By: Seyyed Ali Shahbaz

 

“As long as you enjoy sound physique and enough time, take the initiative in acting because you may suffer the sudden visit of death that takes you from the surface of the earth to its inside, from its highest point to the lowest, from its affability to its loneliness, from its ease and light to its gloom, and from its wideness to its narrowness where the intimate friend cannot be visited, the ill cannot be called on, and the seeker of help cannot be aided.”

Amazing words of wisdom indeed! The statement reflects the realities of life and death. To anyone with a grain of faith or conscience, this passage ought to be an inspiration for striving towards virtue and the doing of good deeds without wasting time or sparing efforts. 

Since such dynamic words cannot be those of philosophers, who are mostly men of doubt and error, uncertain about the purpose of creation and the goal of afterlife, were these wise words spoken by some Prophet inspired by God Almighty Himself? 

A good question indeed, but the person who pronounced these sentences was not a Prophet nor did God bestow upon him any heavenly scripture. As a matter of fact he was superior to all Messengers of God, except for the Last and Greatest of them, Prophet Muhammad (SAWA).

This is not an exaggeration or any blasphemous idea, but an article of faith in Islam and the state of certitude it inculcates in the true believers, especially in view of the famous hadith of the Seal of Prophets: “Husainun minni wa ana min Husain” (Husain is from me and I am from Husain).  

Imam Husain (AS) needs no introduction. Born on the 3rd of Sha’ban in the year 4 AH in Medina, like his elder brother, Imam Hasan (AS), he was named by his grandfather the Prophet himself on the commandment of God conveyed through the Archangel Gabriel. 

It would be repetitive to recount here the many hadith emphasizing his status and the incidents demonstrating his merits during the seven years he spent with his grandfather. One such saying from the Prophet as narrated by the great companion, Salman al-Farsi:

“I heard the Prophet of Allah (SAWA) saying: Hasan and Husain are my two (grand)sons; whoever loves them then he loves me and whoever dislikes them then he dislikes me. And whoever dislikes me then Allah dislikes him, and whomever Allah dislikes, He will throw him into hell face downward.”

The message of the Messenger of Mercy to all Muslims is obvious from this hadith. Yet many of those who masqueraded as Muslims in that crucial period of the Prophet’s departure from the world ignored this admonition. 

The result was the usurpation of the right of political leadership of Husain’s (AS) father, Imam Ali (AS), by a group that also seized the orchard of Fadak from Husain’s mother, Hazrat Fatema Zahra (SA), and then went on to hurl on the Prophet’s Immaculate Daughter the door of her house after burning it, thereby laying the foundation for the occurrence of the heartrending tragedy of Karbala 50 years later in 61 AH. 

With time and space forcing me to skip the sequence of events after the tragedy of 11 AH, I wish to draw the attention of the readers of this column to 50 AH, when God entrusted Husain (AS) with the mantle of Imamate following the martyrdom through poisoning of his brother, Imam Hasan (AS) by Mu’awiyya ibn Abu Sufyan who was now masquerading as caliph in violation of the Treaty of 41 AH he had signed with the Prophet’s elder grandson. 

For the next 11 years till his tragic martyrdom in Karbala, Imam Husain (AS) spared no efforts to guide the Muslims during the Godless rule of the crafty Mu’awiyya, through such enlightening admonitions as mentioned at the head of this column.

He was the guardian of pure Muhammadan Islam, ready to risk his life for safeguarding the letter and spirit of God’s Revealed Word – the holy Qur’an. This is the reason, the Islamic Republic of Iran celebrates Imam Husain’s (AS) birthday as the “Day of Pasdar” or the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), who by trekking the footsteps of the Immortal Martyr of Karbala have defeated the plots of the Godless powers against Iran and the Iranian people, thereby inspiring the masses in other lands to rise in defence of their rights. 

The famous Supplication of the Day of Arafa (9th Zilhijja) by Imam Husain (AS) is indicative of the sensitiveness of those times. Mu’awiyya despite his criminal nature was clever enough to conceal his crimes under what appeared to be an Islamic cloak and did not allow matters to reach a boiling point that would have brought about confrontation with Imam Husain (AS). Likewise, he advised his libertine son, Yazid, whom he imposed on the Muslims, in violation of the terms of the Treaty of 41 AH with Imam Hasan (AS).

Thus, when Yazid demanded oath of allegiance from the representative of God on earth, Imam Husain (AS) had to act in the most prudent manner, and he did by leaving Medina and taking up residence in Mecca in the vicinity of the holy Ka’ba in 60 AH. Incidentally he arrived in Mecca on the 3rd of Sha’ban, his birthday. 

Here the people, remembering the Prophet’s statements, such as the hadith that says, “Hasan and Husain are the Two Leaders of the Youth of Paradise,” gathered around him to learn the fundamentals of Islam and to acquire knowledge in the matters of science, commerce, rights, obligations, morals, ethics, etc. The tyrant Yazid felt alarmed, and from Damascus dispatched assassins in the garb of pilgrims to murder the Prophet’s grandson. 

Imam Husain (AS), in order to avoid any bloodshed in the most inviolable place, left for Iraq four months later on the 8th of Zilhijja, especially in view of the fact that he had received at least twelve thousand letters from the people of Kufa, and as the Vicegerent of the Prophet could not ignore their invitation. The rest is history; how he was deceived by the fickle of faith Kufans, who under threats and in pursuit of transient wealth and worldly posts, turned against their own master, ignoring the calamities of afterlife. 

I end the column with another thought-provoking passage from Imam Husain (AS) to the Kufans before his martyrdom in Karbala:

“So then, fie and grief be on you, O group. When you appealed for our help grievously and we hurried for your help exhaustingly, you unsheathed against us a sword that had been in our right hands and ignited against us the fire that we had struck against your and our enemy. You therefore formed groups surrounding your allies and became the support of your enemies although they did not spread justice among you and you lost any hope in them.”