Wednesday, June 20, 2007,6:11 pm
'. . .Shadow of Samarra. . .'

The moon of Jamadi 'Al thani ascends in the skies of the earth and it brings with it the cries of oppression. With the light of the moon comes the mourning of the angels and the mourning of the household of the Ahlul Bayt [as]. The tragedy of this month signalled the first oppression on the pure household and now after fourteen centuries the wounds of oppression have been reopened, the blood which flows is pure as ever, the tragedy is different but the magnitude is the same. The Shrine of Samarra has been reduced to dust and what is left is the shadow of the great beings that existed there once upon a time. What is left in that town is nothing but sand on which the Hujjah of Allah once walked, and now he cries tears of blood on those sands of Samarra in the ruins of his parents' graves.

The destruction of the Samarra Shrine has become the pinnacle of the oppression in Iraq. It shows that even after the so called liberation the people of Iraq are oppressed due to the problems bought in the country by the invasion of the US army. Furthermore it is a sign to show the depth of the division between the Shias and the Sunnis of Iraq. For many years under Saddam the Shias and the Sunnis have lived side by side in brotherhood. Infact the very place where the destruction of the Shrine took place has a history by where the Shias helped the Sunnis and vice versa. A famous example of such act of brotherhood is found at the time when the plague was at large in Samarra. It was a very deadly plague and every day many people were falling victims to it. People consulted the religious authority at the time and he issued an edict for the people to recite Ziyarat e Ashura for 10 days and give the reward of the Ziyarat to Lady Narjis [sa], the mother of Imam Mahdi [ajtf]. Slowly the number of deaths were reduced and the only deaths that were being reported were that of the Sunnis so after consultation with the Shias they to carried out this act of worship and the reward was the same and in this way the whole plague was removed. This displays the magnitude of good tidings that the city enjoyed due to the presence of such holy figures within them.

Today Iraq stands divided, people are taking desperate measures to ensure their survival, there are no basic services to the public, people are dying everyday either by an insurgent attack or due to lack of food. Only yesterday, there was a story which talked about how Iraqi Orphans were starved of food and clothing and their guardians used their rightful belongings to earn money for themselves. What we are seeing in Iraq today is a measure of desperation from one side and on the other side an abuse of authority. People who have the authority are using it for their own benefit. This is happening on both micro and major level.

Samarra bombings will go down in the history as the day when the split between the Shias and the Sunnis deepened. When will this division end? When would this Ummah or more importantly the people of Iraq realise the consequences of this division? We are living in an era where our enemies are trying to divide us and conquer us one by one through our weaknesses. Money, power, authority, wealth, position and many other materialistic entities have taken over the hearts of the people. Today the injustices we find are all related to some sort of materialism, someone is out there to collect money to live a lavish life while someone else might want authority to set up his own way of rule in a state. What is required is for people to work in a manner which would be of benefit to others. We should take steps to unite this broken ummah rather than contributing to its division further.

In the end what is left in Samarra is nothing but ruins, which tells a story in itself. These very ruins can give us a great lesson if we ever decide to adhere to it. The principles of the Imams [as] who were buried there are the objectives by which we Shias live our lives but have we really implemented those principles in our life? Have we ever taken the initiative to understand and follow their teachings fully? If we only follow 1% of what they have left us that would be enough to make us see our wrongdoings yet we live in ignorance trapped in a bubble and are content with what ever this world provides us with. Such is the sad state of our Ummah!

May Allah hasten the reappearence of the one who shall spread justice!


 
posted by Ya_Baqiyatullah
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