussain and his family or a
darud, a eulogy of the prophet. This is followed by a marsiya: ***“a poem
describing some event related to the martyrdom of the prophet’s grandson
Imam Hussain, at Karbala in 680 composed, more often than not, in the
six-line stanza form, musaddas.” ***(CM Naim 2004, pg. 1)
Marsiyas in Urdu were first written in the 16th century in South India, in
the kingdom of Golconda and Bijapur, which were Shiite in orientation and
closer to the Iranian religious tradition than the Turks and Pathan kingdoms
of North India.
…
The new marsiya, however, developed and was brought to great heights by the poets of Lucknow, Mir Anis (1802-1874) and Mirza Dabir (1803-1875) in
particular, who wrote them in the form of six-line stanzas, each stanza
reaching a climax in the last couplet. Anis’s poems are particularly popular
perhaps because his eloquence enables him to use a great range of vocabulary
and verbal conceits, while retaining idiomatic simplicity and pathos. In the
words of Dr. Mujeeb Rizvi, “every character is shown as a perfect Indian.
The bride-to-be, for example, is described as an Indian-Muslim bride; she
breaks her bangles when her husband’s corpse is brought.” (Ibid)
After the marsiya and the hadith (the sermon) the congregation stands as a
mark of respect; Nauhas are sung, a lament sometimes sung to the melodies of Hindi film songs, and to the rhythm of beating chests, calling out “Hussain
Hussain! Hussain Hussain!”
After the majlis, a tabarruk is distributed ranging from snacks, sharbath to
an entire meal of biryani, khitchdi, and haleem- depending on the gathering.
Manaths are asked at a taziya or in the name of Imam Hussain-for a child, for a wedding to take place, for illnesses to be cured, for passing exams
