Bahrain Mirror (Exclusive): During one of the Ashura seasons commemorated in Manama, a Western scholar interested in studying the relationship between political protest and Ashura, heard a slogan chanted by eulogy reciter Abu-Ghayeb at the Al-Qassab Ma'tam (Shiite mourning hall) that read: "To death we are indeed adorers of Hussain." He eagerly inquired about the meaning behind those words, and it seems he found in them a key to understanding this extraordinary fondness Shiites have for Hussain and how it turned into a state of struggle and resistance traveling through time. "These words are engraved on their chests. ‘To death we are indeed adorers of Hussain' is written on the palm of their hands. Hoarse are their voices from shouting it, beating are their hearts with it, imprinted are these words in their ears from birth, and concluded are their lives by this phrase. No political authority can take away this slogan before plucking out their hearts."

Ashura is not just a black cloth or merely a story, memory or tear. Under all this blackness, there is an idea, and ideas cannot be killed by bullets, nor extracted in interrogation, torture and detention chambers. Foolish is any authority that fights an idea, and foolish is anyone who thinks that he was born to eliminate a doctrine rooted in a group of people. The people of Bahrain inherited a belief and ideas that sanctify the martyrdom of Imam Hussain, peace be upon him, which they commemorate every year.

The meaning of human thoughts that lie in the depths of souls of human beings does not fade no matter how long time has passed, and no matter how much they are attacked. Imam Husssin died more than one thousand four hundred years ago, yet his idea is still alive, youthful and burning, and will not die neither in this era nor in any future era.

It is said that Christ was crucified and today Christianity still lives, and Socrates was sentenced to death so that they would kill his ideas, but to this day his ideas still resound in the halls of schools and universities, and the poison that he swallowed has become a symbol of the death of the person and the life of the idea, so what about the idea of ​​Imam Hussain and his uprising, will it be eliminated by any foolish ruler?!, The result is clear but the hatred is blind and therefore it is repeated every year.

All these summons sent to the heads of Ma'tams and reciters of mourning rituals including sheikhs and mullahs, and the removal of black flags under the protection of the security forces, are all acts of nonsense that only give the fool and his posse some satisfaction.

Yazid thought he was victorious and so do you; you think that you put an end to February 14 and the idea of freedom, but it will certainly not die and the people of Bahrain will continue to call for it and adore it to death.

Arabic Version