Sunday, January 28, 2007

Abu Lulu's Shrine: Knowing Your Adversaries...


First, let us remember the story (source here), to rekindle our grief upon the murder of one of Islam's greatest-- Umar (RD), who even the Shaytan feared:

"When the year 644 A.D. dawned, that being the tenth year of his rule, Umar had the premonition that before the year ended, he would die.
Ayesha who was present on the occasion of the pilgrimage has left on record that as the party treaded the path between Mina and Mecca, some unseen person addressing Umar said:
"Upon such an Iman as thou be peace and blessings, With your deeds you have prepared for the journey to Heaven, In this journey no one can outstrip you. You brought glory to Islam, After you there will be distress, But so is the will of God. From God you came, and now to God return."
Ahu Musa Ashaari states that at that time he had a dream. In the dream he saw the Holy Prophet and Abu Bakr standing on a mountain. Umar stood at the base. Abu Bakr and the Holy Prophet asked him to come up and he climbed the mountain. The dream was interpreted to imply that the death of Umar was imminent.
On the last Friday in October 644, while presiding at the Friday Prayers Umar said that in a dream he had seen a bird peck at him and this implied that he was going to die. He said, "May be this is the last Friday prayer for me to preside, and thus ye faithful, farewell."
After the battle of Nihawand, many Persians, men, women, and children were taken as captives by the Muslims. The captives were sold as slaves. One of these slaves was Firoz alias Abu Lulu. He was purchased by Mughirah Shu'bah the Governor of Basra. This Firoz was a craftsman, a carpenter, an iron smith and a painter. Umar did not allow non-Muslim adult captives to reside in Madina. Mughirah sought special permission for the residence of Firoz in Madina on the ground that as he was a skilled craftsman, he would be of service to the people. Umar gave the permission as a special case.
One day, Firoz waited on Umar and complained that the tax which his master Mughirah was exacting from him was too high. He wanted the Caliph to reduce the levy. Umar enquired what work did he do. He said that he worked as a carpenter, painter, and an ironsmith. He added that he could make windmills as well. Umar next enquired as to the amount of the tax that he was required to pay to his master. He said that he had to pay two dirhams a day. Umar said that keeping in view the lucrative nature of the jobs done by him, the levy of two dirhams a day was prima facie not excessive. Umar said that he would, however, write to Mughirah, and examine the question further in the light of what Mughirah said. That did not satisfy Firoz, and he went away sulking. There were Persian children slaves in Madina. Seeing them, Firoz would say, "You have been enslaved at such a tender age. This Umar sees eaten my heart. I will take his heart out". He made for himself a dagger with a very sharp edge and smeared it with poison.
On the 1st of November 644 A.D. at the time of the morning prayer, Firoz went with his dagger to the Prophet's mosque and hid himself in a corner in one of the recesses of the mosque. When the faithful stood for prayer after straightening the lines, and Umar took up his position as the Imam to lead the prayer, Firoz emerged from his place of hiding and rushed at Umar. Firoz struck Umar six consecutive blows with his dagger, and Umar fell on the floor profusely bleeding.
Other persons rushed at Firoz, but he had the fury and frenzy of a desperate man about him. He struck right and left, and thirteen Muslims were wounded, some of them fatally [seven Sahabah died], before Firoz could be overpowered. At last realizing that he could not escape, Firoz stabbed himself to death with his own dagger. From the mosque Umar was carried home. When he regained consciousness he asked who was his murderer. He was told that his murderer was the Persian slave Firoz. Thereupon Umar said, "Praise be to God that I have not been murdered by a Muslim".
The physician administered him date cordial and milk. These could not be digested and gushed out of his wounds. That indicated that the wounds were fatal and that he could not survive for long.
The people around him praised him for his virtues and sterling qualities. He asked them not to praise him. He said: "All praise is to Allah. If all the treasures of this world were to be at my disposal, I would offer them as a ransom to be saved from the trial at the Day of Judgment." He then recited the Arabic verse:
"I have been unjust to my soul, Except that I am a Muslim, Say my prayers and fast."
Umar asked his son Abdullah to wait on Ayesha and beg her permission for his burial by the side of the Holy Prophet and Abu Bakr. Ayesha wept as she came to know that Umar was about to die. She said, "I had reserved this place for my own burial, but I give Umar precedence over myself. Let him be buried there". When Umar was told that Ayesha had given the permission, he felt happy and said, "God bless Ayesha. She has fulfilled my greatest wish. Now I can die in peace."
Then he asked his son to estimate the debt that he had to pay. He was told that the debt amounted to eighty six thousand dirhams. This included the salary that he had drawn from the Baitul Mal during the period of his caliphate. He instructed that the debt should be paid by the sale of his property. Thereafter Umar gave detailed instructions to his son regarding his funeral. He said:
"Be moderate in the expenses of my shroud, for verily if there is anything of good with God in my favor, He will give me in exchange what is better than it, and if I have been otherwise, He will strip me of all that I have. And be moderate in the grave that you dig for me, for verily if there be anything of good with God in my favor, He will widen it for me, and if I have been otherwise, He will make it narrow for me to squeeze my body. And let no woman go with my funeral. Praise me not for that which is not in me, for the Lord knows best what I am. Therefore when you carry me to the grave, hasten in your going for if there is anything of good with God in my favor you will speed me to that which is good, and if I have been otherwise, you will cast from your necks an evil that you bear."
Thereafter Umar turned his face to the Qibla and breathed his last. There was serene smile on his face as he lay dead."


That was the story of the Great Caliph Umar (RD). And the following is the story of the cowards who have elevated Abu Lulu', the Zorastrian murderer of Umar, to the level of saint, with a large shrine to celebrate this great crime. The following pictures were taken from two sources, one of them from Wikipedia (online encyclopedia). This is NOT a hoax. You can read more about it on Wikipedia here, and you can also see this shrine being defended on a shia forum here.

One guy at this shiachat forum comments (audhubillah mina shaytan-ul-ins), "It is your scholars abu hanifa and bukhari who are persian magis fire worshippers . Abu Lulu'a as.gif was a great persian muslim who has been praised by AhlulBayt pbuh.gif for sending that tyrant to hell and his miserable destiny. Anyway what's your proof that he is magian from your sources ?"



Why is this reminder important at this time? Because of what is happening in Iraq, because of what is happening in Lebanon. We cannot close our eyes to reality. Ali (who is influenced by pro-regressives) on his forum Eteraz.org asked his readers to support the call of a Shia Imam's editorial in a US newspaper. Read it for yourself here, and see how slick and wicked these people are. The guy (I am talking about the Imam) talks about "external" involvement by Saudis, Egyptians, Jordanians, but casually forgets Iran and the Mahdi-army terrorists. So, before we let the lore of Ahmadinejad among the Sunnis get out of hand, and tales of the great victories of the Shiite Hezbollah, let us remember Shiites really believe, and what they really think of the Sahaba, and what their banners and slogans really are. Let us not forget who betrayed Muslims in the recent wars... in both Afghanistan and Iraq. Notwithstanding that their allies from the West soon realized too on their accord, that their allies were not the best of allies, after all; betray one, and you will betray others. May Allah help us all, and guide us all to the truth.

(Added 2/13/07) I will add that the majority of Sunni scholars consider Shias to be within the fold of Islam. Furthermore, what happened in Afghanistan & Iraq does not mean ALL Shias have the same 'problem'. Wherever we can cooperate, we should do so. Wherever we can help each other to solve the bigger issues, and help to stop the destruction of life and property anywhere, we should encourage that. The killing in Iraq is haraam, of both Shias and Sunnis. The killing of any innocent person is haraam, let alone a Muslim. The terrorists exist on both sides, but for the most part, the objective view seems to say that Shias (having the upper hand) are the bigger instigators in Iraq, so the Shias who reject this violence need to redouble their efforts to help stop the bloodshed.

I call upon the Shias to tell the Sunnis on this blog that they the shrine of Abu-Lulu is not a 'mainstream' view among them. I HOPE to hear those voices.

Picture Stories on this Blog are being Collected HERE.

34 comments:

Anonymous said...

May Allah have mercy on all sahabah, ahle-bayt, and followers of Muhammad till the day of judgement.

Shias would get what they deserve in this dunya and akhira. Their aqeedah is inherently violent, extreme and so far from truth. I never felt comfortable when scholars consider them muslims. But I do not have knowledge, so I can not comment.

AnonyMouse said...

As-salaamu 'alaikum wa rahmatullaahi wa barakaatu,

JazakAllahu khairan for the post - I didn't know about Umar(R)'s death in such detail, just that he was killed by the slave Abu Lu'lu' during salaah.

Subhan'Allah, I didn't know that Abu Lu'lu's grave was now a shrine! :(

May Allah have mercy on us and forgive our shortcomings, and may He bless us with an Umar for this generation, that we may yet have hope for victory, ameen!

Your little sister in Islam,
Mouse

Zahra said...

As Salaamu alaikum wa rahmatuAllahi wa barakatuh,

SubhanAllah, what a detailed account of Umar (radhi Allahu anhu)'s death.

May Allah send his peace and blessings on our beloved Rasul salAllahu alayhi wassalam, his family and companions and let us follow their example and be with them in Jannah, ameen.

Allahu akbar-the things Shi'as do! May Allah guide them and may He guide us all and accept our repentance, ameen.

Jazak Allahu khairan for sharing.

Anonymous said...

Wallahi, seeing that picture makes me angry. Brazen!

Anonymous said...

man all those shia posters/signs have horrible artwork...

glad to know sunnis learned the art of photoshop.

Anonymous said...

i stopped reading eteraz a loooooooooong time ago. i dont get why its so popular???????

Unknown said...

same as lota....

agree with exexblogger....

you hit the nail imhere - i hate screwed up graphics and artwork.....

Amatullah said...
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AnonyMouse said...

lotaenterprises: I think that the reason that Eteraz is so popular is that non-Muslims find them very appealing - they're 'Muslim' enough that they can reassure the non-Muslims that no, we're *not* all terrorists; at the same time they're close enough to the non-Muslims that they're really almost no different...

Mind you, it's not all just the pro-regressives - there are 'others' who a part of Eteraz as well, who aren't part of the 'progressive movement.' Even I'm a registered user and occasionally comment there because I find that they do have some interesting and relevent articles sometimes, and I do learn some things (mostly political stuff, though).

Reem said...

whats a shrine?

Amad said...

Reemo, a shrine is like a building that honors someone. Usually it is built on a grave... Even though the Prophet (S) forbid building structures on graves, many Muslims unfortunately continue this despicable act. The result is that other ignorant Muslims go there and start doing acts that a Muslim should not do.

Unknown said...

"let us remember Shiites really believe, and what they really think of the Sahaba, and what their banners and slogans really are. Let us not forget who betrayed Muslims in the recent wars... in both Afghanistan and Iraq. Notwithstanding that their allies from the West soon realized too on their accord, that their allies were not the best of allies, after all; betray one, and you will betray others."

This is not only sad and angry but completely misguided. Full of sectarian hate.

I won't dredge up ancient history, there is simply no reason to spread more of that kind of fitna. Honest people see what the truth is. Enough said.

What is BLATANTLY obvious is how in denial you are Amad with recent policy. Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Egypt are all pro-west and pro-Israel. Saudi Arabia has condemned shia violence against Israel while fanning the sectarian violence in Iraq.

These countries are the United States B!tches against Shia representative rule in the region.

To call Iran a western pawn like these Sunni countries ignore BLATANT facts. How blind can you be?

Allies from the West? You are talking Sunni nations...period!

Unknown said...

Stop supporting the slaughter of your Muslim brothers by selling yourselves to the west for the cheap price of continued regional domination.

Dunya Hassan?

Who is more concerned with Dunya than a munafiq who sells his religion to the West for military support and short term rule.

Get some facts bro, stop covering your eyes with hate.

Amad said...

Buzz, I can understand why you would find my comments hateful and hard to swallow. I take my readers seriously, and I have added an update to the post.

Now, let me ask you a few questions:
1) As you found my comments repulsive (I understand why), do you in turn understand why the comments were made in the first place?
2) Do you understand what Umar (RD) represents to Sunnis? Do you recognize how it offends us and how hateful it is for Shias to enmasse celebrate his Umar's murderer?
3) Do you deny any of the following:
a) The shrine of Abu Lulu exists and is celebrated?
b) The afghanistan invasion was in alignment with the Northern Alliance, who were Shias?
c) The Iraqi invasion was and is still being supported by the Iraqi Shias?

PLEASE, do let me know if you disagree with any of these thoughts, I will be happy to moderate my post even further if I am indeed wrong. And I do know that you will say there are other historical injustices committed by Sunnis. And I won't deny that either, I am sure there have been 'bad' Sunnis before and will continue to be. But, we are talking about the times we live in RIGHT NOW. The grave is being celebrated TODAY. The wars happened in the last FIVE years. So, this is not history, it is the present reality.

One of these claims you can easily help us with. The shrine of Abu-Lulu... do you agree with that? Is it a radicalized, minority Shia view? I am asking in all sincerity.

Hope to hear from you more. thanks for stopping by. Wasalam.

Anonymous said...

Abu Lulu is an Iranian hero. Read the story you posted more carefully. He petted the heads of Persian CHILDREN SLAVES, who were enslaved by the Arabs and he avenged them against the tyrant Umar. Tell me if Umar was such a great man, why were there children being sold as slaves? Of Course Abu Lulu defended the children of his people! Im glad there is a shrine in his honor nad hopefully Iran liberates itself from 1400 years of Arab imperialism.

Anonymous said...

As an Iranian, I feel that you are completely misguided in your thinking. Shia's do not necessarily celebrate Pirouz but Iranians do because Umar, to Iranians, was a mass murderer- regardless of the fact that he was Mohammad's companion. The fact is that Umar got what he deserved, A death for a thousand deaths.

As for Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Jordan- is it not time to stop prostituting Islam to the West so these corrupt Arab rulers can stay in power? The fact is that the Arab world is in decline and has been for many years now. Arabs lose ALL their wars and are incapable of rendering themselves free from Western domination. Now people like you think it is acceptable to attack Shias because their is a grave in Sepahan that honors and Iranian hero was defending his people from a blood thirsty psychopath like Umar?

Umar is just a man and he paid for his sins. Focus on the sickness in your society and why Islam has been prostituted to the West for arms and money.

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