INNOVATIONS COMMON ON ASHURA (MOSTLY PRACTICED BY OUR BARELVI BROTHERS AND DEFINITELY BY THE SHIAS) Shaykh ul-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah (may Allah have mercy on him) was asked about the things that people deople do on Ashura, such as wearing kohl, taking a bath (ghusl), wearing henna, shaking hands with one another, cooking grains (hubub), showing happiness and so on. Was any of this reported from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) in a sahih hadith, or not? If nothing to that effect was reported in a sahih hadith, is doing these things bidah, or not? Is there any basis for what the other group do, such as grieving and mourning, going without anything to drink, eulogizing and wailing, reciting in a crazy manner, and rending their garments?rments? His reply was: Praise be to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds. Nothing to that effect has been reported in any sahih hadith from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) or from his Companions. None of the Imams of the Muslims encouraged or recommended such things, neither the four Imams, nor any others. No reliable scholars have narrated anything like this, neither from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), nor from the Sahabah, nor from the Tabiin; neither in any sahih report or in a daif (weak) report; neither in the books of Sahih, nor in as-Sunan, nor in the Musnads. No hadith of this nature was known during the best centuries, but some of the later narrators reported ahadith like the one which says, Whoever puts kohl in his eyes on the day of Ashura will not suffer from eye disease in that year, and whoever takes a bath (does ghusl) on the day of Ashura will not get sick in that year, and so on. They also reported a fabricated hadith that is falsely attributed to the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), which says, Whoever is generous to his family on the day of Ashura, Allah will be generous to him for the rest of the year. Reporting all of this from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) is tantamount to lying. Then he [Ibn Taymiyyah (may Allah have mercy on him)] discussed in brief the tribulations that had occurred in the early days of this Ummah and the killing of al-Husayn (may Allah be pleased with him), and what the various sects had done because of this. Then he said: An ignorant, wrongful group – who were either heretics and hypocrites, or misguided and misled – made a show of allegiance to him and the members of his household, so they took the day of Ashura as a day of mourning and wailing, in which they openly displayed the rituals of jahiliyyah such as slapping their cheeks and rending their garments, grieving in the manner of the jahiliyyah ...… The Shaytan made this attractive to those who are misled, so they took the day of Ashura as an occasion of mourning, when they grieve and wail, recite poems of grief and tell stories filled with lies. Whatever truth there may be in these stories serves no purpose other than the renewal of their grief and sectarian feeling, and the stirring up of hatred and hostility among the Muslims, which they do by cursing those who came before them … The evil and harm that they do to the Muslims cannot be enumerated by any man, no matter how eloquent he is. Some others – either Nasibis who oppose and have enmity towards al-Husayn and his family or ignorant people who try to fight evil with evil, corruption with corruption, lies with lies and bidah with bidah – opposed them by fabricating reports in favour of making the day of Ashura a day of celebration, by wearing kohl and henna, spending money on ones children, cooking special dishes and other things that are done on Eid and special occasions. These people took the day of Ashura as a festival like Eid, whereas the others took it as a day of mourning. Both are wrong, and both go against the Sunnah, even though the other group (those who take it as a day of mourning.
Posted on: Wed, 05 Nov 2014 11:27:11 +0000
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