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Karbala and the Imam Husayn in Persian and Indo-Muslim literature (3) - Al-Shia The Scientific and Cultural Website of Shia belief Karbala and the Imam Husayn in Persian and Indo-Muslim literature (3) 2023-03-28 427 Views Karbala , Imam Husain , Persian literature , Indo-Muslim literature In continuation of the article titled “Karbala and the Imam Husain in Persian and Indo-Muslim literature”, we shall highlight other literature on Karbala and Imam Husain (a.s) in this part.

The suwari theme was lovingly elaborated by Sangi, that is the Talpur prince ‘Abdu’l-Husayn, to whom Sindhi owes some very fine and touching songs in honour of the prince of martyrs, and who strongly emphasizes the mystical aspects of the event of Karbala’, Husain is here put in relation with the Prophet. The Prince has made his miraj on the ground of Karbala’, The Shah’s horse has gained the rank of Buraq.

Death brings the Imam Husain, who was riding his Dhu’l janah, into the divine presence as much as the winged Buraq brought the Prophet into the immediate divine presence during his night journey and ascent into heaven.

Sangi knows also, as ever so many Shi’i authors before him, that weeping for the sake of the Imam Husain will be recompensed by laughing in the next world, and that the true meditation of the secret of sacrifice in love can lead the seeker to the divine presence, where, finally, as he says Duality becomes distant, and then one reaches unity.

The theme of Husain as the mystical model for all those who want to pursue the path of love looms large in the poetry of the Indus Valley and in the popular poetry of the Indian Muslims, whose thought was permeated by the teaching of the Suf’is, and for whom, as for the Turkish Suf’is and for ‘Attar (and innumerable others), the suffering of the Imam Husain, and that of Hasan b. Mansur, formed a paradigm of the mystic’s life.

But there was also another way to understand the role of Husain in the history of the Islamic people, and importantly, the way was shown by Muhammad Iqbal, who was certainly a Sunni poet and philosopher. We mentioned at the beginning that it was he who saw the history of the Ka’bah defined by the two sacrifices, that of Ismail at the beginning, and that of Husain b. ‘Ali in the end (1).

But almost two decades before he wrote those lines, he had devoted a long chapter to Husain in his Rumuz-i bekhudi .