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Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books 'ashura: Misrepresentations and Distortions Al-tawhid Al-tawhid ( 45 ) 'Ashura - History and Popular Legend Fourth Sermon Martyr Murtada Mutahhari Translated from the Persian by 'Ali Quli Qara'i Vol XIII No.

3 (Fall 1996) In the Name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful All Praise belongs to Allah, the Lord of the worlds and the Maker of all creation, and may Peace and benedictions be upon His servant and messenger, His beloved and elect, our master, our prophet, and our sire, Abu al-Qasim Muhammad, may Allah bless him and his pure, immaculate, and infallible Progeny.

I seek refuge with Allah from the accursed Satan: *"So for their breaking their compact We cursed them and made their hearst hard; they would pervert the words from their meanings, and they forgot a portion of what they were reminded of." (5:13)] * Our discussion concerning the distortions (tahrifat) in popular accounts of the historical event of Ashura consists of four parts: The meaning of distortion (tahrif) in general.

A description of the distortions that have taken place in regard to the historic event of 'Ashura and their examples. The factors responsible for these distortions and the causes that lead to tahrif in general and the special factors that have been particularly at play in relation to this historic event. Our responsibility' in regard to these distortions, that is, the 'duty of the 'ulama' as well as that of the common people.

Of these four, we have already discussed the first three parts in the previous sessions, and tonight, with God's grace, we will discuss the fourth topic. ( 46 ) To be certain, during the course of time gradually there have taken place distortions in this very great historic event, and there is no doubt that here we have a responsibility: to combat these distortions.

To state it more clearly, and to put it in somewhat self-important terms, it may be said that our generation has a mission to fight against these distortions and in misrepresentations of 'Ashura. But before we may discuss the responsibility of the scholars of the ummah (in other words, the khawass) and the responsibility of the people (that is, the 'awamm), I would like to mention two points in the way of introduction.

The first point is that we should examine the past to see who has been responsible for these distortions, whether it were the scholars who were responsible for it or the common people.