Majlis-e-Sham-e-Ghariban is difficult to translate without understanding the tragedy of Karbala in its entirety.Word ‘majlis’ is easily understood as a congregation or meeting of people and ‘sham’ is understandably an evening. Thus it is an evening of the Ghariban.The word ‘ghareeb’ in Arabic, Persian and Urdu does not mean only the poor, but also the deprived, oppressed, distressed and the plundered.Annually held in the evening of 10th of Muharram, the day of martyrdom of Imam Hussain, across imambaras and households worldwide, this tradition completes a century this year.At Imambara Ghufran-e-Maab of Lucknow, the Majlis-e-Sham-e-Ghariba carries forward the essence of the tragic story of Karbala as the first such majlis was held in this imambara in 1926.In 680AD Imam Hussain, the younger grandson of Prophet Mohammad, and his 72 companions were massacred by the army of tyrant King Yazid in the battle of Karbala in Iraq. Yazid wanted Hussain to give his hand of allegiance to him accepting his unjust and corrupted version of Islam. Hussain preferred to give his head instead.After suffering three days of hunger and thirst, as food and water supplies were stopped to Hussain and his camp followers who valiantly fought till the last drop of their blood, the evening which followed this afternoon of bloodbath was left with women, children and Imam Zainul Abedeen. The entire male line of Hussain perished, including his six-month-old son Ali Asghar.Hungry and thirsty, left with nothing, the ladies and children sat that night under the open sky amid the burned camps and bodies spread across the battlefield. In 1926, this devasting description was named Sham-e-Ghariba in Lucknow (Evening of the distressed and plundered).In Majlis-e-Sham-e-Ghariban, the faithful relive this pain of Hussain’s family. People come barefoot and sit in darkness on the plain mud floor.Like the touching nuance of this gathering, its initiation in 1926 is equally extraordinary.Past the evening prayer on 10th Muharram of 1926, a handful of people were sitting in Imambara-e-Ghufran-e-Maab in Chowk. Drained and exhausted by the day-long faqa and barefoot visit to local Karbalas, someone among them suggested that masaeb of the events that befell that evening in Karbala be recited.Among the participants one Arab cleric was also present. His name was Mohammad Saleh. Senior cleric Syed Sibte Mohammad Hadi alias Kallan Sahab addressed that impromptu gathering.The bayan invoked such giriya that Syed Dildar Ali alias Munne Agha Raaz Ijtehadi recalled in his memoirs titled “Majlis-e-Sham-e-Ghariban-ki-ibteda aur Tadriji taraqqiyan”. After the majlis, he suggested that from next year this majlis be called Majlis-e-Sham-e-Ghariban. Raaz Ijtehadi must not have realized that the coinage to the event given by him would become a worldwide tradition.From 1927, a formal majlis with this name was organized in this imambara. Maulana Kalbe Hussain alias Kabban Sahab addressed it till 1963 followed by his elder son Maulana Kalbe Abdi and now Maulana Kalbe Jawad at the same venue. During the majlis, volume of the speakers is raised to the maximum to keep the orator audible to over a lakh people lamenting in unison.With efforts of Maharaj Kumar Mohammad Hasan Khan of Mahmudabad and poet Fazl Naqvi in 1930s, All India Radio started airing the recording of this majlis at 10:30 on the same evening. People across the subcontinent used to remain glued to their radio sets. Gradually, majlis by this name were held in different cities and now it has become a worldwide essential for the day of Ashura.Most poignant scene in the majlis is the small procession bearing candle lights and pots of water and trays of rotis of mota anaj which take circle in the imambara premises. A reminder of the event when Zauja-e-Hurr brought some food and water for the women and children of Hussain. Hurr was a commander in Yazid’s army who joined Hussain on the fateful day and laid his life for the principled cause of justice, freedom, honour and right to free will symbolized by Hussain.This majlis was among the initial public gatherings, apart from political meetings of Mahatma Gandhi and Jawahar Lal Nehru, where loudspeakers was used.After the partition in 1947, the Awadh diaspora carried little Lucknow in their hearts to Pakistan. Majlis-e-Sham-e-Ghariban was replicated in Nishtar Park of Karachi. Allama Rashid Turabi, a muhajir himself, addressed it in Lucknow style. Later on, Allama Talib Jauri also addressed this majlis. Since 1951 this majlis has been broadcast by Radio Pakistan.Dismantled shamiana structures randomly spread across the place in pitch darkness and people sitting barefoot on uncovered mud floors strongly portray that evening of extreme distress and deprivation in Karbala on 10th Muharram 680 AD — Sham e GharibaN.(Writer is an exponent of oral history and culture)
