Muharram; A way for Convergence and Solidarity

Afghanistan is a country that is in a crisis of politics and power conflict, and for this reason, it has been lagging behind the process of becoming a nation for many years and facing major challenges and obstacles in formation of national identity.

The ethnocentric and monopolistic thoughts of ambitious and fanatical politicians have greatly increased ethnic divisions and religious differences and created deep-rooted hatred among the ethnic groups and religions of the country.

Every day that passes, the contaminated and unhealthy politics in the country increases the scope of this crisis and blocks the way to formation of national solidarity and reduction of ethnic and religious divides.

Therefore, the crisis-stricken Afghanistan is in dire need of a fundamental and basic solution to confront and fight the factors of disunity and disunity among the country’s citizens, to provide at least the basis for gradual reduction and disappearance of internal differences of Islamic society in Afghanistan and in long-term, this problem will be removed from Afghanistan.

One of the most effective and important elements that can be proven effective in this field is the use of religious programs and gatherings, such as the first decade of Muharram and the mourning days of Imam Hussain.

Imam Hossain, as a dear descendant of the Great Prophet of Islam (PBUH), can become a point of connection between Shia and Sunni Muslims in Islamic society of Afghanistan. This is because all Islamic religions have special respect and honor towards the Prophet’s family and Ahl al-Bayt, and Imam Hussain has a special place among them. He can act as an important point of commonality among Muslims, because everyone agrees that Imam Hussain played an important and decisive role in the revival of the holy religion of Islam, and with self-sacrifice, he protected the Islamic values ​​that were violated by the government at that time and they had given way to widespread violations, revived and made the Islamic society aware of the deviations that had formed through enlightenment and awakening.

Not accepting humiliation and not living under the shadow of a corrupt and inefficient government that was a stain on Islam is another great lesson from the school of Imam Hussain and the painful incident of Karbala, which can gather all Muslims around a single axis and eliminate hypocrisy and the divisions in Islamic society.

Everyone accepts that Imam Hussain does not belong to any of the Islamic religions, and according to the uprising of Imam Hussain and his sacrifices, it is not specific to the Shia religion, because he wanted to revive the religion of his ancestor, the holy religion of Islam, and to save the Islamic society from the deviations and perversions that had been promoted, moved towards Karbala.

Imam Hussain has clearly said that he rose to reform his ancestor’s nation. It is obvious that this word means all the followers of Islam, and in the meantime, no difference or demarcation was intended.

If we put everything that has been said together, we come to the conclusion that the life-giving uprising of Imam Hussain and the incident of Karbala is a pivot that has the power to unite the entire crisis-stricken society of Afghanistan, and this should be used as an opportunity for the convergence and solidarity of the Islamic society in Afghanistan.

The secret to achieving this goal lies in the fact that the programs and ceremonies commemorating Imam Hussain and the Karbala event are not exclusive to a specific religious group, namely the Shiites, but rather efforts are made to promote the wide participation of all religious groups, both Shia and Sunni, and the speakers also ask the elders and scholars of all Islamic religions to participate in the programs and move together, so that the negative effects caused by the pollution of politics in the past are reduced, and the society, following the example of the elders, government officials and religious scholars, in the path of resolving differences and Institutionalized hatreds should be moved and moved towards national solidarity and convergence.

Achieving this goal is possible, but it requires determination and perseverance, which must be implemented by the people and the government.