The Revolution Of Imam Al Husayn Its Impact On The Consciousness Of Muslim Society
 | |
| Author | Shaykh Muhammad Mahdi Shams al-Din |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Published | 2020 |
| Publisher | Independently published |
| Pages | 246 |
The book The Revolution Of Imam Al Husayn Its Impact On The Consciousness Of Muslim Society is a pioneering attempt to study the existence of the revolution of Imam al-Husayn and its manifestations in popular consciousness.
About the author[edit | edit source]
Shaykh Muhammad Mahdi Shams al-Din was a religious scholar who was born in Najaf in 1936 to a family of scholars of Lebanon tracing their lineage to “Shaheed Awwal." Like his father Abd al-Karim, who both studied and taught in Najaf. Shaykh Shams al-Din also studied in the city and stayed there for 33 years. Upon returning to Lebanon, Shaykh Shams al-Din became a public figure and supported Muslim-Christian harmony in Lebanon. Being politically active, Shaykh Shams al-Din partook in establishing Hizb al-Da’wa in Iraq and was deeply devoted to the Amal Movement in Lebanon. In Beirut, the Imam al-Sadiq Mosque was established by him, where he was buried after his death in 2001 at the age of 67.
About the book[edit | edit source]
This book published in Independently published (March 9, 2020), has 246 pages, and is translated from its original Arabic into English to make those non-Muslims, who only speak English in many parts of the world, aware of the eternal quality of al-Husayn’s revolution so that they could understand its social circumstances and its influence on men.
In this study, the author intends to investigate the reflections of the revolution in the behavior of the umma, its attitude toward its events, the nature of its practice in keeping it alive, the quality of its association with it, how the events influence its psychological attitudes so that they transform and change the composition of these events or give them new meanings and explanations which are different from their original meanings and significations.
Abstract of chapters[edit | edit source]
Chapter 1: The Ziyara[edit | edit source]
At the beginning of this chapter, the author studies the special position of Shi'ite man. He examines some of the approved pilgrimages that include a commitment before God, particularly, with the person to whom the pilgrimage is made and, generally, with the Apostle and the Imams of the Holy Family, that he will remain faithful to their covenant, their faith and their practice. He limits his work to the specific field of his study, namely the pilgrimages made to Imam al-Husayn as a manifestation of the revolution of al-Husayn in popular consciousness, which is the fullest of the aspects of pilgrimage and the richest of them in ideas and emotions. He believes that this arises out of the special position which al-Husayn and his revolution enjoy in the Shi'ite mind in terms of his important position in the continuous movement of correction which began with 'Ali ibn Abi Talib and has, in no way, finished. At the end, he mentions some selected texts which contain the basis for the legality of the pilgrimage as a principle. They, also, include the urging and wish for it to be done.
Chapter 2: Lamentation Poetry[edit | edit source]
The author in this chapter talks about the revolution of al-Husayn and its effects appeared through the poetry of lamentation for the martyrs of the revolution and in the poetry of regret and repentance by those who had stayed away from giving support to the revolution or had actually participated in fighting against it. He shows that the poetic works of Shi'ite Muslims on this subject in any language are vaster than their compositions in other fields. Continuing the discussion, he studies the phenomenon of poetry of lament for al-Husayn in Shi'ite literature from several aspects, and at the end, he shows the reader a picture of the hostile attitude of the authorities which violently punished every poet who answered the call of the Holy Family.
Chapter 3: Rites of Remembrance for al-Husayn[edit | edit source]
This chapter starts with one of the texts in which Imam Zayn al-'Abidin explains the reward to be gained by anyone who wept for the tragic fate of al-Husayn. Then the author presents the texts that clearly indicate the nature of the objectives and the important issues that the Holy Family wanted to realise through the creation of this institution. He believes that this is the real content of the call by the Imams of the Holy Family to keep alive this memory in the rites of remembrance for al-Husayn and others. in what follows, he mentions three matters which is considered to be among the contributory factors for rooting the institution of the rite of remembrance for al-Husayn firmly in popular consciousness, for enriching it and for giving variety to its content.
Chapter 4: Weeping[edit | edit source]
The phenomenon of weeping gives rise to much criticism. Despite the fact that it is not a phenomenon which is separate from the rites of remembrance for al-Husayn, the author devotes a special study to it in this chapter which would be separate from the studies of the rites of remembrance in terms of their methods and content. This is in order to make it easier to observe and understand this phenomenon. Then he attempts to get the readers acquainted with this in terms of its basis and its significance.