Mourning for Ma‘rifah: Ismaili Interpretations of Karbala
Ismaili Muslims are guided to Mourn for the Inner Recognition of the Imam of the Time
“The colours of our family are, as you know, Red and Green. The reason being that we represent both the (offices of) Shāh [Imām] and Pīr. The Shāh was Ḥusayn and the Pīr was Ḥasan. Ḥasan had the Pīr’s colour of Green, but Ḥusayn’s martyrdom was so enormous in events and was so opposed to even the smallest laws of war that the colour of his Holy Blood, namely Red, was accepted with the Green of the Prophet’s flag as a souvenir and remembrance of that terrible day.”
Imām Sulṭān Muḥammad Shāh Āgā Khān III
The tenth day of Muḥarram, known as the Day of ‘Āshūra’ is when the Battle of Karbala took place – in which Imām al-Ḥusayn ibn ‘Alī, the second hereditary Imām of the Shī‘ī Muslims, along with his family and supporters, was brutally massacred by the armies of Yazīd ibn Mu‘āwiya ibn Abī Sufyān.
The Imām and the Adversary (ḍidd)
When I ask you to read Kisso (the account of the events at Karbala) it is not because those who read it will go to Paradise, but that you may ponder over it and know the unbelievers fought us. These Prophets and Imāms knew what was going to happen, yet we are not allowed to reveal the mysteries of the Unseen (ghayb).
Imām Āgā Shāh ‘Alī Shāh Āgā Khān II, (transl. Rai Gulamali Kassam Shivji, Calgary November 1989)
The Battle of Karbala, from the esoteric perspective, was the manifestation of the opposition that takes place in every age and time between the forces of the Imām of the Time and the forces of his Adversity (ḍidd). Just as the Imām of the Time is the inheritor of Haḍrat Adam and the vicegerent of God on earth, the Adversary (ḍidd) is the inheritor of Iblīs and the devil (shayṭān) among human beings.
In this article, we present the historical (exoteric) and esoteric understanding of the Battle of Karbala according to which Ismaili Muslims are instructed to “mourn for the ma‘rifah of the Imam of the Time”.