Waiting for the Saviour

Know that al-Mehdi (A.S.) must come, but he will not come until the earth is filled with injustice and oppression. He will fill it with justice and equity…..

 - Musnad Ahmad Ibn Hanbal, Vol. 1, P. 99 

When rigthteousness is weak and unrighteousness exults in pride, then my Spirit arises on earth for the salvation of the good and destruction of evil in men….

- Shri Krishna in the Geeta

Yesterday was Shab-e-Baraat and by a strange coincidence there was power cut in our locality. As dusk and darkness approached and the time for the ceremonial nazr drew close, numerous candles were lit. The soft glow of the candles and the fragrance from the incense sticks filled all corners of our house which had been immersed in darkness. Perhaps this was symbolic of what the Shia Muslims of the world expect once their ‘Mehdi’ (a.s.), their savior – their twelfth Imam reappears.

Nazr, in form of halwa, made from chana dal, was offered and Sur-e- Fahteha and Sur-e- Qul were recited, first, in the honor of Amir Hamzaa (the uncle of Prophet Mohammad s.a.v.), followed by all our ancestors and departed relatives. We prayed to God asking for forgiveness for the sins of our departed relatives and prayed for the safe journey of their souls to the here-after. It reminded me of ‘Pind Daan’ or ‘Shraadh,’ performed by many Hindus believing this will relieve their ancestors of all sins and help their souls attain salvation.

Later in the night, as there was a fire-work display to celebrate the birth anniversary of the twelfth Imam – Muhammad al-Mehdi (a.s). The halwa was then distributed among our neighbors and the poor.

Shab-e-Baraat also known as Lailatul Bara’at, falls on the 14th/15th of Shaban, the eighth month of Muslim calendar. It is variously known to mean, ‘the night of commission’, or ‘the night of emancipation, forgiveness or atonement’. There are various beliefs and traditions regarding this night among Muslims. Many Muslims believe that on this night God writes the destinies of all humans for the coming year by taking into account the deeds committed by them in the past year. People pray to God both in preparation for Ramazaan and for the forgiveness of the sins committed by them. Some believe this night to be the night of good fortune and a popular legend says that on this night the Prophet (s.a.v.) visits each house and relieves the pain of suffering humanity. Shia Muslims believe that the souls of their ancestors and deceased relatives visit them on this night.

While there is no mention of Shab-e-Baraat in the holy Quran, Sura Dukhan does mention about Laila Mubaraka, which, according to some Islamic scholars is Shab-e-Baraat. It is believed that, on this day, the Prophet (s.a.v.) paid a visit to the Jannatul Bak’i graveyard to pray for the salvation of the souls of the departed including his martyred uncle – Amir Hamza, who had embraced Islam and had become one of its bravest champions. Many observe fasting during the day and perform nafal (optional) namaz at night.

The Shia Muslims associate this night with the birth of their last Imam – Mohammad al-Mehdi and pray for his reappearance. In the Indian subcontinent, candles and fire-work displays light up Shia neighborhoods. The parallels between the Hindu festival of Diwali and Shab-e-Baraat are apparent. Diwali commemorates the home coming of Lord Ram after 15 years of vanvaasa, on Shab-e-Baraat the Shias pray for the home coming of their Mehdi (a.s) since he disappeared or went into vanvaasa several hundred years ago. Diwali symbolizes the victory of Good over Evil. The Mehdi (a.s.) is expected to do the same –vanquish evil and oppression from this world.

Shias consider Hazrat  Ali (a.s), who was indicated by Prophet (s.a.v.) as his successor, as the first rightful Caliph and Imam of the Muslims, and that after his assassination the spiritual headship descended in succession to his and Fatima’s posterity in ‘the direct male line’ until it came to Imam Hassan al’Askari (a.s.), eleventh in descent from Ali, who died in 874 A.C. or 260 Hegira. Upon his death the Imamat passed on to his son Mohammad al-Mehdi – ‘the Guide’, the last and twelfth Imam. The story of the Imam’s of the house of the Prophet(s.a.v.) are rather tragic. The father of Hassan al’Askari (a.s.) was deported from Medina to Samarra by the tyrant Mutawakkil and detained there until his death. Similarly Hasan (a.s.) was kept a prisoner by the jealousy of Mutawakkil’s successors. His infant son, Mohammad al-Mehdi (a.s.), barely five years of age, pining for his father, wandered about in his search and entered a cave from which he is believed to have disappeared. This tragic story ends with hope and expectation in the hearts of the Shias that the child will return to relieve a sorrowful and sinful world of its burden of sin and oppression. This Imam bears, among the Shias, titles of the Muntazar- the Expected, the Hujja – the Proof (of the Truth), the Kaim – the Living. Great sufi’s and Islamic theologists like Attar, Rumi, Jami and ibn-Arabi have referred variously to the twelfth Imam as the ‘Seal of Sainthood,  ‘the Hidden Imam’, or the ‘Imam of the Time’. 

The belief in the appearance of a savior or avataar in not too distant future is common to almost all religious traditions and cultures. There are over 700 prophecies from around the world which promise the advent of a world savior pledging spiritual revolution and redemption. The Hindus await the incarnation of Vishnu in the avatar of Kalki, the Buddhists wait for  the reincarnation of Lord Buddha as Lord Maitreya, the Zoroastrians foretell the second coming of Zoroaster as Saoshynt, the Jews wait for their Immanuel, and the Christians wait for the return of Christ. However the interpretation of all the prophecies suffers from ‘religious myopia’. All religious follower believe that there can be only one savior – theirs. The savior from their particular faith is the only true redeemer. But perhaps  the hallowed concepts of organized religions and messianic traditions themselves need to undergo death and resurrection before this world can be saved from itself. 

Kabir: the weaver of mystic

Where do you seek me O devout?
I reside neither in the temple or in the mosque
neither Kashi or in Kaba
Neither in rites or in ceremonies
Neither in Yoga or in renunciation……
the true seeker shall find me in a moments realisation

for I reside in the very breath of your being….

(translated from the ‘Bijak’ collection of Kabir sayings)

Sometime in the 15th century lived a julaha – a ‘low caste’ muslim weaver, who preached the oneness of all men and all beliefs, the futility of all religions and rituals and the eventual passing away of all that is of flesh or of material in this phenomenal world. His name was Kabir.He claimed no sainthood or a personal philosophy. He taught the religion of love, in a language that could be understood by all – the twilight language of the mystic poets, bhakti saints and sufi poets. Kabir was the first, the first to imbibe a pluralistic tradition in his teachings and poetry, the first to transcend both Hinduism and Islam. Many were to follow in his foot steps….Akbar, Dara Shikoh, Amir Khusro…., but Kabir was the first to win the hearts and souls of the people who mattered – the common people of this land.An illiterate, he spoke of the highest esoteric truths in a simple language. A simplicity that the ‘learned’ pundits and maulvis are incapable of. One can see the synretistic reflections of Advaita theology and intense and personal passion of Islamic mysticism in his spontaneous compositions.Indian sufis in Delhi, Agra and Kashmir were reading his poetry during the rule of Jehangir and Shah Jahan. He was a predecessor of Guru Nanak, the founder of Sikh religion and the sacred Guru Granth Sahib contains a substantial number of Kabir’s verses. Kabir is believed to have been born around 1398 and died around 1448. Most of his life was spent in the Banaras-Magahar region of present Uttar Pradesh . He was a family man and did not retire from the world to pursue a life of contemplation. He lived the simple life of a Julaha and died like one, earning his living at the loom and spurning the company of the ‘learned’ and royality alike. He beleived that the simple and hardworking life of an ordinary man was the world in which the quest for Higher Reality could be fullfilled.According to Kabir, every individual has to find his own Path and seek liberation from this illusory world of Maya. This, he says, can be achieved through unwavering love for the Higher Reality or God and compassion for fellow humans. He compares the individual soul or atman to the Hansa or swan, who will leave the cage of this body and fly away into the vastness of the limitless sky: 

Ud Jayega Huns Akela,

Jug Darshan Ka Mela

Jaise Paat Gire Taruvar Se,

Milna Bahut Duhela

Naa Jane Kidhar Girega,

Lageya Pawan Ka Rela

Jub Howe Umur Puri,

Jab Chute Ga Hukum Huzuri

Jum Ke Doot Bade Mazboot,

Jum Se Pada Jhamela

Das Kabir Har Ke Gun Gawe,

Wah Har Ko Paran Pawe

Guru Ki Karni Guru Jayega,

Chele Ki Karni Chela

this can be loosely translated as :

                                                   Alone you shall fly O Swan

                                                                 

                                                                     This world is a brief fanfare

                                               Like a leaf that falls from a tree

where to it will fall,

where to the wind will carry it

no one can tell

once your life is over

servitude and slavery is over

the omens of Yam (Death) are strong

it is Yam (Death) you will encounter

Kabir had immersed himself in the praise of God

and God he will attain

 the Guru will reap his karmas

and the desciple his.

 

 

 Kabir’s another composition addresses the Swan thus :

O Swan let us talk of ancient tales

Fasting among various faiths

There’s a hidden sweetness in the stomach’s emptiness.
We are lutes, no more, no less. If the sound box
is stuffed full of anything, no music.
If the brain and the belly are burning clean
with fasting, every moment a new song comes out of the fire.
The fog clears, and new energy makes you
run up the steps in front of you.
Be emptier and cry like reed instruments cry.
Emptier, write secrets with the reed pen…….

-Rumi (translated by Coleman Barks and John Moyne)

Fasting has been in practice for a long time in the religious and spiritual history of mankind. It finds mention in the Mahabharat, the Upanishads, the Old and New Testament, the Bible and the Quran and various other sacred texts. Among the Hindus fasting takes on many variations from complete abstinence from food and water to selective eating or partaking of just one meal a day. The objectives too are many and varied. Various fasts are observed the year round to appease various deities, some married women fast for the well being and prosperity of their husbands, while the unmarried fast to gain a worthy husband. At another level fasts are undertaken for the purification of body and control of the ego (mann) and desires (vaasanaa). This is a preparatory phase for contemplation and meditation. Among the yogis, fasting along with other austerities is observed to attain various siddhis (supernormal powers). In the Bhagavad Geeta, Krishna tells Arjun:Who so shall offer Me in faith and love
A leaf, a flower, a fruit, water poured forth,
That offering I accept, lovingly made
With pious will. Whate’er thou doest, Prince!
Eating or sacrificing, giving gifts,
Praying or fasting, let it all be done
For Me, as Mine. So shalt thou free thyself
From Karmabandh, the chain which holdeth men
To good and evil issue, so shalt come
Safe unto Me—when thou art quit of flesh—
By faith and abdication joined to Me!

Many Buddhists eat just one meal a day in accordance with the account given in the Mahayana Sutras, which mentions that Buddha ate just one meal a day, before noon. Buddha had realized that desire had its root in the mind and could be transformed in the mind. Fasting could help in subduing the body’s coarse desires and converting them to wisdom. Fasting is regularly practiced among the Buddhists to aid meditation and healing. In Uttarpurna, on of the religious texts of the Jains, it is mentioned with reference to Lord Mahavir:

“After fasting for two and a half days, taking not even water, engaged in deep meditation, he (the Venerable One) reached the highest jnana (knowledge) and darsana (intuition), called kevala, which is infinite, supreme, unobstructed, unimpeded, complete and full.”

Among the Jains, fasting is usually observed during Puryushana, which is the period when the Jain Sadhus take a temporary break from their wanderings. This period falls during the monsoon months. Fasting for the Jains is an opportunity to follow complete non-violence and to meditate and pray.

For the Jews the major fasting days fall on the Yom Kippur and Tisha B’Av. According to the well known Rabbi Zvi Ish-Shalom:
‘In the Book of Vayikrah (Leviticus 16), the Torah says with regard to Yom Kippur: shabbat shabbaton hi lachem v’initem et nafshoteichem – “a shabbat shabbaton shall be for you, and you shall afflict yourselves”. And so on Yom Kippur we attempt to activate – to draw out of ourselves in some way – that deathless state of being, that awareness of our eternality, that angelic dimension that is typically asleep within us. We do this by fasting, praying, meditating and studying. We do this not in a spirit of sadness or mourning, but in a spirit of celebration and in a celebration of spirit; with the joy that accompanies the realization of our soul’s innate and direct connection with the Divine.’
It is noteworthy that among the Jews and the Shia Muslims, fasting is also a form of collective mourning for a past tragedy. For the Jews it is the destruction of their Temple in Jerusalem and the assassination of Gedaliah Ben Achikam, the Governor of Israel during the days of Nebuchadnetzar King of Babylonia. For the Shia Muslims it is the martyrdom of Imam Hussain at Karbala, which falls on 10th of Mohorrum (Ashuraa). Moses is believed to have fasted for forty days and nights while he was on Mt. Sinai communing with God.

In Christianity, fasting metaphorically means refraining from satisfying hunger, thirst and other lustful desires. Fasting is believed to be a kind of self purgatory to drive away all the demons (negativities) from your body and soul. Certain Christian groups, such as the Anglicans observe a forty day partial fast in memory of Christ who fasted for 40 days in the wilderness before facing Satan (temptation).The Bible says:

But as for me, when they were sick, my clothing was sackcloth; I humbled my soul with fasting; and my prayer kept returning to my bosom. (Psalm 35:13)

It further says:

 

“And whenever you fast, do not put on a gloomy face as the hypocrites do, for they neglect their appearance in order to be seen fasting by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. “But you, when you fast, anoint your head, and wash your face so that you may not be seen fasting by men, but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will repay you. (Matthew 6:16-18)

Prophet Mohammad is believed to have said something similar with regard to fasting:“Every good deed is rewarded from ten to seven hundred times over, but God says fasting is the exception; it is for Me, and My servant forgoes his eating and drinking for my sake, so I Myself will reward My servant for it.”

Among the Muslims, fasting during the holy month of Ramadan is one of the five pillars of Islam – mandatory for all adult and healthy Muslims.
The Quran says: 

“O ye who believe fasting is prescribed for you…so that you will (learn how to attain) piety”

 

“Ramadan is the (month) in which Quran was sent down, as a guide to mankind, and a clear guidance and judgment (so that mankind will distinguish right from wrong). Whoever among you witnesses the month of Ramadan should fast through it…” (2:183)

In the month of Ramadan, forgetting their differences, Muslims all over the world, whether Shia or Sunni, Barelvi or Deobandi, Ishana’ashari or Agha Khani all observe this season of fasting and praying – together as one brotherhood.Among the mystical dimensions of all major religions such as Advaita, Sufism, Cabbala, and Gnosticism, solitude along with fasting, not just of the body but of thought and speech are observed before and during prolonged phases of meditation to make one receptive to the higher Truths. 

It is apparent that most religions share similar beliefs with regard to fasting. It is rather unfortunate that instead of cherishing the similarities among various faiths we continue to focus on the differences.

(This article has also been published by TwoCircles.net)