Race in our Portrayals of Karbala - presented at Mahfil Ali, November 2014. How does the way we tell sacred history send messages about race? Special focus on Jawn ibn Huwayy. Also see article "Racial Othering in Shi'i Sacred History: Jawn the 'African Slave' and the Ethnicities of the Twelve Imams". Video of lecture: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p0JDfELRiBg
1. Race (and Gender)
in our Portrayals of
Karbala
by Amina Inloes
Mahfil Ali, November 2014
2. Main ideas
• Distinguish between historical fact and
historical portrayal
• Critically analyse the messages we
receive about historical portrayal
• Critically analyse the messages we give
when presenting our sacred narrative
4. Sacred narrative is powerful, and either changes or
reinforces the status quo in how we tell it.
Did Imam al-Husain (A) give his life to change or
reinforce the status quo?
The prophet doesn't come to make you feel good.
Every prophet comes to disturb you and unsettle
you, by shining a bright light into the dark spaces
of injustice. The prophet comes never to say “keep
doing what you're doing”, “steady as she goes” –
“change not a thing” said no prophet ever.
(Prof. Omid Safi)
What are some messages we communicate
through our account of the sacred narrative
of Karbala?
5. The Power of Portrayal:
Zaynab the princess
He says to himself, “Now that he is setting out, let us go and watch the majesty and
glamour of the prince of the Hijaz He goes and there he sees the Imam, together with
other Hashimis among men, seated on splendid chairs. Then the camels are brought
bearing the litters draped in silk and brocade.
Then the ladies emerge and with much honor and ceremony they are escorted into
these litters. This description continues in this vein until they make the digression to
switch to the scene of the eleventh day of Muharram, to compare the glamour and
honor of this day with the sorry state of the womenfolk on the latter day. Haji Nuri
calls such descriptions into question. He says, “It is history which says that when Imam
Husayn left Madinah he recited this Qur'anic verse: “He left it in the state of fear and
concern”. (28:21)
That is, he likened his own departure to that of Moses, son of 'Imran, when he fled for
the fear of the Pharaoh. “He said, “It might be that my Lord will guide me to the right
path.””(28:22)
The Imam had departed with a most simple caravan. Does the greatness of Imam
Husayn lie in his sitting, for instance, on golden chairs? Or does the greatness of his
family and womenfolk lie in their using litters draped in silk and brocade, or their
possessing fine horses and camels and a retinue of lackeys and servants?!
[Ayatollah Motahhari]
6. The Power of Portrayal
• Text #1: Nineteenth century Iranian
ta`ziyeh
• Text #2: ‘Ali Shari`ati’s Fatima is Fatima
As you read, think…
• What values are being communicated?
• How is the character of Hazrat Fatima
(A) described?
• What ideals for women are being
communicated?
9. …suddenly, little Fatima reaches towards her father, picks it up and throws
it away. Then with her small, loving hands, cleans her father's head and
face, comforts him and returns him to their home...
Fatima grinds the wheat herself... She works in the house and is seen
hundreds of times bringing water from outside her home. Ali, who knows
the generosity and majesty of Fatima, and more than loves her for multiple
reasons, knows the difficulties that she has grown up with…
She has the greatest responsibility in the history of freedom, jihad and
humanity….
But Fatima does not sit down…she continues her resistance and her
struggle against the oppressive Caliphate…Now Fatima goes to them
personally. Every night she accompanies Ali to their sessions. She speaks
with them. She speaks of each and every one of the desires of the Prophet.
She accounts one by one for Ali's worthiness, virtues and superiorities.
Through her influential spirit, with her great human personality, her
political awareness, with the accurate knowledge she had of Islam, its spirit
and goals and finally with the power of logic and reasoning, she proves the
rightfulness of Ali and the wrongfulness of the election…. She frightens
them with the dark and unstable future which awaits Islam with their
leadership of the community. Portrayal #2
10. Our understanding of Karbala
• What actually happened
• Historical reports/narrations
• Abbasid era cultural filter
• Ottoman-Safavid era cultural filter
• Modern worldview
• Cultural lenses
12. Some slaves on the side of the Imam
(A) in the narrative of Karbala
• Taw`ah in Kufa (former slave)
• Slaves in the household of al-Husayn (A) in Medina
defending him at night and departing with him to Kufa
• Sulayman, a slave of Imam al-Husayn (A), who delivers a
letter to Kufa
• A Turkish slave with al-Hurr al-Riyahi
• Sa`ad (a companion), a slave
• Harith ibn Nibhan (a companion), son of the slave of Hamzah
ibn ‘Abd al-Muttalib
• Salim (a companion), who joined the Imam (A) with his master
• Wadih (a companion), a Turkish slave who said “Who can be as
lucky as I when the son of the Messenger of Allah (S) puts his cheek on mine)
before dying (probably the same as the Turkish slave who was a reciter of the
Qur’an)
• Aslam (a companion), a slave of al-Husayn (A)
• The slave-girl of Muslim ibn Awsajahwho mourns him
• A slave belonging to Rabab (the wife of al-Husayn)
• Jawn, the former slave of Abu Dharr, from Ethiopia
13. Where did slaves come from then?
• Across the Red Sea
• Ethiopia
• The Byzantine Empire/Greeks
• Persia
• Other Arab tribes (slaves captured in battle)
• To a lesser extent, India
14. Modern worldview
• Nineteenth century
European pseudo-
scientific racial hierarchy
• The conquest of Africa
and European cultural
dominance
• The African slave trade
• “African” or “Black” as a
single race
20. Ethnicities of the Imams (A) using modern racial categories
“She [Shahrbanu] was the holy relationship between the Arabs and the
Persians…” – contemporary biography
Imam ‘Ali (A) 100% Hijazi Arab
Imam al-Hasan (A) 100% Hijazi Arab
Imam al-Husayn (A) 100% Hijazi Arab
Imam al-Sajjad (A) 50% Arab, 50% Persian
Imam al-Baqir (A) 75% Arab, 25% Persian
Imam al-Sadiq (A) 88% Arab, 12% Persian
Imam al-Kazim (A) 50% African, 44% Arab, 6% Persian
Imam al-Rida (A) 75% African, 22% Arab, 3% Persian
Imam al-Jawad (A) 88% African, 11% Arab, 1% Persian
Imam al-Taqi (A) 94% African, 5.5% Arab, <1% Persian
Imam al-Hasan al-‘Askari (A) 97% African, 3% Arab, <1%Persian
Imam al-Mahdi (A) 98.4% African, 1.4 % Arab, 0.2% Persian; or 50%
Anatolian (modern-day) Turkish, 48.4% African, 1.4%
Arab, 0.2% Persian
23. Maybe Imam al-Zaman (A)
would look like this?
Source: “Handsome Young African Muslim Gentleman”,
watercolour by D. Lobenberg (artist) (sans beard)
24. What happens
when you question
“orthodoxy”?
(Here, “orthodoxy”
being the picture of
divine authority as
a brown, Middle
Eastern male.)
25.
26. Hazrat Jawn (John) bin Huway
John , a slave of Abu Tharr al-Ghifari, stood before al-Husain (a) requesting him
to grant him permission to fight. The Imam (a) said, “O John! You followed us
seeking your good health, so you are excused.” But the old man fell on the
Imam's feet kissing them and saying, “I in the time of prosperity lick what is
served on your tables; so, should I in the time of hardship betray you? My smell is
surely bad; my lineage is lowly; my colour is black; so do bestow upon me a
breeze from Paradise so that my smell will be good, my lineage will be honoured,
and my colour will be whitened! No, by Allah, I shall never abandon you till this
black blood mixes with yours!”
Al-Husain (a), therefore, granted him permission . He killed as many as twenty-
five men before he himself was finally killed. Al-Husain (a) stood by his corpse
and supplicated saying, “O Lord! Whiten his face, make his smell good, join him
with Muhammed, and link him to the progeny of Muhammed!”
Whoever thereafter passed by the battleground was able to smell his corpse
emitting a fragrance sweeter than that of musk. [Modern portrayal - Ibn al-Muqarram]
What messages does this convey? - Why is this story told? - Are these messages Islamic?
27. Development of portrayals of Jawn
• Ziyarat of shuhada’: “Peace be upon Jawn, mawla
Abi Dharr.” [narration]
• Jawn was present with Imam al-Husayn (A) on the
night of Ashura when the Imam (A) was fixing his
sword and reciting the poem about time [historical
narration – Abi Mikhnaf through ‘Ali ibn al-Husayn (A)]
• Rajaz poetry attributed to him during the battle:
How do you see the strike of the black
A strike with a sword from Bani Muhammad
I will defend them with my tongue and hand
I seek with it Paradise on the appointed Day.
[Ibn Shahrasub, d. 577 AH]
األسود ضرب الكفار يرى كيف*محمد بني عن ضربا بالسيف
واليد باللسان عنهم أذب*المورد يوم الجنة به أرجو
28. Era of Ibn Tawus (664 hijri/1246 CE)
John, mawla Abi Dharr, went and asked Imam al-
Husayn (A) for permission to fight. The Imam (A) said,
"You came with us to seek life not death; do not harm
yourself by following our way.” John replied, "O son
of the Messenger of Allah! I was with you during easy
times; I will not leave you in difficult times. By Allah,
my lineage is not like yours, and I am black, so let me
fight until I find relief in Paradise. By Allah, I will not
leave you until this black blood mixes with your
blood." Then he fought and was killed.
Authenticity? – From Ibn Tawus’s time?
29. Rather, We dash the truth upon falsehood, and it
destroys it, and thereupon it departs. And for you
is destruction from that which you describe.
