A correlation between ‘Āshūrā and Mahdism
Nowadays, the red way of Āshūrā and the green path of Mahdism [believing in Imam Mahdi] are identified as the most basic “targets” by infidelity army for cultural attack and to oppose the Right army. In the enemies` view, the Shiite`s society, which is influenced by these two essential points, has more integrity and power of motion. So, for the adversaries to collapse the harmony and unity of a society, it is essential to think about how to remove these huge targets more than anything else!
Āshūrā has a profound effect on the formation and transparency of the historical alignment between the Right and the Wrong. In the event of Āshūrā, there is no good quality, but it is seen in the army of the Master of the Martyrs (Imam Hussain) and there is no moral vice, but it is found in the soldiers of Yazīd and 'Umar bin Sa'd's army.
Āshūrā is a manifestation of belief and godliness that stood in front of animosities and secret wickedness that was hidden in the hearts of some repulsive people that manifested itself in that battle. This is why getting familiar with Āshūrā gives people a real insight and criterion about knowing excellence and badness and removes one`s negligence about what he should know.
Similarly, Mahdism is the bright future which is the yardstick to evaluate every positive change and motion and to realize that everything that is not in harmony with it should be thrown away.
In the modern age, which is the age of evolution of the power of deceit and hypocrisy; and the strength of the Wrong army, some distortions have occurred in the culture of waiting for the advent of Imam Mahdi. The Wrong army tries to introduce the motion of mankind towards the future bright light of Mahdism, firstly, as a very low and gradual movement which is void of a fast and forward jumping movement and secondly, as a power dependent to mankind`s capability telling us that Divine guardian is not at the center of this event! These people try to alter the meaning of Waiting to a complete earthly concept and interpret its cause in a way that would correspond to mankind`s school of thought such as a liberal regime. In this new culture, man`s perception of Waiting is the same as that reformational inclination which flows towards modernism and liberal democracy; and the promised and transcendent society by the prophets is this liberal society.
As regards Āshūrā, some narrow-minded people in the past used to limit it to individual cognition and understanding but today, it is considered in a different way which is vaster and more comprehensive. Although the deepest aspects of Āshūrā in entangled with divinity, godliness; and the Master of the Martyr`s servitude towards Allah, this epic event, from another point of view, is a reforming action that has an extreme influence over history and all mankind communities.
Moreover, Āshūrā aimed to aid all the monotheists all over the history to teach people how to act with respect to infidelity and atheism. Unfortunately, there is a mutual relation between explicating the event of Āshūrā as a sole divine belief of Imam Hussain and his companions; and vision that tries to lessen Imam Hussain`s battle to a combat between Umayyad and Hāshemite. In addition, these two views serve each other fully to ultimately deny every kind of responsibility and sociability from Āshūrā`s teachings, and define Āshūrā as an abandoned part of history that is void of any social impact and is limited to some people's individual belief and rites.
The fact is that, the event of Āshūrā is the central zone of monotheism in the whole world and forms the basic slogan of Imam Mahdi's flag bearers who say (Yā la Thārāt al Hussain) meaning, "O! Those who seek revenge for the blood of Hussain." The pervasive event of Āshūrā must not be limited to an event in Umayyad era and then to one's individual faith.
In the view of unfair people, since the world community moves towards secularism, the status of hermeneutic interpretation of Āshūrā – in a way that corresponds to modern universal movement – is very important. It is thought that how Āshūrā can be interpreted so that it would correlate to the world community; moreover, based on the vision of these people Āshūrā should not be in confliction with secularism and modernism and should not disturb liberal democracy and modernism from forming globalization. This is the greatest distortion related to Āshūrā that has a destructive effect on the doctrine of Mahdism.
Source: The Final Hope, October 2020, Issue no. 3
The Promised Mahdi Cultural Foundation
