All Praise Belongs to Allah (Azza wajl), and May the Salah and Salam of Allah (Azza wajl) be upon our beloved Messenger Peace and Blessings be upon him. Insha Allah you are all doing exceptionally well. Alhamdulillah we are in the month of Muharram, below is some information about this sacred month. May Allah accepts our deeds.
What Is Muharram?

Allah has made Muharram sacred, as it is a blessed and important month; because:

1) It is the first month of the Hijri calendar. 2) It is one of the four sacred months concerning which Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning):

“Verily, the number of months with Allaah is twelve months (in a year), so it was ordained by Allaah on the Day when He created the heavens and the earth; of them, four are sacred. That is the right religion, so wrong not yourselves therein…” [al-Tawbah 9:36]

3) Muharram itself also means sacred and confirms its sanctity. 4) The 10th of Muharram is the “Day of Ashura” 

History of The Day of Ashura

When the Prophet (s) arrived in Madinah in 622 CE, he found that the Jews there fasted on the 10th of Muharram and asked them the reason for their fasting on this day.

They said: “This is a blessed day. On this day Allah saved the Children of Israel from their enemy (in Egypt) and so Prophet Musa fasted on this day giving thanks to Allah.”

The Prophet (sa) said: ”We are closer to Musa than you are.” He fasted on that day and commanded Muslims to fast on this day. (Al-Bukhari)

The Prophet (sa) said: ”For fasting the day of ‘Ashura, I hope that Allah will accept it as expiation for (the sins committed in) the year that went before.” [Reported by Muslim, 1976]

Al-Nawawi (may Allaah have mercy on him) said: Fasting the day of ‘Arafaah expiates for all minor sins, in other words this brings forgiveness for all sins except for major sins. (As they need separate repentance)

What Mohammedanism did for the Arabs, Bolshevism may do for the Russians. As Ali went down before the politicians who only rallied to the Prophet after his success, so the genuine Communists may go down before those who are now rallying to the ranks of the Bolsheviks.

 I don’t know how much Bertrand Russell knew about Islam – and I strongly disagree with the sentences that precede and proceed this–, but it is interesting to note what he wrote here.

  In the Holy Quran, amid the volumes of powerful verses which exist within it, one verse truly grabs the attention of the reader because of its powerful and descriptive imagery. The verse is found in Surah 49 verse 12 of the Quran and reads as follows: 

 . . .  [N]either backbite one another. Would one of you love to eat the flesh of his dead brother? Ye abhor that (so abhor the other)! And keep your duty (to Allah). Lo! Allah is Relenting, Merciful.

 The imagery is powerful. Here one sees just how abhorrent the sin of backbiting is considered within the religion of Islam. But such imagery isn’t only reserved for the Quran, the book of hadiths are also filled with equally articulate admonishments:

 The Prophet (s) said: “No fire is faster in consuming dry wood than gheebah in consuming a devotee’s virtues.”

Imam al-Sadiq (‘a) narrated from the Prophet (s) who said: “The havoc wrought on the believer’s faith by backbiting is swifter than the one wrought by aklah (a disease that consumes the flesh) in the side of his body.”

Imam al-Sadiq (‘a) narrated from the Noble Messenger (s) who is once said to have forbidden both backbiting and listening to it. Then he (s) said: “Lo,whoever does a favour to his brother by refuting his backbiting upon hearing it in a gathering, God shall save him from a thousand kinds of evils in this world and in the Hereafter. And if he does not do so despite his ability to refute it, on him shall be the burden of one who commits his backbiting seventy times.”

The Prophet (s) said: “The listener is one of the two backbiters.”

  As one can easily see from the above hadiths, backbiting is truly considered to be a great sin in Islam. It is not merely an unnecessary and unfortunate thing; it is a sin which destroys the very fabric of a Muslim. It consumes him in sin, and tears his good nature, and it because of such affects that the Lord of the Worlds and his chosen representatives have warned against it.

Side note: I have not given the citation for any of the hadiths found above. The hadiths can all be found here. The reason is because since I did not find the sources myself, it would be unfair for me to use them as if I did, and therefore would like all my brothers and sisters to go to the actual source.

In a private correspondence with Sayed Amar he shared with me the reason for his banning. According to him – and I am convinced that this in fact is the case – his lectures will no longer be played because he spoke positively about Dr. Ali Shariati, a popular lecturer on Islam.

If this is the case, two questions seem important to ask: firstly, what is so wrong with Dr. Ali Shariaiti? As a person who has read his works, albeit not at length, I can, on a personal level, say that his works seem to be of high calibre. Secondly, even if there are some controversial aspects to his works, though none have been pointed out so far, who really cares? Is it really ‘good for the cause’ to ban one of the most influential speakers within our religion today, whose positive reach and influence to the young members of this current generation can easily be attested to, simply because of a disagreement on personalities within the Shia School of Thought?

Since knowledge of this case has become known, I’ve tried to contact the ABTV Network, but as of yet no response has come back to me. When others have tried, whether by e-mail or phone, they met the same silence from the other side. But, in the spirit of fair discussion, I should say that the silence from the ABTV Network should not, necessarily, be taken as a sign of anything other than their unwillingness to speak about a controversial topic on a large scale. It wouldn’t be fair for me to hold a highly negative view of a network based upon one version of the purported events. But, if the silence continues, and the responses are delayed, people cannot be blamed for coming to their own conclusions on the situation.

Even though the heads of the ABTV Network have the full right to ban who they choose to ban, it truly is a saddening episode within this television networks young history. Not only has Sayed Amar been instrumental in making this channel quite popular, but serious questions about the shows integrity seem more then relevant now.

Instigating a campaign of censorship against scholars and speakers for such irrational reasons can hardly be defended. Better yet, if one is to listen to the many lectures by the Sayed, as I have, one rarely hears the name, or the beliefs, of Dr. Shariati propagated (if one could even use such a word).

I can only recall one  time when Sayed Amar mentioned Dr. Ali Shariati in one of his lectures. It was at a lecture I personally attended. The topic was on Shariati’s work entitled ‘’Fatima is Fatima’’. If you would like to see what sort of beliefs this man has then read the book which Sayed Amar used as a starting point for his lecture.

To me it appears the situation will remain as is, but from other sources that have reached me (such as friends of mines who claim to have spoken with the Sayed), it also seems that a reconciliation of sorts is in the works.

Before moving on with the discussion, let me quickly post the relevant verses; they read:

 [080:001] He frowned and turned his face away,

[080:002] Because a blind man came to him (and interrupted him).

[080:003] You don’t really know! Perhaps he would (shed his disbelief, and) grow in faith.

 [080:004] He might heed (the warning); perhaps the reminder would benefit him.

[080:005] (Instead), the one who displays indifference,

 [080:006] You attend to.

(Yusuf Ali’s translation for the first verse appears like this:  ‘’(The Prophet) frowned and turned away[.]’’

__

     Now according to Sunni tradition this verse was revealed about the Prophet of Islam. In opposition to such views is what our hadiths say, primarily, that this verse wasn’t revealed about the Prophet, but rather, about someone else. When I stated this point my friend wanted to know who I thought this verse is specifically referring to. From the traditions we have, which aren’t many, I couldn’t recall if there was a specific person for who this verse was revealed about, but I only remembered that it was for one of the Prophets companions, and not about the Prophet himself. After I mentioned this my friend burst out in anger. He began to ostracise me, saying how typical it was for Shias to always insult the Prophets companions and so forth. So I asked him, why is it insulting if I attribute this to the Prophets companions? He replied because it shows the companion(s) in a bad light, and Shias always try to insult the sahaba(s) by showing them in a bad light.

    His anger resided in this fact: that by arguing that this verse was revealed about the sahabas that we, the Shia, are insulting them. How dare we do such a thing? Why is it so typical of us to insult the Prophets companions? And on he went.

   Rather than focusing on his claims, I want to ask him this: does he not realize what an incredibly insulting thing he said? If attributing this event to the sahabas is insulting, is it not then doubly insulting to attribute this to God’s Prophet? If one should get angry about this story being revealed about one of his idols, should not a person be irate when it is accepted as a fact about his Prophet?

   If it is insulting to a sahabaha, then it is doubly insulting to the Prophet of Islam, yet, my friend has no problem in believing it (or, rather, has no choice but to accept it).

    A second point worth highlighting is what this exchange revealed. It revealed one of the glairing differences between our madhab and his. More specifically, it revealed how we view our Prophet and his character, and how his sect does. Whereas we refuse to accept such stories like this toward the Prophet, he has no problem in doing so, and will even debate with many to prove that it in fact was revealed about the Prophet.

  I most likely will write an article dealing with the actual issue at hand—who is God reprimanding in the verse—but I will do that later on.

 (The Shi’ah are the real Ahl al-Sunnah- Dr. Muhammad Tijani).