KARBALA-A BRIEF REVIEW OF EVETS STARTING FROM THE DEMISE OF THE PROPHET AND THE ENTHRONEMENT OF YAZEED TO KHILAFAT
The angel Jabriel narrated to Prophet Muhammad (saww) that:
“Karbala, where your grandson and his family will be martyred, is the one of the most blessed and the most sacred land on Earth and it is one of the valleys of Paradise.”
Reference: Kamill al-Ziyarat. pg. 54
The Prophet of Islam (pbh) passed away in the 11th year of Hijra. Imam Husayn was only seven years old at that time. Abu Bakr became the first Khaleefa after Muhammad amid some confusion, disagreements and political maneuvering. The ruling party at this point in time felt politically insecure in view of the way they had taken power. It was, therefore, necessary to control all those areas where trouble was expected. One of those areas was the family of Banu Hashim, the Prophet's own people. The central figure there was the surviving daughter, Fatima Zahra. While the politicians were busy securing their hold on the community, the family of Banu Hashim was busy performing the funeral rites of the Prophet.
NOTE: According to Islamic law, if a Muslim dies in the community, it is a wajib kifa'ee (collective duty of the community) to complete the funeral rites. If no one does it, the entire community commits a sin. However, if any one or a few persons take care of it, the entire community is absolved of the responsibility.
On Umar bin Khattab's advise, Abu Bakr collected an armed party and surrounded the house of Fatima Zahra where most of the men of Banu Hashim were gathered. According to the report in Ibn Qutayba Daynoori's al-Imama was-Siyasa, it could have been just a few days after the Saqeefa event.
When Ali heard the disturbance, he came outside and a dialogue ensued between him and the gathering outside.
Ali asked as to why they had gathered. They said (mainly the dialogue was held by Umar) that he (Ali) should do Abu Bakr's ba'yat like everybody else.
Ali asked:'And if I did not?'
Umar said:"You will be beheaded, if you didn't"
Ali said: "Will you kill someone who is ABDULLAH (a worshipper of Allah) and AKHU-RASOOL ALLAH (brother of the prophet of Allah)?
Umar said: "Yes, you are abadullah, that we accept, but we don't accept you as a brother of the Prophet.
The situation grew uglier. However, Fatima Zahra came to the door and protested. Umar threatened to burn the house down. Soon people came to their senses and on extreme protest from Fatima Zahra, the armed party left.
Abu Bakr remained full of remorse for the rest of his life for violating Fatima Zahra's home. He lived for only 3 years as Khaleefa. He is reported to have nominated Umar as his successor on his death-bed. Husayn was now ten years old.
Umar appointed the elder son of Abu Sufyan, Yazeed, as the governor of Syria. Yazeed did not live very long and soon after his death the Khaleefa appointed his younger brother Mu'awiyah to that same post. Mu'awiyah turned out to be a shrewd politician who would use any means to get what he wanted. He used terror to subdue those who were foolhardy enough to raise a voice of dissention and money to buy those off who were greedy.
Husayn attained manhood during Umar's reign. Umar remained as Khaleefa for ten years. During this period Mu'awiyah had really become a monarch. When Umar visited Damascus, he saw all this. But he also saw that Mu'awiyah had become so strong militarily as well politically that if he was checked now, he would revolt.
After Umar's assassination, Uthman, a prominent member of the clan Banu Umayya, became Khaleefa. This removed all obstacles from Mu'awiyah's path. Uthman himself had no scruples when it came to favours for his relatives. He misused the treasury. He had two prominent Companions of the Prophet beaten up when they questioned him. This was sufficient evidence for Mu'awiyah to persue his own ambitious plans, which he did.(Read, Taha Husaain's Al-Fitnatul Kubra, for details. Also see:Madelung, Succession to Muhammad, Cambridge University Press)
While Mu'awiyah was busy paving the way for his own son Yazeed's succession to the throne of Damascus, the excesses by Uthman reached to such an extent that people from the provinces gathered in Madinah first, as delegations with genuine complaints, and then they turned into a lynching mob which eventually killed Uthman and then forced Ali to accept the position of Khaleefa. Husayn was now thirty-two years old. Iran was conquered by the Muslim armies during Umar's reign. At that time the family of the defeated king, Yazdigard, went into hiding. During Ali's reign they reappeared and were sent to cAli by his governor in the Eastern provinces. The daughters of the Iranian king, Yazdigard, were brought to Koofa and presented to Ali ibn Abi Talib. One of them known as Shahr Banoo, was later married to Husayn and bore him his eldest son Ali Zaynul Abideen. He was 24 years old at Karbala.
Ali ibn Abi Talib was a man of a different temperament and principles. He was the closest to the Prophet and his teachings. He immediately put radical reforms in action; he removed all those governors in the provinces who were appointed by Uthman and were reported to have oppressed the people unjustly and
plundering the treasury. This, obviously, hurt the Banu Umayya in general because, Uthman had distributed these lucrative positions to his clansmen.
Mu'awiyah refused to give up his post and accept Ali as Khaleefa. There was a battle at the banks of the river Euphrates in Iraq, which ended in utter confusion and without result, mainly because of the lack of wit among the people who were representing Ali during negotiations.
Ali was assassinated during prayers in the mosque of Koofa in Iraq in the 40th year of Hijra. Mu'awiyah was now free to do anything he wanted. Ali's followers in Koofa elected Hasan to become the Khaleefa. Hasan saw the dwindling support in his camp and decided that it was futile to fight Mu'awiyah. He was more concerned about safety and security of the remaining few of his followers.
He thought it prudent under the circumstances, to come to terms with Mu'awiyah. Together they signed a treaty. Hasan gave up any claim to temporal power but secured the promise that his followers will not be harassed or molested, and that the succession after Mu'awiyah will be left to general consensus among the Muslims. Mu'awiyah agreed in principle to these conditions. But, in practice he did what he wanted. Hasan died mysteriously of poisoning, in the 50th year of Hijra.
Many well known Companions of the Prophet who were known as the Qurra (those who had learnt Qur'an by heart), were killed, their properties plundered and their families harassed into silence or submission. Money was used for the purpose of fabricating Hadeeth. People like Abu Hurayra, a mere beggar on the streets, became so rich in the process that his inheritance, a mound of gold, had to be chiselled with axes to be distributed among his next of kin, after his death.
Mu'awiyah did not stop here. He went on to appoint his debauch son Yazeed as his successor and asked the governors in the provinces to promise him that they would support Yazeed after his death. Husayn at this time, was forty-six years old.
Husayn being a man of principles, kept a quiet watch on the course of events. He was bound by his own convictions to respect and honour the treaty signed by his brother, although the other party was a defaulter all the way.
Mu'awiyah died in the month of Rajab, in the 60th year of Hijra (April 680 A.D.). Husayn had now reached the mature age of 57.
Soon after Mu'awiyah's death Yazeed succeeded to the throne of Damascus. One of the first things he did was to order Waleed, the governor of Madinah, to summon Husayn to his presence and ask him to swear allegiance to Yazeed. Waleed did this. Husayn came to his presence with his brothers and nephews. Waleed stated the purpose of the meeting. Husayn very diplomatically refused to oblige.
When Waleed asked Husayn for Yazeed's Ba'ya (allegiance to one's authority), Husayn replied that since he was the senior most member in the Prophet's house at that time, his Bay'a should be much more publicly acknowledged. Therefore, it would be more appropriate to ask the question again in the mosque at a general gathering. Waleed agreed to this. Marwan, another infamous Umayyad, was sitting there. He said to Waleed:
" If Husayn is allowed to leave now, you shall never get hold of him. Either ask him to swear allegiance to Yazeed now or have him killed."
Husayn became angry at this and asked Marwan to shut up. When Husayn's voice reached outside of the house where his relatives were waiting, they all rushed into the house. Both Waleed and Marwan were intimidated and Husayn and his family members left the house.
This scene is not very different from what happened fifty years ago at the door of Fatima Zahra. Husayn was being threatened for his life for ba'ya exactly like Imam Ali had been threatened for his life for bay'a.
Times had changed but policies remained the same. Faces were different but questions and answers remained the same.
MUSLIM BIN AQEEL AND HURR
When Waleed asked Husayn for Yazeed's Ba'ya (allegiance to one's authority), Husayn very diplomatically refused to do that. The next morning Husayn left Madinah with nineteen male and twelve female members of his family and a number of children. First he headed towards Makkah. He left Madinah on the 28th day of Rajab in the 60th year of Hijra.
He arrived in Makkah a few days later. He wanted to perform the Hajj, which was a few months away as yet. Two other important people were in Makkah. One of them was Abdullah bin Zubayr. He too was being pressed for Yazeed's bay'at. However, he escaped from Madinah before the governor could summon him. Before the arrival of Husayn, he was the center of people's attention in Makkah. After Husayn arrived in Makkah, Muslims were naturally attracted to him. Husayn's own Mu'azzin would call for prayers and people would gather to offer prayers in his leadership. He talked to people at a personal level and also made speeches in which he explained why he had left home. The other person was the aging Abdullah bin Abbas. When he met Husayn he advised him not to take his women and children with him. He also warned Husayn that people of Koofa were unreliable and that they had mistreated his brother and had disobeyed his father. To this Husayn replied that all matters were in Allah's command and that the Banu Umayya would transgress in Zulm with him exactly like the People of Sabath.(he referred to Qur'anic verses 2:65, 7:166 and 16:124)
This is very significant. There were three groups of people in that community of Banu Israel who had broken the covenant of al-Sabt. One party were the actual transgressors, they were intent on breaking the law. The others were trying to stop them and they were fewer in numbers. The third party was the largest in number but they tried to remain neutral saying that they did not want to become controversial. If we look at Koofa, Makkah and Madinah, we will find those three parties among them. There were the Banu Umayya who were intent on harming Husayn and his family. There were those who were going to help Husayn, and they did. But they were only 72 in number. Then, in the middle, there was the large majority who did not want to become part of a controversy. At the head of this third group was Abdullah bin Umar and the rest of the people of Makkah and Madinah.
During his saty in Makkah, close to the days of Hajj, Husayn got wind of profe-ssional killers being sent for him in the dis-guise of pilgrims to Makkah. He immediately left Makkah, for two reasons.
1. He knew at the meeting with Waleed that there was no way he was going to escape death in the near future, because he was never going to swear allegiance to Yazeed. He also knew that those hired killers had no scruples and they would not respect the sanctity of Makkah (where even the killing of a pest is not allowed). Therefore, he decided to choose a place for himself.
2. He wanted to make his death as public as possible, so that he could leave a legacy of sacrifice and martyrdom for all time to come. Husayn wanted to bring about a revolution in human philosophical thought by his martyr-dom.
The news of Yazeed's misdeeds were reaching far and wide. The more Muslims came to know of his every-day life the more disgusted they became. However, the fear of the Syrian army kept them from taking any action. There were groups of people who wanted somebody to rise up against Yazeed and bring back the golden age of the Prophet of Islam. There was no one better suited for this than the Prophet's own grandson Husayn. The people of Koofa, a garrison town in Iraq near the Iranian border, was rife with this feeling. Mostly because Ali, the fourth Khaleefa and Husayn's father, had made Koofa his capital. Koofans remembered the just and puri-tan rule of Ali. Naturally, they were inclined to the son of their previous leader.
At the same time the people of Koofa had been suffering at the hands of the Syrian terrorists, organized and paid by Muawiyah during his reign, only because they were the followers of Ali. In this background, the tribal leaders in Koofa started sending letters to Husayn in Madinah that he should come and take charge of the people of Koofa and restore a just and peaceful society, and that they were willing to fight against the Syrians. Husayn received several thousand of these letters.
We would like to pause here and give our readers a glimpse of the political situation in Koofa at this time, and the motivation behind those letters received by Husayn, and who actually were the writers of those letters.
The people of Koofa consisted of three very diverse groups of people. The first one were the tribal leaders. These were only paying lip service in inviting Husayn to Koofa. The second were the true Shi'a who had accepted Husayn as their rightful Imam, and the third group were openly hostile to Ahlul-Bayt. The third group was easily identifiable. It were these people who had formed the bulk of the army who fought Husayn at Karbala. These cannot, by any stretch of the imagination, be called Shi'a.
The other two groups have been identified as such by Allama Ali Naqi in his short paper titled: QATILAAN-E-HUSAYN KA MAZHAB. The Allama begins his research by looking at the letters that were sent to Imam Husayn from Koofa. He finds two very distinct types of letters. He quotes one of each kind as follows.
The first letter was received by Imam Husayn in Makkah on the 10th of the month of Ramadhan. This read as follows:
"There is no leader (imam) over us, you should therefore come. Perhaps through you we would be able to collect us on the right path. N'uman bin al-Basheer is in the governor's palace. However we do not attend the Friday prayers in his leadership neither do we go to the Eid prayers. If we get the news that you are coming here we will banish him (N'uman) towards Syria."
This letter was signed by Sulayman bin Surad, Musaiyyab bin Najaba, Rifa'a bin Shaddad, and Habeeb bin Mazahir. This letter was delivered by Abdullah bin Samee Hamdani and Abdullah bin Waal.
This original was followed by 53 similar letters in the next few days. We can only surmise that not all of those people who eventually signed those letters were committed Shi'a. It was a matter of a popular movement of discontent against a tyrant. Many people just joined the movement because everyone else was doing it. Therefore, names are important, because that is how we will be able to identify the true Shi'a eventually.
There are various letters of similar sentiments that we can find in the books of history. All these letters show a general sentiment in the Koofan public of an open dissatisfaction with Yazeed, a show of wariness and anger against the oppression and hopefulness that if Husayn comes he will be able to free the people of Koofa from their misery.
The Allama then finds another letter of which the contents are totally devoid of those sentiments but, the letter does invite Husayn to Koofa. It reads:
"Fields are overflowing with vegetation and greenery, trees are loaded with fruits, ponds are filled to their brims. So come as and when you wish (fa iza sh'at fa-aqdam). There is a large group of people (ready to welcome you)."
This letter was signed by seven men - Shabath bin Rab'i, Hijar bin Al-Jar, Yazeed bin Harith, Yazeed bin Royem, Ghurrah bin Qays, Amr bin al-Hajjaj Zubaydi, and Muhammad bin Umayr Tameemi. The Allama then continues to follow the end of those people who had actually signed those letters. It turns out that those who had urged Imam Husayn to come to Koofa because they were looking for their Imam to come and lead them on the right path, were the actual Shi'a.
Husayn himself being a man of wisdom and intelligence, knew the fickle nature of the Koofans. He had seen how they had deserted his father in the hour of need. He had seen how they had mistreated his brother, Hasan. On the other hand, he considered it his moral duty to respond to this call from the Koofans. Firstly, being the true representative of the holy Prophet, he felt responsible to lead the Muslims on the right path. Secondly, as a leader of men, from a truly human point of view, he felt obliged to help and lead those who sought justice while a tyrant was denying them their basic human rights, and that the oppressed looked up to him in this hour of need.
All indications are that Husayn was still reluctant to go to Iraq. Finally, one day he received a letter from the people of Koofa which read as follows:
"We have been writing to you to come and lead us on the
right path. You are our Imam. If you still do not heed our
call we will complain on the Day of Judgement that we had
called our Imam and he had not responded to our call. "
Eyewitness reports tell us that as Husayn read that letter, he stood up shaking. It was at this point that Husayn finally decided to move towards Koofa.
This short episode gives us a very clear insight into the Shi'a theory of Imamat. Husayn himself was confident that he was the rightful Imam. His followers on the other hand were confident that they were following the right Imam. Now they were calling their Imam to come and relieve them of the misery of Syrian oppression. It was like a child in real distress calling his father for a rescue attempt. Husayn had to respond even though he knew that he would be jeopardizing the safety and security of his person as well as that of his family and friends. Husayn's historic step was very much like a father would try everything to save his own child from a dangerous situation even if his own life was endangered in that effort.
Husayn first sent his cousin, Muslim bin Aqeel, to Koofa on a fact finding mission. He was welcomed by the Shi'a of Koofa with open arms. Nearly 18,000 people pledged their support to him in the mosque . But only a few days later, Muslim was deserted by his supporters and brutally executed on Ibn Ziyad's orders . Husayn received the news of Muslim's killing while he was on his way to Koofa. If Husayn's move was for purely political purposes, any intelligent person would immediately turn back, or, at least stop and reflect. Husayn, on the other hand, continued towards Koofa. In that same journey he was met by the poet Frazdaq, who told him: "the hearts of the people of Koofa are with you but their swords are with the Banu Umayya." Such a clear warning would not deter Husayn from his advance. That simile of the child in distress calling his father explains Husayn's decision of continuing towards Iraq even after Muslim's Killing.
There is only one explanation for this course of action. Husayn's move was political only in the sense that if he had been able to draw the support he needed, he would have overthrown the Umayyad rule. In the circumstances, regardless of the odds against him, he had to move to fulfill his duty as the rightful Imam. That makes Husayn's step fulfilling the duty he was assigned as IMAM MANSOOS MIN ALLAH. That is the spirituality in his actions. The overwhelming fact that comes out of this analysis is that the SPIRITUALITY OVER-RIDES THE POLITICAL CONSIDERATIONS in the true Political Philosophy of Islam..
In the true political philosophy of Islam politics is subservient to spirituality. The law is governed by the Prophetic guidance and Qur'anic edicts. The Ahlul Bayt being the custodians of the Qur'an and the Prophetic Traditions are the true Imams of the community. Their claim to that high office would be proved not by brute force over the people neither by the hereditary principle but by the sacrifices they would make to protect the Qur'an and the Prophetic Traditions; and that would in effect protect the basic rights of the oppressed.The Tragedy of Karbala is the epitome of that political philosophy.
Against this background Husayn sent his cousin Muslim Ibn Aqeel to Koofa while he stayed in Makkah. In the meantime new developments in Makkah made him leave soon afterwards. It appears that Husayn travelled right across the subcontinent, from the Red Sea coast to the Gulf coast and then turned northwards along the shore. He then passed through the present-day Kuwait and then through Basra along the river Euphrates and ended up in Karbala. There is a mosque situated in a village on the East coast of present day Saudi Arabia, which is dedicated to Husayn, in memory of his visit there, en -route to Karbala. However, recent study by S.M. Raza Shabbar of London has shown that Husayn may have taken a much shorter and direct route to Karbala from Makkah.
While Husayn was on his way to Koofa, Muslim Ibn Aqeel was received with open arms by the Koofans. Eighteen thousand people swore allegiance to Husayn vicariously, on Muslim's hand. Yazeed's spies were at work and they were giving full reports about the comings and goings of Koofa. As soon as this news was brought to Yazeed he ordered Ibn Ziyad, the governor of Basra, to proceed immediately and take charge of Koofa. Ibn Ziyad was well known for his hatred for the family of the Proph-et. As soon as he arrived in Koofa, he summoned all the tribal leaders to his presence. When they came, they were arrested and put behind bars. This was sufficient to deter the Koofans from hel-ping Muslim. That evening, several hundred people had gathered in the mosque to offer their prayers behind Muslim. When the prayers were over, only twelve people were left. By the time Muslim was returning home, only three followed him. After a few minutes he was left alone in the back-alleys of Koofa. He took refuge in a woman's house, for the night. The woman's own son reported the whereabouts of Muslim for money. Seven hundred people led by Muhammad Ibn Ash'ath attacked the house where Muslim had stayed the night. Muslim came out with the sword in his hand, fought valian-tly and was wounded by trickery, arrested and pre-sented to Ibn Ziyad. He ordered him to be thrown from the roof-top of the governor's palace. His dead body was dragged in the streets of Koofa. This was now the 9th of Zilhijj. The following day Husayn received the news of Muslim's brutal killing from travelling Bedouins. He was well on his way to Koofa. Obviously, the travelling Bedouins rep-orted both ways.
Ibn Ziyad was well prepared for Husayn. Every road leading into Koofa was completely blocked. There were troops stationed at every key-position in and around town. Local leaders were made responsible for reporting any sympathies with Husayn, failing which they would be beheaded.
As soon as news arrived in Koofa of Husayn's approach to the city, a detachment of one thousand cavalry-men was sent to intercept him. The man commanding these troops was Hurr Ibn Yazeed Riyahi, a man of proven military exper-tise. He also had a great regard for Husayn and the Prophet's family. When Hurr's company met Husayn's caravan, Hurr and his men had lost their way in the desert and both the soldiers as well as the horses were on the verge of dying of thirst in the scorching heat of the desert. Husayn saw this and immediately ordered his caravan to stop. Water was provided freely and generously to man and animal alike. As soon as Hurr and his troops recovered from exhaustion, Hurr spoke to Husayn and said that his orders were to stop Husayn from entering Koofa at all costs.
Husayn refused to follow Hur's exhortations. Hur tried to show some firmness in his stance. The thing came to a head when Hur grabbed the reins of Husayn's horse. Husayn became angry and said:
"May your mother mourn for you, are you going to stop me?"
Hur replied: "If it was someone else in your place I would reply to him in the same tone but I cannot say those things for your mother."
This episode has been analysed by Shi'a scholars and they have explained that Husayn's statement in anger was actually a call to Hur and all those with him to come to the right path. And Hur did respond to that call. Only a few days later, Hur, his son and his personal servant would desert Yazeed's army at the battlefield of Karbala and fight protecting Husayn and give their lives.
HUSAYN AT THE PLAIN OF KARBALA
KARABAL NOW: Karbala, the city, lies 55 miles southwest of Baghdad, in Iraq. Karbala is also the capital of the so called muhafizah, or a governate, of the same name. Visitors travel by road from Baghdad to Karbala. Karbala, the muhafizah, is 22,000 sq. miles in area, extending from the banks of the river Euphrates in the east to the Saudi Arabian border in the west. It is a flat region with some date plantation in the east.
KARBALA THEN: In those days, Karbala was a collection of small villages, among them were: Naynawah, Ghazariyya, Saqiyya and Mariyya. The largest village used to be Ghazariyya. There were many tribes who lived there, the largest one was Banu Asad.
Husayn and his caravan arrived at this place on the 2nd of Muharram in the year 61 A.H. (Oct 2, 680 A.D.). He purchased the land off the owners, a tribe by the name of Banu Asad, and then made a gift of it back to them with three promises:
(1) that after the battle and eventual killing of his companions (and himself, of course) the Banu Asad would come and bury them.
(2) that they would leave the gravesites alone and not cultivate that land, and,
(3) that when pilgrims would come to visit the garve, they would be hospitable to them and keep the visitors as their guests for three days.
Husayn's arrival at Karbala on the 2nd of Muharram (and other details of the next few days' events) in the 61st year of Hijra is reported by the following listed historians:
SUNNI HISTORIANS:
1. AbulFida in his Tareekh
2. Ibn Atheer in his Tarikh Kamil
3. Tabari in his monumental History, see vol XIX, translated into English by I.K.a.Howard, published by the State University of New York, Albany, 1990
4. Sh. Abdul Haq Muhaddith Dehlavi in Sirrus-Shahadatayn
SHI'A HISTORIANS:
5. Hisham bin Muhammad al-Kalbi
6. Y'aqoobi in his Tarikh Ibn Wadhih
7. Sh. Mufeed in his Kitab al-Irshad, translated into English by I.K.A. Howard, Muhammadi Trust, London, 1981
8. Shaher Ashoob in his MANAQIB
MAQTAL LITERATURE:
9. Abul Faraj Isfahani's MAQAATIL AT-TALIBIYEEN (Sunni)
10. Mulla Wa'iz Kahifi's Raudhat As-Shuhada (Sunni)
11. Allama Qazwini's RIADHUL QUDS
12. Muqarram in his MAQTAL (a 20th century publication)
While Husayn was on his way from Makkah to Koofa, he was met by Hurr and his cavalry brigade of 1000 at a place called ZU HASM. There was an exchange between Hurr and Husayn. Hurr had said that he was not out looking for violence, his orders were to stop Husayn from entering Koofa. So, Hurr and his cavalry brigade followed Husayn keeping a reasonable distance. When Husayn arrived at Karbala and camped at a subsidiary canal of the river Eupherates called ALQAMA, Hurr and his troops also camped nearby, but not so close to Husayn's camp.
The next day (3rd of Muharram) Umar bin Sa'd arrived from Koofa with 4000 troops with orders from Ibn Ziyad either to exact Husayn's B'ayat or fight and have him killed.
During the reign of the second Khaleefa Umar, an army led by S.ad Ibn Abi Waqqas, a senior Companion of the Prophet, conquered Iran. This army was ordered to stay close to Iran for security reasons. The Arab troops moved back to the town of Basra, but its damp climate did not suite the Arabs. Eventually, a new garri-son town was established further north, which came to be known as Koofa. As was normal according to the tribal custom, the command of this army passed to the son Umar Ibn S.ad Ibn Abi Waqqas, after the father. Although, the actual contingent of this army had gone through a number of major changes during Ali's reign. It was this same army, with some minor changes, that was sent to Karbala by Ibn Ziyad. Umar arrived with at least 4,000 troops at Karbala, on the 3rd day of Muhar-ram.
The first thing Umar bin S'ad did was to start negotiations with Husayn for his surrender to Yazeed's will. Yazeed on the other hand, was getting impatient with this delay. He kept pressuring Ibn Ziyad, his governor in Koofa to bring the matter to a quick conclusion. Ibn Ziyad was so full of hatred against the family of the Prophet (pbh) that he did not really need any prodding to do the job. He sent another commander named Shameer bin Zil-Jawshan with the orders that if Umar feels any res-traint in dealing with Husayn, Shameer should depose him and take charge to end the matter quickly and effectively. Umar got the message. He did not want to lose his command neither the accompanying awards.
Shameer joined Umar's 4000 well armed cavalrymen with his brigade of 4000-6000 infantry. In the next two days, several other commanders sent from Koofa by Ibn Ziyad as well as those sent directly by Yazeed from Syria, joined the Umayyad contingent at Karbala. Ibn Ziyad made a general announcement in Koofa that all able-bodied men should come out and join the army of the 'Khaleefa of Muslims', Yazeed, to fight the 'rebel', Husayn. Anyone staying behind would be arrested and executed. Many of them were so poor that they did not have any arms of their own so they just collected rocks and carried bags full to Karbala with them to fight with. Among the famous names were: Qays Ibn Ash'ath with a brigade of fully armed cavalry (6000 riders), we have already mentioned Hurr Ibn Yazeed Riyahee with another cavalry brigade and Ibn Numayr with 2000 archers. From Syria the most famous fighter was Azraq Shami and his four sons. The banks of the river Euphrates were guarded by a huge contingent under the command of Amr Ibn Hajjaj; in which there were hundreds of cavalrymen, archers, swordsmen and lancers. All of them were renowned soldiers. The total Umayyad presence at Karbala is reported to be at least 30,000 and may have been as much as 120,000.
The first confrontation occurred when Umar asked Husayn to move his camps away from water. Abbas, Husayn's half-brother, tried to put up a resistance, considering that they needed water as much as the Umayyad troops, and they arrived there first. Also, in Husayn's camp were women and children. Husayn restrained Abbas and had to move his camp several miles away from water.
On the seventh day of Muharram, the banks of Euphrates and those of all subsidiary canals were taken over by the Umayyad troops and water was denied to Husayn and his camp. Husayn's companions showed great restraint as well as courage. A number of sorties were made during the nights which followed, for acquiring water. Some were successful and some were not. Security was being tightened every minute, so that no water could reach Husayn's camp.
On the ninth of Muharram a final ultimatum was delivered to Husayn from Umar bin S'ad. Husayn asked for a day's respite, which was granted after some debate among Umar's high command.
The decisive battle finally took place on the 10th of Muharram, the day of Ashoora, in which each and every male member in Husayn's small entourage was martyred fighting in the battlefield or protecting others.
We will give details of some of those individual battles in the coming days, inshallah.
The first man who made a formal visitation to Karbala to pay homage to Husayn and his companions was the respected Companion of the Prophet (pbh), Jabir Ibn cAbdullah Ansari, within a few months of the occurrence of the tragedy of karbala.
The first visitation en masse, was done by the four thousand penitents (tawwaboon) led by Sulayman Ibn Surad, in the year 65 A.H. The shrine became a place of pilgrimage soon afterwards. At the same time, the oppressive rulers became wary of it, because it symbolized protest against tyranny and oppression.
The Abbasi ruler Mutawakkil was first in a long line of such despots who destroyed the shrine. Mutawakkil had it demolished and levelled the ground in the year 236 A.H./850 A.D. He prohibited the pilgrimage to Karbala under threat of heavy penalties. Many pilgrims were actually executed, who persisted.
Sometime after this, a green and shady tree grew on the grave of Husayn. The Addasid ruler, Haroon Ar-Rashid, had it felled.
There are reports of a large chamber with a dome, in or about the year 366 A.H./977 A.D. This means that sometime in between, the tomb was rebuilt.
A terrorist named Dhabba Ibn Muhammad Al-Asadi of Ayn At-Tamr, attacked the shrine and destroyed it in 369 A.H/ 980 A.D. A punitive expedition was sent to cAyn At-Tamr, but Dhabba had already fled into the far off areas of the desert.
Hasan Ibn Fadhal, who died in the year 414 A.H./1024 A.D., built a perimeter wall around the city. The Saljooq Sultan Maalik Shah, is reported to have visited both Karbala and Najaf, when he came to Baghdad, in the year 479 A.H./1086 A.D.
The Ilkhan rulers (descendants of Changez Khan) of the 8th century of Hijra/14th century A.D., visited the shrine and gave lavish gifts. They are also credited with bringing water to the district by digging a canal, which is now known as the Nahr-e-Husayniyyah.
The famous traveller, Ibn Batoota, describes the shrine having chandeliers, gold and silver lamps and many other decorative objects. He also mentions a thriving school in the premises. The circumference of the town, at this time, is reported to be 2,400 paces. Ibn Batootah visited Karbala in the year 727 A.H./1326 A.D.
The Safawi King, Shah Isma'eel of Iran, is also reported to have visited the tomb. Sultan Sulayman visited Karbala and Najaf in the year 941 A.H./1535 A.D., and had the canal repaired. He also planted orchards round the shrine. Nadir Shah visited the shrine in 1156 A.H./1743 A.D. About the same time, Radhiyyah Sultan Begam, a daughter of Shah Husayn, presented 20,000 Nadiris (gold coins) to the shrine for improvements.
The founder of the Qachar dynasty of Iran, Agha Muhammad Khan, presented the gold covering for the dome and the minarets, about the end of the 12th century Hijra/18th century A.D.
Beginning in the second half of the 18th century, there ensued an armed struggle between the rising movement of Wahhabism and the Turkish Ottoman rulers. The caravans of the pilgrims proceeding towards Karbala, in the desert became an easy and frequent target for plunder, looting and massacre, for the Wahhabis, to make the Ottoman Turks uncomfortable. In Zilhijja of 1215 Hijra/April 1801 A.D., 12,000 Wahhabis under the command of Shaykh Saud, entered Karbala. They looted the town, killed over 3,000 inhabitants (mostly women, children and older men) and made off with not only the personal belongings of the citizens and stocks in the shops, but the gold covering plates and other valuables from the shrine, which had been presented by various people over the centuries. The shrine was destroyed yet again. However, Muslims all over the world were disgusted at this act of wanton looting and massacre. Contributions poured in for rebuilding, not only from Muslim governments but from wealthy individuals too.
On the 16th of January 1991, US Air Force bombers attacked the country of Iraq, under the code-name Desert Storm, with United Nation's approval. The campaign lasted some six weeks during which several thousand bombing sorties were flown. In all these raids, under strict orders from the US high command, the bomber and fighter pilots carefully avoided damaging the shrines both at Karbala as well as Najaf. However, soon after a cease-fire was declared, an uprising against the oppressive rule of Saddam Hussein erupted in Iraq.
During the skirmishes great damage was done to the shrines at Karbala by the infamous Republican Guards of Saddam Hussein. Who could tell that in our life-times, the shrines would be destroyed, not by an external enemy but, by a local butcher. The pathos that is apparent from the ruins of the shrines cannot be expressed in words. The pictures speak for themselves. The story of the great sacrifice of Husayn and his Companions was revived once again in the memories of the faithful devotees by this latest destruction of the shrines at Karbala.
Before this latest destruction, Karbala was a thriving cosmopolitan town of about 150,000 inhabitants. People from Iran, Syria, India, Pakistan and East African countries had travelled to Karbala and settled down, over the centuries. They still speak their own languages and are actually identifiable with their original nationalities.
No one knows how long it will be before normal life will be resumed once again, in the city of Karbala. For, all utilities have been destroyed. There is no water supply nor is there any electricity. People are dying, mostly children, of hunger and disease.
In spite of all this, there is no doubt in this author's mind that the pilgrims would continue to flock to the shrines at Karbala. Because, it was not the splendor of the golden dome and the crystal chandeliers that attracted them to Karbala. The pilgrims came to pay homage to Husayn and his companions for the great sacrifice they made and the legacy of protest against oppression and tyranny they left for all mankind to follow, and they will continue to do so.
THE MORNING OF ASHOORA, THE DEFECTION OF HURR
Husayn (a.s) and his companions had spent the night in prayers. Early morning, they came out of their tents and assembled to offer the morning prayers behind Husayn. Husayn asked his son Ali (Akbar) to recite the AZAN (official call for prayers). The significance of this is that Husayn's son looked exactly like the Prophet Muhammad (pbh) in appearance and that the AZAN has a
sentence in it meaning:
" I testify to Muhammad being a God-sent Prophet"
which is said twice.
As if Husayn was giving a last chance to the people assembled to fight him to rethink their motives. For they all claimed to be Muslims and were following the orders of a man claiming to be the rightful Khaleefa of the Prophet of Islam, who openly flouted all Islamic cove-nants. And Husayn being the grandson of the Prophet and being the most righteous person of his time
was being branded as a rebel. There were people in that crowd who had seen the Prophet and should therefore have been reminded of his looks by Ali standing up and reciting the AZAN.
It was however clear that Umar and his troops were not going to change their stance.
After the prayers, Husayn's followers took it in turn to approach the troops and address them formally. This was important because every member in Husayn's party had one or more rela-tives, kinsmen or at least people from his tribe facing him from among the enemy camp. Then Husayn himself rode towards the enemy troops and addressed them explaining in detail who he was, his close relationship to the Prophet, his puritan way of life and that he was a peaceful citizen living quietly without cau-sing any distur-bance to anybody, and that they were going to commit a grave sin by harming the Prophet's family.
Watching the crowd listening to these discour-ses, Umar Ibn S'ad became concerned that some of these lectures could affect the morale of his troops. To pre-empt this effort to compro-mise and bring sense into people, Umar stood up and said loudly: `Every one in my troops witness to the fact that the first arrow of this battle is being cast by none other than the commander-in-chief, that is myself.' Saying this he put an arrow to his bow and shot it towards Husayn.
This was symbolically the official beginning of the battle. Following the arrow cast by the commander-in-chief, thousands of arrows were shot by other archers in this first round. But no one was hurt in Husayn's camp at this stage because of the intervening distance.
Husayn had shown that he did not want to fight. He wanted people to understand why he was doing what he was doing. He, in fact, had expressed the wish to leave the Arab lands and emigrate to India if he was allowed to do so.
NOTE: Two 20th century writers have questioned this entire line of reporting. Muqarram in his maqtal (Arabic text) and IKA Howard of Edinurgh in his English writings have argued that once Husayn had arrived at Karbala, he knew exactly what he was standing for. There was no weakness in his stance. This is mere propaganda by the Umayyad writers to show that Husayn was talking about this kind of compromise, because they wanted to show him weaker than
actually he was.
Husayn wanted to leave a perfect legacy of martyrdom and sacrifice for one's princip-les, for all mankind and for all generations to come. But when it came to dying for his prin-ciples, he was going to fight bravely and then die, while Yazeed and his military commanders were adamant that Husayn should accept Yazeed as the legitimate Khaleefa. Husayn had seen that if he did that, he would be undoing all the hard work done by his grandfather the Prophet, his father Ali Ibn Abi Talib, his mother Fatima and his brother Hasan.
The most dramatic event soon after this was the defection of Hurr, the commander who had actua-lly led Husayn into Karbala, to Husayn's side. Hurr was followed by his son, his brother, and his slave servant.
Hurr obviously, came with a guilty feeling. Husayn accepted Hurr and his companions with open arms. Hurr then asked Husayn if he could turn to his own troops and fight them until his last breath. Husayn gave him the permission.
Hurr now confronted the troops he had been commanding a few moments ago. When Umar bin S'ad saw this dramatic change in Hurr's attitude he was filled with fear as well as anger. He sent one of his close company commanders known as Safwan bin Hanzala to go and talk to Hurr and persuade him to return to his previous post.
Safwan bin Hanzala came riding with a lot of pomp and pride. He addressed Hurr, saying: " O Hurr, you are one of the best soldiers and one of the ablest commanders on our side. What are you doing with Husayn? Your place his here, with us."
Hurr replied: " Safwan, you know that Yazeed is a debauch man, a drunkard and a libertine. And on this side is Husayn, the grandson of the Prophet of Islam. His mother was Fatima Zahra, who was married to Ali bin Abi Talib in Paradise. Husayn is the one whom Qur'an had addressed in the verse of CLEANSING (TAT-HEER). You know all this, and knowing this, you are hiding
the truth."
Safwan once again said; "Yes, granted all those things, but you are a soldier and a commander. What good is cleanliness and glory of Paradise for soldiers like us? Our place is with Yazeed, who holds power, who has wealth and has everything that you need in this world."
Hurr said: "O you despicable man! You know the Truth and even then denies it!"
Safwan was very angry at this insult. He pulled his lance and attacked Hurr with full force. Hurr, was even faster. He ducked and thrusted his own lance at Safwan, which broke Safwan lance in pieces and pierced right through his chest. Hurr, lifted Safawn on his lance from his horse (readers! can you imagine the fighting fervor of Hurr?) and crashed him on the battlefield.
Safwan's bone's were broken and he died.
Safwan bin Hnazala's three brothers were with him at Karbala. When they saw their brother being killed, they rushed forward and attacked Hurr all together. Hurr fought with them valiantly and killed them all.
Hurr returned to Imam Husayn, received final blessings from him and went back to fight the last battle of his life.
Hurr, his son and the servant fell on the enemy troops, fought valiantly until both the son and he servant were killed. Hurr's own horse was killed in the action. Hurr was a large man. He fought furiously on foot, reciting verses at the same time to the effect that he was a gallant warrior and that he was fighting in Allah's way. An arrow struck him in the forehead and he fell. Husayn rushed to Hurr's side, said comforting words to him, took a handker-chief out of his pocket which at one time had belonged to his mother Fatima Zahra, tied it round Hurr's bleeding wound and Hurr died in Husayn's arms.
This report has been prepared from the texts of Allama Qazwini's Riadhul Quds, Mulla Wa'iz Kashifi's Raudhatus Shuhada, Majlisi's Bihar-ul Anwar andTabari. In addition to those books, Ibn Khaldoon has written with extensivedetails about Hurr's valiant battle at Karabala in his TAREEKH.
ABDULLAH BIN WAHB AL-KALBI
While Husayn was proceeding towards Koofa, several hundred people joined him at various places.
Some, because they knew who Husayn was, while others, just out of curiosity. It was this second group of people who were first to leave Husayn, when they saw that things were not, after all, that favourable for the grandson of the prophet of Islam.
However, all of these people were admittedly, Muslims. Among them was a young man named Wahab Ibn Abdullah Kalbi. Kalb was a very large tribe and many of them had stayed Christians, as the prophet had allowed after the event of Mubahala in the later part of the Madinan period.
Wahab was still in his teens. He had just got married and he was returning to his family with his middle-aged mother and the bride of a few days who was only twelve years old. When his little caravan crossed with that of Husayn's, he met Husayn and listened to many of his speeches which he had been giving to his people at every stop. Wahab was very impressed by Husayn's personality, his honesty, piety and knowledge. Wahab kept discussing all this with his mother and continued with Husayn's caravan until they arrived in Karbala. The situation in Karbala was quite different. Everybody knew that staying with Husayn meant definite death. Wahab discussed the situation with his mother the last time on the night of cAshoora. He asked her: 'Mother! What should I do in this situation?' The mother asked Wahab: 'How do you feel yourself, my son ?' Wahab said: 'In my opinion Husayn is on the just path and it would be cowardly and against all traditions of Arab chivalry and gallantry to leave the side of a man so isolated and surrounded by blood-thirsty enemies.' The mother said: 'But that means definite death.' Wahab replied: 'Yes I know, but my heart tells me that this is the right thing to do, in the circumstances.' The mother then said: 'If that is how you feel then we will stay with Husayn.'
When Husayn's companions started going to the battlefield, one after the other, Wahab approached Husayn and asked his permission to go and fight for him and give his life for Truth and Justice.
Husayn must have been overwhelmed by this young man's passion for justice and his fervour in supporting the right cause. But he tried to explain that it was a fight between a man who was claiming to be the rightful Khaleefa of the prophet of Islam and he himself, the grandson of the prophet. It was clearly a Muslim problem. And Wahab was a Christian. Why should he get involved in such an unrelated matter. And that too, for getting killed ? We can imagine how Wahab must have replied to this. Wahab must have said to Husayn that although he was not a Muslim, he felt that justice and truth was on Husayn's side and the Christian teachings were not different from those in Islam in matters of truth and justice. We are told that the mother pleaded on her son's behalf and said: ' O grandson of the prophet of Islam ! It will be an honour for me if my son fights for you and gives his life protecting you.' Husayn was still reluctant to accept Wahab as one of his soldiers. When Wahab saw this, he said:
'O grandson of the prophet of Islam! If that is the case then, from this moment on, I am a Muslim.'
Saying this, Wahab recited the Kalemah and became a Muslim. This is confirmed in the maqtal literature that Wahab did become a Muslim at Karbala. Now Husayn had to let him go to the battlefield. While all this was going on, the bride of a few days was watching and listening. When she saw that Wahab was going to the battlefield, she started crying and said: 'What will happen to me O my husband ? Are you then going to leave me alone in this world ?' There was a possibility that Wahab's determination would be shaken but his mother intervened again and said: 'My son, don't listen to her. She is young and immature. You do what you think is the right thing.' Then the bride approached Husayn and asked him: 'Are you the rightful Imam ?' Husayn replied: 'Yes, I am.' She said: 'Then if Wahab dies protecting you, he would go to the Paradise?' Husayn said: 'Yes, he would.' Then she said:'Can you promise me that you would not let Wahab enter Paradise without me ?' Husayn said:' Yes, I promise you, you and Wahab will enter Paradise together.' Wahab then ran into the battlefield with his sword in hand reciting war-poetry. He fought furiously and killed several enemy soldiers, returned to his mother and asked:' Mother ! are you pleased ?' The mother said:'May Allah be pleased with you. But I would really be pleased when I see you dying in action protecting the grandson of the prophet.' Wahab returned to the battlefield with a new determination and started fighting even more intensely. The mother stood by her tent and kept encouraging him and exhorting him to fight. Finally, Wahab was wounded and surrounded by enemies from all sides. He was soon cut down by the Umayyad soldiers. When the bride saw this, she ran to Wahab's side, sat down and wept with her face on her husband's face. Shameer was watching this. He ordered his slave to go and kill the young woman. Shameer's slave came and hit her with his mace on the head. How much does it take to kill a twelve year old girl ? The bride died by her bridegroom's side and thus Husayn's promise to her was fulfilled. Umar bin S'ad ordered his soldiers to cut Wahab's head off and throw it to his mother. The soldiers did that. Wahab's mother came forward. Picked up his severed head. Wiped the dust off his forehead, kissed it and threw it back saying: 'This was sadaqa, given away in Allah's way. It will not be taken back.'
Such were the followers and companions of Husayn at Karbala. They were fewer in number but they were made of the best moral fibre one can imagine for a human being. They had mountain-like determination and nerves of steel.
Islam is the fastest growing religion in the west. People are converting to this promising religion in big numbers. When one asks a newly converted Muslim as to why he/she became a Muslim, the answer usually is: "Because I found that Islam answers all my questions, it has the promise of a more satisfying spiritual life, and it can guide me in my spirituality as well as in my worldly life. In other words, the new convert joined the fold of Islam in the hope and expectation of a better and a more satisfying life. Same reasons are put forward by prison inmates who join Islam while in prison.
Can you think of someone joining the fold of Islam for dying? Well, Abdullah bin Wahab-e-Kalbi did just that. Is there food for thought in thiat story for those who reflect?
THE FIRST MASSIVE ATTACK, HABEEB BIN MUZAHIR AND ZUHR PRAYER
The pressure in Husayn's camp was building up. The children were crying for water. As the Sun rose higher, the desert heat became more intense by the minute. The children's cries were now reaching the tents of Husayn's companions, who were although set on laying their lives for the Prophet's grandson and for the Islamic principles, they were also very angry at this inhuman behaviour of Yazeed's troops and were approaching Husayn to allow them to fight.
There were only thirty-two horsemen in Husayn's camp. However, at the end of the battle there were seventy-two heads raised on lances by Yazeed's troops. This means that at least forty more people fought on foot on Husayn's side.
Husayn was still reluctant to let his companions go and fight. Then all of a sudden the enemy attacked Husayn's camp in a great stampede. They wanted to take the small band by a storm. But the way Husayn had fortified his camp at Karbala could only be termed as a masterpiece of defensive strategy. He had pitched his camp in an area which was surrounded by a chain of hills on three sides, thus forming a half-moon. This area is known as the haa-yer and can still be seen. Then he had his tents pitched so close to each other that their ropes were criss-crossing. On the back was dug a ditch and filled with dried wood. As soon as the stampede began a fire was started in the ditch. Thus the camp was protected from three sides. In the front the soldiers sat down on their knees and held their lances pointing outwards.
As the enemy cavalry rushed nearer, their horses, which were trained army steeds, saw the sunlight flashing against the shining blades, and naturally held back. Some action did take place. In fact, it was intense hand-to-hand combat which lasted for one full hour. It is amazing how a small band of seventy-two kept a well-armed force of several thousand at bay, for such a long duration. The enemy had to retire for the time. But the losses were now showing in Husayn's camp. Among the prominent companions of Husayn who were killed in this attack were Muslim Ibn Awsaja, Abdullah Ibn Umayr Kalbi and Janadah Ibn K'ab of the Khazraj. In fact, all horsemen among Husayn's companions
were killed in this action. This happened an hour before the time of Zuhr prayer.
Some of the remaining companions came and asked Husayn if they could approach the banks of the river and try to fetch water. They were allowed, but, every time they approached the banks, stiff resistance was put up by Yazeed's troops. All of them fought bravely and were killed in battle.
There are no reports of any water reaching Husayn's camp.
It was now mid-day and the time of Zuhr prayer was at hand. Abu Thamama, one of Husayn's loyal companions, approached him and asked him if prayer could be arranged. Husayn praised Abu Thamama and asked for Salatal-Khawf (Prayers under siege) to be done. Husayn was determined to leave a legacy at every step. He showed the importance of Salat for Muslims by this act.
While prayer rows were being fomed in Husayn's camp in full view of the enemy, the enemy soldiers and commanders watched it with awe and surprise. One of the commanders in Yazeed';s army named Haseen bin Numayr called out and said:"Husayn your prayers will not be accepted by Allah."
Husayn himself had not responded to that. One of his own companions named Habeeb bin Muzahir became outraged at that and said:"O you cursed man, you think the prayer of the grandson of the Prophet will not beaccepted and yours will?"
Habeeb then turned to Husayn and said:"My master and my Imam, the best thing in this world would have been to offer my prayers in your leadership, but now, I will offer my prayers in paradise in the leadership of your grandfather, the Prophet of Islam." Saying that, Habeeb took his sword out and fell on the enemy. At age 72, he was fighting like a thirty year old. After killing many of the enemy soldiers, Habeeb was fatally wounded. Husayn came to his side, sat down in dust and praised Habeeb for his efforts in the cause of Islam. Habeeb died with his head in Husayn's lap.
Even after the martyrdom of Habeeb, Husayn was intent upon offering his Zuhr prayers at that moment. Sa'eed b. Abdullah and a few more men stood in a line in front of the prayer lines with shields while Husayn and the remaining companions offered Zuhr prayers under a barrage of arrows from the enemy camp. As Husayn and his companions were finishing their prayers, Sa'eed b. Abdullah and all others with him were dying of arrow wounds in front of Husayn.
Husayn's seventy-two companions included Muslim Ibn Awsaja who was 70 years old and his own fourteen year old nephew, Qasim Ibn Hasan. As it was, those sevety-two were no match to Yazeed's huge army. Now, a substantial part of that group was already killed. The remaining few friends of Husayn asked for Husayn's permission to fight, went to the battlefield either one by one or in groups and were killed in action.
MARTYRDOM OF ALI AKBAR
Among the Companions of Husayn was a man named Hajjaj bin Masrooq. He was Husayn's Mu'azzin. Every time Husayn would stop at a stopping place and the time of a prayer of the day would arrive, Hajjaj bin Masrooq would recite the Azan and then Husayn would lead the prayers. This procedure continued in Makkah as well as in Karbala for eight days. When the morning of Ashoora came, Husayn did not ask Hajjaj bin Masrooq to do the Azan, instead he asked his 18 year old son, Ali, to do the Azan.
One of the great Urdu poets has captured the scene of Ali Akbar's Azan in one of his Marthiyas. Professor Matthews of London University has translated thos elines in English verse. We present here those lines of poetry for our readers:
Then suddenly the dawn's white light came in;
To lead the prayer the King came from his throne.
All stood behind the Lord of men and Jinn;
Ali Akbar called the prayer in Hasna's tone.
The eyes of everyone were filled with tears.
As if Prophet's voice fell in their ears.
The birds fell silent; trees in ecstasy
Rocked to an' fro; their buds and fruit sand praise.
The towns and deserts joined in harmony,
And ocean-beasts emerged to hear their lays.
The darling of Shabbir to all lent weight;
O'er land and sea they cried:"Our God is great.'
The women fo the King wept bitter tears;
While Bano of renown stood silently,
Zainab repeated blessings with her prayers:
'My muezzin, I give my life to thee!'
They call in praise of God; O hear their joy!
As beautiful as Joseph is my boy.
He reads from the Qur'an; what majesty!
His grandsire once for speaking held the prize.
Ah, may his voice remain eternally!
The strains of David, who was called The Wise!
Thos emelodies like petals of flower!
A nightingale chirps in the Prophet's bower.
Ali Akbar looked like the Prophet, in looks, in speaking and in everything else. By asking Ali Akbar to do the Azan, Husayn was sending a message to his enemy - Remember, who we are? What you are doing?
When all his companions had fought and had laid their lives in the battlefield, Husayn now asked his eighteen year old son, Ali to proceed to fight. Ali Akbar is the first martyr from the family of Banu Hashim at Karbala.
Ali who looked like the Prophet Muhammad, came out of his tent attired in Muham-mad's cloak and turban. The scene of Ali's departure from his tent has been described by eyewitness reporters from among Yazeed's army in most touching and pathetic terms, and recorded in books of history.
When his son was thus proceeding towards the battlefield, Husayn paused and pointing his finger to the heavens, said: 'Allah ! Be witness to the fact that now I am sending my son to be sacrificed who looked exactly like your Prophet in appearance, in speaking, in walking and in temperament and character. When we wanted to see your Prophet, we used to look at him.'
Ali the son of Husayn fought valian-tly, killed a number of enemy soldiers and rushed back to his father, who was watching his son fight with pride and admiration. Ali said to his father:
' O father, is there any water to drink, you would really see me fight if I could get just one drink of water.'
Husayn looked at his son helplessly and cried and said:
` O my son, proceed to paradise where your grand-father is waiting to greet you with drinks of eternal bliss.'
Ali returned to the battlefield with a new determination. Umar Ibn S'ad sent one of his senior commanders named Tariq Ibn Sheeth to go and finish off cAli Akbar. Tariq was fully covered in armour. He came pointing his big lance towards Ali Akbar with great speed. Ali Akbar quickly moved out of his way and pushed his own lance through Tariq's chest. Tariq fell from his horse. Ali Akbar trampled him under his horse. Tariq's son was watching this. He came in a rage attacking Ali Akbar but soon, he too was killed. Tariq's second son, Talha came and held Ali Akbar by the collar. Ali Akbar put his arm round Talha's neck and crushed it. Talha dropped from his horse. The enemy was stunned. Umar Ibn S'ad was perturbed. He sent another experienced commander to attack Ali Akbar who was also killed very quickly. Umar now had no choice but to use the most cowardly tactic of ordering two units of swordsmen, of one thousand each, under the command of two senior officers to attack Ali Akbar from his left as well as from his right at the same time. But Ali Akbar kept both groups at bay for a while.
Finally, one of the comma-nders in Yazeed's army, who was known to be an expert in throwing the lance, sneaked behind Ali Akbar, aimed his lance at Ali from a distance and threw it with great force, which hit Ali in the back and pierced through his chest. Ali fell from his horse and called out to his father. Husayn rushed to his dying son's side. He saw his son in great pain, the broken blade of the lance stuck in his chest and bleeding profusely. Husayn dis-played a courage and strength unparalleled in human history. He pulled the blade out and saw his eighteen-year old breath his last. Husayn called all the remaining Hashimi young men and brought the dead body with their help and placed it near his camp.
THE MARTYRDOM OF AWN AND MUHAMMAD (ZAYNAB.s TWO SONS) AND OF QASIM IBN HASAN
Zaynab, Husayn's sister, now exhorted her two sons Awn and Muhammad, to go and fight. They were the sons of Abdullah Ibn Jafar. While Awn was Zaynab's own son, Muhammad was her step-son. When Husayn tried to stop them, Zaynab explained that it was their father's express wish that they would be sacrificed for Islam, if such a situation did arise. Both brothers went and fought bravely and were killed. It is reported that when Husayn brought their remains back to his camp Zaynab neither lamented nor wept. Although, she had wept and lamented for Husayn's son cAli Akbar.
Among the Hashimi young men was Husayn's fourteen-year old nephew, Qasim Ibn Hasan. He now approached his uncle and wanted to go and fight. Husayn looked at him and said: 'When I wanted to see my brother, Hasan, I would look at your face. Your presence gave me support and satisfaction. How could I let you go and get killed ? Besides, you are so young.' Qasim was disappointed. He went away and sat in a corner thinking. Suddenly he remembered something. His father, Hasan, had left a will for him which was tied on to his arm as an amulet. His father had said to him while dying: 'When you find yourself in great distress, open this amulet and read it.' Qasim opened the amulet and read it. It said: 'My son ! There would come a time when my brother would be deserted by all his friends. But he would be on the right path. He would be surrounded by blood-thirsty enemies. I would be long gone then. When that happens, I urge you to help my brother and sacrifice your life in my place, protecting him and his mission. This is my last will for you.'
Qasim was overjoyed. He had been granted the wish of his heart. He ran to his uncle with the writing. Husayn read it. He had seen his brother's hand-writing after ten years. Husayn remembered his brother and wept. Now he had to let Qasim go. He took Qasim to his own tent. Put on his brother's cloak over him. Armed him and prepared Qasim for the battlefield with his own hands. Qasim's widowed mother watched this quietly. Husayn helped Qasim mount the horse and came halfway to the battlefield to see him off to fight.
Humayd Ibn Muslim, the official battlefield report has recorded as follows:
'I saw a youth coming to the battlefield. His face was glowing like a full moon. I can never forget that he was not wearing armour and that the lace of his left shoe was untied. He came with his sword in hand and called out for a dual. Several soldiers came to fight and were killed one after the other. cAmr Ibn Sceed Azdi was standing next to me, he said "I am going to kill this lad." I said: "He is only a kid, why do you want to kill him." cAmr said:" O! yes, I will definitely kill him." When the troops surrounded the lad from all directions, cAmr came and hit him over the head with his sword. The boy fell from his horse and called for his uncle. I saw that Husayn rushed to his side like an eagle dives on to its prey, and struck cAmr with his sword.
cAmr tried to ward off the blow with his arm, his arm was cut from the elbow. He screamed with pain and called for help. But Husayn killed him while the Umayyad soldiers tried to save him. There was a lot of confusion. When the dust settled I saw Husayn standing by the side of the dying youth. Husayn then picked him up in his arms. He walked towards his camp holding the youth close to him. His chest was against Husayn's chest and his legs were brushing the ground as Husayn carried him and laid him next to his son cAli Akbar. I was told that this youth was Qasim Ibn Hasan.'
Soon afterwards, one by one, all Husayn's relatives were killed in action.
THE MARTYRDOM OF ABBAS
Now it was only Husayn and his half-brother Abbas left. Abbas asked for
permission to fight. Husayn wept and asked Abbas if he could go and fetch
water for the children, knowing very well what would be the result of that.
Abbas picked up a dry water-skin, took a lance in one hand and the standard
in the other and thus rode towards the river. Abbas was so tall that his
feet very nearly touched the ground while riding and he could be seen from a
distance among the enemy troops.
Abbas attacked the troops guarding the river banks with such valour and
ferocity that the troops had to run several hundred yards away from the bank.
Abbas dismounted from his horse,
filled the skin with water and started to ride back towards his camp.
Watching this, Qays, the commander of the troops, shouted at them shaming
them and said:
"O cowards, you cannot stop a single man! Remember if any water reached
Husayn today, none of you will remain alive."
Hearing this, the troops reformed their lines and attacked Abbas from all
sides. Abbas now had a much more difficult task before him. He came to the
river riding down hill and with an empty water skin. He was now having to
ride uphill holding a full water-skin.
He was trying to save the water-skin from arrows being shot from all
sides. In the inte-nsity of battle one of the Umayyad soldiers sneaked
behind his back and with full force slashed his sword on Abbas' right
shoulder severing his arm completely. Abbas held the water skin with its
tying string between his teeth and kept fighting with his left arm, until his
left arm was also severed in a similar manner. Abbas continued towards his
camp undeterred holding the water-skin against his chest. He had no arms to
fight but his will to survive and take the water to the children was so
strong that he was seen kicking the enemy soldiers out of their mounts, until
at last an arrow pierced the water-skin. Abbas could now see the futility of
going back to his camp and turned back towards the river. He had no arms to
fight. One of the soldiers hit him on the head with a mace. Abbas fell from
the horse and called out to Husayn.
Husayn rushed to his brother's side, who was lying near the river bank.
So far, Husayn had brought every relative's dead body back to his tent.
But when he reached Abbas, he saw that Abbas was so badly wounded that it
would be impossible to bring him back to the tents. Abbas also asked Husayn
not to take him back to the tents. Husayn asked him the reason. He said he
had promised the children to fetch water but he had failed them. He did not
want to face them even after his death. This was the last soldier to die in
Husayn's small group. Eventually, Abbas was buried at the place he fell
fighting. That is why the mausoleum of Abbas is some distance away from those
of Husayn and all other martyrs.
Husayn was now preparing to fight the last battle of his life. He
approached the ladies tent to say the last farewell. Suddenly there were
loud noises of weeping and wailing. He rushed into the tent and found his
six month old baby son in its mother's arms totally ex-hausted of thirst.
Husayn asked his wife if he could present the baby to the enemy troops and
possibly somebody could have mercy and give the baby some water.
Husayn took the baby in his arms and climbed up to a hill and addressed
the enemy in the following words:
'O soldiers, if you think I have done some-thing wrong and deserve the
pain and har-dship you are inflicting on me, this baby is innocent; so could
anyone of you have pity on him and give him some water.'
Humayd Ibn Muslim, an official battlefield reporter in Yazeed's army has
recorded that this scene was so full of pathos that some of the soldiers
turned their faces away and wept with tears.
cUmar Ibn Scad called out to his master-archer Hurmula and said:
`O Hurmula, stop Husayn's discourse.'
Hurmula put a three-pronged arrow to his bow, took aim and shot the child
in the neck, still in Husayn's arms. The other two prongs of the arrow
pierced Husayn's arm and the baby's ear, respectively. The baby turned in
Husayn's arms violently and died that instant.
Husayn started walking back to his tent with the dead baby in his arms.
At the door he paused for amoment, turned back and stopped. Then started back
to his tent. This happened seven times. All this time he kept saying:
'Indeed we are for Allah,
And to Him shall we return.
We have given in to His Will,
And we have submitted to His Command.'
As if he was hesitating to enter his tent. Perhaps he was collecting his
strengths to be able to face the mother of the baby who had been butchered in
his arms and blood was still dripping from the baby's neck.
This particular act of Husayn has become a rite of Ashoora. The menfolk
among the devotees of Husayn go out into deserted areas of the coutry in the
late morning on the day of Ashoora and after performing Salat, they re-enact
the seven times walking back and forth reciting the verses quoted above.
Husayn then reappeared from his tent with the Baby's remains in his arms.
He walked some distance away from his camp. Sat down and dug a shallow grave
with his sword. He buried the baby. Umayyad troops watched him while he did
all this. We shall see the significance of this one burial, later on.
THE END OF THE BATTLE
Husayn came back to his tent and went to see his ailing 24 year old son, also known as Ali (Zaynul Abid-een) who was in high fever. Zaynul cAbideen had no idea what had passed over his father. He opened his eyes and looked at Husayn. When Husayn told him that all male members of the family were already killed in battle, he stood up in emotion and asked for his sword so that he could also go and fight. But the fever was so high that he could not stand and passed out immediately.
Husayn went to see his children, wives and sisters to bid farewell. He came out of the tent, mounted his horse and fell on the enemy troops ferociously. Historians have recorded that Husayn was fighting and killing the enemy soldiers left, right and centre; and he kept saying:
' Do you see how Fatima's son fights,
Do you see How Ali's son fights,
Do you see how Banu Hashim fight in three days of hunger and thirst.'
Eyewitness reporters have recorded that they had not seen anybody fight so bravely after having seen so many killings in a few hours time in his own family.
At last, Shameer Ibn Ziljawshan collected his troops and asked them to attack Husayn from all directions at the same time, which they did. Husayn fell from his horse, not far from the tent where his sister Zaynab stood watching the battle apprehensively. When Shameer proceeded to behead the fallen Husayn, Zaynab looked to Umar Ibn Sacad and said:
'O son of S'ad, you will watch while Abu Abdullah will be killed.'
At the same time a young boy ran out of the tent and watching the assassin approaching his uncle, stretched his hands out and said:
'O please do not kill my uncle'
But the blow had struck and the boy's both arms were severed.
In spite of all the fighting and crowding, nobody was prepared to behead the grandson of the Prophet. At last it was Khawli and Shameer together who did it and Husayn's head was raised on a lance, Umar Ibn S'ad's commanders started congratulating him for winning the battle of Karbala.
On Yazeed's express wish, Umar Scad ordered that Husayn's dead body be trampled under hoofs. Husayn's camp was plundered. Everything including the ladies' cloaks were looted. Even earrings from Husayn's four year old daughter's ears were snatched brutally and she bled. The goat skin on which Zaynul Abideen lay in fever, was pulled away.
AFTER ASHOORA
The ladies and children spent the night under the desert sky, hungry and thirsty. The next morning, they were all tied in ropes and put on naked backs of camels, which were herded through the battle-field where Husayn's and his relatives' headless bodies lay, covered in their own blood and dust. Heads of all the followers of Husayn were raised on lances and carried with the caravan. Then it occurred to the Umayyad soldiers that Husayn had actually buried one of his 'soldiers', the six-month old baby. They poked the soft ground with their lances and finally discovered the grave. The head of even the six-month old baby was raised on a lance. Why? Because, the more severed heads from the family of Banu Hashim, the more rewards they could expect from Yazeed.
These two barbaric customs, i.e., trampling the dead warriors' bodies and taking the women where their men lay dead, were absolutely pro-hibited by Muhammad during his expeditions against the infidels. It is ironic that both customs were revived by those who claimed to be Muhammad's followers and against his own family.
Shaam-e-Ghareeban, the Imam was being introduced as tents burnt
During the time of Madinah, Sura Ahzab (chapter 33 was revealed). There are many different topics discussed in this Sura of the Qur'an. One of those topics is the requirement of Hijab for Muslim women. The specific verse we want to quote here is as follows:
[Shakir 33:59] O Prophet! say to your wives and your daughters and the women of the believers that they let down upon them their over-garments(jalaabeeb-i-hinna); this will be more proper, that they may be known, and thus they will not be given trouble; and Allah is Forgiving, Merciful.
So, we can see that this JILBAAB, over-garment in English (Chadar in Farsi and Urdu) was a sign of respect and honour for the women of the family of the Prophet and other Muslim women.
After all the men were killed at Karbala including Imam Husayn, the soldiers of Yazeed's army attacked the surviving women. With the points of their lances they picked up those chadars away from the women's heads.
Why was this done? Were the soldiers doing it on their own?
When we look at the way the army of Umar Sa'd was managed, we have to conclude that everything was well-planned. No soldier would move without orders from the superiors. Taking away of women's chadars was a part of the plan at Karbala.
The murder of Husayn and his companions was done for one reason and one reason alone - Husayn had to accept Yazeed as the legitimate Khaleefa of the Muslim Kingdom. When Husayn refused to do that, he was first, driven out of his home, he was then surrounded and brutally butchered. That should have been sufficient action in case of a worldly contest between two parties for power and throne. The very fact that Yazeed's armies were ordered to take away women's chadars away from them, tells us that the roots of this conflict went farther and deeper.
Allah had appointed man His Khaleefa on earth, as the verses of Sura Baqara tell us. The second stage of that Divine Leadership (Imamat) is completed when Allah promises Ibraheem for Imamat. Ibraheem asks Allah about his progeny. Allah replies that His covenant does not cover the Zalimeen.
The story of the first fifty years after the Prophet of Islam is witness to the fact that Divine Leadership appointed by Allah was being challenged. Every Imam that came was either forced politically, militarily or economically away from that position. Then came Husayn, who exposed the entire conspiracy, and proved to the world as to who was Zalim and who was Mazloom.
Both Yazeed and Husayn were Quraysh who were among the progeny of Ibraheem through Isma'eel. But, one was Zalim and the other was Mazloom. During Mu'awiyyah's times the world was full of the propafanda that the real heirs of the Prophet were the Banu Umayya, everybody who opposed them, incluidng the family of the Prophet, were rebels.
However, Yazeed had, by becoming a Zalim, identified himself as totally un-deserving of the Divine promise.
The Zalim was so drunk in his stupor of WINNING that he wanted to complete his victory by taking away the honour that was given to women of the Prophet's family by taking depriving them of the cahadrs. But, that was the great folly of the Zalim.
The chadar was identified in the holy Qur'an in verse 33:33, as follows:
[Shakir 33:33] And stay in your houses and do not display your finery like the displaying of the ignorance of yore; and keep up prayer, and pay the poor-rate, and obey Allah and His Messenger. Allah only desires to keep away the uncleanness from you, O people of the House! and to purify you a (thorough) purifying.
The high point of this verse is the concept of cleansing (TATHEER), the object of chadar is not mentioned in it. That is because, the chadar is a material object while cleansing is an abstract concept, it is spiritual in its form as the honour bestowed upon the ladies by Allah, if they followed His commands. The object of chadar is mentioned in the ahdeeth when explaining this verse. It was the chadar belonging to Fatima Zahra that the Prophet had used to express this concept of special honour for the Ahlul-Bayt. This Hadeeth is known as HADEETH-E-KISA, and it is reported by such respected authors as Muslim and Tirmizi.
While a physical object can be taken away by a tyrant, the HONOUR BESTOWED BY ALLAH cannot be taken away. The tyrant thought that by taking away the chadar he would be able to dis-honour the ladies, very much like he thought that by killing Husayn he would take away the Divinely Bestowed Imamat away from him and his family.
At this point, we would quote two lines of poetry:
Tha-hro sar-e-Zaynab se rida cheen-ne walo,
Lipti hui tatheer ki ayat hai kisa main,
Translation: Stop, O you who take the chadar away from Zaynab's head,
There is the verse of TAKHEER wrapped in this chadar(kisa).
Shaam-e-Ghareeban (the evening for the lost and looted) was falling upon the plain of Karbala. Ladies had already been deprived of their chadars. The tents were now burning. Ladies had two choices - either to run out of the tents without their chadars, or to stay inside and get burnt to death with their children. Zaynab, who had now taken charge of the looted caravan of Huasayn, approached the ailing Zayn-al-Abideen. She asked him:
"Nephew, you are now our Imam, what is your command, shall we get burnt to death or go out without chadars and save our lives?"
Zayn-al-Abidee replied: "Saving your life is wajib, Phuphee, leave the tents."
The ladies and the children had to come out in the open. Zaynab helped Zayn-al-Abideen to get out of the burning tents.
That one action of Zaynab where she had asked Zayna-al-Adideen for the ruling on hijab has told the world for all time to come - even in that hour of misery, plight and confusion, Zaynab was intent on introducing the Imam of the Time. Zaynab did not need to ask anything. She had grown up with Islam. There was nothing hidden from her as far as the law was concerned. Zaynab, by asking that question of Imam Zayn-al-Abideen, was educating the world.
LET THE TYRANT EAT HIS HEART OUT - HE COULD NOT, AFTER ALL, TAKE AWAY THE HONOUR OF THE GOD-BESTOWED IMAMAT AWAY FROM THOSE GLORIOUS PEIOPLE.
We shall see how the same Zaynab, the daughter of Ali and Fatima, will re-introduce the God bestowed honour of the CHADAR in the court of Yazeed - the tyrant himself.
THE PRISONERS IN KOOFA
On the 12th of Muharram, the prisoners arrived in Koofa. The victorious Umayyad army entered the city with a lot of pomp and circumstance. The prisoners and the severed heads of Husayn and his Companions were being displayed with great pride. People sat on roof-tops and watched as the caravan passed through the main thoroughfare of Koofa. Mothers were throwing dates and pieces of bread after doing sadaqa over their children. Husayn's children were so hungry and thirsty that they would take those dates and pieces of bread and start eating them. Husayn's sisters, Zaynab and Umm-e-Kulthoom would take the food away from the children and throw it away saying: 'O people of Koofa ! We are the family of the Prophet of Islam, sadaqa is prohibited to us.'
Muslim Jassaas, the brick-layer, describes the scene as follows:
'I was called by the government officers to repair some parts of the governor's palace and started on the work. While I was busy doing my work I heard a lot of noise and the army music being played. Then I saw a great crowd in the streets. I asked somebody what was all the noise about. He told me that a rebel had risen against the Khaleefa, Yazeed, he was defeated by the armies sent by the governor, Ibn Ziyad. It was the victorious army entering the city with the prisoners taken in the battle. I then, asked who was the rebel, to which the man replied that it was somebody known as Husayn Ibn Ali. I was stunned. I did not know what to do. I hid in a corner and slapped my face with my own hands and wept. Then I saw some ladies and children without any carriages or even cloaks, on camel-backs. Then I saw that the caravan stopped. An elderly lady beckoned to the crowd to be silent and started speaking. I had not heard a lady make such an effective speech before. Then I turned and saw and old blind man standing next to me. He was weeping with tears, so much that his beard was all soaked in his own tears and he was saying - O ! Your men are the best men in the world, your women are the most honoured of all women of the world, your children are the most glorious of all children. '
This scene is not very different from that of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. While the Roman soldiers and the Jewish establishment were celebrating their victory, a handful of his devotees stood by, watched and wept helplessly. (Please note, according to the Holy Qur'an, the Romans were not successful in crucifying Jesus Christ, this is a scene taken from the Book of John).
The prisoners were then presented to Ibn Ziyad and every commander described his valiant acts in how he and his troops inflicted defeat on the `rebel'.
Husayn's head was presented to Ibn Ziyad in a golden tray during the court ceremony. Ibn Ziyad mounted the pulpit and addressed the court saying: 'Thank god that the liar, the son of a liar has been defeated in the armed struggle against the Khaleefa, Yazeed Ibn Mu'awiyah.'
In the court was present an old companion of Ali Ibn Abi Talib named Abdullah Ibn 'Afeef of the tribe of Azd. He was partially blind but he soon came to know what was going on. He was a brave man and had fought in a number of battles alongside Ali. At last he stood up and said to Ibn Ziyad:
'You are the liar and the son of a liar, O Ibn Ziyad. You have killed the grandson of the Prophet and you have the daughters of Ali and Fatima tied in ropes like common prisoners and you are taking pride in all this. By God, you have prepared the hell-fire for yourself. May Allah's curse be on you for ever.'
Ibn Ziyad was burning with anger. He beckoned to his guards to arrest Ibn Afeef. But he gave the battle-cry of the tribe of Azd. There were five hundred fully armed young men of that tribe present. They came to his rescue and escorted him back to his house. Ibn Afeef was safe for a few moments but then he was arrested later that same evening and beheaded.
Husayn's head was erected in Koofa for public display. After a few days, the prisoners and the heads were dispatched to Damascus
THE TREK FROM KOOFA TO DAMASCUS
After displaying the prisoners in his own court, Ibn Ziyad ordered that the prisnors should be taken to Damascus. As the caravan was leaving Koofa, people had gethered on the roof-tops to watch the prisoners. At every stop Zaynab and other ladies of the House of the Prophet would address the people and tell them what had happened. Many people did not know who was actually killed and who the prisoners were. This way, Husayn's message was being broadcast by his survivors. There were signs of a revolt. People were outraged at this blatant oppression and wrongdoing. In many places along the route to Damascus, villagers would confront the Umayyad soldiers and many skirmishes took place. Due to this, the commanders decided to take the caravan on a deserted road and push it hard so that they could end the journey quickly. Camels were pushed beyond their speed. There were sixty-four prisoners, of whom there were forty nursing mothers. All of them lost their babies as the camels would shake violently. Zaynul Abideen was so sick that he could not stay safely on the back of a running camel. His feet were tied round the belly of his camel. When he arrived in Damascus, flesh from his thighs was exposed and he had been bleeding from his wounds all the way.
THE PRISONERS IN DAMASCUS
A few days later the caravan arrived in Damascus. The prisoners and the heads of the slain members of the house of Fatima were presented to Yazeed in a lavish ceremony. It is reported that, the prisoners had to wait for several hours, outside at the gate while the court was being decorated. There were 700 seated spectators in the court, including local lords and foreign ambassadors.
It appears that most of the prisoners were released on the way to Damascus. Only the close family members of Husayn were kept. There were twelve people tied in one rope, round their necks. As there were children among them, the grown ups had to bend down lest the children would be strangled. In spite of this, the rope had cut through their skins and it was soaked in their blood around their necks.
The ladies were hiding their faces in their own hair, while Zaynul Abideen, the only male member of the group, stood in the middle of the court with his head downcast.
The severed head of Husayn was presented to Yazeed in a golden tray. He had a cane in his hand. He started hitting Husayn's lips with the cane. In the court was present Zayd Ibn Arqam, a respected but aging Companion of the Prophet of Islam. All of a sudden Zayd Ibn Arqam realized what had happened. He screamed in horror and said: "Take away the cane O Yazeed ! I have seen the Prophet's lips where your cane is."
Then noticing his own helplessness in the matter, crying and weeping he walked out of the court.
Yazeed was however, extremely pleased to see all this and said:
'There was neither any prophethood nor did ever descend an angel from the heavens,
This was just a farce created by Banu Hashim to establish their power.
O how I wish my ancestors were alive and here today and they would see how I have avenged the battles of Badr and Uhud.'
Yazeed started insulting and ridiculing the prisoners. At last, Zaynab, Husayn's sister, exclaimed in anger at Yazeed and said:
'O you son of a freed slave ! .......... Conspire as much as you can and exhaust yourself with your efforts, by God, you will never wipe out our memory. Disgrace will never leave you.
Is your judgement anything but a blunder ? Are your days anything but a number? Is your congregation anything but a dispersion ?'
Zaynab had alluded in her address to Yazeed to the time of the 8th year of Hijra, when victorious Muslims had entered Makkah. The Prophet of Islam, if he had wanted, could have ordered that Abu Sufyan and his family would be put to the sword, in view of his relentless persecution of the Prophet and other Muslims, but he not only let him go but he declared a general amnesty for all and designated Abu Sufyan's house a sanctuary. So, Yazeed was the grandson of the man who became the freed slave of the Prophet of Islam, Zaynab's grandfather.
This altercation between Yazeed and Zaynab shows among other things, that inspite of all the pain, insults and misery, Yazeed had failed to break the spirits of Fatima's children.
Every member of this group was confident that whatever had come to pass over them, was due to the fact that they refused to be cowed down by a tyrant and fought for theirs as well as other people's basic human rights.
Yazeed's gleeful verses referring to the bat-tles of Badr and Uhud show that in his mind, this was basically a conflict between the clans of Banu Hashim and Banu Umayya, and he, being the prominent member of the house of Umayya, was succesful in subduing the Banu Hashim, once again, in the long history of this.
WHAT DOES KARBALA TEACH US
Husayn had shown by his acts as well as his various discourses during the seven days of Muharram at Karbala, that this conflict was much more universal in nature, and that he knew that he was going to live for ever through his martyrdom.
Yazeed died as uselessly as he lived, only three years after the battle of Karbala took place. While trying to race a baboon, he fell from his horse and broke his neck. As history has recorded, those who were appa-rent victors at Karbala have disappeared without trace. While the plain of Karbala was transformed from a deserted piece of barren land into a bustling town, of which, the cen-tral monument is Husayn's glorious tomb. Hundreds of thousands of people visit the tomb in reverence, all the year round, day and night. Husayn's martyrdom is observed with solemn deference all over the world, every year during the first ten days of the month of Muharram, by his followers. Public gatherings are held, speeches are made in which the story of Karbala is retold in touching tones and prayers are made to the effect that may the almighty Allah grant the same courage and strength to his followers in their hour of trial as he did to Husayn. At the end of these gatherings, the audience stand up and pay homage to Husayn and his companions in the following formal terms:
I wish I was with you ( at Karbala ) and would therefore, have attained the same exalted station ( as you did ).
Although, the observance of commemoration of Husayn in Muharram has only recently started in the Western countries, they are a part of the Muslim culture in India, Pakistan, Iran, Iraq and other eastern countries.
New centers have been established in Canada, the USA, and in many European countries where these practices of Muharram are done with all the elaborate details. The main element of these commemorative practices is the message of Husayn, which is also the message of the Prophet of Islam, that is Islam in its purest form. That is as follows:
1. Islam is a universal religion
2. Islam is the religion of human rights and common sense
3. Islam upholds the basic right of every person to hold his/her own views
4. Islam stands for the poor, the downtrodden and the weak
5. Islam teaches to side with the Mazloom and fight the Zalim
6. Islam appeals to human conscience and consciousness to see the right from wrong
7. Islam appeals to man through his own awareness and power to distinguish between good and evil.
8. Islam does not impose the law by brute force.
Karbala is a gift to humanity. The story of Karbala teaches us the following lessons:
1. It teaches the parents how to love and cherish their children - however, when comes the time of sacrifice, the parent is in the forefront to sacrifice his/her child for the right cause.
2. It teaches men and women how a husband should behave with her wife, and vise-versa. Even when the family is threatened for life, property, and honour, how sensible people keep their heads and act according to Allah's and nature's laws.
3. It teaches the faithful that your beliefs and your convictions are the most important thing in the world.
4. It teaches the faithful to find the right Imam and follow him
5. It teaches the faithful that helplessness and lack of power in this world do not mean a thing as long as one has chosen the right path and he/she is convinced that he/she is on the side of the truth.
One example from our times will suffice to explain this point.
A few days ago, 25 young girls were burnt to death inside a school building in Saudi Arabia. When the fire started in the building, children ran to the gate to save themselves from getting burnt. The religious police of Saudi Arabia would net let them get out of the building because they did not have the proper HIJAB on!!!!!!
When tents were burning in Karbala, Zaynab Husayn's sister approached her 24 year old nephew, Ali Zayn al-Abideen and asked him: "Nephew, you are our Imam now, what is your command about us, shall we all get burnt to death or save our lives and go out of the tents without our HIJAB?"
Ali Zayna al-Abideen replied: " Aunt, saving your life is wajib, go out and save yourselves and the children."
The head coverings (chadars) had already been looted from the heads of the ladies by the enemy soldiers. However, Zaynab was the daughter of Ali and Fatima, the garn-daughter of the Prophet of Islam. She did not need anyone else to tell her what was the law. She had grown up with Islam. BY this one act, Zaynab showed to the world the importance of the Imam of the time. At the same time, Ali Zayn al-Abideen's reply showed that Islamic law is what it is, but common sense always prevails.
ZIBHIN AZEEM
Having given the story of Ibraheem where he prepares to sacrifice his son, Isma'eel, Allah says in the Holy Qur'an
YUSUFALI:
We called out to him "O Abraham!
"Thou hast already fulfilled the vision!" - thus indeed do We reward those who do right.
For this was obviously a trial-
And We ransomed him with a momentous sacrifice:
And We left (this blessing) for him among generations (to come) in later times:
PICKTHAL:
We called unto him: O Abraham!
Thou hast already fulfilled the vision. Lo! thus do We reward the good.
Lo! that verily was a clear test.
Then We ransomed him with a tremendous victim
And We left for him among the later folk (the salutation):
SHAKIR:
And We called out to him saying: O Ibrahim!
You have indeed shown the truth of the vision; surely thus do We reward the doers of good:
Most surely this is a manifest trial.
And We ransomed him with a Feat sacrifice.
And We perpetuated (praise) to him among the later generations.
Looking at the Arabic text of the Qur'an, it is quite clear that Shakir is totally remiss in his translation. The first thing the translator has to do is to transfer the literal meanings completely and faithfully; and then, if there is still any gap between the original and the meaning, fill that gap with extra text with an explanation. Shakir has done neither.
Pickthall is good and tries to be accurate. Yusufali is also faithful. We can though, look at Yusufali with some insight because of his own commentary.
The adjective qualifying "sacrifice" here, azeem, (great, momentous) may be understood both in a literal and a figurative sense. In a literal sense it implies that a fine sheep or ram substituted symbolically. The figurative sense is more important. It was indeed a great and momentous occasion, when two men, with concerted will, "ranged themselves in the ranks" of those to whom self-sacrifice in the service of God was the supreme thing in life. This was a type of the service which Imam Husayn performed, many ages later, in 60 A.H., as I have explained in a separate pamphlet. But note that the ransom, i.e., the commutation of sacrifice, was made not by the men, but by God. God wants our will and devotion not our lives in a physical sense. He will find means, if we offer ourselves, to use us nor for our destruction, but for our further advancement. In this sense, said Jesus, "he that looseth his life for my sake shall find it" (Matt. 10:39) - Note number 4103, AYA, commentary on Holy Qur'an.
Most other scholars of the Qur'an have explained the term Zibhin Azeem as the sacrifice of animals that the Muslims offer every year at Mina after the completion of the Hajj. That is so improbable! What is the comparison between a great prophet sacrificing his own son (who also is a prophet) and people sacrificing animals? Even if a million or millions of millions animals were slaughtered, can that be equivalent to the sacrifice of a prophet-son by a prophet-father? Not in a million years.
Let us see how some others have tried to explain this Qur'anic term.
Iqbal, the famous poet of the indo-Pakistan subcontinent, has put it very briefly, but succinctly in the following Urdu couplet:
Ghareeb-o sada-o rangin hai dastaan-e-Haram,
Nihayat iski Husayn, ibtida hai Isma'eel
translation:
The story of HARAM (the grand mosque and the K'aba) is strange, simple and colourful. Isma'eel is its beginning and Husayn is its completion.
Iqbal, later, wrote a more lengthy poem on this topic, in Farsi. We will present a part of that poem to our readers with a translation, in a later post.
Various scholars of Qur'an have explained this relationship at length. One of the most bril-liant works is the book titled `SIR-RUSH- SHAHADATAYN' or the secret of two sacrifices, by the well known Indian scholar Shah Abdul Azeez, also known as Muhaddith-e-Dehlavi. Shah Abdul Azeez has argued that the logical end of the story of Ibraheem and Isma'eel would be that Muhammad the Prophet of Islam would have sacrificed his life in Allah's way. That would really leave no doubt about the meaning of the term ZIBHIN AZEEM. But Muhammad died of illness and old age.
The Shah then raises a question: Why was the Prophet of Islam deprived of the greatest glory for a human being, that is, Shahadat (martyrdom)? The Shah then proceeds to answer his own question. He says that Shahadat is of two kinds: (i) Shahdat-e-Sirri (covert martyrdom), and (ii) Shahadat-e-Jahri (overt martyrdom). If Allah had given the Prophet one kind of martyrdom, he would obviously be deprived of the other, since man can only die once. Allah wanted the Prophet to have both types of Shahadat. So he gave the Prophet two grandsons, Hasan and Husayn. Hasan was poisoned to death by Mu'awiyyah's conspiracy, and Husayn fell in action on the battlefield by the armies snet by Yazeed bin Mu'awiyyah. Each one of thos egrandsons actually were filling in for their Grandfather, the Prophet of Islam, so that he could receive the glory of both types of martyrdom. That is where the name of the book (THE SECRET OF TWO SACRIFICES) has been taken. In effect, Husayn's and Hasan's martyrdom was Muhammad's mar-tyrdom, which completes the religion Islam, which started with Ibraheem and Isma'eel.
The Shah has stopped at that point. We would want to extend his reasoning one step further. If we accept the Shah's reasoning, then we would say that the martyrdom of Hasan and Husayn constitute the martyrdom of the Prophet of Islam. By the same token, those who had killed Hasan and Husayn, and those who were instrumental in those killings were actually the murderers of the Prophet of Islam.
After careful study of the two stories (that of Ibraheem and that of Husayn), we find a number of similarities between them.
Ibraheem has a vision and asks his fourteen year old son about it. The son replies that he should follow Allah's command. Husayn while travelling towards Koofa, tells his eighteen year old son Ali that he had a dream in which he heard a voice calling out:
The people of this entourage are proceeding towards their death.
Ali asks his father: 'Are we not on the right path ?'
Husayn replies: Yes my son, of course, we are on the right path.
The son then says: Then I am not concerned !
Isma'eel tells his father after hearing about his dream that the father will find him among the SABIREEN.
Husayn rushes to the side of his fourteen year old nephew Qasim Ibn Hasan, woun-ded in battle and asks him: What is death like ?
Qasim replies: 'Sweeter than honey.'
Another point worth mentioning here is Ibraheem's prayer after the sacrifice and its hidden meanings, in Qur'an, verse-124 of Chapter 2:
And remember when his Lord tried Ibraheem with his commands, and he fulfilled them. He (Allah) said: Lo! I have appointed thee a leader (IMAM) for mankind. (Ibraheem) said: and of my offspring (will there be leaders)? He said: My covenant includeth not wrongdoers.
Ibraheem was made a leader (IMAM) for mankind after accomplishing the sacrifice, which was postponed for a greater event. It is only logical that the person who was the cause of that completion should also be an IMAM. This is the most direct proof of the concept of IMAMAT ( Spiritual leadership and Allah's vicegerency on Earth), one of the five pillars of our faith, from Qur'an.
Then Ibraheem asks if there would be IMAMs in his progeny. His prayer is granted, but with the condition that those in his progeny who go wrong in Allah's sight, will be excluded. Both Husayn and Yazeed are in Ibraheem's progeny through the line of Quraysh. But one of them has achieved an exaltation through his martyr-dom, while the other caused him suffering and pain. The point is that Islam is not a racial religion. The appointment of IMAMs has been restricted to Ibraheems progeny, but anybody can become a Muslim. Except, that particular exaltation is reserved for Ibraheem's progeny. However, even there, it is important how the people in Ibraheem's progeny behave. They will suffer Allah's wrath on the Day of Judgement if their deeds were not according to Allah's cove-nants. So, just being in Ibraheem's line is no guarantee for final salvation.
Besides, Ibraheem was not asking for worldly success in his prayer. Instead he asked for moral excellence and spiritual exaltation. This becomes very clear if we look at the following verse from Chapter XIV of Qur'an:
14:37 "O our Lord! I have made some of my offspring to dwell in an uncultivable valley by Your Sacred House (the Ka'bah at Makkah); in order, O our Lord, that they may perform As-Salat (Iqamat-as-Salat), so fill some hearts among men with love towards them, and (O Allah) provide them with fruits so that they may give thanks.
The Divine promise of Imamat being reserved for the progeny of Ibraheem was fulfilled, as history has recorded. Banu Umayya failed to destroy the legacy of the Prophet of Islam. The Umayyad dynasty was completely annihilated by the Abbasid uprising in 132 A.H.
That is yet, another reason that Husayn's memory is so alive and his followers commemorate the great sacrifice at Karbala, every year, with such fervor and passion.
THE DIVINE PROMISE OF IMAMAT
As we saw in reading the verses from the holy Qur'an (Sura Saaf-faat, 37:104-111), Allah had promised prophet Ibraheem that Imamat will perpetuate in his progeny. The Divine promise of IMAMAT being reserved for the children of Ibraheem was fulfilled, as history has recorded. Banu Umayya failed to destroy Muhammad's legacy. The Umayyad dynasty was completely annihilated by the Abbasides uprising, only 70 years later. The remaining few of the Umayyads had to take refuge in Spain.
The massacre of Karbala turned out to be the most prominent instrument by which Islam spread all over the world. Even in the short term, the honour and respect of the remaining members of that family increased every day. Once du-ring Hajj, the then Umayyad crown prince Hisham, accompanied by a foreign ambassador and the famous poet Farazdaq, had arrived in Makkah to perform Hajj. During the tawaaf he tried to reach the black-stone but failed repeatedly and at last, went up to a hill to rest and try again later. (People who have been to Hajj can very well appreciate the scene.) All of a sudden the crowd of the pilgrims milling around the K'abah split in the middle. There was a man in a black cloak, pale and weak, but with an air of piety about him, proceeding very slowly towards the black-stone. The crowd held back quietly until he reached the black-stone, kissed it, turned away and went back as he came. The ambassador watched this scene with curiosity and asked Hisham: `Who is he that demands more respect than even the crown prince of the day?'
Hisham was furious and snapped in anger and jealousy: `I do not know.'
Farazdaq was disgusted at this reply, and on the spot he composed a long Qaseedah (ode) and recited it, in praise of the man Hisham refused to identi-fy. Farazdaq's Qaseedah is considered to be a classic of Arabic literature.
The man in question, was no one else but, Ali Zaynul Abideen, Husayn's only surviving son in Karbala.
The legacy of spiritual leadership was carried through the next in-line, Muhammad Baqir, the fifth Imam, after his father Ali Zaynul Abideen, who was only four years old at Karbala, to his son J'afar Sadiq, the sixth Imam, the most illustrious of them all, and then to six more upto the 12th Imam.
All these people were always persecuted by the rulers of their times. Most of them spent their lives under close scrutiny of the ru-lers, under house-arrest or in prison. All of them were killed treacherously by poisoning, until the time came of the last of them, who went into hiding in the 260th year of Hijra (874 A.D.).
All of them continued the legacy of spiritual leadership and learning against all odds. J'afar Sadiq can very well be said to be the originator of all study of Islamic jurisprudence (Fiqh). The two most prominent scholars and founders of their respective schools of learning, Abu Haneefa and Malik Ibn Anas, sat in his lectures.
AFTER-EFFECTS OF KARBALA
No knowledgeable author has gone without commenting about the tragedy of Karbala, one way or the other. Dickens, Gibbon, Ockley, Henri Lammens, Wellhausen, Hodgson, Garcin de Tassey, are but a few names in a long list of western writers in addition to the numerous historians in Arabia, Iran and the Indo-Pakistan subcontinent. Even political leaders like Stalin and Gandhi have made reference to Husayn in their speeches.
POLITICAL EFFECTS
It is not certain how long the prisoners were kept in captivity, in Damascus. The reporters of maqtal literature have given many reasons for their release, the most important among them being that Husayn's four year old daughter had died of starvation, dehydration and general exhaustion, in the prison. This turned many of Yazeed's supporters against him, even in Damascus. The prisoners were released and sent back to Madinah with an official escort. When the news of the massacre at Karbala broke out in Madinah, the city was taken over by tremendous grief and sadness. The survivors described their suffe-rings and the inhuman acts committed by the Umayya troops in various meetings with the citizens of Madinah. The elders then decided that an investigative commission should be set up and asked to produce a report on Yazeed's government. A delegation was sent to Damascus, which did produce a report.
The contents of this report make interesting reading. It said:
"We have seen a man who calls himself the Khaleefah of our Prohpet (p.b.h) but he drinks intoxicants openly, has baboons and dogs as pets and spends most of his time in the company of dancing girls."
The complete lack of any mention of the atrocities committed against the Prophet's family by Yazeed, from this report, is a curious fact. As if drinking and dancing were greater sins than the sacrilege caused by the murder of the Prophet's grandson. The revolution caused by the tragedy of Karbala had yet to happen. The people of Madinah were disgusted with Yazeed. A strong sentiment was building up among the citizens, which was further enhanced after the Madinan delegation returned from Damascus and produced its report.
The Umayyad governor of Madinah feared for his and his family's life and approached Ali Zaynul Abideen if he could take care of his wife. Zaynul Abideen displayed an unprecedented act of magnanimity and accepted the responsibility. The governor's wife was escorted to Ta'if with one of the Hashimites, while the governor himself was chased out of Madinah.
Yazeed was obviously furious at this. He immediately dispatched a division of his Syrian mercenaries accompanied by his Umayyad partisans. The people of Madinah, in the meantime, were preparing a local government and had severed all relations with Damascus. When they received the news of the impending attack, they too prepared a force to meet the challenge.
The two forces met at a place called Harrah, outside of the city limits. A battle took place, which ended in complete destruction of the Madinan forces. The Syrians moved into the city and razed it to the ground. People were killed indiscriminately. Schools, hospitals and other public-service buildings were destroyed. The prophet's mosque was completely desecrated. It was actually used by the Syrians for stables. Madinah, the city of the Prophet of Islam, which had reached a new epoch of civilization and culture during the last quarter of a century, was defaced beyond recognition for a long time to come. It was not until the beginning of the second century of Hijra, that the grandson of Ali Zaynul Abideen known as Ja'afar As-Sadiq, revived that old school of learning in Madinah, which was originally started by Ali bin Abi Talib.
All male survivors of the massacre were forced to take a humiliating oath of loyalty to Yazeed. Those who refused were branded on their necks.
The Syrian troops then proceeded towards Makkah where Abdullah Ibn Zubayr had installed himself as Khaleefa. Makkah was put under siege. Great damage was done to the grand mosque and K'abah. While this was going on, the news of Yazeed's sudden death arrived and made the Syrian army leave in a hurry for Damascus. Soon after this, many rebellions took place in the Arab lands against Umayyad rule. Yazeed's own son was disgusted with his father. He abdicated and was poisoned by the Umayyad king-makers. The signs of revolution were now showing.
The first manifestation of this was the move-ment of Tawwaboon or the penitents, led by a respected Koofan, Sulayman Ibn Surad. These were the people who were unable to reach Karbala to help Husayn. The movement took four years to materialize. An army of 4000 marched towards Syria for two specific purposes, either to defeat the Syrians and estab-lish a just rule, or to die fighting like Husayn did. Before heading towards Syria, the people stop-ped by at Karbala. Scenes of unprecedented grief, weeping and wailing were seen, for the tragic death and sufferings of the Prophet's grandson. Although, the first person who for-mally visited the tomb of Husayn was the old and respected Companion of the Prophet, Jabir Ibn Adullah Ansaree, this was perhaps the first time in history that Muslims had glori-fied publicly, a shrine other than Makkah.
The group then proceeded towards Syria. They met a Syrian force of 30,000 at a place called Ayn-al-Ward. The night before the action started, the leader, Sulayman Ibn Surad, addres-sed the group exactly as Husayn had done in the night before Ashoora. Sulayman explained that their mission was not to wrest political power but to do and die. The next morning 1000 of the men were missing. Sulayman's people were far outnumbered by the Syrians. The battle lasted three days. Tawwaboon fought
furiously and the Syrians took great losses. But on the third day of the battle, the Tawwaboon themsel-ves were greatly reduced in number. Very few of them survived the battle. Sulayman and other leaders of the group were killed in action. This was in the month of Rabeec II, 65 Hijra/November 684 A.D.
Soon after this came the uprising of Mukhtar Ibn Abi Ubayda Thaqafee. He actually was successful in establishing a government in Koofa. Mukhtar rounded up a great number of those who fought Husayn at Karbala, including Ibn Ziyad and Umar Ibn S'ad. They were all tried for the atrocities committed against the Prophet's grandson and his family, and punished by a death similar and comparable to their own acts at Karbala.
The next major uprising was that by Zayd, another son of Ali Zaynul Abideen, in Safar of 122 Hijra/ December 740 A.D. Zayd was defeated by the Umayyad troops, killed in ac-tion and many of his followers massacred. The Umayyad ruler Hisham ordered that all people in Madinah should publicly denounce Zayd and dis-sociate themselves from such activities. However, J'afar Sadiq was left alone from this. This episode is very similar to what happened after the sack of Madinah at the Syrians' hands on Yazeed's orders. But Ali Zaynul cAbideen (Jafar Sadiq's grandfather) was left unmolested.
Since Karbala, even the most oppressive ruler and despot was afraid to bother the family of the Prophet, openly. The massacre at Karbala had sent a wave of horror across the Islamic empire. A new sentiment was setting in Iran. Some opportunists took advantage of the situation and set up an underground movement in Iran, their leader being Abu Muslim Khurasani. It was this mechanism, which caused the complete destruction of the Umayyad dynasty in the Arab lands and installed the first Abbaside ruler at Baghdad, in the year 132 Hijra, 70 years after the tragedy of Karbala took place.
It was the result of the teachings of the sixth Imam J'afar Sadiq that the call for avenging Husayn's killing was replaced by formal acts of lamentation, weeping and wailing to commemorate Husayn's sufferings and death. In Iran and Iraq it has transformed into Rawzeh Khwani and in India and Pakistan it is known as Majlis and Zakiree.
Since then, every oppressed person or group considers Husayn their hero. Such people revere Husayn and find solace in his memory during times of hardships. Husayn's tomb in Karbala has turned into a shrine of great sig-nificance, in the Muslim world. Conversely, every despot and dictator has always considered this relic and the commemoration of Husayn's martyrdom a direct threat to his authority. For this reason, the tomb has been desecrated and rebuilt many times. The present government in Iraq is no exception. All moneys the devotees dedicate to the shrines in Karbala and Najaf are taken away by the government authorities without any regard to the needs of the shrine. People are watched and discouraged from visiting the religious scholars based in Najaf.
Under the current tyrannical regime in Iraq, people are living a precarious life. The sanctions imposed by the UN Resolution, obviously, are not helping the situation either. Children are dying in large numbers, hospitals have run out of essential medical equipment and medicines. Supply of water and electricity is in a bad shape. In fact, all infrastructure is in ruins.
What are our duties as devotees of Imam Husayn, in these circumstances?
CULTURAL AND SOCIAL EFFECTS OF KARBALA
Every society where the followers of Imam Husayn live, has had a profound cultural impact due to the very nature of Imam Husayn's story.
In Iraq, in spite of the oppressive regime, the followers of the Imam commemorate his martyrdom every year with full demonstration in public.
In Iran, every year during Muharram the tragedy of Karbala is relived through acts known as T'aziyah.
The society in India has had the most dramatic impact due to the commemoration of Imam Husayn's sacrifice every year. The majority of the population in India is non-Muslim. It is curious to see those non-Muslims participating in the many colorful ceremonies during the month of Muharram. Also, it has affected the rich and the poor alike.
The most famous of them all was the Rajah of Gwalior, a state in central India. The Rajah used to go barefoot with the procession every year on the day of Ashoora, holding a replica of Imam Husayn's mausoleum.
The following new-item was published recently on the INTERNET:
By Sanjay Sharma in Bhopal Hindu families have been taking out the Tazia procession on Muharram for more than 120 years in some districts of Madhya Pradesh. The ritual began in 1882 when the Raikwar family of the Vidisha town began preparing and taking out Tazias on the ninth day of Moharram. Since then, the Raikwar's Tazia leads the procession of mourners on Muharram, and moves ahead of the long line of replicas of Hussain's tomb and flags along the streets. Like several Muslim families across the globe, the Raikwar family members, too, set aside their daily chores to grieve for the grandson of Prophet Mohammad, Hussain, and his 70 companions who were brutally killed on the banks of the river Euphrates in Karbala (Iraq) in AD 680. "Hussain is everybody's hero, the embodiment of virtues of piety, courage and self-sacrifice. He did not seek power. "He represented the authentic voice of Islam and, for that reason, boldly challenged the un-Islamic practices of the Umayyad ruler, Yezid," a member of the Raikwar family said. They also march, as they do year after year, through the lanes and by-lanes in fervent lamentation chanting, "Ya-Hussain, Ya-Husain", rhythmically beating their chests, self-flagellating, carrying replicas of Husain's tomb. "Hussain laid down his life but did not compromise with a bloody-minded tyrant," says the head of the Mishra family of Sehore, another Madhya Pradesh town where a Hindu family takes out the Tazia procession. "The practice is over 100 years old for our family. We have also secured a place for `Bade Baba Sahib' in our house where hundreds of Hindus and Muslims visit during Muharram to seek Husain's intercession to cure the diseased, avert calamities and even procure children," says Dinesh Chandra Mishra, present head of the family. "Every age brings forth a new Yezid, but resistance to tyranny, as is illustrated by Husain's legendary example, is incumbent upon every man of faith", he says.
Syed Husain Ali Jaffri, who has been a visiting zakir during Muharram in Kashmir, writes that there is a Brahmin tribe by the name of Mohyals who take part in Muharram observance with great devotion and fervor. They believe that their ancestors fought with Imam Husayn at Karbala and later, avenged Imam Husayn's killing by fighting the Umayyads. There is historical evidence that Mohyals travelled back to India over the centuries via Afghanistan. A branch of Mohyals ruled in Afghanistan during the period 860-950 A.D. The Mohyals in Afghanistan are called Diwans. As a tradition, Sayyids (the descendants of Imams Hasan and Husayn) have great respect for the Mohyals of Kashmir and vice-versa.
Muslims generally abstain from any merry-making during the months of Muharram and Safar, which are the official months of mourning. The mourning ends on the day of Arba'een, or the fortieth day after Ashoora.
EFFECTS ON LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE
Hundreds of thousands of verses have been com-posed in a number of languages, describing the various episodes at Karbala and eulogizing Husayn.
Both Rawzeh Khwani in Iran and Iraq and Majlis and Zakiree in India and Pakistan gave rise to new standards of scholarship in the study of the religion. Thousands of books have been written.
In the middle of the nineteenth century, a new development took place in the cultural and literary circles of India. A yet-unimportant and not-so-popular form of poetry came into extensive use. This was MARTHIA, in Urdu. Marthia is a collection of sestets (stanzas of six lines each with the rhyming patters - aaaacc). It consists of full historical accounts of actual episodes at various occasions, mainly Karbala. The striking feature of this institution was the recitation, which was done with extensive imagery and acting in front of the Majlis. This created the actual scenes in the minds of the audience and thus enhanced the beauty of the poetry.
Mir Babar Ali Anees was one such poet. He was born in Lucknow, in the northern province of India, in or about the year 1805. The genius of his poetry lies in the fact that he has described the historical facts with unparalleled accuracy for a poet, and still maintained the poetical beauty and mastery of language.
( Efforts have been made in translating Anees's poetry into English. Two significant names come to mind: S.M.Amir Imam of Mamoodabad, and Professor David Matthews of the School Of African And Oriental Studies, London. Matthews has tranlsated the famous marthiyya of Anees which begins - JAB QATA KI MUSAFAT-E-SHAB AFTAAB NE. Matthews has maintained the rhyming pattern of ababcc, in his translation. The work has been published in India by Rupa & Co., Delhi, 1994, under the title:THE BATTLE OF KARBALA.
The problem with this task is this. Anees' poetry is that of emotions, sentiments, feelings and states of mind. While it is easy to translate ideas and notions from one language to another, it is very difficult to transform feelings and state of mind from one language to another, because these are closely associated with culture and civilization which create a unique temperament for each language.)
Anees composed about 200,000 lines of verse during his life-time. In one of his marthias, he is describing the scene of the morning of Ashoora, where Husayn's son Ali is reciting the AZAN for morning prayers. The metaphor he has used is: It was a nightingale singing in the garden of Apostleship.
We give below that one stanza in its original and Matthews' translation:
Ye husn-e-sawt awr ye qir'at ye shadd-o-mad,
Haqqa ki afsah-ul-fusaha hai unhi ka jad,
Goya hai lahn-e-hazrat-e-Dawood-e-ba khirad,
Ya rab rakh is sada ko zamaane main ta abad,
Sho'bay sada main pankhariyan jaise phool main
Bulbul chahak raha hai riyaz-e-Rasool main
He reads from the Qur'an; what majesty!
His grandsire once for speaking held the prize.
Ah, may his voice remain eternally!
The strains of David, who was called the wise!
Thos emelodies like petals of a flower!
A nightingale chirps in the Prophet's bower!
In another marthia, Anees describes the despe-rate battle fought by Abbas, when both his arms have been severed and he is holding the water-skin between his teeth, warding off the arrows. The simile he has used is that of a lion holding its prey in its jaws. The true beauty of this similitude goes beyond the appa-rent similarity of the two situations. The lion is known as the king of the jungle. No other measly beast dares come near it. But there is one animal which can actually kill the lion. It is the wild
dog, which follows a lion in packs from a distance, until the lion has caught its prey. And then the whole pack attacks the lion trying to snatch the prey away. The lion is so proud that it does not want to let its prey go and also, because it is holding the prey in the jaws, it has lost the most effective weapon to ward off the wild bunch. The wild dogs attack the lion from all sides and eventually kill it. The simile of a proud lion holding its prey with the wounded Abbas is perfect in that he was trying to save the water-skin from the arrows of the enemy soldiers and eventually gave his life for it. Similarly, equating the enemy soldiers with a bunch of wild dogs shows implicitly, their mean, greedy and vicious nature and it also shows how contem-ptible they are held in Anees's view. The beauty of the simile is further enhanced when we consider the fact that the word 'Abbas ' in Arabic means `an angry lion'.
EFFECTS OF KARBALA ON HUMAN PHILOSOPHICAL THOUGHT - I
There are two aspects of the religion Islam: spiritual and worldly.
While a Muslim is expected to lead a normal worldly life earning a
livelihood, looking after the family and socializing with neighbors etc., he
is also expected, never, to forget the end which is destined for every mortal
being, that is death and the life hereafter.
It is necessary for a Muslim to make a conscious effort in making
material gains. However, a Muslim must never forget the eternal salvation.
For this he or she has to fulfill the religious covenants that is, prayers,
fasting, alms and a general attitude of mind where he/she is prepared to make
sacrifices of material things for spiritual attainment.
When Islam started in Makkah, the emphasis was on the spiritual aspect.
This is very clear from the style of the Qur'anic verses revealed at Makkah.
In Madinah, the emphasis was on law-making and generally on worldly affairs.
This is apparent from the style of the Qur'anic verses revealed at Madinah.
Since there was a danger that because of the change of emphasis in
revelation, Muslims may forget about the spiritual aspect of the religion,
Qur'an has Makkan style verses in the middle of law-giving (Madinan) verses.
Just to quote two examples, the famous verse of the throne (Ayatal Kursee)
appears in the middle of Chapter 2, Baqara, and the famous parable of light
(Noor) appears in the middle of Chapter 24.
The Prophet, during his life-time, took care of this himself, both by his
actions as well as by his sayings. The symptoms were always there. At Badr,
the first battle, Muslims fought selflessly. Soon afterwards, at Uhud, greed
showed its ugly face. Muslims suffered greatly due to some of them leaving
their posts during the battle and running after the booty. Qur'an
reprimanded the Muslims at this. Similarly, at Hunayn, Muslims became
overconfident because of their number, but suffered greatly at the hands of
the Hawazin. The Prophet kept the situation under control during his
lifetime. However, soon after he passed away, Muslims lapsed into a syndrome
of love for worldly success, and just that.
As Syria and Iran were conquered one after the other, more and more
wealth was brought into the Arab cities. The wealthier the Muslims became,
the more greedy they turned out to be. This went on until the empire very
nearly collapsed during the time of the third Khaleefa, Uthman, because of
the excessive greed.
As soon as Ali became Khaleefa after Uthman, he tried to correct the
situation. First of all, he treated all Muslims, be they Arabs or not,
equally, when it came to their stipends. This was not the case during the
first three Khaleefas' rule. He then decreed that during the battles against
rebels who were Muslims, it was unlawful to take the booty and prisoners as
slaves. His policies in the end, failed because, Muslims who had become used
to money and comfort did not like these hard measures.
Husayn had seen this development closely. He realized that a strong
medicine was required for this illness. He saw that the Muslims had lost
sight of the spiritual aspect of their religion completely.
The luxurious and indulgent way of living Muslims had got used to by
then, was a far cry from the modest beginning in Makkah. The con-cept of
`Atonement through sacrifice' which is the central theme of the religion, had
to be re-emphasized.
Husayn did this in the most spectacular way. What sacrifice could be
greater than giving one's life for an ideal ? No ! Husayn did much more than
just giving his own life. He saw his own loved ones die in front of him.
Men have fought and died for their principles both before and after
Husayn. However, no other tragedy has such a complete example of martyrdom
as Karbala.
Also, most such conflicts have resulted in some kind of schism in the
community. After Jesus Christ's crucifixion (this is not Muslim belief
though), the main Jewish communi-ty was split and thus Christianity was born.
Sir Thomas More refused to recognize the Church of England and accept Henry
VIII as its head. The people in England experienced a religious split
between Catholics and Anglicans. Thomas More was tried for treason and
beheaded on the King's orders.
Obviously, in all such cases the new religion carries a grudge
against the original one and vice-versa.
The Jews have had a hard time since Jesus Christ was crucified,
trying to get out of the blame for that. The ongoing conflict between
Catholics and Protestants in Ireland is yet another example of the phenomenon.
At Karbala, both Husayn and his persecutors were claiming to be Muslims.
What Husayn did was to expose the hypocrites within the Muslim community who
were using the religion to op-press and exploit the community at large. It
was not that it applied just to the people confronting Husayn at Karbala, it
is equally applicable to such people today and has always been so in the
intervening centuries. Muslims have nowhere else to go to put the blame for
Husayn's killing. The tragedy therefore, on the one hand, acted as a
surgeon's scalpel on an ailing body and, on the other hand, it did not create
any hatred among Muslims for any other religion or ideology.
IQBAL'S TRIBUTE TO THE MARTYRS OF KARBALA
No Muslim philosopher has gone without making an attempt to understand Husayn's point of view and commenting about it. Among them is Iqbal, the famous thinker-philosopher poet of the Indo-Pakistan sub-continent. The essence of all his poetical work is said to be contained in the book known as the `Secret of the Self', which was composed in Farsi. In this, is in-cluded a long poem on Husayn. Iqbal's thesis in this piece of work can be summarized as follows.
Man has two basic capacities: First, the ability to observe, think, decide and act using reason, wisdom and common sense. Second, the devotion to, and a passionate love for his faith, idealogy or religion, and a certain recklessness of action due to his strong convictions.
In Iqbal's terminology, the former is identi-fied as 'AQL (reason) or intellect and the latter as 'ISHQ (love) or divine inspiration.
Iqbal introduces the theme in the form of a compare and contrast between 'ISHQ and 'AQL.
1. One who has severed relations from all other deities but Allah is the true believer. 2. 'Ishq is essential for a believer. What is impossible for me (Iqbal) is possible for 'Ishq.
3. 'Aql is ruthless, 'Ishq is even more so. 'Ishq is bold and sanctified.
4. 'Ishq preys with power, 'Aql lays traps and is deceitful.
5. For 'Aql, the greatest treasures are `doubt' and skepticism. For 'Ishq, determination and firm belief are essential.
6. 'Aql is cheap and available in abundance everywhere like wind; 'Ishq is precious and hard to come by.
7. 'Aql is founded on `why' and `how many' while 'Ishq is free from these limitations.
8. 'Aql dictates man to be a show-off, 'Ishq insists on self-assessment and examination.
9. 'Ishq is another name for freedom. In each contest between the two, 'Ishq has always overtaken 'Aql.
After this argument in favor of 'Ishq, Iqbal addresses Husayn as 'Ishq personified and as a leader of all those who can be said to be truly inspired. The rest of the poem is quoted below with an English translation.
Allah Allah baa-e-bismillah padar
M'aniy-e-zibh-e-azeem amad pisar
Trans:How wonderful ! Father is the `B' of Bismillah while the son is the meaning of Zibhin 'Adheem.
Iqbal is referring to a famous saying by 'Ali Ibn Abi Talib that whatever is in Qur'an, is in the first Soora, i.e., Fateha, and whatever is in Fateha, is in its first verse, Bismillah, and whatever is in Bismillah, is contained in the `B' of Bismallah, and whatever is in `B', is in its dot (see the Arabic letter `B'), and I am that dot.
Bahr-e un shahzada-e Khayr-ul-milal
Dosh-e khatm-ul-mursaleen n'em-ul-jamal
For that prince of the best of nations (that is Muslims), the Prophet acted as a camel.
It is reported that on an 'Eed day, every one was proceeding to the mosque to offer the congregational prayers. Many children were riding on horses and camels with the elders. Husayn being a child of four or so, was also going to the mosque with his grandfather, and very innocently asked him where was his camel. The Prophet, out of extreme love, put Husayn on his back and said: `This is your camel'. Husayn then asked: `Where is its halter ?' The Prophet handed him a lock of his hair and said: `Here it is.' One of the Companions looked at this and said to Husayn: 'What a glorious camel you have ?' The Prophet interrupted and said: 'No, say what a glorious rider.'
Surkh roo ishq-e guyoor az khoon-e-oo
Shokhiy-e in misra az mazmoon-e-oo
Trans: 'Ishq is dignified with his blood, his name glorifies these verses.
The translation fails to convey the beauty of these lines. Iqbal has used the word Surkh-Roo, which literally means `red face'. This term in Farsi, is used for glory, dignity and exaltation. Consider the fact that blood is also red.
Darmiyan-e-ummat un kaywan janaab
Hamchu harf-e Qul Huwallah dar kitaab
Trans: Among all Muslims, past and present, he stands out like the Soora of `Qul-Huwallah' in the book. (Qur'an).
This Sura in Qur'an, is brief but most succinctly describes the concept of oneness of Allah.
Moosa-o-Fir'awn, Shabber-o-Yazeed
In do quwwat az hayaat ayad padeed
Trans: Moses and Pharaoh, and Shabbeer(Husayn) and Yazeed are the two eternal opposing forces, representing `Good' and `Evil'.
Zinda haq az quwwat-e-Shabbiree ast
Baatil aakhir daagh-e-hasrat meeri ast
Trans: Shabbeer gave life to `Good' (by his sacrifice), and `Evil' at last, is dead for ever.
Chun khilafat rishta az qur'an guseekht
Hurriyyat ra zahr andar kaam reekht
Trans: When Khilafat dissociated itself from Qur'an, and Freedom was poisoned.
Khaast un sar jalwa-e-khayr-ul-umam
Chun sahaab-e-qibla baraan dar qadam
Trans:Then appeared on the horizon of Islam, that Savior of all mankind, like a cloud full of rain.
bar zameen-e-karbala baareed-o-raft
laalah dar weeranaha kaareed-o-raft
trans: It rained on the plain of Karbala and passed, it changed the desert into a blooming orchard and passed.
Ta qiyamat qat-e-istibdaad kard
Mawj-e-khoon-e-oo chaman eejaad kard
Trans: He put an end to oppression for all time to come, he created an orchard by watering the sands with his blood.
Bahr-e-haq dar khaak-o-khoon ghalteeda ast
Pas bina-e-la ilah gardeeda ast
Trans:He is lying in dust, drenched in his own blood, for saving the truth; that is why he is said to be the very foundation of `La-Ilah'
Iqbal is alluding to a quatrain attributed to another scholar and mystic of India, Khwaja Mu'een Uddeen Chishti, in which he says that Husayn did not give his hand in Yazeed's hand but gave his head instead, that is why he is the foundation of `La Ilaah', (in other words he saved Islam from complete destruction.)
Mudda'a-ish saltanat boode agar
Khud na karde ba chunin saamaan safar
Trans: If he had gone to wrest power, he would not have travelled with such a small entourage.
Dushmanaan chun reg-e-sahra la tu'ad
Doostan-e-oo ba yazdan ham 'adad
Trans: As countless were his enemies in number, his friends were counted with Yazdan (Allah).
The second line has dual meaning. Because Husayn was on the right path, he and his followers were being counted with Allah, i.e., Allah was on their side. According to cArabic science of numerology, the total numbers of the word `YAZDAN' is 72, which was exactly the number of Husayn's companions at Karbala.
Sirr-e-Ibraheem-o-Ismaa'eel bood
Y'ani un ijmaal ra tafseel bood
Trans:The secret of the story of Ibraheem and Ism'eel lies in his person, that is, he was the elaboration of a symbol yet unexplained.
'azm-e-oo chun koh-e-sarran ustuwaar
paay-e-daar-o-tund sayr-o-kaamgaar
trans: His determination was high and firm like a mountain, fast, effective and resolute.
Teqh bahr-e-izzat-e-deen ast-o-bas
Maqsad-e-oo hifz-e- aa-een ast-o-bas
Trans: Sword is to protect the religion, its purpose is to save the Book and its authority.
Maa siwa Allah ra musalman bande neest
Pesh-e-Fir'awn-e sarash afgande neest
Trans: A true believer does not worship anyone but Allah, he does not submit to any Pharaoh (that is, any oppressive and mighty despot).
Khoon-e-oo tafseer-e-in asraar kard
Millat-e-khwabeedah ra beedaar kard
trans: His sacrifice elaborated this principle, he awakened the nation (that is, Muslims) which had gone into a deep sleep (of worldly love).
Tegh-e-la chun az miyan bayroon kasheed
Az rag-e-arbaab-e-baatil khoon kasheed
Trans: He drew the sword of `La', and drained the bad blood.
The 'Arabic word `La' means `no'. Iqbal has used it here in two meanings. First, Husayn said `No' to Yazeed when he was asked for the oath of allegiance, and he fought for his rights.
Then, the beginning of the `Kalamah' or the confession of the faith is also this word `La'. His drawing the sword was nothing other than re-asserting the rule of true Islamic law.
Naqsh-e-illalah bar sahra nawisht
Satr-e-unwaan-e-najaat-e-ma nawisht
Trans: He inscribed the `Kalamah' on the sands (of Karbala), that writing was nothing but a title for our salvation.
Ay saba! Ay payk-e-door uftagaan
Ashk-e-ma bar khaak-epaak-e-oo rasaan
Trans: O breeze! O you the messenger of those who are separated, take our tears to the sacred dust, where he rests.
TA'ZIYA AND AZADAREE
The word T'aziyah is derived from the Arabic root 'A-Z-Y (pronounced `azaiyya'), which means mourning. T'aziyah is the name given collectively to the observance of mourning, lamentation, wailing and weeping in the gathe-rings, for the tragedy of Karbala, in Muharram, every year. The word is used in this meaning in Iran and Iraq.
In India and Pakistan, this word is used for an object made of paper and other materials, which is the replica of the ladies' litter mounted on camel backs. This object is carried by mourners in processions on the day of cAshoora, and at the end of the procession, it is buried.
The word Azadaree is a combination of Aza which is the same thing as explained above, and DAREE, which is derived from the Farsi verb DASHTAN meaning `to keep'. This term is used in India and Pakistan for the observance of the anniversary of the great martyrdom at Karbala during the month of Muharram.
Some other objects are also carried in the procession. A coffin, a cradle and a number of standards (Alam). There is also a horse. These objects are known as shabeeh (replica).
THE MOST IMPORTANT POINT TO BE EMPHASIZED HERE IS THAT, THESE ARE NOT OBJECTS OF WORSHIP, AS USUALLY IS ASSUMED BY SPECTATORS WHO HAVE INSUFFICIENT KNOWLEDGE ABOUT THESE THINGS. RATHER, THESE ARE SYMBOLS OF UNFULFILLED DESIRES OF THE MOURNERS.
The coffin is there to show that there was no one to bury the martyrs at Karbala, and if the mourners were there, they would have done it. The cradle commemorates the brutal killing of Husayn's six-month old baby-son Ali Asghar (also known as Abdullah). The horse with its reins slashed and blood (actually red color in case of the replica) all over its saddle, is reminiscent of Husayn's own death. The standard or the Alam is to remember Abbas and his valor. Abbas was the standard-bearer in Husayn's small band of soldiers. The bunting is usually green or white, with red color sprinkled on it unevenly. This is to commemorate Abbas's battle in which he lost both his arms and consequently the standard he was carrying fell and was colored in his own blood. There is also a dried water-skin attached to the Alam.
Husayn's Alam fell at Karbala, the mourners therefore, raise hundreds of Alams every year. This signifies the implied desire of every mourner to have been at Karbala, fight and die for Islam. The paper-made T'aziyah is there to show that the ladies of Husayn's family were carried on the naked backs of camels after his death, and there were no carriages for them. Another object, very similar to the t'aziyah, is known as dhareeh.
This is the replica of Husayn's mausoleum. In india, some non-Muslims are very innovative about this. Some of them make a dhareeh out of clay, sprinkle it with wheat or some other seed, keep it wet for the ten days of Muharram, so that on the day of cAshoora, the seeds sprout and give the object a unique look. Both the T'aziyah and dhareeh are buried in the local Karbala-ground on the evening of cAshoora. This symbolizes the martyrs of Karbala left unburied by the Umayyad soldiers. The Alam and other objects are kept in the Husayniyyahs (Imambara in India and Pakistan) for forty days.
The mourners wear strands of white or yellow cotton-threads round their necks, which are patched with red color. This is to commemorate the tying of the surviving members of Husayn's family in one rope which had cut through their skins and was reddened in their own blood.
The practice of organized mourning for Husayn's death and suffering has evolved over the centuries. Although, the actual mourning started soon after the event at Karbala. For the first hundred years or so, followers of Husayn would rise against the ruler, fight and give their lives. The leaders of the community realized that that was not the purpose of Husayn's sacrifice. Also, it was destroying the best talents of the community. The sixth Imam Jcafar As-Sadiq started teaching the phi-losophy of lamentation and mourning en masse, as a replacement for the call for revenge. It was his persistent teaching that resulted in organized Aza. Particularly, MATAM or beating one's face and chest.
Mourners also use chains and some times, other sharp objects, to inflict wounds on themselves. When Husayn was killed at Karbala, hundreds of his supporters were rounded up by Ibn Ziyad, chained and thrown in a dungeon in Koofa. When news of Husayn's killing and his family members' arrest and imprisonment reached those people, in grief, anger and frustration they broke their chains and started beating themselves with those chains. It is to commemorate this event that mourners use the chains. The purpose of that act is to commemorate the event and not to hurt oneself. Community leaders and Ulema both have always urged the mourners to restrain themselves but the grief is so deep and the emotions are so high that people do get carried away. In modern times these practices have been augmented by acts which are beneficial to the community. For example, mobile blood-units move with the procession on the day of cAshoora and mourners donate blood in Husayn's name. Stalls are set up at every half-a-mile, where cold water and sweet sherbet are supplied freely to the mourners as well as the spectators. These stalls are called sabeel. Husayn's son cAli Akbar had returned to his father in the middle of the battle and had said: 'Father, is there any way (sabeel) of getting a little water ?' The word in Arabic means 'path', hence the name.
Aza has really turned into a full institution. Historical events are related every year during gatherings and new generations learn about the religion from spee-ches made at these gatherings. There is room for intellectual satisfaction as well as physi-cal exercise in it. People of all ages benefit from it. The emotional appeal in Husayn's story is so great that every new generation in every new place is attracted positively to it and consequently to all religious knowledge through it.
THE BELIEVERS' VIEW OF AZA
As one Western author has correctly commented, most of the time the rites and rituals of Muharram are presented by the media without any consideration to the underlying beliefs and the psychology of the believers. In this section we would make an attempt to do just that.
Very early sources of Muslim literature tell us the story of Adam eating of the forbidden tree and then asking for forgiveness of Allah. The story tells us that the archangel Gabriel came to him and taught him to pray to Allah asking the intercession of the Five Holy Names (panjtan). So Adam asked Allah's forgiveness in the name of Muhammad, since Allah is hameed (most praiseworthy), in the name of Ali since He is Ala(Most High), in the name of Fatima since he is the Creator (faatir) of heavens, and in the name of Hasan and Husayn since He is muhsin, that is, He is the source of all ihsaan. As soon as Adam uttered the name of Husayn his eyes were filled with tears. Adam asked the reason for that, of Gabriel. On Allah's command Gabriel told Adam the story of Karbala. Adam wept still more, he was also forgiven. Since then every great prophet, including Nooh and Ibraheem, was told the story of Karbala and they had all wept for Husayn.
One day the Prophet of Islam came to the house of Umme-Salama, one of his wives and wanted to rest. Soon after, Husayn, who was only four years old at that time, came running and wanted to see his grandfather. Umme-Salama tried to stop him lest the Prophet be disturbed. But the Prophet heard Husayn's voice and came out of the apartment, picked up Husayn in his arms and took him with him. After a few moments Umme-Salama heard voices of sobs, she was alarmed and entered the apartment. She saw Husayn sleeping on the Prophet's chest, and he was crying and sobbing. On her inquiry, the Prophet told her that an angel came and told him that this grandson of his will be killed at Karbala in three days of hunger and thirst with eighteen of his other family members. Umme Salama also wept. Then the Prophet, by a miracle, gave her a handful of dust from the plain of Karbala. He told her that she would still be alive when Karbala would happen. If and when that dust turns into blood, she should then assume that Husayn had been killed. It is reported that Umme-Salama kept that dust in a glass. When Husyan left Madinah in the 60th year of Hijra, she would look at that glass every day. Until on the day of Ashoora in the following Muharram, the dust did turn into blood and she knew that Husayn had been killed. This story, with some variations, has been reported by at least thirteen Muslim historians of the early period, among them are Abul Fida, Ibn Scad, Tabrani, Haakim and Ahmad Ibn Hanbal.
The Prophet then tells the story to his daughter Fatima and her husband Ali. They both weep. Then Fatima asks him, who would be there to lament for Husayn when he would be killed. The Prophet says that, he himself, Ali and fatima would be long gone. But years later, Allah will create a community who would make it their prime purpose in life to lament for Husayn and establish AZA in his memory. When Fatima hears this last part of the story, she is pacified and reportedly, she prays for the prosperity of that community in this world and their salvation in the life hereafter.
The devotees of Husayn, therefore, do all the lamentation, weeping and wailing with this belief that they are the manifestation of Fatima's prayer and its fulfillment.
The devotees of Husayn believe that a tear shed in Husayn's memory washes away hundreds of sins. Numerous sayings of later Imams are in circulation on this. Ali Zaynul Abideen, the fourth Imam, the sole male survivor at Karbala, spent forty years of his life in lamentation, weeping and wailing. So much so that one of his devotees asked him if he could come to his son's wedding. He said that he would come if there was a majlis for the martyrs of Karbala. The friend arranged that. Since then, traditionally, every wedding among the devotees of Husayn is rounded off with a majlis.
At the end of every daily prayer and all religious gatherings, the devotees of Husayn recite ziyarat (symbolic pilgrimage to Husayn's mausoleum). The two most famous of them are ziyarat-e-Waaritha, in which Husayn is addressed as the possessor of the legacy of all the great prophets, and ziyarat-e-Naahiyya. This second piece is attributed to the twelfth Imam. It is actually a masterpiece of Arabic rhetoric and one has to read it in the original to understand the passion and the devotion captured in it.
WEEPING AND WAILING FOR HUSAYN IS A MEANS NOT AN END IN ITSELF
In the last article we stated that the devotees of Husayn do all the lamentation, weeping and wailing with the belief that they are the manifestation of Fatima Zahra's prayer and its fulfillment.
The devotees of Husayn believe that a tear shed in Husayn's memory washes away hundreds of sins.
Having said all that, we must add that lamentation, weeping and wailing is not the end in themselves, instead, these things are the means to achieve a higher and more meaningful end. That end is no more and no less than applying the events of
Karbala to our own lives in our present time, do a continued self-assessment and try to see if
Karbala had happened in our time, which side we would have been on. If we come regularly to mourning gatherings in Muharram and sit and listen to speeches attentively and then go back home and indulge in all kinds of un-Islamic practices then that is no good. That means we are following the rituals without applying the spirit and the lessons of
Karbala to our own lives.
In the story of Wahab Kalbi, who gave his life at
Karbala in spite of being a Christian, we find this point so explicitly and wonderfully emphasized. There are many Muslims who are unable to comprehend the inner meaning of
Karbala, while there are a handful of non-Muslims who have gone out of their way to understand it and have succeeded in doing that.
There are various aspects of
Karbala for us to study. One of the most important and meaningful messages from
Karbala can be summarized as follows: There will always be people in every society who would be eager to usurp other people's rights for their own vested interests. At the same time, there would be the odd person who, in spite of all the prevailing social pressure, would stand up, protest and try to stop the wrong. And then, there would be the silent majority in the middle. Many of them would debate whether to join one party or the other, others would just stay out of 'trouble' by remaining neutral. Our readers can very easily identify those three groups of people in the story of
Karbala. In most cases, the lone crusader would be deserted by his nearest and dearest and would be forced either to give up his crusade or face annihilation. This latter case is the making of a martyr like Husayn. In the very occasional case, circumstances would turn out to be favorable for the protest, a large majority would be swayed to follow the lone crusader and the movement would succeed. That would be a popular revolution.
We have examples of both cases in our times. The plight of the Algerian freedom fighters in recent times is known to everyone. A successful, democratic process was overturned by the military might of a powerful minority, with the connivance and help of the great powers of the world. The one thousand million Muslims in the world sat and watched as the popular leaders were either led to the dungeons or to the gallows.
The most glowing example of a successful movement against tyranny and oppression is the 1979 Revolution in
Iran. It is not surprising that some of the key events which materialized in the removal of the Shah, were started in the month of Muharram, during the mourning and once on the day of cAshoora itself. It was this movement which gave us the famous slogan of:
kullo yawmin Ashoora, kullo ardhin
Karbala
that is, 'every day is Ashoora, every land is
Karbala'.
There are three main ingredients for any revolution to succeed. First comes extreme oppression by a tyrannical ruler or by a group of people, of a large majority, second, the resulting resentment in the oppressed people and their desire to do or die under a unified philosophy, third, strong, sincere and charismatic leadership. In our example the first requirement was provided by the Shah and his police and spy-network, the second by the Iranian population at large and their firm belief in Islam, the third was obviously fulfilled by Khumayni. More than anything else, it was the attitude, both in the people as well as in the leadership, expressed in that slogan which was responsible for the success of the revolution.
These two cases we have just quoted were very clearly defined. But there are also a lot of gray areas. One of the gray areas was the Gulf war of January-February 1991 and its aftermath. As long as the Iran-Iraq war (1980-88) went on, the Western powers kept helping
Iraq and bucking Saddam up in their own interests, even Muslim rulers were helping
Iraq instead of trying to resolve the conflict peacefully. Khumayni urged the Iraqi people to rise up against Saddam's despotic rule, but they were then divided on racial and sectarian lines. As soon as Saddam turned to
Kuwait, every one was fighting him. Once again, the Western powers were doing it in their own interests. But the Muslim countries which had been helping
Iraq against
Iran, were now sending their own troops to fight
Iraq. Those who joined
Iraq did it for the wrong reasons.
Jordan did it because it was intimidated by
Iraq's military might, the Palestinian leadership did it out of miscalculation and political ineptness, and
North Yemen out of its anti-Capitalist fervor. Muslim population in other countries held rallies in Saddam's support, once again, for wrong reasons and under misguided enthusiasm. The whole situation was so confused that the average Muslim could not tell black from white. The then President Bush (the father, not the son) hinted to the Iraqi people that help would be forthcoming if they tried to overthrow Saddam (remember ! Khumayni sent similar overtures in the eighties and nobody moved then). Iraqi people rose in arms. No help came from anywhere. The crusaders were brutally butchered by Saddam's loyalists. Once again, one thousand million Muslims watched as young men were killed, women, old men and children died (and are still dying as these lines are being written) of disease and hunger.
The late uprising in
Iraq has a direct parallel in its nature with the movement of the tawwaboon, five years after the massacre at
Karbala, and with the battle of Harra, outside of Madinah, three years after
Karbala. Had the Tawwaboon been able to reach Husayn at Karbala, the end of that battle in the 61st year of Hijra, could have been totally different; had people of Madinah showed support for Husayn, he had never travelled to Karbala in the first place and the people of Madinah then had a chance of winning against Yazeed under Husayn's leadership. Even if we set aside the religious and moral aspect of the situation, it could not be labelled anything other than a glaring miscalculation and political folly. Because it was those same people of Madinah who were butchered and it was their women who were raped, it was their homes which were razed to the ground by Yazeed's forces soon after that.
Had the Iraqi uprising taken place in the mid-eighties, Saddam's game would be up much sooner, there would be peace in the region, there would be no more torture and killing in Iraq, no Kuwaiti-occupation and thus no Gulf-war, no starvation and no disease.
Even during and after the Iraqi uprising, all the moral and military support went to the Kurds, who, in spite of their greater know-how and all the help, could not win; while those people who rose in arms in the cities of Karbala, Najaf and Musal etc., were totally ignored, because they belonged to a particular religious sect which had been a thorn in everybody's side for a long time, as if those people were not human. Not only were they brutally massacred by Saddam's Republican Guards, the whole country of
Iraq is still under oppression including the Kurds, and to a higher degree. This is not very different from the people of Madinah sending a commission of inquiry to
Damascus and finding Yazeed guilty of indulging in drinking, music and womanizing and ignoring the gross wrong of killing Husayn and his companions, and torturing his women and children.
The latest of these gray areas was the TALIBAN PHENOMENON. Everyone was up in arms against the Taliban for destroying the Buddha Statues. Not long ago, the same Taliban had moved into the area known as MAZAR SHARIF, in
Afghanistan and had butchered nearly 5,000 people including women, children and old men. What was their crime? They belonged to a certain specific sect in Islam whose convictions did not meet with the Taliban.s approval. The entire world, including the one thousand million Muslims of the world, sat quietly. Not an eyebrow was raised at that.
What is more valuable? Human life or thousands of years old statues. Do we have our priorities in the right place? Do we have our perspective in the right place?
It required a bigger jolt for the public opinion to wake up to realities. We absolutely abhor the attack on the WTC and on the Pentagon on September 11, 2001. I have all the sympathy for the surviving next-of-kin of the victims of that disaster. But it took that event for
America to realize what Taliban were about. And finally the Taliban Government in
Afghanistan was destroyed by an armed attack from the
USA.
Yes, weeping and wailing for Imam Husayn will take us to the
Paradise. But do we know why Imam Husayn gave his life? Just for us to be able to shed a few tears and thus guarantee JANNAT for us? If we believe that then we are wrong.
There is no doubt that shedding tears for the Martyrs of Karbala earns us SAWAB. But that is not the end. That is the means for us to present the Cause of Karbala to this world. Weeping and Wailing on our part is an invitation to others to join us in this forum. Then we have to march onwards. Towards the
Karbala of to-day.That means having our perspective right and being prepared to make sacrifices in the Cause of Islam.
Thank you for reading.
, . The first verse ever revealed in that connection is as follows, (which means): 
:
