"Al-Ḥusayn, the grandson of the prophet Muhammad and the son of the first Shi'ite imam, Ali, was slaughtered alongside many members of his family in the desert in 680. This memory is torture to me. But, basically, one can say this memory is torture to me of every memory, since each reminiscence envelops at some level the memory of the origin of memory, the torture that had to be inflicted on humans in order to make them remember (Nietzsche). The memory that the yearly commemoration of Ashura is trying to maintain is not only or mainly that of the past, but the memory of the future, namely the promise of the Parousia of the twelfth imam, the long-awaited Mahdi, notwithstanding the passage of a millennium since his occultation--as well as the corresponding promise of Duodeciman Shi'ites to wait for him. Ashura: a condition of possibility of an unconditional promise."--Jalal Toufic.
OCLC:
(OCoLC)71360047
Locations:
OVUX522 -- University of Iowa Libraries (Iowa City)
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.