Ashura explosions: sanctimonious murder

When I was in college in the US, I dated someone who used to say, “I’m a Christian with a big crush on Islam.” I think it’s safe to say that I’m a Sunni with a big crush on Shi’ism. This is a problematic thing for a Sunni to say, because there’s no way to not sounds like a complete plonker, and I’m trying to cut down on plonkertude in my adult life. But I was taught Islam in high school by a Shi’a woman who I didn’t know was Shi’a and her love for Ali and Hussein did not detract from her respect from the other three Rightly Guided Caliphs – the Prophet was beloved of God, Abu Bakr was his faithful and honest companion, Umar was passionate in the cause of Islam, Uthman was generous to a fault, and Ali was justice personified. No riots occurred in either our minds or our classroom as a result of this.

To understand why this is a radical message, you have to know the story. In the vacuum of leadership left by the Prophet, there arose a dispute of who will lead. Some said it should be Abu Bakr, his dearest friend and faithful companion through tough times. Others said it should be Ali, the Prophet’s cousin and son-in-law, the first man to convert to Islam and the bravest of Islam’s army. The decision was made in Abu Bakr’s favour, while Ali and the family were preparing the Prophet’s body for burial and things have not been right since. The dispute is over who has the right to lead Muslims, whether it is leaders from the line of the Prophet, or the wisest among us, regardless of lineage (and already my Sunni skirts are showing because, of course, in Shi’i doctrine, God has granted the greatest wisdom to the line of the Prophet.)

Riots have occurred. And wars and persecutions, over the persistence of a portion of Muslims in their belief that the Muslims should be led, and are led spiritually, by the line of the Prophet. Every year, at the Islamic new year, Muslims mourn the brutal massacre at Karbala of the grandson of the Prophet, Hussein, at the hands of the army of Yazid, whose desire for power must have far exceeded any desire to please God or enter heaven (all Muslims agree) for him to take sword to the family of the Prophet, depriving them of water and killing every one.

And so, in some twisted and horrid historical re-enactment, we do it again, yearly, at the procession that goes down city streets all over the world, of men flagellating themselves in mourning and defiance – and by we, here, I mean Sunnis. We become Yazid and bomb the procession of those devotees of the Prophet (peace be upon him) who express their devotion most viscerally. We kill men and boys and sometimes women engaged in ritual mourning and, in the bargain, shopkeepers, vendors, passers by.

Witness the deaths in Karachi, as a suicide bomber walked with the procession (as one is required to walk with any funeral procession for a hundred paces) before detonating himself and causing carnage. Or the nine bombs diffused in Karbala by Iraqi forces. Or the bombing of Shi’i congregants in Kashmir. Or any number of other violences that haven’t reached my or your computer because there are only so

I’m a Sunni, because I cannot believe in the infallibility of anyone. But come the Day of Judgement, when we all will stand before God, I would rather cast my lot with Shi’as and Jews and Americans and all those who fall afoul of the bombers’ righteous indignation than suggest for a moment that I share a faith with this congregation of sanctimonious murderers.

Sons of bitches would probably blow that scene up too, what with God being Compassionate and Forgiving and Merciful and so not really “Muslim” enough for the likes of them.