KULLU YAWMIN ASHURA, KULLU ARDHIN KERBALA
FRIEND 1:SIDDIQA
FRIEND 2: ARZINA
FRIEND 3:FATIMA
FRIEND 4: SAJIDA
SCENE ONE
(Friends 1 & 2 seated reading the qura’n, enter friend 3 & 4.)
4: Salaamun Alaykum.
1: Aalaykum Salaam, thank you for coming. We have already started the recitation of the Qu’ran.
3: Hey, you told me we were going to your friend’s birthday, how come these people are reciting Qura’n, where’s the party?
2: Yes, it is Siddiqa’s birthday but because it is in Muharram, she decided to have a majlis for Imam Hussein (as) and all the martyrs of Kerbala.
1: We decided we would bless this occasion by reciting a few suras from the qura’n and a nawha.
4: Well how about we recite this nawha, I know this is your favourite one, so I brought it along.
(They recite a few lines of the nawha, kullu yawmin ashura)
3: You know, I don’t really understand this statement – every day is ashura , every land is Kerbala. I mean, you just have to look out of the window to see that we are in boring old England. No desert sands and palm trees and where is the scorching sun?
1: This is a saying of our 6th Imam, - Every day is Ashura and every land is Kerbala. To know what it really means, we need to look back.
2: what really happened in Kerbala?
3: There was a battle.
4: but not just any old battle. It was the battle of good against evil.
1 : truth against falsehood. Justice against oppression
3: So you are saying, no matter where we are in the world, we should fight for truth and justice?
1: That’s the easy bit you see.
3 & 2: Oh?
4: Kullu yawmin Ashura – what did Imam Hussein and his helpers do on that day?
2: they did jihad against the falsehood.
3: so by saying that every day is Ashura, the Imam wants us to do jihad everyday.
2: but, but, how? People don’t use swords anymore. And and ..don’t we need a licence to get a gun? Aren’t we a bit under age for that?
1: no silly. That’s not what the Imam wants us to do. Come on get your coats on. Its time we went into town.
3: why?
1: you’ll see
(They all put their coats on and leave.)
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COMMENTRY: IN THIS SCENE, THE FOUR FRIENDS ARE AT THE SHOP
SCENE TWO
(At the shops, looking at various displays)
3: Oh come on lets get out of here, there’s nothing interesting.
1: yeah, there isn’t even a sale on.
4: you are the one who insisted on coming in here.
2: oh can we stay a bit longer?
3: why? You don’t even like this shop.
2: I do like the music they’re playing though. Its my favourite but my mum wont let me hear it.
1: Now, this is what the 6th Imam meant.
(they all turn to her)
2,3 & 4: what do you mean?
1: Well, everyday is ashura – you know doing the jihad that Imam Hussein did on ashura, we do it today, here, now – by walking out even though we’d rather stay and please our heart. This land we stand on, is Kerbala and that music is the force attracting us to falsehood. The choice you make now, will determine whose side you are on.
They all nod and walk away.
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COMMENTRY: THE NEXT ON THE WAY TO SCHOOL, TWO FRIENDS MEET
SCENE THREE
(1&3. They meet on their way to school)
1: salaam alaykum.
3: alaykum salaam. I need to tell you something.
1: what’s the matter?
3: well, don’t look worried. I have decided to start doing my jihad, I’m going to try and live everyday as if it were Ashura. And even though its hard to imagine England like Kerbala, I will try and fight the battle here and now. But I need help.
1: let’s do it together then. It’s much more fun that way.
3: OK. I wish you were going to the same school as I was. If you were there, I would feel more confident about wearing hijab.
1: you know the story of hurr right?
3: the commander of one of the wings of yazid’s army?
1: yes, can you imagine how hard it must have been for him to stand up and say NO, I can’t go along with the flow? I have a different path to walk? He realised that his destiny was somewhere else.
3: yes, but he left, he didn’t have to stay. In school, I have to work and play with my classmates. They are my friends.
1: if they are truly your friends, then what you wear should not really matter. It is you that they ought to like. Yes, it will be tough to start with but then who says Jihad is easy? The handful of Imam’s helpers could have easily said , “What’s the point? We are too few, we’ll lose.
3: yeah I know what you are getting at. It’s the principle you are standing for. The same with prophet Ibrahim when he broke the idols. Our Prophets and Imams have always stood up for the Principles of Islam.
1: You see, your heart is in the right place my friend. Now, here, take this and go and do your jihad.
(1 gives a scarf to 3, they hug and walk in opposite Direction)
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SCENE FOUR
(3&4 SITING WATCHING THE TV, VOICE OF ADHAAN)
4: Oh that’s the adhaan clock, time to go and pray.
2: oh look, its my favourite programme – Tracy Beaker. It only comes once a week and is only on for about 20 minutes.
4: the fadhilat for maghrib time is only for ten minutes. You will miss the fadhilat time.
2: Ah! Its only one day, and any way its not a sin. You go ahead, and guess what, you’ll get fadhilat time and I’ll fill you in on what happened in today’s episode. So you won’t have to miss the fadhilat time and I’ll also get the thawaab because I’m letting you go and pray while I watch for you as well.
4: You think you can trick Allah like that? I’m going to pray anyway. But aren’t you forgetting the talk we had on jihad? And the incident in the shop? Well this is the same. On the day of ashura, the Imam called a halt to the fighting so that they could pray their namaaz. The companions were fighting for Islam, they were fighting to protect the Imam from danger. Yet when it was time to pray, even that was put aside. What did Yazid’s soldiers do? They continued showering their arrows. I’m sure they too said ‘its only this one day and it won’t take long’.
2: (switched off the TV.) I got your point. Tracey Beaker, see you next week when namaaz time is a bit later.
(leave the room, after few secs, enter again, knock on the door, enter 1 &3)
Greetings exchanged.
2&4: exclaim – Fatima!! You are wearing hijab?? Since when?
2: today was my first day.
4: how was it for you?
3: what made you decide to wear it?
2: Well, it wasn’t easy. It felt a bit strange. I got a few awkward questions, but Siddiqa was right, my friends were pretty cool about it. I did get few looks in the play ground, but I just ignored it. It hasn’t been easy, but I know that Jihad is not easy – that is why the rewards are so great.
3: speaking of Jihad, we too had a jhadi moment today with the TV.
4: you are right about the rewards. A person who dies in the state of Jihad is shaheed. And we know that a shaheed doesn’t really die, he lives forever and there’s no accounting of deeds.
1: also if you look at the jihad that was conducted by the people of Kerbala, it gives you even more strength and energy to carry out our jihad. The friends who laid down their lives for Imam Hussein – they too had desires, they too loved their friends and family, they too wished to enjoy their lives, who doesn’t? But at the end of the day, they knew that these things had to take second place to their love for Allah and the Prophet and his Ahlul Bayt.
4: That when it comes to upholding the religion of Islam, even if you have to lay down your life for it, so be it.
2: and we are not even asked to do that. All we have to do is follow and practice the Islam that others died for so that its message reaches us.
3: The question is, are we still going to look for excuses?
1: are we going to say - one day instead of today?
4: Hurr knew from his actions which side he was on and quickly and courageously changed his destiny.
2: this is one of those destiny changing moments so ask yourselves now - Whose side are you on?
THE END