What it means to stand with Hussain (DW#455)
Sep 20, 2018
Today's wisdom comes from my daughter Sara who wrote this piece on what it means to stand with Imam Hussain (as)
As this year's azadari comes to a close, I've been thinking about what values this annual commemoration draws out of me:
if I am with Hussain (as), I value and honor the significance of histories and herstories of oppression and of standing up against injustice, and I make a conscious effort to remember them in community. I believe in the power of storytelling. I do not dismiss these stories for being "so long ago" or of a different people or from a far away place.
if I am with Hussain (as), I stand with the systematically oppressed, silenced, disenfranchised, abused, tortured, murdered, and imprisoned
if I am with Hussain (as), I work towards a level of commitment to justice for the aforementioned where I am willing to give up anything and everything - my comfort, my wealth, my ego, and my life - in pursuit of it
if I am with Hussain (as), I am of those whose hearts are soft and tender and filled with the pain of the ahlulbayt and by extension the pain of those suffering since and today. I use this pain as a constant reminder that I cannot be silent or passive in the face of all this suffering.
if I am with Hussain (as), I recognize the power of shedding tears and expressing emotions that stem from the divine essence inside me responding to the world around me. I do not shame people for feeling.
if I am with Hussain (as), I gladly uplift those looking to grow and change, I help provide them with space to do so, I honor their journey, I do not label them by their mistakes/sins for life (read: I do not believe in the prison industrial complex)
if I am with Hussain (as), I recognize that the fight for justice is not easy and that it is not peaceful - it is a painful, messy, bloody, never ending battle, but it is better than being silent in the face of injustice.
What about you?
As this year's azadari comes to a close, I've been thinking about what values this annual commemoration draws out of me:
if I am with Hussain (as), I value and honor the significance of histories and herstories of oppression and of standing up against injustice, and I make a conscious effort to remember them in community. I believe in the power of storytelling. I do not dismiss these stories for being "so long ago" or of a different people or from a far away place.
if I am with Hussain (as), I stand with the systematically oppressed, silenced, disenfranchised, abused, tortured, murdered, and imprisoned
if I am with Hussain (as), I work towards a level of commitment to justice for the aforementioned where I am willing to give up anything and everything - my comfort, my wealth, my ego, and my life - in pursuit of it
if I am with Hussain (as), I am of those whose hearts are soft and tender and filled with the pain of the ahlulbayt and by extension the pain of those suffering since and today. I use this pain as a constant reminder that I cannot be silent or passive in the face of all this suffering.
if I am with Hussain (as), I recognize the power of shedding tears and expressing emotions that stem from the divine essence inside me responding to the world around me. I do not shame people for feeling.
if I am with Hussain (as), I gladly uplift those looking to grow and change, I help provide them with space to do so, I honor their journey, I do not label them by their mistakes/sins for life (read: I do not believe in the prison industrial complex)
if I am with Hussain (as), I recognize that the fight for justice is not easy and that it is not peaceful - it is a painful, messy, bloody, never ending battle, but it is better than being silent in the face of injustice.
What about you?
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