In the Name of God, the All-Merciful, the All-Compassionate --

Salaam and condolences to you all on the start of the mourning month of Moharram, the month in which the family of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA) suffered tragic martyrdom at the hands of enemies of humanity. It is the month in which the Prophet's grandson, Imam Husain (AS) refused to acknowledge the rule of tyrants and preferred to drink the elixir of martyrdom.

Call it an act of ignorance or obstinate attachment to the customs of the days of ignorance (Jahiliyya), the retaining of the practice of the pagan Arabs by the neo-Muslim rulers of Medina, to start the Islamic calendar on the 1st of Moharram, over two-and-a-half years after the passing away of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA), appears strange. They had even conjured up dubious dates to date the Islamic calendar upon, but had to give in to the wise insistence of Imam Ali (AS) that the Islamic calendar should be based on the auspicious migration of the Seal of Prophets from his hometown Mecca to Medina, since this marks the turning point in the history of monotheism.

All narrators of hadith and chroniclers of history are unanimous that the Prophet migrated from his hometown Mecca to Medina on the 1st of Rabi al-Awwal. They also collectively state that Imam Ali (AS) risked his life and limb to sleep on the Prophet's bed that crucial night so that the latter could safely evade the plot of the pagans to murder him.

However, the decision of the rulers to opt for the Jahiliyya practice of basing the Islamic calendar year on the 1st of Moharram, defies all logic to this day, especially when we witness the sad spectacle of wild celebrations in some Muslim states on the beginning of the hijra year, which are a gross violation of the Islamic commandment of the sanctity of this month.

This year, despite the ongoing daily bloodbath in many countries of the Arab world, such as Bahrain, Yemen, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia, the corrupt regimes these and other Arab states, continue to insult the sacrifices of the martyrs by observing holiday on the 1st of Moharram and celebrating it as New Year.

Moharram, which is derived from the root word Haram or sacred, is among the four months when all frivolities have been forbidden by Islam, let alone the indulging in capital sins on the pretext of ill-defined new year celebrations or the start of armed conflicts and shedding of innocent blood. It is also worth noting that the last two months, that is, Zilqahdah and Zilhijjah, were also Haraam or sacred months, but most Arab regimes, on the orders of their American and Zionist masters, did not hesitate to shed innocent Muslim blood wantonly and to imprison and torture men, women and children, for demanding their basic rights. They are actually following the policies of the Godless Omayyads and the tyrant Yazid, who blasphemed Moharram by cruelly martyring Imam Husain (AS) and 18 members of the Prophet's Household in addition to scores of other devoted, Godfearing Muslims.

Thus, was Yazid the libertine, celebrating the start of the year 61 AH in a novel manner befitting his heathen ancestors, when he ordered the killing of the Prophet's grandson in Moharram? Did he think – like the pro-US Arab rulers of our times – that Islam and humanitarian values which had triumphed so spectacularly at Badr, Ohad, Khandaq, and Siffeen, would die a violent death in Karbala?

The answers to these questions are obvious. Yazid was as wrong as his pagan and hypocrite sires. The intricate plot so badly backfired on the Omayyads that today there are no signs of their Arabian Nights palaces in their capital Damascus, while it is the chants of Ya Husain that resound in the Syrian capital, as well as all over the globe at the sighting of the crescent of Moharram, the month of mourning for history's most bloodcurdling tragedy.

Imam Husain (AS), who arrived in Karbala, the rendezvous of martyrdom, on the 2nd of Moharram, so completely changed history that Muslims and all those with a grain of conscience are indebted till this day to the annual discourses of his epic stand to sift truth from falsehood. If not for the mourning ceremonies in the months of Moharram and Safar for the Chief of Martyrs and the sufferings of the Prophet's blessed household, the pure and pristine teachings of Islam as preached by Prophet Mohammad (SAWA) would have long been forgotten as was the fate of the missions of the previous prophets.

Thus, whenever one feels in himself/herself or in the society, the sense of faith, virtue, piety, patience, courage, magnanimity, compassion, the concept of justice, the refusal to yield to oppression, and all other positive characteristics, he/she should turn towards Karbala to salute the person who saved Islam.

That is the reason the faithful herald the arrival of Moharram with black banners, as all forms of gaiety go out for the mourning period that enlivens human conscience to keep eternally unfurled the flag of patience, steadfastness, devotion, courage, affection, prudence, magnanimity, and all other humanitarian values that no evil and morally-bankrupt power could erase. This year, Moharram is sadly accompanied by pools of blood, dismembered limbs, and lifeless bodies of men, women and children, in Bahrain, in the oil-rich eastern parts of the spurious state called Saudi Arabia, in Yemen, and in Egypt, amid cheers in Arab capitals where leaders who shamelessly call themselves Muslims celebrate the advent of this month of mourning as the New Year in the manner of Abu Jahl, Abu Sufyan and all other pre-Islamic pagans.

There are lessons to be learnt by conscientious Muslims from the sick behaviour of these hypocrites, who rejoice on the 1st of Moharram and suppress any kind of natural public outpour of grief in this month of mourning, especially on the day of Ashura for the tragedy that befell the Prophet's grandson. Whatever the magnitude of their plots, those who masquerade as Muslims but feel no inhibitions in conspiring with the enemies of Islam against Muslims, have failed to distort or destroy Islam, thanks to the immortal sacrifice of Imam Husain (AS), whose sacred blood has remained remarkably fresh ever since the tragedy occurred 1,372 lunar years ago.