Inn al-hayat 'aqida wa jihad

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Inn al-ḥayāt ʿaqīda wa jihād (Arabic: إنَّ الحَیاةَ عَقیدةٌ و جِهادٌ) (English: Indeed, life is about believing and striving in its path.) is a saying attributed to Imam al-Husayn (a). However, there is a divergence of opinions regarding the accuracy of this attribution. Morteza Motahhari (d. 1979), argues against the attribution of the phrase to Imam al-Husayn (a), citing three reasons: Firstly, no reliable source confirms that Imam al-Husayn (a) said it. Secondly, the meaning of the phrase is incorrect. Lastly, the phrase contradicts other statements attributed to Imam al-Husayn (a). Besides, historian 'Inayat Allah Majidi (b. 1943) has considered it as a hemistich from the poetry of the Egyptian poet Ahmed Shawqi (d. 1932), who lived in the 14th/20th century.

Place

Inn al-hayat 'aqida wa jihad (Indeed, life is about believing and striving in its path.) is a phrase that, according to Iranian researcher 'Inayat Allah Majidi (b. 1943), has gained fame because it is attributed to Imam al-Husayn (a). However, prominent Shi'a thinker Morteza Motahhari (d. 1979) disagrees with this attribution and deems it incorrect.[1] Additionally, some have embraced it as a beautiful slogan for devout and faithful individuals,[2] while others have found it suitable for promoting their beliefs (on any basis).[3]

Attribution to Imam Al-Husayn (a)

There is a divergence of opinions regarding the correctness of attributing the phrase "Inn al-hayat 'aqida wa jihad" to Imam al-Husayn (a). Some researchers, such as Mehdi Bazargan (d. 1995) and Yahya Nuri (d. 2008), have attributed it to Imam al-Husayn (a).[4] However, they have not provided any source for this claim.[5] Iranian writer and researcher Zayn al-'Abidin Rahnama also considers this phrase a poem by the Imam (a), as mentioned in his book Zindigani-yi Imam Husayn (a) (Life of Imam al-Husayn (a).[6]

In contrast to this view, scholars like Morteza Motahhari[7] and Muhammad Sihhati Sardrudi[8] do not attribute it to Imam al-Husayn (a). In his book Tarjuma wa tafsir-i Nahj al-Balagha, Shi'a thinker Muhammad Taqi Ja'fari mentions the phrase as a poem without attributing it to anyone.[9] But Muhammad Sihhati Sardrudi concludes from Ja'fari's statement that he also does not consider the phrase as a saying of Imam al-Husayn (a).[10] Additionally, It has been stated by 'Inayat Allah Majidi, in his work Pajuhishi darbara-yi yik shu'ar-i ma'ruf (Translation: A Study on a Famous Slogan; Inn al-hayat 'aqida wa jihad), that this phrase is a hemistich from a poem composed by Ahmed Shawqi (d. 1932), an Egyptian poet from the 14th/20th century, rather than from Imam al-Husayn (a).[11] The verse is as follows:

Objections to the Attribution

Morteza Motahhari (d. 1979) believes that the phrase is not the Imam's (a) saying[13] for the following reasons:

  • No reliable source confirms that Imam al-Husayn (a) said it. According to him, such a statement from Imam Husayn (a) is not quoted in Islamic sources.[14] In Morteza Motahhari's view, this statement's origin dates back less than a century [15]
  • The meaning of the phrase is incorrect; Jihad must be in the path of truth. Motahari argues that jihad in the path of belief is incorrect because, according to the Qur'an, jihad ought to be in the path of truth rather than belief.[16]
  • The phrase contradicts the logic of Imam al-Husayn (a) and other statements attributed to him.[17]

Notes

  1. ↑ Majīdī, Pazhūhishī darbāra-yi yik shuʿār-i maʿrūf; ʾinna l-ḥayāt ʿaqīda wa jihād, p. 51; Muṭahharī, Majmūʿa-yi āthār, vol. 23, p. 243.
  2. ↑ Majīdī, Pazhūhishī darbāra-yi yik shuʿār-i maʿrūf; ʾinna l-ḥayāt ʿaqīda wa jihād, p. 51.
  3. ↑ ʿAlāʾī, Mujāhidān wa shahīdān-i rāh-i āzādī, p. 528.
  4. ↑ Majīdī, Pazhūhishī darbāra-yi yik shuʿār-i maʿrūf; ʾinna l-ḥayāt ʿaqīda wa jihād, p. 53-54.
  5. ↑ Majīdī, Pazhūhishī darbāra-yi yik shuʿār-i maʿrūf; ʾinna l-ḥayāt ʿaqīda wa jihād, p. 53-54.
  6. ↑ Rahnamā, Zindigānī-yi Imām Ḥusayn (a), vol. 1, p. 189.
  7. ↑ Muṭahharī, Majmūʿa-yi āthār, vol. 23, p. 243.
  8. ↑ Ṣiḥḥatī Sardrūdī, Bāzkhwānī-yi chand ḥadīth-i mashhūr darbāra-yi ʿĀshūrā, p. 122.
  9. ↑ Jaʿfarī, Tarjuma wa tafsīr-i Nahj al-balāgha, vol. 8, p. 118.
  10. ↑ Ṣiḥḥatī Sardrūdī, Bāzkhwānī-yi chand ḥadīth-i mashhūr darbāra-yi ʿĀshūrā, p. 122.
  11. ↑ Majīdī, Pazhūhishī darbāra-yi yik shuʿār-i maʿrūf; ʾinna l-ḥayāt ʿaqīda wa jihād, p. 51.
  12. ↑ Majīdī, Pazhūhishī darbāra-yi yik shuʿār-i maʿrūf; ʾinna l-ḥayāt ʿaqīda wa jihād, p. 51.
  13. ↑ Muṭahharī, Majmūʿa-yi āthār, vol. 23, p. 243.
  14. ↑ Muṭahharī, Majmūʿa-yi āthār, vol. 23, p. 243.
  15. ↑ Muṭahharī, Majmūʿa-yi āthār, vol. 23, p. 171.
  16. ↑ Muṭahharī, Majmūʿa-yi āthār, vol. 23, p. 244.
  17. ↑ Muṭahharī, Majmūʿa-yi āthār, vol. 23, p. 244-245.

References

  • ʿAlāʾī, Amīr. Mujāhidān wa shahīdān-i rāh-i āzādī. Tehran: Dihkhudā, 1358 Sh.
  • Ibn Shahrāshūb, Muḥammad b. ʿAlī. Manāqib Āl Abī Ṭālib. Qom: ʿAllāma, [n.d].
  • Ibn Ṭāwūs, ʿAlī b. Mūsā. Al-Luhūf ʿalā qatlay al-ṭufūf. Tehran: Nashr-i Jahān, 1348 Sh.
  • Majīdī, ʿInāyat Allāh. Pazhūhishī darbāra-yi yik shuʿār-i maʿrūf; ʾinna l-ḥayāt ʿaqīda wa jihād. Tehran: Muʾassisa-yi Tanẓīm wa Nashr-i Āthār-i Imām Khomeini, 1374 Sh.
  • Muṭahharī, Murtaḍā. Majmūʿa-yi āthār. Qom: Intishārāt-i Ṣadrā, 1389 Sh.
  • Rahnamā, Zayn al-ʿābidīn. Zindigānī-yi Imām Ḥusayn (a). [n.p], Kitāb-hā-yi Parastū, 1349 Sh.
  • Ṣiḥḥatī Sardrūdī, Muḥammad. Bāzkhwānī-yi chand ḥadīth-i mashhūr darbāra-yi ʿĀshūrā. Qom: ʿUlūm-i ḥadīth, 1381 Sh.
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