Ashura In The Qur'an And Sunnah – Sheikh Imran Hosein

The Qur’an has described the event when Moses (‘alaihi al-Salam) was ordered to flee by night from the eastern delta of Egypt where the Israelites had all assembled, towards the sea, and beyond that to the Holy Land “which Allah had given to them”. Pharaoh pursued and caught up with them as they approached the sea. They were now trapped, and he was certain that he would succeed, once and for all, in destroying those who resisted his imperial rule, and who bowed to a God other than himself. Allah Most High ordered Moses (‘alaihi al-Salam) to strike the water with his staff, and behold, the waters miraculously parted to make a way for the believers to cross the sea to safety. The same sea drowned Pharaoh – the mighty, arrogant godless oppressor, and his power drunk-army when they attempted to cross. Muslims around the world will fast for two days this week to commemorate that event of Ashurah.
That epic encounter is today being reenacted on the stage of the world. Falsehood is waging war on Truth. And believers in the Holy Land and elsewhere in the world, who are armed with nothing more than the equivalent of stones, adamantly refuse to bow to an arrogant power-drunk European oppressor and all his house slaves. The utter contempt with which the US army totally destroyed the Iraqi city of  Fallujah that had so heroically resisted Yankee occupation and oppression, is but a taste of the replay of that epic encounter. The message of hope for the beleaguered Muslims of this age, which is implicit in this event, comes as a ray of sunshine and illumination in this world of darkness filled with injustice and oppression. Tomorrow holds the threat of even more monstrous lies, oppression and deception. One black mask on the white face of the oppressor has been replaced with another black mask, but mankind is not fooled. Oppression continually escalates.
The message of hope that Allah Most High will intervene one more time in the historical process, as He did on the day of Ashurah, engenders conviction that Truth will again triumph over falsehood, and the believers would be delivered to safety while their oppressors would die the way Pharaoh died. How did he die? The Qur’an has informed us of a very significant event that occurred under the water as Pharaoh was drowning, i.e., he declared his belief in the God of Moses (‘alaihi al-Salam). Allah Most High responded to this with the declaration that He would preserve Pharaoh’s body so that it might function (when it is discovered) as a sign for a people to come (at a later time). The ominous divine warning for them is that since they would live the way Pharaoh lived, they would die the way he died. In other words, at the moment when Allah Most High destroys them at the hands of the true Messiah, Jesus the Son of Mary, they would realize the falsehood to which they had clung all their lives, and would affirm the Truth that came in the Qur’an and with Prophet Muhammad (sallalahu ‘alaihi wa sallam). What a way to die! Pharaoh went to hell, and so would they!
Pharaoh’s body was discovered in Egypt at the end of the 19th century and with that discovery the countdown to Armageddon commenced. The body is still on display in the Cairo Museum.
This re-enactment of the epic encounter between Pharaoh and Moses (‘alaihi al-Salam) will conclude when, as prophesied by Prophet Muhammad (sallalahu ‘alaihi wa sallam), the son of Mary returns and a Muslim army liberates the Holy Land.