Race (and Gender) in our Portrayals of Karbala

by Amina InloesMahfil Ali, November 2014

Main ideas

• Distinguish between historical fact and historical portrayal

• Critically analyse the messages we receive about historical portrayal

• Critically analyse the messages we give when presenting our sacred narrative

Before we begin…

Sacred narrative is powerful, and either changes or reinforces the status quo in how we tell it.

Did Imam al-Husain (A) give his life to change or reinforce the status quo?

The prophet doesn't come to make you feel good. Every prophet comes to disturb you and unsettle you, by shining a bright light into the dark spaces of injustice. The prophet comes never to say “keep doing what you're doing”, “steady as she goes” –“change not a thing” said no prophet ever.

(Prof. Omid Safi)

What are some messages we communicate through our account of the sacred narrative of Karbala?

The Power of Portrayal:Zaynab the princess

He says to himself, “Now that he is setting out, let us go and watch the majesty and glamour of the prince of the Hijaz He goes and there he sees the Imam, together with other Hashimis among men, seated on splendid chairs. Then the camels are brought bearing the litters draped in silk and brocade.

Then the ladies emerge and with much honor and ceremony they are escorted into these litters. This description continues in this vein until they make the digression to switch to the scene of the eleventh day of Muharram, to compare the glamour and honor of this day with the sorry state of the womenfolk on the latter day. Haji Nuricalls such descriptions into question. He says, “It is history which says that when Imam Husayn left Madinah he recited this Qur'anic verse: “He left it in the state of fear and concern”. (28:21)

That is, he likened his own departure to that of Moses, son of 'Imran, when he fled for the fear of the Pharaoh. “He said, “It might be that my Lord will guide me to the right path.””(28:22)

The Imam had departed with a most simple caravan. Does the greatness of Imam Husayn lie in his sitting, for instance, on golden chairs? Or does the greatness of his family and womenfolk lie in their using litters draped in silk and brocade, or their possessing fine horses and camels and a retinue of lackeys and servants?! [Ayatollah Motahhari]

The Power of Portrayal

• Text #1: Nineteenth century Iranian ta`ziyeh

• Text #2: ‘Ali Shari`ati’s Fatima is Fatima

As you read, think…

• What values are being communicated?

• How is the character of Hazrat Fatima (A) described?

• What ideals for women are being communicated?

Portrayal #1

Portrayal #1 (continued)

…suddenly, little Fatima reaches towards her father, picks it up and throws it away. Then with her small, loving hands, cleans her father's head and face, comforts him and returns him to their home...

Fatima grinds the wheat herself... She works in the house and is seen hundreds of times bringing water from outside her home. Ali, who knows the generosity and majesty of Fatima, and more than loves her for multiple reasons, knows the difficulties that she has grown up with…

She has the greatest responsibility in the history of freedom, jihad and humanity….

But Fatima does not sit down…she continues her resistance and her struggle against the oppressive Caliphate…Now Fatima goes to them personally. Every night she accompanies Ali to their sessions. She speaks with them. She speaks of each and every one of the desires of the Prophet. She accounts one by one for Ali's worthiness, virtues and superiorities. Through her influential spirit, with her great human personality, her political awareness, with the accurate knowledge she had of Islam, its spirit and goals and finally with the power of logic and reasoning, she proves the rightfulness of Ali and the wrongfulness of the election…. She frightens them with the dark and unstable future which awaits Islam with their leadership of the community. Portrayal #2

Our understanding of Karbala• What actually happened

• Historical reports/narrations

• Abbasid era cultural filter

• Ottoman-Safavid era cultural filter

• Modern worldview

• Cultural lenses

Questions

• Who was the slave in Karbala?

• Where was he (or she) from?

Some slaves on the side of the Imam (A) in the narrative of Karbala

• Taw`ah in Kufa (former slave)

• Slaves in the household of al-Husayn (A) in Medina defending him at night and departing with him to Kufa

• Sulayman, a slave of Imam al-Husayn (A), who delivers a letter to Kufa

• A Turkish slave with al-Hurr al-Riyahi

• Sa`ad (a companion), a slave

• Harith ibn Nibhan (a companion), son of the slave of Hamzahibn ‘Abd al-Muttalib

• Salim (a companion), who joined the Imam (A) with his master

• Wadih (a companion), a Turkish slave who said “Who can be as lucky as I when the son of the Messenger of Allah (S) puts his cheek on mine) before dying (probably the same as the Turkish slave who was a reciter of the Qur’an)

• Aslam (a companion), a slave of al-Husayn (A)

• The slave-girl of Muslim ibn Awsajah who mourns him

• A slave belonging to Rabab (the wife of al-Husayn)

• Jawn, the former slave of Abu Dharr, from Ethiopia

Where did slaves come from then?

• Across the Red Sea

• Ethiopia

• The Byzantine Empire/Greeks

• Persia

• Other Arab tribes (slaves captured in battle)

• To a lesser extent, India

Modern worldview• Nineteenth century

European pseudo-scientific racial hierarchy

• The conquest of Africa and European cultural dominance

• The African slave trade

• “African” or “Black” as a single race

Is slavery this…

…or this?

We know someone is a minority when they are treated as a label rather than a person. How does the Qur’an introduce people?

How do we perceive the Imams (A) ethnically?

Christian images of Jesus

Ethnicities of the Imams (A) using modern racial categories

“She [Shahrbanu] was the holy relationship between the Arabs and the Persians…” – contemporary biography

Imam ‘Ali (A) 100% Hijazi Arab

Imam al-Hasan (A) 100% Hijazi Arab

Imam al-Husayn (A) 100% Hijazi Arab

Imam al-Sajjad (A) 50% Arab, 50% Persian

Imam al-Baqir (A) 75% Arab, 25% Persian

Imam al-Sadiq (A) 88% Arab, 12% Persian

Imam al-Kazim (A) 50% African, 44% Arab, 6% Persian

Imam al-Rida (A) 75% African, 22% Arab, 3% Persian

Imam al-Jawad (A) 88% African, 11% Arab, 1% Persian

Imam al-Taqi (A) 94% African, 5.5% Arab, <1% Persian

Imam al-Hasan al-‘Askari (A) 97% African, 3% Arab, <1%Persian

Imam al-Mahdi (A) 98.4% African, 1.4 % Arab, 0.2% Persian; or 50%

Anatolian (modern-day) Turkish, 48.4% African, 1.4%

Arab, 0.2% Persian

Would they have looked more like this?

Maybe Imam al-Zaman (A) would look like this?

Source: “Handsome Young African Muslim Gentleman”, watercolour by D. Lobenberg (artist) (sans beard)

What happens when you question “orthodoxy”?

(Here, “orthodoxy” being the picture of divine authority as a brown, Middle Eastern male.)

Hazrat Jawn (John) bin HuwayJohn , a slave of Abu Tharr al-Ghifari, stood before al-Husain (a) requesting him to grant him permission to fight. The Imam (a) said, “O John! You followed us seeking your good health, so you are excused.” But the old man fell on the Imam's feet kissing them and saying, “I in the time of prosperity lick what is served on your tables; so, should I in the time of hardship betray you? My smell is surely bad; my lineage is lowly; my colour is black; so do bestow upon me a breeze from Paradise so that my smell will be good, my lineage will be honoured, and my colour will be whitened! No, by Allah, I shall never abandon you till this black blood mixes with yours!”

Al-Husain (a), therefore, granted him permission . He killed as many as twenty-five men before he himself was finally killed. Al-Husain (a) stood by his corpse and supplicated saying, “O Lord! Whiten his face, make his smell good, join him with Muhammed, and link him to the progeny of Muhammed!”

Whoever thereafter passed by the battleground was able to smell his corpse emitting a fragrance sweeter than that of musk. [Modern portrayal - Ibn al-Muqarram]

What messages does this convey? - Why is this story told? - Are these messages Islamic?

Development of portrayals of Jawn

• Ziyarat of shuhada’: “Peace be upon Jawn, mawlaAbi Dharr.” [narration]

• Jawn was present with Imam al-Husayn (A) on the night of Ashura when the Imam (A) was fixing his sword and reciting the poem about time [historical

narration – Abi Mikhnaf through ‘Ali ibn al-Husayn (A)]

• Rajaz poetry attributed to him during the battle: How do you see the strike of the blackA strike with a sword from Bani MuhammadI will defend them with my tongue and handI seek with it Paradise on the appointed Day.

[Ibn Shahrasub, d. 577 AH]

بالسيف ضربا عن بني محمد* كيف يرى الكفار ضرب األسود

أرجو به الجنة يوم المورد* أذب عنهم باللسان واليد

Era of Ibn Tawus (664 hijri/1246 CE)

John, mawla Abi Dharr, went and asked Imam al-Husayn (A) for permission to fight. The Imam (A) said, "You came with us to seek life not death; do not harm yourself by following our way.” John replied, "O son of the Messenger of Allah! I was with you during easy times; I will not leave you in difficult times. By Allah, my lineage is not like yours, and I am black, so let me fight until I find relief in Paradise. By Allah, I will not leave you until this black blood mixes with your blood." Then he fought and was killed.

Authenticity? – From Ibn Tawus’s time?

Rather, We dash the truth upon falsehood, and it destroys it, and thereupon it departs. And for you is destruction from that which you describe.