Muharram – Faith or fashion?
I watched in awe as a woman walked in wearing a long black kameez, with intricate white floral pattern along the neckline, running all the way down her kameez and finishing off in neat tassels. Then another walked in behind her in a white kurta with self-colored geometric patterns and the prettiest black and white lace I had ever seen, consciously placed along the edge of her long kurta, finely matched with a printed churidaar giving her attire a perfect finish. While trying to digest this, a young girl of about 15 years of age, walked in next wearing a rusty brown kameez with a bold slant cut at the bottom. She had a huge black screen-printed motive in front that was disturbingly screaming for attention and matched perfectly with her black tights.
If you think this is a description of a fashion show, then you won’t be completely wrong. The only difference is all these women dressed in black and white are those coming to a majlis gathering in covered heads – and yes, for anyone who’s observant; this does distract you from listening to the sermon.
I belong to the Shia community myself and have been brought up in a conservative family with strong religious beliefs. My purpose is not to mock Muharram but to bring to your realisation that the fashion around us is changing so drastically that people often forget the purpose and significance of these days in all their wardrobe preparations. A color that was initially worn during the month of Muharram for the purpose of mourning the martyrdom of the Shia Imam, HussainIbn Ali, has now become an element of fashion.
People start ordering black clothes prior to the month in order to keep their wardrobes ready. In fact, in order to keep up with the demand for the colour, many fashion outlets showcase an entire ‘Muharram collection’ of black clothes close to the start of the month. Shops and entire markets are filled with black and white prints with big attractive floral designs and intricate patterns. Fashion designers claim that they sometimes have to stop taking orders because they are overloaded with orders for Muharram clothes.
I may sound a bit chauvinistic but sadly this is real. Most of them may not be turning this into a fashion fiesta on purpose and making clothes particularly for Muharram may even be a necessity for many, as they don’t normally wear black on regular days. However, special preparation of clothes for Muharram, in the same manner you would do for Eid or any other festive occasion, is disconcerting.
The concept of ‘azadari’ in Muharram was started by the family of the Prophet after the death of his grandson HussainIbn Ali at the Battle of Karbala in 680 AD. They did not ‘dress-up’ when they began mourning for the fallen.
Our concept of wearing black is not any different to Christians wearing black on funerals or the Hindus wearing white. Even though they wear plain black and white on funerals of regular people, I think it is the best way to symbolise mourning. Why can’t we keep it as simple as them? Why can’t we respectfully mourn the leaders of our religion in simplicity? Why does it have to become extravagant to the point of becoming fashionable?
I’ve even attended a majlis where dinner is lavishly catered and the menu consists of everything from finger-licking biryani and qorma to the much-loved warm gulab jamuns served with vanilla ice cream.
With all due respect, it felt nothing less than a wedding in black.
Whatever happened to the simple menu of daal chawal that was once a trademark at all majlises and even funerals?
People have every right to serve food and conduct their gatherings at a large scale but turning these gatherings into glamorous feasts defeats the purpose of mourning and the significance of the month. It is disappointing to see how people unintentionally take away the essence of mourning and turn it into a celebration-like event.
I say unintentionally because I am aware that people make a lot of effort to be presentable for such gatherings and also make it comfortable for those they invite over for the sermons they hold in their houses. There is no reason to doubt their faith but the fact that they get carried away in the process is quite evident.
Amongst all this, I remember an old lady who lived in our neighborhood. Being from outside the community, the way she respected Muharram was worthy of praise. Always dressed in crisp plain white shalwar kameez, she came to any neighborhood majlis she was invited to and paid her respects.
There are still many people like her as well. It doesn’t matter what faith you follow, the beauty lies in the simplicity of your personality and how to present yourself. That is what reflects and leaves an impression – not becoming part of the trend.
Meem Fay is a diabolic angel always on an eye-chase for sensitive issues.
The views expressed by this blogger and in the following reader comments do not necessarily reflect the views and policies of the Dawn Media Group.
This might be a very rare case as everyone saw Muharram processions and majalis on several TV channels but haven’t observed such thing. The main responsibility lye on those people who are aware of its consequences. They should think in a solution oriented way rather than dancing around the fire. Societies collapse when the intellectuals and educated take a side and don’t play any role in the uplifting of values and norms.
So true. Majalis are now more or less a social gathering where people meet, chat, look for new rishtas and have food. The real essence is lost… You have food served lavishly. I am a firm believer that if you are rich enough to afford all this, why not give away the food to poor people who don’t get to eat food. Why not support a family which has widows or orphans.
The people coming in the majalis already Masha allah get to eat good food and get to wear good clothes through out the year. Indeed a food for thought!!
Islam is not confined in dresses and appearances; making appearance good is other thing and making mind to mourn and understand the cause is another thing. In fact the level and standards of tolerances the hardships have been changed for human.
May God bless us all, Criticisum is very harsh and compromises the basic rights of people
The real concept of the Divine Religion of Islam does not allow to look like the non believers even if the act may be ok as the writer agrees the Hindus and Christians wear black and white respectively to mourn, so why do the Muslims do it… I am not sure Islam has much room for symbolism but the Shia sect has a a lot of room for it as i could see it on the tv this time at least….and to personify past incidents in a dramatic manner is also something the real teachings of Islam wont approve of along with self-infliction. I am not instigating a controversy but thats what i have learnt from my little knowledge of Islam…
then tell me about growing beard , doing miswak, keeping salwar above takhna ect ect .
After going through the comments, I am writing a consolation message for the author
کیا حال پوچھتے ہو میرے کاروبار کا، آینے بیچتا ہوں میں اندھوں کے شہر میں
To dress up to mourn does not fit together at all. If you will mourn, you will concentrate on the core of issue for which you mourn and not on your outfit how you should look like. But if you have other motives such as to be spotted during mourning sermons then it is different story. Mourning demand simplicity and devotion. However I wish to know why black colour has been selected to mourn as it was used in other culture and relegions long time before the incidence of Karbala.
I wont call you conversative or close minded person because its your piece of writing and you decided to pick up this topic. But you do realize make-up, kameez, kurta, daal chawal, qorma etc. its beyond that I wish you had seen that aspect as well. When you (i mean the writer) can have a lavish bday party that no one is going to remember next year with delicious cake, qorma, pizza etc why not for a figure who’s bday and death will be observed every day every year till day of judgement. Plus, when WE can have lavish dinners and wear nice clothes to a relatives death why not for Imam. I would agree that some people take fashion to a very obnoxious level, but those same people are wiping there tears right after “hadees.” We cant judge and should not judge but Imam is not seeing if you are wearing Alkaram or Sunday bazaar kurta shalwaar Imam must be seeing your heart and your NEEYAT!
PS: I enjoy qorma, biryani, haleem etc served after majlis. IT has a difference taste and aroma!
Well whoever written this is very close minded and conservative person- in our asian society or in a small world clothes, fashion, car, money are more important then human being – I beleive azadar -e- Hussain can belong to any part of society and allowed to dressed up as he/she liked, there is no harm adopting fashion in Muharram.
Muharram is about self control- Its like Human cannot deny or give up being a muslim in any circumstances and Imam Hussain is our role model if our Imam can do it we can do it!
Clothes, food, Fashion are secondary and not important and it has no effect- the main thing is how strong your faith would be after each year!
One should be covered and if clothes are nice and presentable it has no effect on religion and faith!!!
And one more thing “Its a miracle of Imam Hussain that most fashionable people are also attaracted towards religion and arrange gatherings for Imam and get chance to hear something about religion” otherwise people never read or listen anything related to religion as its seems old fashioned for them!
But Imam Hussain (as) and Azadari is always new and attracts everyone !
ap shayad Shayad pata nhe hay k Muharam ma black dress banany say kitna ziada Economy ma azafa hota hy.
Whatever you call it – commercialism, capitalism or exhibitionism – it’s true for many religious events nowadays. The same thing happens in Ramadan or Baqr-eid, for that matter. The show-off and extravagant factors are so obvious, you can’t ignore it. The real message or purpose is completely lost. ‘Designer Labels’ rule. If you can afford it, you buy it and make your class statement. It’s for the men by the men – God is no longer part of the equation.
Well written.However,I disagree with your view that Azadari was started by the Prophet’s (P.B.U.H) family.This tradition began quite some time after Hazrat Imam Hussain’s (R.A) martyrdom.It is the biggest sacrifice in the history of Islam.But there is no concept of self-infliction of pain or torture in Hadit or Quran.We should all learn the lesson this great sacrifice gave to the world for all times to come.
@Shahzad…. The azadari was actually started by Bibi Zainab (AS) immediately after Karbala. This was when the family of Imam Hussain was being taken from Karbala to Shaam. It was intended to spread the message of Karbala and let people know how great a sacrifice Imam Hussain did for Islam. Also, there have been examples of mourners (among the family) beating their heads to mourn. Hadith and Quran came before Karbala so obviously there should not be anything relating to the way you mourn.
There are lots of information and knowledge in the books…..of both Sunnis and Shias.
291 years after the karbala incident …….to be precise …
You clearly don’t belong to the Shia community, or you would have brought this up on one of our private forums.
Wish you would have use this space in talking about what the majlis was all about & what did you learn from it. And how these gatherings are not about general man’s daily concerns but it reflects onto something that is larger than life. Imam’s sacrifice was not for us to think about what everyone wears at his gatherings … but how we as individuals can make a difference!
I think you missed the point of the article all together. Author is highlighting the very fact that real soul and purpose of majlis is now being lost to worldly things like feast of a meal and women dressing un appropriately. I can understand you are hurt being a female, but there is a reason why islam preaches “Pardah”.
Real soul & purpose of majlis is to educate minds. Point is to attend it with an open mind & block yourself from who is doing what and how they show their respect.
If it was just like this then Haj would not have required people to wear specific piece of clothing, we all would have gathered in shorts, t-shirts, bikinis, puffing on cigarettes and sipping on chai kahwa whatever….our religion has a way of teaching things and there is something called “Adab-e-Mehfil”. If we start listening to your attitude of lets take a chill pill n be open minded, don a bikini and attend a majlis then God save this religion…
wow!! You have got be kidding me!! Just coz i said be open minded … you straight away went to wearing bikini while performing hajj?? what is the matter with you?? All i’m saying is that we all are answerable to our own actions. You don’t know what’s running in other person’s mind!!! That is something for Allah to decide. You attend majlis to learn & improve your ways of thinking.
You summed up the reason for your attitute in the statement ”I belong to the Shia community myself and have been brought up in a conservative family with strong religious beliefs”. Childhood indoctrination is very hard to escape. You’ve got to realize that you cannot criticize how others approach religious occasions or the religion itself. Your being self righteous while suggesting that only a particular way of clothes nad food should be served on majlises. Everything changes with time, and a living language, culture or religion is that which has the ability to adapt to the changing times. Young people are losing therei nterest in religion, as it is shown to be negatively correlated with the level of education. The churches in the West, in an attempt to have young followers, have started doing viriety shows and all that jazz in churches. And you expect lament our young generation for failing to observe Muharram as they did in medieval times? I’m afraid the truth is it’s not going to happen, and if you have any afflication with the religious events like Muharram Majalis, you should be thankful they’re still happening and quite a few young people are part of them. You cannot expect others to share your version of the right path, because everyone has full right to believe and practice religion how they see fit.
Mate, just by watching Western Channels, one should not start acting like one, and start using words like “Medieval” without knowing what it means. Madonna performs vulgar acts wearing a cross on state performances so do you have a suggestion on how this should be followed by the young generation?
When we are going to grow up – another downside. Religion is for people not people is for Religion so allow people to lead their lives
YOU DEPICT A REALITY BUT WE SO CALLED MUSLIM DONT BOTHER YET
Completely agree with Fapps. Also think that criticism should best be made on the forums we have, i.e., our Majalis, This article does not help our cause. The author is apparently speaking from her personal experience which might not represent the majority. At least it does not represent my experiences. There is too much generalization in here.
Religion talks about simplicity every where, and not particularly when mourning. Fashion and large feasts of the sorts described in the article would be religiously inappropriate at weddings as well. So the message should not be limited to Majalis only.
+1 to the above comment. Such criticism should be made in our Majalis.
And a point completely unrelated to the article….. Imam Hussain (A.S) is not “our Shia Imam” as mentioned in the article. You probably didn’t mean it that way but I would like to clarify that.
He is the Imam of Islam. He is the Imam of all of humanity.
You had only one aspect in mind to pen down.The mothers of teen age girls always make lot of dresses with lot of purpose, one to take them to majlis because in this age majlis is not the attraction for very young lot ,so due to dresses they are moved and the come back after learning from the occasions and secondly this going is of two months so definitely large numbers is required.Mostly during this period the mothers/sisters of boys are also on the look out for the girls to get them married with their sons/brothers.Definitely this happens after the months of muharran and safar.So nothing bad in it to dress up in good out fit.I think this critic has only one aspect where as cloth makers,sellers,taliors do big business or it is a rosegar for a large base.
a very perfect criticism, but unfortunately it will be used as tool by anti-shia organizations. I think the platform for this kind of satire should have been different.
It is all insecurity. Hafiz Shirazi was treated pretty badly when he came in ordinary outfit until he had a chage of wardrobe. Let us get real.
Why limit this discussion to Majalis? If its acceptable to objectify women in the name of liberalism, then its only a matter of time to surreptitiously makes its way into the peoples heart and minds in all occasions. In any religion or culture, unscientific modernity leads to eventual debauchery. Instead of contributing to advancement of mankind and dedicating ones life to advance ones scientific and scholarly faculties, failed societies generally fall prey to exhibitionism and showing off faculties that are utterly useless and akin to intellectual retardation. If you cant understand this, well, continue watching what the media offers. Besides, Muslims who want to emulate the wests controversial pursuits should be allowed to convert to other religions, rather than corrupt and pollute the word of truth.
So now we are having problems with the way ppl dress?
No Mr yousuf. Problem is “Dress to Occassion”. Why don’t people walk into an interview wearing a short and T?
Why people become too judgmental when it comes to religion.belief and dress is personal.I dont care what some one think about it and I dont care what some one is wearing and believing.
I would like to see your sis in a mini skirt and then repeat the Qs: Do you care ?
Amir your comment shows your sick mentality. Disgusting.
Natasha does’nt sound like a pakistani name. So pls keep your cultural “high” values to yourself and leave us with our “sick” mentality which we refer to as “Modesty”. thankyou.
Noor your one and only tool is shaming language. Other than that you seem to be obsessed with bikinis and miniskirts.
To each his own , if some one wants to dress up fashionably for an event then so be it thats her choice and you have a choice not to do it. People need to grow up.
the same manner if girls like not to wear burqa/veil and likes to wear jeans..skirt etc then so be it thats their choice….pakistani need to grow up…
Thats exactly the point my friend. Each their own attitude is what Imam Hussain (A.S) was at Kerbala to stop. Otherwise, everyone was interpreting Islam the way he/she wanted, if not for Kerbala this attitude would have cost us Islam.