Alwaght- Every year, with the advent of Muharram, a large part of the Muslim world, especially tens of millions of Shiites across the world, hold mourning ceremonies commemorating martyrdom Hussein ibn Ali the third Imam of Shiite Muslim, who was martyred during the Battle of Karbala in 680 CE.
Meanwhile, Yemen is one of the countries that with its major Shiite population is encompassed by mourning atmosphere and on Saturday that marked Ashura or tenth day of Muharram a majority of the northern regions including the capital Sana'a were scene to mourning ceremonies.
People's immense interest in the Ahl Al Bayt (the house of the Prophet Muhammad) and particularly Imam Hussein, or better known as Sayyed Al-Shohada, (master of the martyrs) has historical roots in Yemen. However, in the not-so-distant years, arrangement of Shiite religious ceremonies especially under the Saudi minion President Ali Abdullah Saleh was outlawed and the Shiites faced tough crackdowns.
This situation totally changed in 2014, the year the popular revolution toppled Saleh, and Ansarullah with resolute popular support in Sana'a managed to form the coalition administration known as the National Salvation Government (NSG). Ever since, the Yemeni Shiites arranged their religious ceremonies and Muharram under the new administration with special spirit and enthusiasm.
Still, the more Ansarullah-led Shiites in Yemeni held the Muharram ceremonies enthusiastically, the more serious have been the enemies’ propaganda and the deeper their anger at popular interest in Ahl Al Bayt and the Karbala uprising against oppression, to an extent that the Aden-based Saudi and Western-recognized administration in a statement warned about the NSG’s arrangements to promulgate Ashura rituals in Yemen.
The statement, published by Ministry of Endowment and Guidance, described the culture of Muharram mournings by the Shiites as “imported” and called the mosque preachers and missionaries to inform citizens of what it called the danger of measures Ansarullah makes to “perpetuate its coup and impose its sectarian culture.”
The enemies of Sana'a also struggled to overshadow Muharram ceremonies and Ashura and impact public opinion with propaganda campaigns and hashtags connotating that Ansarullah abuses the ceremonies for its own interests.
As part of these efforts, a meeting was held by a religious task force named Contacts with Yemeni Religious Scholars in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in which the invitees delivered speeches against the mournings for Imam Hussein and described the ceremonies as ‘bidah’, or a fake religious innovation.
Despite the negative propaganda and the arrangements made to dissuade heated ceremonies, Ashura was marked vastly in various cities and villages of northern Yemen like Sa'ada, Sana'a, Hajah, Amran, and Hudaydah in the south.
On the other hand, the considerable presence of Shiite and Sunni religious scholars and thinkers in a conference titled ‘Ashura, the victory of blood over sword’ arranged by NSG's Ministry of Guidance, Haj and Umrah Affairs on Thursday showed that just contrary to divisive efforts by the Wahhabis and takfiris, a majority of the religious scholars in Yemen are united about Muharram mourning ceremonies marking martyrdom of the third Shiite Imam and the grandson of Prophet Muhammad and taking spiritual advantage of these religious events.
In the meeting, various figures expressed their viewpoints about Ashura uprising. For example, Taha al-Hudhri, the head of Yemeni Scholars Society, brought in spotlight the life and character of Iman Hussein and the message of the Ashura uprising against oppression and highlighted the significance of lessons of the uprising in Jihad against tyranny— the same thing the Iran-led Axis of Resistance to which Yemen is a branch is doing against the Israeli occupation.
The propagandistic attacks and hostility of the enemies amid flourishing Ashura culture and enthusiastic mourning of Imam Hussein and his companions certainly prove, on the one hand, the significance of the propagation of Ashura discourse in the developments of the country and even the Arabian Peninsula, and on the other hand, explains the growing concerns of the enemies of the Yemeni nation. The concerns of enemies about spread of this culture can be examined in three main aspects:
Propagation of Ashura discourse in the Peninsula
Definitely, one of the drivers of concerns about magnificent arrangement of Muharram ceremonies is the dread about growth and spread of Ashura culture and further penetration of the spiritual, religious, political, and social messages of Imam Hussein and his companions’ uprising in Yemen and the whole Peninsula. A proof is that the anti-tyranny and oppression message of Ashura uprising after centuries of negative propaganda against the adversaries of Ahl Al Bayt sweeps through the geographical borders of the Muslim world and is even spreading to non-Muslim communities in the East and the West.
In the Ashura speeches delivered in Muharram in Yemen , there is a special focus on the ‘hayhat min al-dhillah’ ( Arabic for never to humiliation) slogan, and preachers elaborate on the approaches of Imam Hussein, his sacrifices against the oppression and tyranny, his defense of the virtues and the oppressed, and his endeavor for reforming the society.
For example, Allamah Mohammad Mofateh, the adviser to the Supreme Political Council (SPC), pointed to the significance of mourning ceremonies for the good of inspiration from the practical principles of Imam Hussein, adding: “People of Yemen are under oppression and history is repeating itself, and the dignity and honor they [Yemenis] are witnessing is sequel to Imam Hussein’s revolt against the oppressors and tyrants.”
Underscoring the importance of hayhat min al-dhillah slogan, he said that “this is the healthy spirituality that rejects oppression and humiliation with humility and moaning.”
Given this aspect of Ashura message, we can decide that the hostility and massive propaganda of enemies against spread of Ashura culture in Yemen are driven by concern about rise of anti-tyranny culture and rejection of foreign dominance, anti-religious rulers, and injustice.
Solidification of Yemen position in the Axis of Resistance’s structure
Another reason why enemies are afraid of spread of Ashura culture was openly expressed in the disintegrated and puppet administration’s statement which described as “imported” the centuries-old tradition of mourning ceremonies for Karbala event and the martyrdom of the third Shiite Imam in Yemen.
The fear from strategic alliance and strengthening of Yemen bonds with the Axis of Resistance, a regional bloc formed in opposition to the Western imperialism and Israeli occupation of Palestine, that started from the 2014 revolution and by giving Sana'a a strategic victory made it an inseparable part of the Axis of Resistance is the main motivation, according to observers, behind formation of Saudi-Emirati-American-Israeli alliance in anti-Yemeni military aggression. Certainly, the resistance discourse that under a regional alliance is imposing defeats on the imperialism and its favorable political and security order is inspired by messages of Imam Hussein’s uprising.
The strategic goals of the Resistance camp where liberation of Palestine and annihilation of the Israeli regime take a center stage are these days raised in a glaringly apparent fashion in the Ashura and Arbaeen commemorations.
The general health minister of the NSG on Friday called for support for the Palestinian nation with inspiration from Imam Hussein.
“Like Imam Hussein’s uprising, our project today is to resist the United States for the resistance project to succeed. For the US defeat and surrender, we need to adopt Imam Hussein’s principles and approach.
Ashura, a division spell breaker and symbol of unity
From another aspect, ideological cohesion, advocacy growth, resistance to the pressures and sanctions, and boost of the religious aspect of Ansarullah's legitimacy among the Yemenis beside political popularity for its push to preserve national unity and 9- year defense of territorial integrity of the country against the aggressors are the inspirations Ansarullah's foes are afraid Muharram ceremonies can yield.
