Pakistan

Media watch: Lessons from history

Media remembers the events that transpired at Karbala and compare to similar challenges Muslims face today.

Ali Syed December 17, 2010

Media watch is a daily round-up of key articles featured on news websites, hand-picked by The Express Tribune web staff.

Spirit of Karbala

Karbala teaches one the twin lessons of ilm (knowledge) and amal (action). Azadari, or mourning for the Imam and his companions, is in fact a dynamic force that has carried the revolution of Karbala through the ages. It cannot be limited to rituals and it cannot be stopped by terrorism. It infuses the Hussaini spirit within all who hear of and are moved by the Imam’s struggle. As reputed scholars have stated, azadari stands for character building: a person of unremarkable character should leave a majlis a changed person. (dawn.com)

Youm-i-Ashur

Once again, the forces the Imam fought against to the extent of giving his life, the forces of Yazid, are arrayed against Muslims, and have even proclaimed a crusade. These forces have been clever enough to launch their assault, only after making sure of the governments in Muslim countries and the successor governments to their colonial rule are on their side. Those anti-Muslim forces, which are trying to perpetuate the exploitation of man by man, may have lost their colonial empires, but their standard-bearer, the USA, occupies directly Iraq and Afghanistan, wants to invade Iran, and fully backs Israel and India, which are in occupation of Palestine and Kashmir. (nation.com.pk)

The spirit of sacrifice

The grim tragedy of Karbala emits an eternal message of defiance against evil and tyranny, as it highlights profound determination of Hazrat Imam Hussain to sacrifice all that is so much precious in this earthly life for the greater good of humanity. Imam Hussain refused to bow before tyranny and oppression. His defiance asks us to stand up against forces that tend to relegate good and truth behind high walls of greed, deceit and selfishness, which have undermined the concept of common good. (brecorder.com)

COMMENTS (1)

prasad | 13 years ago | Reply I think all that the rituals of Muharram achieve is to underline the Us and them divide. Either Shia/Sunni or muslim/non-muslim. Why should the lessons be politicised. True religious lessons are always good vs evil - but the ONLY lesson to be learnt from this is the battle of good and evil within us. It would be self-defeating and downright foolish of me to imagine that Rama's battle against Ravana's forces should feed a modern-day divide between hindus and non-hindus. there was this strange spectacle on one of the pakistani channels - a very striking looking female preacher in a white scarf and black robe was addressing women and girls and she was talking about how 'ilm' is important to Muslims. And then she went on to pooh pooh scientific development in the west saying that all this was prophesied in the Quran. Again the US and THEM mantra. On the global scale there are enough reasons to feel persecuted based on our race, colour and gender - why complicate the issue with religious dogma either justifying a false sense of superiority or reinforcing a ghetto mentality.

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