{"id":1072,"date":"2016-10-04T16:16:39","date_gmt":"2016-10-04T21:16:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/commonwordcommonlord\/?p=1072"},"modified":"2016-10-04T17:35:05","modified_gmt":"2016-10-04T22:35:05","slug":"ashura-message-muslims","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/commonwordcommonlord\/ashura-message-muslims\/","title":{"rendered":"Every Year, Holy Day of Ashura Should Be Message to Muslims"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the Name of God: The Extremely and Eternally Loving and Caring<\/em><\/p>\n

THIS YEAR, the juxtaposition of the Islamic New Year and Rosh Hashana is, I believe, a message from God<\/a> to the Jewish and Muslim communities to come together in their common faith in God and His prophets. Yet, there is a similar message that, I also believe, is sent from God to the Muslim community every single year: the holy day of Ashura.<\/p>\n

Ashura is the tenth day of the first month of the Islamic New Year, Muharram<\/a>. For Sunni Muslims, it is a day of fasting and commemoration of the exodus<\/a> of Moses and the children of Israel from bondage in Egypt. For Shiite Muslims, it is a day of great theological significance, where they commemorate the tragic murder of Imam Husayn, the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh).<\/p>\n

Although Sunnis and Shiites commemorate the day differently, the fact that this day (and month in general) has great significance for both communities should be taken as a message from God for the two communities to come together.<\/p>\n

For years, I have written about how it is important for Muslims, Jews, and Christians to come together in their common faith in a common Lord and God.It is just as important for Muslims themselves.<\/p>\n

Yes, there are differences in theology; yes, there are differences in application of Islamic law; yes, there are differences in political and religious philosophy. Those differences, however, must pale in comparison to the fact that we share the same God, same Prophet (pbuh), same Scripture, AND the same love for the Prophet’s family.<\/p>\n

No Sunni Muslim would argue that love for the family of the Prophet (pbuh) is not important. The same goes for Shiite Muslims. This is the thing around which our two communities can come together: our common love for the family of the Prophet (pbuh). No, I am not commemorating Ashura like my Shiite brothers and sisters. That does not mean, however, that I am not terribly pained by the horrific manner in which Imam Husyan – whom I love ever so dearly – was killed all those years ago. I can understand the pain that my Shiite brothers and sisters feel on the day of Ashura and reach out to them in peace and brotherhood.<\/p>\n

We desperately need more of this today.<\/p>\n

All over the world, and especially in the Middle East, scores of innocent people are dying because of this geopolitical rivalry between Sunni and Shiite. This<\/strong> must<\/strong> stop<\/strong><\/span>. No difference in creed is worth the loss of life. None.<\/p>\n

I pray that my Shiite sisters and brothers are blessed with peace, safety, and comfort during this Ashura season. I pray that our two communities – Sunni and Shia – may come together around our common love for the family of the Prophet (pbuh) and live in peace. And I pray that the killing and violence against the innocent – wherever it may be – ends once and for all. Amen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the Name of God: The Extremely and Eternally Loving and Caring THIS YEAR, the juxtaposition of the Islamic New Year and Rosh Hashana is, I believe, a message from God to the Jewish and Muslim communities to come together in their common faith in God and His prophets. Yet, there is a similar message…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":175,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[562,111,9,770,511,668,669],"class_list":["post-1072","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-a-common-word","tag-ashura","tag-community","tag-god","tag-holiday","tag-message","tag-shiite","tag-sunni"],"yoast_head":"\nEvery Year, Holy Day of Ashura Should Be Message to Muslims<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Our theology may be different. But we have a common love for the family of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh). 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Hassaballa","description":"Hesham A. Hassaballa is a Chicago doctor and writer. He has written extensively on a freelance basis, being published in newspapers across the country and around the world. He has been a Beliefnet columnist since 2001, and has written for the Religion News Service. He is also a columnist for Patheos. His articles have been distributed worldwide by Agence Global, and he was also a guest blogger for The Chicago Tribune and has blogged on ChicagoNow\" . In addition, Dr. Hassaballa has appeared as a guest on WTTW (Channel 11) in Chicago, CNN, Fox News, BBC, and National Public Radio. Dr. Hassaballa is co-author of The Beliefnet Guide to Islam (Doubleday), and his essay, \u201cWhy I Love the Ten Commandments,\u201d was published in the award-winning book Taking Back Islam (Rodale). His latest book, Noble Brother, is the story of the Prophet Muhammad told entirely in poetry, and it is now published in its second edition. In 2007, his blog \"God, Faith, and a Pen\" was nominated for a Brass Crescent Award for a blog that is \u201cthe most stimulating, insightful, and philosophical, providing the best rebuttals to extremist ideology and making an impact whenever they post.\u201d \"God, Faith, and a Pen\" has also received an award for being one of the \"Top Muslim Blogs for 2010\" by Awarding The Web. In addition to writing, Dr. Hassaballa helped found the Chicago Chapter of the Council on American Islamic Relations and currently serves on their board of directors. He also co-founded the Bayan H. Hassaballa Charitable Foundation and now serves as its Treasurer.","sameAs":["https:\/\/x.com\/GodFaithPen"],"url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/commonwordcommonlord\/author\/hhassaballa\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/commonwordcommonlord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1072","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/commonwordcommonlord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/commonwordcommonlord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/commonwordcommonlord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/175"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/commonwordcommonlord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1072"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/commonwordcommonlord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1072\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1077,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/commonwordcommonlord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1072\/revisions\/1077"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/commonwordcommonlord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1072"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/commonwordcommonlord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1072"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/commonwordcommonlord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1072"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}