ভূমিকা

Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books Ashura Poems in English Explained and Annotated (volume 1) Foreword Praise is all to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds. Praise and salaams are to the b. Abdullah and his noble and infallible . Denunciation and curse are to their foes forever until the Judgment Day. Amen! Elegy is a literary technique which enables the poet to compose fine pieces of poetry.

In elegy, the mind and soul of the poet get elevated, for he finds himself confronted with the mysterious phenomenon of death. Faced with the mysteries of life and the vicissitudes of times and fate, he tries to find a justification for that eternal silence. As is well known, elegy is an important element in the literature of the adherents of the school of thought. It is here that in elegy deep sorrow gets commingled with fierce wrath, leading to a type of sentimental literature.

In like manner, it may also be regarded as a type of political literature, because this wrath, sometimes discernible therein, is indicative of political thought which has found expression in this manner. It can hardly be forgotten that beyond the martyrdom of Imam al-Husayn b. Ali there were political reasons which can never be severed from the incentives and the bloodshed in favor of the religious convictions.

Here, the relation signifies the same firm relation which ties the hearts of the staunch believers with the holy and his honorable . Among the first who elegized Imam al-Husayn was Bishr b. Hidhlam. It happened when Imam Ali Zayn al-Abidin, then the leader of the caravan of the survivors of the Karbala massacre, en route home, sent him on a mission to hasten toward the city and inform the inhabitants of Medina of the martyrdom of Imam al-Husayn.

Wearing a black turban and pulling his horse with a piece of black rope, he entered the city and imparted to them the ominous news of the martyrdom of Imam al-Husayn. There he composed an elegy of which the following lines are famous: O Inhabitants of Yathrib! Why are you sitting still, While [Imam] al-Husayn was martyred, Hence I am shedding tears. May God not take me away from those homes and their inhabitants, While they have turned uninhabited, despite my desire.

The Martyr of Taff belongs to the Bani Hashim, 8 Though his martyrdom causes Muslims to be ashamed.