Muharram is a significant month of the Islamic calendar. It is one of those rare but beautiful times where our masjids are not suffering from the desertion they experience during most parts of the year. It’s also a time to refuel our spirituality and reinstate our commitment to the path of Allah (swt) through our role model Imam Hussain (as).
However, Muharram is also a time where we must be extra critical of what we hear on the minbars (pulpits). We need to defend our beloved Ahlulbayt against the untruths told about them. In this way, we are fighting alongside Imam Hussain as we are safeguarding the religion of Islam which he sacrificed his life to protect.
Islam is a religion of knowledge and accuracy. Thus, we should question what we hear and analyse it to ascertain if it is the truth or not. If you were unsure of something said during a lecture, question it! Do some independent research and ask the lecturer to provide more information. We must especially be mindful not to engage in ghuluw, or exaggeration, which is something the Ahlulbayt have actively warned us against, such as in this hadith narrated by Imam Ali (as):
Two persons [groups] are doomed concerning me; the devoted extremist exalting me to what I am not, and the spiteful hater bearing malice towards me and slandering me.
Allah (swt) also states in the Qur’an in Surat Al-Kahf (6):
Say, O [Muhammad], “I am only a man like you to whom it has been revealed that your god is but one God; so take a straight course to Him and seek His forgiveness. And woe to those who associate others with Allah”
We must remind ourselves that as much as we love Ahlulbayt, they are still only humans and to put them at a level higher than this is to associate others with Allah (swt). This is in direct contradiction to what Ahlulbayt sacrificed their lives for.
A clear example of this are statements that say the the Ahlulbayt have control of the universe or parts of it, such as these which are taken directly from a lecture:
” By the permission of God, the Ahlulbayt have wilaya, they have authority over the cosmos, they are the ones who manage the cosmos”
“They manage the sky and earth for God”
“Imam Hussain is the axis around which the world turns”
Islam is, by definition, submission to the will of Allah (swt) and Allah (swt) only. The best Muslim is the one who submits to Allah (swt) and is far from any kind of desire to control the world in any way. The Ahlulbayt themselves stressed that they are only human and humans have no such powers to control the cosmos – that is a power reserved for Allah (swt) alone.
So what should we do if we think we are hearing a fabricated hadith? Why don’t we ask the Ahlulbayt themselves what they have to say about this.
Ibrahim Bin Abi Mahmoud reported that:
I once asked Imam Al-Rida: …When we do not know such hadiths narrated from you, shall we accept and adopt them? He said: “O Ibn Abi Mahmoud, my father told me as he narrated from his grandfather that the Messenger of Allah (p) said: Whoever listens to a speaker worshipping him, so if his speech is from Satan, then he is worshipping Satan.”Then he said: “O Ibn Abi Mahmoud, those who do not follow us fabricated hadiths about our virtues and made them into three categories: one is exaggeration, the second is under-estimating our position and the third is spelling out the shortcomings of our enemies. If the people hear exaggeration about us, they accuse the Shia followers of atheism and accuse us of claiming divinity. And if they hear how they underestimate us, they will believe it, and if they hear about the shortcomings of our enemies, using their names, they will do so with us.”The Imam (a.s.) continued: “Oh Ibn Abi Mahmoud, if people go left and right, hold onto our way” which is the balanced one. Those who hold onto us, we hold onto them, and those who go away from us, we go away from them, because at the very least a man will corrupt his belief if he calls a marble a fruit stone then abides by it, and forsakes those who do not go along with it.”
It is imperative that we pause and reflect upon everything that is attributed to the Holy Imams (as). Just as there were fabricated hadiths in the time of Imam Al-Ridha (as), there are fabricated today. We can see that the cost of believing and spreading these hadiths is too great to not heed the Imam’s advice.
Islam is not a dogmatic religion. We must be critical and inquisitive. This is not to say that we should blindly reject everything, just that we need to engage with what we hear critically. Let us mourn the death of Imam Hussain, let us shed our tears, but let’s ensure that what we speak about during Muharram is in line with Imam Hussain’s goals.
By Naba Alsaffar
