“The Battle of Karbala is essentially what ended the bloodline of the Prophet Muhammad (SAW) and that is what Shia Muslims mourn on Ashura.”

Ashura is a Muslim holiday that’s observed on the 10th day of Muharram, the first month of the Islamic lunar calendar. Last Sunday 6^th July was also 10^th Muharam: Day of Ashura, celebrated all over the Muslim world. But it’s a holiday with varied significance for the two sects of Islam.

Sunni Muslims have celebrated this ever since the Prophet Muhammad arrived in Medina with his followers on Ashura and saw Jewish people fasting in honor of Moses’ victory. So, Muhammad (SAW) turned to his followers and told them: “You (Muslims) have more right to celebrate Moses’ victory than they have, so observe the fast on this day.” Why, was never revealed, despite the historical fact that Moses was first and foremost a Hebrew prophet.

Moses freeing the Israelites is one of many events that are revered by all followers of the three Abrahamic religions – Christians, Muslims, and Jews alike. Shia Muslims also commemorate this event on Ashura but, for them, there is a second thing of great significance that also happened on Ashura – the murder of Imam Husayn, the Prophet’s (SAW) grandson.

For Shia Muslims, who comprise roughly 15 percent of the world’s Muslim population, Ashura is the most solemn and significant date on the calendar, a day to mourn and remember the martyrdom of Husayn, in 680 C.E.

For Sunni Muslims, who represent the majority of Muslims worldwide, Ashura is a New Year’s celebration that also commemorates miraculous events from the Quran (and the Hebrew Bible), such as Moses parting the Red Sea and Noah landing the Ark on dry land.

There was a split among Muslims — collectively called the ummah — between those who believed that a descendent of Muhammad should rightfully take the prophet’s place as leader, and those who thought that the community should choose its next leader.

While for Sunni Muslims, Ashura is a day of fasting and celebration, for Shia Muslims it’s also a day of mourning. But, contrary to popular belief, Ashura doesn’t mark the start of the Sunni-Shia divide. Instead, that technically started on the day of the Prophet Muhammad’s death in 632 AD – 22 years after the birth of Islam.

By the time of his death, Muhammad (SAW) had managed to consolidate power throughout the Arabic world. As often happens with other huge and rapidly-established kingdoms or empires, however (e.g. Macedonia, Mongolia, etc.), the moment this new realm’s leader passes away, a succession crisis sets in.

Two people, in particular, were seen as the main candidates to be Muhammad’s successor. Abu Bakr, a close companion of the Prophet (SAW) was seen by a large portion of Muhammad’s followers as his ideal successor. The second name was that of Ali ibn Abi Talib – Muhammad’s son-in-law and cousin.

Ali’s followers backed him not only because they believed he’d be a good choice but especially because he was the Prophet’s blood relative. Ali’s followers dubbed themselves Shi’atu Ali or “Partisans of Ali” or just Shia, for short. They believed that Muhammad (SAW) wasn’t merely a prophet of the Lord but that his bloodline was divine and only someone related to him could ever be a rightful caliph.

Unfortunately for the Partisans of Ali, the supporters of Abu Bakr were more numerous and politically influential and they seated Abu Bakr as Muhammad’s successor and caliph of the young Islamic community. His supporters adopted the term Sunni from the Arabic word sunna or “Way” because they strived to follow Muhammad’s religious ways and principles, not his bloodline.

This key event in 632 AD was the beginning of the Sunni-Shia divide but it’s not what, Shia Muslims are mourning on Ashura.

First, in 656 AD Ali managed to become caliph himself after Abu Bakr, Umar, and Uthman who died in June 656 AD. He only ruled for 5 years, before he was assassinated on 28^th January 661, while praying in the Mosque of Kufa.

From there, the still young and tension-filled caliphate passed to the Umayyad dynasty of Damascus, and from them – to the Abbasids of Baghdad. Shias rejected both of those dynasties as “illegitimate”, of course, and confrontations between the Partisans of Ali and their Sunni leaders continued to escalate.

Al-Ḥusayn ibn ʿAlī; 11 January 626 – 10 October 680 CE) was a social, political and religious leader in early medieval Arabia. The grandson of prophet Muhammad (SAW), and an Alid (the son of Ali ibn Abi Talib and Muhammad’s daughter Fatima), as well as a younger brother of Hasan ibn Ali.

Husayn is regarded as the third Imam in Shia Islam after his brother, Hasan, and before his son, Ali al-Sajjad. Husayn is a prominent member of the Ahl al-Bayt and is also considered to be a member of the Ahl al-Kisa and a participant in the ‘event of the mubahala’. Muhammad (SAW) described him and his brother, Hasan, as the leaders of the youth of paradise.

During the caliphate of Ali, Husayn accompanied him in wars. After the assassination of Ali, he obeyed his brother in recognizing the Hasan–Mu’awiya I treaty, despite it being suggested to do otherwise. In the nine-year period between Hasan’s abdication in AH 41 (660) and his death in AH 49 or 50 (669 or 670), Hasan and Husayn retreated to Medina, trying to keep aloof from political involvement for or against Mu’awiya I.

After the death of Hasan, when Iraqis turned to Husayn, concerning an uprising, Husayn instructed them to wait as long as Mu’awiya was alive due to Hasan’s peace treaty with him. Prior to his death, Mu’awiya appointed his son Yazid as his successor, contrary to the Hasan–Mu’awiya treaty.

When Mu’awiya I died in 680, Yazid demanded that Husayn pledge allegiance to him. Husayn refused to do so. As a consequence, he left Medina, his hometown, to take refuge in Mecca in AH 60 (679). There, the people of Kufa asked him to be their Imam and pledged their allegiance to him.

On Husayn’s way to Kufa with a retinue of about 72 men, his caravan was intercepted by a 1,000-strong army of the caliph at some distance from Kufa. He was forced to head north and encamp in the plain of Karbala on 2 October, where a larger Umayyad army of some 4,000 or 30,000 arrived soon afterwards.

Battle of Karbala, (October 10, 680 [10th of Muḥarram, ah 61]), brief military engagement in which a small party led by al-Ḥusayn ibn ʿAlī, grandson of the Prophet Muhammad and son of ʿAlī, the fourth caliph, was defeated and massacred by an army sent by the Umayyad caliph Yazīd I. The battle helped secure the position of the Umayyad dynasty, but among Shiʿi Muslims (followers of Ḥusayn) the 10th of Muḥarram (or ʿĀshūrāʾ) became an annual holy day of public mourning.

The Battle of Karbala galvanized the development of the Shi’at Ali into a unique religious sect with its own rituals and collective memory. It has a central place in Shi’a history, tradition, and theology, and has frequently been recounted in Shi’a literature.

The battle is commemorated during an annual ten-day period during the Islamic month of Muharram by many Muslims especially Shi’a, culminating on the tenth day of the month, known as the day of Ashura. On this day, Shi’a Muslims mourn, hold public processions, organize religious gatherings, beat their chests and in some cases self-flagellate.

Sunni Muslims likewise regard the incident as a historical tragedy; Husayn and his companions are widely regarded as martyrs by both Sunni and Shi’a Muslims

So, the Battle of Karbala is essentially what ended the bloodline of the Prophet Muhammad (SAW) and that is what Shia Muslims mourn on Ashura. 

“Ashura is an opportunity for Muslims to say, ‘This is a new year, I’m going to do better and be better,'” says Imam Abdul-Malik.

Ashura is not just a historical remembrance, it is a living legacy. It calls on Muslims to reflect: Are we willing to stand up for truth, even when it’s difficult? Are we silent in the face of injustice, or do we follow the example of Husayn (RA)? Do we fast and reflect on Allah’s blessings, like Musa (AS) and the Prophet (SAW) taught us? Ashura urges us to move beyond rituals and ask real questions about our values, our courage, and our unity as an Ummah.

Ashura offers timeless takeaways:

Faith must lead to action: Whether it’s standing up against injustice or resisting inner corruption, our Islam is meant to be lived. Change begins within: Imam Husayn (RA) didn’t wait for others to act. He led with conviction—even in isolation.

Gratitude is worship: Fasting isn’t just about hunger—it’s an act of remembering how Allah has always been with the oppressed.

Ashura is not a day of passive mourning; it is a day of active remembrance and renewal. From the shores of the Red Sea with Musa (AS) to the desert plains of Karbala with Imam Husayn (RA), it reminds us that the path of truth has always required sacrifice, sincerity, and steadfast faith.

As we fast and reflect, may we carry the spirit of Ashura into every day of our lives—living not just in remembrance of the past, but in commitment to a future shaped by faith, justice, and moral clarity.

Rabbana atina fid dunya hasanatan wa fil Aakhirati hasanatan waqina ‘adhaban-nar: “Our Lord, give us in this world [that which is] good and in the Hereafter [that which is] good and protect us from the punishment of the Fire.” (Quran 2:201)

Barka Juma’at and a happy weekend

NOAH, (lit. ’rest’ or ‘consolation’, also Noach) appears as the last of the Antediluvian patriarchs in the traditions of Abrahamic religions. His story appears in the Hebrew Bible (Book of Genesis, chapters 5–9), the Quran and Baha’i writings, and extracanonical texts.

The story of the Deluge, the Great Flood, is part of human lore and communal memory virtually in all parts of the world. Its main elements are the same everywhere, no matter the version or the epithet-names by which the tale’s principals are called: An angry deity decides to wipe Mankind off the face of the Earth by means of a global flood, but one couple is spared and saves the human line.

Except for an account of the Deluge written in Greek by the Chaldean priest Berossus in the third century B.C., the only record of that momentous event was in the Hebrew Bible and later in the Quran.

But in 1872 the British Society of Biblical Archaeology was told in a lecture by George Smith that among the tablets of the Epic of Gilgamesh discovered by Henry Layard in the royal library of Nineveh, the ancient Assyrian capital, some contained a Deluge tale like that in the Bible. By 1910 parts of other recessions have been found. They helped reconstruct another major Mesopotamian text, the Epic of Atrahasis, that told the story of Mankind from its creation until its near annihilation by the Deluge.

The Bible introduces Noah, the hero of the Deluge tale, who was singled out to be saved with his family, as a righteous man, of perfect genealogy. The Mesopotamian texts paint a more comprehensive picture of the man, suggesting that he was the off- spring of a demigod and possibly (as Lamech his father had suspected) a demigod himself. It fills out the details of what walking with God; had really entailed.

Among the many details that the Mesopotamian texts provide, the role played by dreams as an important form of divine encounter becomes evident. In the biblical version it is the same deity who resolves to wipe mankind off the face of the Earth and, contradictorily, acts to prevent the demise of mankind by devising a way to save the hero of the tale and his family.

In the Sumerian original text and its subsequent Mesopotamian recessions, more than one deity is involved; and as in other instances, which is beyond the scope of this narrative. The embarkation of pairs of animals has been a favorite subject in the narration. It has also been one of the eyebrow raisers of the tale, deemed a virtual impossibility and thus more of an allegorical way to explain how animal life continued even after the Deluge.

It is therefore noteworthy that the Deluge recession in the Epic of Gilgamesh offers a totally different detail regarding the preservation of animal life: It was not the living animals that were taken aboard—it was their seed (DNA) that was preserved! Taking on board the seed of living beings rather than the animals themselves not only reduced the space but also implies the application of sophisticated biotechnology to preserve varied species—a technique being developed nowadays by learning the genetic secrets of DNA. This should not surprise us, for if the ancients can build the pyramids, which still astounds us, we should not doubt them to clone and toy with DNA.

How global was the Deluge? Was every place upon our globe inundated? The human recollection is almost global and suggests an almost-global event. What is certain is that the Ice Age that had held Earth in its grip for the previous 62,000 years abruptly ended.

It happened about 13,000 years ago. One result of the catastrophe was that Antarctica, for the first time in so many thousands of years, was freed of its ice cover and this raised the seas to astronomical levels. The true continental features of Antarctica became visible.

Amazingly (but not to our surprise again), the existence of maps showing an ice-free Antarctica became available. In modern times the very existence of a continent at the South Pole was not known until A.D. 1820, when British and Russian sailors discovered it. It was then, as it is now, covered by a massive layer of ice; we know the continent’s true shape (under the ice cap) by means of radar and other sophisticated instruments used by many teams during the 1958 International Geophysical Year (IGY).

Yet Antarctica appears on World Maps from the fifteenth and even fourteenth centuries A.D.—hundreds of years before the discovery of Antarctica—and the continent, to add puzzle to puzzle, is shown ice-free! Of several such maps, ably described and discussed in ‘Maps of the Ancient Sea Kings /Evidence of Advanced Civilization in the Ice Age by Charles H. Hapgood, the one that illustrates the enigma very clearly is the 1531 Map of the World by Orontius Finaeus, whose depiction of Antarctica is compared to the ice-free continent as determined by the 1958 IGY. An even earlier map, from 1513, by the Turkish Admiral Piri Re’is, shows the continent connected by an archipelago to the tip of South America.

But as many who have studied these maps had concluded, no mortal seamen, even given some advanced instruments, could have mapped these continents and their inner features in those early days, and certainly not of an ice-free Antarctica. Someone viewing and mapping it from the air could have done it!

Yet, another puzzle for us to ponder over. Do we also know that seashells are found on mountain tops (even on Everest), Sahara Desert and such impossible places? I can attest to sea shells on Idanre hills, the highest peak in South West Nigeria. Evidence of sea inundations or deluge. Did the flood occur? Was Noah a historical figure? These are the questions begging for answers.

Fortunately, recent scientific evidence of the occurrence of the flood are now available. In a book named “Noah’s Flood: The New Scientific Discoveries about the Event that Changed History,” Walter Pitman and William Ryan, describe a flood that took place 7000 years ago, before the Biblical story was written by the ancient Hebrews.

There is also archaeological evidence of the Great Flood. One such significant piece of evidence was provided by the world-famous underwater archaeologist Robert Ballard. Only after 7000 BC when the ocean levels finally began stabilizing, did human life once more begin to return to normal. Is it a mere coincidence that our “recorded” history happens to start around this time? After all, it seems that as soon as the adverse climatic conditions receded, it did not take long for humans to thrive once again. Genesis 9:1 And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.” It has come to pass and we are today 7 billion plus on Earth.

Noah is a highly important figure in Islam and he is seen as one of the most significant of all prophets. The Quran contains 43 references to Noah, or Nuḥ, in 28 chapters, and the seventy-first chapter, Sūrah Nūḥ, is named after him. His life is also spoken of in the commentaries and in Islamic legends.

Noah’s narratives largely cover his preaching as well as the story of the Deluge. Noah’s narrative sets the prototype for many of the subsequent prophetic stories, which begin with the prophet warning his people and then the community rejecting the message and facing a punishment.

Noah has several titles in Islam, based primarily on praise for him in the Quran, including “Trustworthy Messenger of God” (26:107) and “Grateful Servant of God” (17:3).[48][59]

The Quran focuses on several instances from Noah’s life more than others, and one of the most significant events is the Flood.

Our take away from the foregoing is that Noah was a historical figure who walked with God. He was a messenger sent to his people who refused to listen to him. This is contained in the Bible and the Quran: ‘We sent Nuh to his people and he said, ‘My people, worship Allah! You have no other god than Him. I fear for you the punishment of a dreadful Day.’ (Quran 7:59)

See also 71:1; 71:10; 23:23; 29:14; 26:105-110. On the attitude of unbelievers towards the Prophet Nuh (as) see, 26:111-115; 23:24 25. ‘Nuh, if you do not desist you will be stoned.’ (Quran 26: 116). But he replied to them in these verses 71:2-20; 11:27-31; 7:60-63; 11:32-34; 10:71: 11:36-39. Allah opened the gates of heaven with torrential water and made the earth burst forth with gushing springs…… a reward for him who had been rejected. (Quran 54:11-14)

So, We rescued him and those with him in the loaded ship. (Quran 26:119); 29:15. We left the later people to say of him: ‘Peace be upon Nuh among all beings!’ (Quran 37:75-79). And say: “O my Lord! Enable me to disembark with Thy blessing: For Thou art the Best to enable (us) to disembark.” Verily in this there are Signs (for men to understand); (thus) do We try (men). Then We raised after them another generation. (Quran 23:29-31)

Noah’s contemporaries had all sorts of chances and warnings. But they refused to believe and perished. But Allah’s Truth survived and it went to the next and succeeding generations. Will not mankind understand? We need to deeply reflect and contemplate. May Allah guide us and not let our ways lead us to perdition.

Barka Juma’at and a happy weekend. 

By Babatunde Jose

Today’s sermon is taken from Stories of the Quran to exemplify the possibility and reality of bodily resurrection on the Day of Qiyyamah. The reality of the Day of Judgment speaks to the need for accountability in all that we do and the realization that no one will escape the judgment of Allah.

The story of Uzair is here used to epitomize the power and glory of God. He is the creator and ‘Master of the Day of Judgment’. Uzair questioned the possibility of resurrection and Allah made an example of him. He was made to die for a hundred years, resurrected and made to face his people who have all added a hundred years to their age since he left them. He was made to die at the age of 40 and had not added a day to his age when he was resurrected.  His maid who was 20 was now 120 and his son who was 18 had grown to 118. Yet, Uzair was still 40. What a paradox. Allahu Akbar!!!

Allah the Almighty says: 

Or (take) the similitude of one who passed by a hamlet, all in ruins to its roofs. He said: “Oh! How shall Allah bring it (ever) to life, after (this) its death?” But Allah caused him to die for a hundred years, then raised him up (again). He said: “How long didst thou tarry (thus)?” He said: “(Perhaps) a day or part of a day.” He said: “Nay, thou hast tarried thus a hundred years; but look at thy food and thy drink; they show no signs of age; and look at thy donkey: and that We may make of thee a Sign unto the people, look further at the bones, how We bring them together and clothe them with flesh.” When this was shown clearly to him, he said: “I know that Allah hath power over all things.” (Quran 2: 259)

Ishaq Ibn Bishr narrated that `Uzair was the man whom Allah caused to die for a hundred years, then raised up again. `Uzair was a wise, pious worshipper. One day, he went out to look after some of his properties, when he finished he passed by a ruined place where he was scorched by the blazing sun. So, he entered that ruined place riding on his donkey. He got off the donkey holding two baskets, one full of figs and the other full of grapes. He sat down and brought out a bowl in which he squeezed the grapes and soaked the dried bread he had therein. He ate thereof and then slept on his back, relying his two legs against a wall and started to gaze at the ceiling of the house. He saw some decomposed bones and said: Oh! How will Allah ever bring it to life after its death?

He did not doubt Allah’s Omnipotence to do this, but he said it in exasperation. Upon this, Allah the Almighty sent the Angel of Death who seized his soul, and thus Allah caused him to die for a hundred years. And, after one hundred years, Allah the Almighty sent to him an Angel who woke him from death. The Angel asked him saying: How long did you remain (dead)? He (the man) said: (Perhaps) I remained (dead) a day or part of a day; that he was caused to die in the afternoon and then was given life again by the end of day while the sun was still in the sky; that’s why he said: or part of a day i.e. not even a whole day. The Angel said: Nay, you have remained (dead) for a hundred years, look at your food and your drink i.e. the dried bread and the squeezed grapes that did not alter or turn bad, they show no change, and the grapes and the figs did not change as well.

As if he began to deny the matter by heart, the Angel said: Do you deny what I have said? And look at your donkey! He looked at his donkey and found his bones to be decomposed. The Angel called upon the donkey’s bones and they answered his call and gathered together from all directions till he was made whole again – while ‘Uzair was looking and he clothed them with flesh, skin and hair. Then, the Angel breathed life into it and it roused erecting his ears and head towards the sky thinking the Last Hour had come.

Then, he rode on his donkey back to his village where he seemed unfamiliar to the people and the people looked unfamiliar to him. Even so, he did not find his own house easily. When he reached the house, he found a crippled blind old woman at the age of one hundred twenty years old. She was a maid owned by him in the past and he left her while she was only twenty years old. He asked her saying: is this the house of ‘Uzair? She said: Yes, it is. She wept and said: Today, no one ever remembers `Uzair.

He told her that he was ‘Uzair and Allah the Almighty caused me to die for one hundred years then He gave me life again. She said: Glory is to Allah! We lost ‘Uzair one hundred years ago and never heard anything about him. He said: Verily, I am ‘Uzair. She said: ‘Uzair was a man whose supplications were acceptable by Allah the Almighty, so invoke Allah to return my sight to me to look at you, so if you were ‘Uzair, I would certainly know you’. Consequently, he invoked Allah the Almighty, then, he wiped over her eyes and they were recovered and took her by the hand and said: Stand up by the Leave of Allah! She stood up by the Leave of Allah. She looked at him and said: I bear witness that you are ‘Uzair.

Then, she set out for the Children of Israel in their meetings and gatherings and Uzair’s son who was about one hundred and eighteen years and she called them saying: This is ‘Uzair who came back to you. They believed her, but she said: I am so and so, your maid. He invoked Allah for me and He recovered my eyesight and legs. She added: he claims that Allah caused him to die for one hundred years and then He gave him life again. The people rose up and went to look at him. His son said: my father had a black mole between his shoulders. He disclosed his shoulders and they realized that he was ‘Uzair.

The Children of Israel said: ‘Uzair was the only one who committed the whole Torah to his heart and Bikhtinassar burnt it and nothing is left thereof but what the men can remember, so (if you are the true ‘Uzair) write it down for us. His father, Surukha, buried the Torah during that era of Bikhtinassar in a place known to nobody but ‘Uzair. Thus, he took them to that place and brought them out, but unfortunately, the papers were rotten and ruined. Consequently, he sat under the shade of a tree surrounded by the Children of Israel and he renovated the Torah for them.

He renovated the Torah for them in the land of As-Sawad. The town in which he died is said to be called “Sairabadh.” ‘Abdullah Ibn ‘Abbas (May Allah be pleased with him) said: Thus he was as said by Allah the Almighty: And thus We have made of you a sign for the people i.e. for the Children of Israel. That he was with his sons a young man among old people for he died when he was only forty and was revived at the same age and status. Allahu Akbar!!! – Stories of the Quran 

Barka Jumuah and a happy weekend