Ashura

Ashura

Another anarchist trend within Islam originated with Sufi groups, some of whom preached antiauthoritarian ideas. Their often intentionally vague declarations spoke of the unnecessary nature of state power. These Sufis may have inspired 20th-century Muslim anarchists as well. Sufi groups were often prominent in resistance to state control, as is evident in their involvement with the Chechen resistance to the Tsarist Empire or the North African Arab resistance to the French. In the 19th century, the ideas of Western anarchists began to circulate in the Arab and Muslim world. The Lebanese writer Butrus al-Bustani, while critical of Western socialism, repeated the observation of previous Muslim thinkers that anarchism was a part of the political tradition of Bedouin tribes. In the early 20th century, a number of European anarchists and adventurers converted to Islam. A prominent example is the Swiss-Russian adventurer Isabelle Burchart, who converted to Islam in Algeria and became involved with the Sufi resistance to the French occupation. Other examples include the Swedish painter Ivan Agueli and the French cartoonist Gustave-Henri Jossot, who both were part of anarchist circles and hostile to statist Christianity before their conversion. In 2005, Yakob Islam, a British Muslim convert, published the Muslim Anarchist Charter, which calls for the creation of communities in which “peaceful cultural evolution is uninhibited by power, greed, or ignorance.” European anarchist converts to Islam found in Sufism a facet of Islam that was nonhierarchical, exemplified anarchist principles, and was a counterbalance to statist Christianity. They also found Islam compatible with the Western anarchist tradition, though they were largely unaware of the doctrines of the Kharijis and Mu‘tazilis. See also Further Reading Patricia Crone, Medieval Islamic Political Thought, 2004; Idem, “Ninth-Century Muslim Anarchists,” Past & Present, no. 167 (2000); Yakob Islam, Muslim Anarchist Charter, 2005; Cecily Mackworth, The Destiny of Isabelle Eberhardt, 1977; Elie Adib Salem, Political Theory and Institution of the Khawarij, 1956. JOSEPH HAMMOND 10

Ashura Ashura refers to the 10th day of Muharram, the first month of the Islamic calendar, when Husayn b. ‘Ali, the third Shi‘i imam and the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad, was martyred at Karbala, Iraq, in 680. Husayn was on his way from Madina to Kufa, the former capital of ‘Ali’s caliphate, where local supporters had invited him to lead them as their imam. ‘Ubayd Allah b. Ziyad, the Umayyad governor of Kufa, feared a rebellion and sent troops to stop Husayn’s caravan at Karbala before it reached Kufa. He ordered his commanders to make clear to Husayn that he had no choice other than to pledge allegiance to Yazid, the second Ummayad caliph (r. 680–83). Though his party was prevented from reaching water in the Karbala desert and his followers were so few in comparison with the Ummayd troops, Husayn rejected submission to the Umayyad caliph, whom he viewed as a usurper caliph and, consequently, an illegitimate ruler. After some days, on Asura, 72 males, from Husayn’s six-month-old baby to a 75-yearold man, were killed by Umayyad troops. The women and children were taken prisoner at Yazid’s palace in Damascus, the capital of the Umayyad caliphate, where Zaynab, Husayn’s sister, confronted and shamed Yazid in a memorable speech. She is therefore known as the messenger of Ashura. Shi‘ite devotees throughout the world mourn on Ashura to commemorate and lament the martyrdom of Husayn and his companions at Karbala. The ceremonies, which often begin on the first day of Muharram, culminate on the 10th day, and continue until the 12th day, involve (with some differences from place to place) dramatic processions in which the participants chant “O Husayn!” and other slogans; beat their breasts; strike their backs with chains; carry massive devotional displays; perform other gestures associated with mourning, such as strewing the head, face, or entire body with dust or mud; and stage elaborate passion plays, or reenactments of the events leading up to the martyrdom and the Battle of Karbala itself. The open, organized commemoration of Ashura began under Mu‘izz al-Dawla in Baghdad in 964, after the Shi‘ite Buyids had established dominance in Iraq (945–1055). Not long after, Ashura rituals became popular in Cairo under the Fatimids (969–1171), and they have been popular ever since in areas where Shi‘ites form a significant part of the population. In some environments where the community includes large Sunni and Shi‘ite groups, Ashura has

Bangladesh

often been a time when sectarian violence can flare up, leading to fights and riots. Buyid Baghdad, for example, witnessed scores of such riots on Ashura, some of which resulted in fires that burned large quarters of the city, and similar outbreaks of violence have taken place in modern Iraq and Pakistan. Some Sunni groups in some areas of the world, such as Syria and Egypt, have developed traditions of celebrating on Ashura that include eating particular delicacies as a way to advertise Sunni identity and spite the Shi‘ites, whereas other Sunnis in other parts of the world, such as in Afghanistan, retain traditions of fasting, reading the Qur’an, or visiting cemeteries on Ashura. Husayn’s martyrdom has retained a strong symbolic significance in Islamic history, especially for Shi‘ites, who have used it as a marker for their distinct identity within the Islamic world and as ideological grounds for their religiopolitical movements. The commemoration of Ashura stresses the iniquity of tyrannical rule and the Shi‘ites’ existence as an oppressed minority. In addition, it stresses the failure of Husayn’s supporters from Kufa— the Shi‘ites—to come to his aid. Very soon after the Battle of Karbala, rebellions and resistance against the Umayyad caliphate emerged that adopted the memory of Karbala as a rallying cry, including the rebellion of the Penitents (Tawwābūn), led by Sulayman b. Surad alKhuzai in 684; the rebellion of Mukhtar al-Thaqafi in 685; and many other revolts in the name of descendants of ‘Ali. Ashura has therefore often lent itself to a contemporary political interpretation, supporting a potential uprising against any political system that is viewed as unjust. See also Further Reading Mahmoud Ayoub, Redemptive Suffering in Islam: A Study of the Devotional Aspects of ‘Āshūrā in Twelver Shiism, 1978; Gustave E. von Grunebaum, Muhammadan Festivals, 1951; Sayyid Jafar Shahidi, “The Significance of ‘Āshūrā in Shī‘ī History,” in Shī‘īte Heritage: Essays on Classical and Modern Traditions, edited and translated by L. Clarke, 2001. ALI-AHMAD RASEKH

Bangladesh Long considered the backwoods of Indian Islam, Bangladesh has become one of the largest Muslim countries in the world. Concentrated in an area approximately the size of Wisconsin, its total population as of 2010 exceeds 150 million, 87 percent of whom are Sunnis. Part of a larger political-linguistic entity called Bengal, the region was divided into two halves in 1947 when the British left India and handed over the eastern half (then known as Eastern Bengal), with an overwhelming Muslim majority, to Pakistan and the other half (called West Bengal), with a Hindu majority, to India, even though both halves shared a common ethnic and linguistic tradition and history. Eastern Bengal, renamed East Pakistan in 1947, soon came into conflict with the dominant Pakistani landowning military and bureaucratic elite based in West Pakistan, principally over the sharing of resources but also on the question of autonomy for the province and the status of the Bengali language. The Language Movement of 1952, which demanded recognition of Bengali as one of the state languages, was the first political manifestation of this discontent. The killing of several university students on February 21 by police dramatically transformed the language issue into a resistance movement against the policies of the central government and brought it to the center of political and cultural discourse in Bangladesh. Widely celebrated as the Martyrs’ Day through annual marches, cultural events, songs, and literature, the incident galvanized increasing popular support during the next few years. By 1969, this support developed into a mass movement for greater autonomy and finally, by 1970, into a fullfledged war of liberation, resulting in the creation of Bangladesh on March 26, 1971, under the leadership of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman (d. 1975). The region came under Muslim political control gradually under the Delhi sultanate starting in the 13th century. Through a long process of Sufi propagation, acculturation, land reclamation, and immigration from outside Bengal, a greater part of the area ultimately became Muslim. However, the religious tradition that developed there was a unique mix of orthodoxy and Sufism, which, coupled with accretions from local popular cultural symbols and rituals, was unique to Bangladesh. Since the 19th century, a powerful purist trend initiated by a series of Islamic reform movements, notably the Faraizi and the Tariqah-i-Muhammadiya, seriously challenged the older traditions. This tension, 11