Imam Hussain standing up for Freedom
Administrator on January 21st, 2009
The speakers expounded the noble reasons behind the martyrdom of Imam Hussain (May Allah be pleased with him). The martyrdom of Karbala is a reminder to people that one should fight against oppression and tyranny and help the cause of the oppressed.
The martyors of Karbala stood up for Truth, Justice, Equality, Freedom and Liberty. They chose the path of danger and hardships in order to preserve values such as liberty and freedom of expression.
Video and pictures of the tomb of Imam Husain in Masjid Al-Husain, Cairo, Egypt can be seen on hte following link:
http://www.makkahmasjid.co.uk/wp/index.php/2007/02/20/89/
The poet of the East, Sir Allahmah Muhammad Iqbal pays homage to Imam Hussain in the following words:
Imam Husayn uprooted despotism forever till the Day of Resurrection. He watered the dry garden of freedom with the surging wave of his blood, and indeed he awakened the sleeping Muslim nation. If Imam Husayn had aimed at acquiring a worldly empire, he would not have traveled the way he did (from Medina to Karbala). Husayn weltered in blood and dust for the sake of truth. Verily he, therefore, became the bed-rock (foundation) of the Muslim creed; la ilaha illa Allah (There is no god but Allah).
The speakers also condemned Israel’s military campaign in the blockaded Gaza Strip and the loss of life on both sides. International community’s disregard for human suffering and lack of action to stop Israel massacring innocent civilians in Gaza was also said to be unacceptable. The speakers welcomed the UN Security Council Resolution and Britain’s role in promoting it but said that more had to be done to prevent the humanitarian crisis escalating. It was appalling that politicians, diplomats and journalists had not by and large openly condemned Israel’s abuse of human rights and targeting of Palestinian civilians and the infrastructure of normal life in Gaza.
The speakers also urged the International community to take action immeditely to remove the suffering of the people of Gaza and allow desperately needed humanitarian relief to reach them.
January 26th, 2009 at 10:10 pm
Salaams Brothers,
This blog entry is factually incorrect, and to associate Liberty and Freedom (Western definitions) with Imam Hussain is a grave misunderstanding and extreme naivety at best on behalf of the author.
In brief, we should be very careful when we make such statements, even more so when we are associating alien and modern concepts to the household of Rasool Allah (saw)
First and foremost we must understand, what does ‘freedom’ or ‘liberty’ mean especially in the context of the West, where this article has been written.
‘Freedom and Liberty’ are both political, ideological terms and concepts, which identify and emanate from the Western ideology of secularism and capitalism.
Freedom in a nutshell was to do away with the tyranny of the Christian Church and religious dogma from life’s affairs and embrace freedom and liberty as a criteria of living ones life, where man can pursue happiness in what gives him most pleasure. In other words, please note that freedom was born out of rejecting religion from life’s affairs
When they discuss ‘freedom’ in the west it is only defined and restricted by hedonism. In other words it means freedom to be a homosexual, freedom to practice adultery, freedom to fornication, lesbianism, and other such practices, its freedom to apostatize, freedom to insult the Prophet (saw) and so forth… Islam utterly rejects and in fact punishes all the above sternly
So how can this be the freedom that you believe that Imam Hussain represented? Surely not!
The concepts of Freedom and Liberty are western concepts, which have very specific meanings and we as educated Muslims, politically read should be aware of this distinction and not fall prey to making the lines absurd. Indeed, Allah swt has instructed us to speak the truth, and be firm in our position on these matters, as opposed to concealing the truth.
To say that ”The martyors of Karbala stood up for… Freedom and Liberty”. They chose the path of danger and hardships in order to preserve values such as ”liberty and freedom of expression”, is grossly incorrect.
These statements are simply playing tune to specific audiences
My advice would be to edit this blog entry and remove ‘freedom and liberty’ from this piece.
And, if you really believe that the bastions of so-called freedom and liberty are really true proponents of these concepts, then what happened to that freedom, liberty and democracy when the people of Gaza choose Hamas as its representative government? It was bombed out of power, well almost?!
January 27th, 2009 at 11:51 am
I think the above post is taking a very narrow minded view of the words ‘freedom’ and ‘liberty’. I think you should step back and read the entry again – you might understand it this time!
January 27th, 2009 at 7:48 pm
Salaams
What a strange post. Freedom, equality and next we will be talking about laissez faire economics. Imam Hussain (ra) fought against tyranny and hereditary rule because he knew full well of the hukm of Allah swt that the bayah is the right of the people. This now does not equate with John Stuart Mills or his essay on liberty, nor should we be talking about being born free but surrounded by chains. No lets not be hypocritical here. We cannot say that we restrict freedom when we say freedom means homosexuality is legitimate, rather we restrict freedom if we apply limitations to it.
As for praising britain over their support for a UN resolution calling for an ineffective ceasefire, my gosh what planet are you guys from? Let me give you a quote from Henry Bannerman British PM in 1906 who said,
‘‘There are people (the Muslims) who control spacious territories teeming with manifest and hidden resources. They dominate the intersections of world routes. Their lands were the cradles of human civilizations and religions. These people have one faith, one language, one history and the same aspirations. No natural barriers can isolate these people from one another …if, per chance, this nation were to be unified into one state; it would then take the fate of the world into its hands and would separate Europe from the rest of the world. Taking these considerations seriously, a foreign body should be planted in the heart of this nation to prevent the convergence of its wings in such a way that it could exhaust its powers in never-ending wars. It could also serve as a springboard for the West to gain its coveted objects.’ Prime Minister Henry Campbell-Bannerman, Campbell-Bannerman Report, 1907
January 27th, 2009 at 8:06 pm
‘It was appalling that politicians, diplomats and journalists had not by and large openly condemned Israel’s abuse of human rights and targeting of Palestinian civilians and the infrastructure of normal life in Gaza’
Its funny how Mike is cherry picking from the post – read it ALL!
January 27th, 2009 at 8:12 pm
condemnation is not enough, condemnation does protect one from f-16s and apache helicopters, our brothers and sisters in gaza need more than condemnations, they have got that for the last 60 years- they need action, they need an army to liberate them- its quite ironic when there is a civil war or a war torn country the west call for UN peace keeping forces, its ashame muslims dont have the same mentality of calling on muslim armies to defend their brethren in gaza.
January 28th, 2009 at 2:20 am
We have 2 appreciate that freedom & liberty carry particular connatations when used. Even if the mosque had been sincere to use for Imam Husayn (ra) stand against tyranny and his fight against injustice however their choice of words needs to be re-evaluated.
We must appreciate freedom & liberty give the right for any individual to beleive, do, say and enjoy what he wants thus the propagation of homosexuality, adultary,atheistism etc etc in the West. These norms clearly contardict Islam and what a muslim identifys himself.
January 28th, 2009 at 12:04 pm
We do not want comments which hurl accusations at named, specific people or organisations – such comments have been deleted.
January 28th, 2009 at 1:48 pm
brothers there have been no accusations- everyones gone a bit defensive here- madni mosque is taking PVE money ask them- i have spoken to them and they are clear on this so this is a fact not an accusations
but asual when an argument cant be challenged it goes all defensive.
khair
ws
February 17th, 2009 at 8:01 am
Salam brothers
who is the writer of this article please ??
i need that for my essay