Islamabad, August 22, 2021 (PPI-OT):The history, historiography and narrative representation of the Karbala events are, inevitably, dictated by the human conditions such as context of time and space, political interests or religious affiliations, observed Prof Dr Aslam Syed during a Webinar on Discourse of History and Historiography of Karbala here on Sunday.
“There is no doubt that the event of Karbala falls under the category of a painful historical event but at the same time there is evidence to suggest that some of the authors and orators, all for good reasons, have attempted to narrate the event in a fictional or mythological presentation,” he said. Prof Dr. Aslam Syed has been serving at the Center for Religious Studies, Ruhr Universitat, Bochum, Germany. He remained Chairman, Department of History, Quaid-e-Azam University, Islamabad and served the NIHCR as its Director.
Furthermore, he said that historians’ understanding of the past are also obscured by the paucity of first-hand sources coupled with the hagiographical accounts of the available sources in various genres of the narrative into fictions, myths and historical accounts. Hence, the historians should not discourage poetic imaginations and linguistic explanation of the event as long as the authors and readers are mindful of its importance, he opined.
The Webinar was arranged online by the National Institute of Historical and Cultural Research (NIHCR), Centre of Excellence, Quaid-e-Azam University, Islamabad, attended by over 1000 participants ranging from students, teachers and researchers to have greater insights into the valuable views of the guest speaker.
Dr Syed viewed that with many Islamic sources, the nature of the narrative as found in the historical records is not as well known by many Muslims who simply rely on the traditions as inherited and taught by their forefathers. However, much of the events such as the Battle of Karbala are learnt through the sources of later historians such as Al-Tabari, he said.
The NIHCR Director Dr Sajid Mahmood Awan conducted the Webinar by presenting questions to Dr Syed for initiating a dialogue. He affirmed that the Muslim history and historians could not come out of the discourse of history set be the event of Karbala which is not only a bleeding wound the history of Islam but also a rare and strange event in the history of the world. He said that this inclusive activity has been taken up every week for the benefit of students in general and capacity-building of the teachers and researchers in particular.
For more information, contact:
National Institute of Historical and Cultural Research (NIHCR)
Quaid-e-Azam University, New Campus, Shadara Road,
Islamabad, Pakistan
Tel: +92-51-2896153-54/102
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Email: dirnihcr@gmail.com, nihcr@yahoo.com
Website: www.nihcr.edu.pk