I have been meaning to get back to my writing for a couple of months now. Just couldn’t. You know… how our schedules get like during Muharram. I usually had three to four majalis invites for each day. If you live in Karachi, you must have had a similar experience. It’s amazing how our whole community gets mobilized during these days. So much could be said about our majalis gatherings.
The majalis continue after the first ten days of Muharram, especially among the ladies. From the corner areas of Karachi - like Malir, Safora Ghott, Sohrab Ghott, Korangi, Lyari, Queens Road, Defence - to the central areas - like Saddar, Soldier Bazar, Guru Mandir, PECHS, Rizvia - literally hundreds of majalis continue to happen everyday for over two months.Walk into Soldier Bazar during morning hours in one of those days. You will see individuals and groups of women walking or driving from one end to another end of the muhalla (town) attending the majalis, one after another. You will notice their hands full with niyaz, tabarruk, household items that they bought in bazaar on their way to attending the majalis.
The primary motive, of course, is to remember the great sacrifice of Imam Hussain (as) and his dear ones in Karbala, Kufa, and Shaam. And to gain some practical messages from their example. But, there also are the secondary motives or the ‘latent functions’ of these majalis gatherings, including maintaining networks and doing ‘homework’ for building ‘new’ networks after Muharram!
Even if you do not live in Karachi, you can probably still relate to this experience. Wouldn’t you agree that our majalis gatherings seem to have lost its focus, its meaning, its purpose somehow? Somehow, the secondary motives have become the primary motivation.
If you happen to be a young female, you must accompany your mother in the majalis in our Khoja community, not necessarily for the majalis itself, but for your ’screening’ in front of other aunties. The aunties take it as their responsibility to scrutinize every bit of yours: how you dress, how you carry yourself, how you weep. I wouldn’t have mind if the purpose behind their ‘care’ was to make sure that we young ones do Azadari the right way, that I am learning from the majalis, that I am feeling the pain of Ahlul Bayt (as) in my heart. I wish as elders they would do that instead of distracting themselves and making young ones self-conscious about unnecessary things while attending the majalis.
It's a whole culture that has developed in our majalis gatherings involving certain roles and expectations and instrumental justifications of using the majalis avenue for that purpose. I wish we had other purposive public avenues within our communities that would cater to these other social needs.
Another Concern - The Tableegh Aspect
Back in older days, as I have been told, niyaz, tabarruk, sabeel would attract the non-Shia and the needy to our majalis. Our gatherings tended to be more inviting of other people. Now, our majalis are more exclusive sort. We just feed each other: I invite you to my majalis, you invite me, and we feed eachother - the already fed ones - with the best available niyaz in market.
Really, how much do we generally learn from these majalis, even after years of attendance? Talk about the culture of our majalis - how many times have you seen a thoughtful followup discussion after a majalis among the ladies? The comment I hear after a majalis is usually 'very fine' or 'bohat achchi thi', some times the talk may be about the masa'ib, but then the discussion would move on to other 'usual' stuff. We seem to have missed the tableegh aspect of these majalis. Part of this is because of our self absorption and exclusiveness (exclusiveness even among ourselves, as known to us by the labels 'khoja', 'urdu speaking', 'punjabi' centers).
My neighbor is a Sunni Muslima but she loves to attend Muharram gatherings and has a special place for mourning and tabarruk in her heart. Each year she asks me to take her to a few majalis gatherings. To do that, I really have to consider so many things: where should I take her, what are my options, how many zakiras really deliver substantial material? How inviting would the audience be? Alhamdolillah, I am always able to find a few gatherings where I feel comfortable taking her.
But I so wish that our majalis gatherings - where at times people come for food, business, and other sorts of dunyawi (worldly) chores - instead of being bazaars (as they feel like sometimes) they become true Universities of Imam Hussain (as). Like in a university you have different specialized classes on different topics, I wish our Muharram ‘Ashras in different households and community centers become specialized classes for Akhlaaq, History, Current Affairs, Social Problems, Fiqh, and Aqaid. And after attending hundreds of these majalis each year and for several years, we and our new generation would become graduates in Islam.
The increasing numbers of the likes of the Hafsa Madrassa (here, here) and the tough, rigid kind of their students, who seem to be the least tolerant of differences, should really concern us. There are similar madrassas close to our areas too. What kind of Islam are they learning? Have we done any outreach to them or at least the general Muslim population? What can we do?
It is important more than ever before that our majalis become a source of education and inspiration and we invite our non-Shia fellows in even greater numbers in them. We need to get out of our shy, self-absorbed exclusiveness in our interaction with other communities.
(April 18, 2007)
Photo: A wall frame inside Gamay Shah, Lahore.
2 comments:
An exchange I had with a reader by the name, fullstop:
1. fullstop wrote on 17 Jun 2007
This issue bother me a lot too. It seems that these majalis serve the purpose of making the organizer believe that are relieved of their responsibility to Imams. Its just one of those things that makes them feel good about themselves. Nevertheless, a lot of majalis take place and I consider it a great way in which the community could be educated.
Previously I have thought that there should be some sort of a zakir convention where the leading Ulema have discussion about the needs of the community. The zakirs might then be educated on what needs to be talked about, what issues are critical for the community. The expertise of different zakirs in different areas (eg. history or sociology) should be recognized and they should be encouraged to approach their discussions from their area of strength.
Another suggestion in extracting benefit from these majalis gatherings is introduction of a question/answer session after these discussions. I think this is ideal for house majalis because in a small gathering these question/answer can be moderated. The organizers can prepare a few questions of their own to get the ball rolling and stuff like that.
2. aali
I agree with you. Much of what we have learned about our history and identity is from the majalis platform. It’s a great educational platform. By revisiting its practice today, we can make it more effective.
Your suggestions are right on the target. Some measures have been introduced regarding both of them in Karachi in the last decade. I have personally attended majalis gatherings with Q&A section at the end. However, this pattern is still not that common.
Regarding the first suggestion, a few Zakareen training seminars have been organized in Karachi in the last few years. But, generally speaking, these seminars have not paid as much attention to the social issues - the need you pointed out - as should have been. An exceptional initiative may be the MTP project by WF:
http://www.world-federation.org/Tableegh/Articles/MuballigheenTrainingProgramme.htm
Nice to see you! :)
3. fullstop wrote on 22 Jun 2007
The MTP is a commendable initiative. But what I had in mind was a localized and short-term program. Something that can make the zakirs aware of the current issues facing the community and can advise them how these should be discussed in the majalis. This could be done like Maulana Maisami’s Mazheb Shanasi program. A week’s crash course every year before Muharram. The MTP seems like a program intended to train zakirs from scratch. What I am sugguesting would be for zakirs that are doing majalis and are involved with their communities in oneway or other.
The intention is for the majalis to stay relevant and dynamically adjust to the current issues. Take for example, dating. As I understand, this is now more acceptable among the youth but most elders do not see it the same way. Lets have a discussion about that.
P.S. Excuse me for the multiple grammatical mistakes in my previous post. I wrote it pretty late at night or as I could say it was pretty early in the morning. :)
4. aali wrote on 23 Jun 2007
I see your point. A short course or 4-5 days long seminars addressing and updating on various social/current issues. That would especially work with current affairs.
To bring all zakirs under one umbrella for such an activity is, however, a practical problem, but I guess, we can leave this issue aside for the purpose of brainstorming here.
My question is this: Would people in those seminars be able to grasp things that fully without prior training in social sciences? I am afraid that short term courses would only give fish to the audience rather than tools to fish. It’s like the difference between learning a few fiqh ruling and their application vs. developing the ability to apply them in different settings and in different context with competence. To acquire the latter level of skills need more time commitment.
People who are trained into the latter would be able to grasp more from the short term seminars you proposed. We would still need that ground work. MTP’s work is commendable in this regard - it aims to teach those tools.
Many problems of social and youth affairs relate to deep rooted culture patterns and cultural values of many individuals. They are longstanding. Hard to shake, modify, correct, even if you want to do it with the perspective of Islam. Many times our elders (including zakareen) fail the youth because, due to their own cultural predispositions, they don’t understand their problems. Can such critical discernment be taught in short term seminars?
Thanks for this thoughtful post. I particularly agree with the "I feed you, you feed me" aspect of this practice. Another latent reason within the community may be "Look at how large my home is."
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