Imam Hussain -asws selected this day and place as it was in...

Imam Hussain -asws selected this day and place as it was in Imam -asws ‘s knowledge that there are only three days left to the day of 10 th of Moharram, when shahzada Qasim -asws will be martyred, his daughter will be made widow, so when the army of Yazeed -la would come to plunder the tents of Ahlul Bait -asws , there will only be children,widows, ill and elderly among the survivors, so they would refrain from harming them any further.

Commemoration of ‘Mehndi’ [1] of shahzada Qasim -asws Some historians do not agree with the occurrence of this ceremony, as being brought in by the influence of Hindu culture when Shias migrated to Indian sub-continent, without any reference from the Arabic rituals.

However, an answer to this argument is that in order to commemorate any occasion, one needs to recreate the environment of the past, putting up important features in symbolically, e.g., Zuljinnah, Alam, Taboot etc, these are not the actual horse, Alam or taboot of Mola -asws but replica of the originals, basically to visuallize the actual historical occurrence of the grief and pain of the events of Karbala.

Thus creating things to remember the Mehndi of shahzada Qasim -asws is also one of ‘Shair-Allah’ (Holy Symbols), as per Verses of Quran, and needs to be respected, even if someone is not prepared to participate in the rituals. It is narrated from Imam Jafar-e-Sadiq -asws that Rasool Allah -saww saw a portrait of Imam Ali bin Abi Talib -asws upon visiting the 5 th skies on the night of ‘Miraj’. Angel Gabriel responded to Rasool Allah -saww with the following narration.

“Once angels prayed to Allah -azwj that they would like to be able to perfom the ‘Ziarat’ of Amir-ul-Momaneen, in a similar way the inhabitants of earth do i.e. to see Amir-ul-Momaneen -asws in person. Thus Allah -azwj created a portrait of Amir-ul-Momaneen -asws through His own sacred ‘Noor’.

Therefore, this portrait is always in front of us, we regularly perform ‘Ziarat’ of Mola Ali -asws all day long, from morning till dusk.” [2] Ashura Night On Ashura night, all mothers were preparing their sacrifices for the day. Syeda Umm-e-Farwa -asws was telling Shahzada Qasim -asws : ‘you are the son of the eldest son of Imam Ali -asws . So my brave son, Listen! you should offer your life for the ‘Just Cause’ of Allah -azwj as led by your uncle, before any of your cousins offer their lives.

This was the will of your father -asws .