Remembrance of the Sufferings of the Saints as a Consolation for the Mourner: A Special Glance on Hussein Ibn Ali’s (as) Sufferings

According to psychologists and researchers, many people go through five psychological stages when they experience new feelings and conditions after losing a loved one. Among those five stages is "anger." At this stage, the mourner angrily tries to find the answers to questions that have arisen for him after losing his loved one. Since he doesn't view himself as deserving of such suffering, he asks himself and others why God took his beloved from him? Why did He make life bitter for him? And so on. In the stage of anger, a person's mental state and the questions that are raised from it challenge his relationship with God. Philosophers of religion have also addressed this problem. According to a classical division, philosophers of religion study the problem of evil in two areas: theoretical and existential. Mourners' questions and their suffering -which appeared as an exaggerated evil- are related to the existential problem of evil. In this area, individuals are faced with situations that reinforce their doubt or disbelief in the existence of God. Philosophers such as Alvin Plantinga argue that philosophical debates about the existential realm of evil are not fruitful, but that spiritual care should be practiced instead. It is in this context that pastoral theology in Christianity is a widely debated topic. It seems that remembrance of the sufferings and calamities that happened in the lives of divine saints can guide the mourner's attitude. In other words, by reflecting on these recollections, he can find meaning for their mourning and get over their grief more easily. The sufferings of Hussein ibn Ali (as) in the story of Ashura can be recalled for this purpose. In Shia practice, there seems to be evidence for this view of Ashura.