By: Seyyed Ali Shahbaz

 

“Say (O’ Prophet), ‘I do not ask you any reward for it (enlightening you with Islam) except love of my (dearest &) nearest kin.” (Holy Qur’an 42:23)

The commandment of the Almighty Creator is obvious. The token of a believer’s gratitude towards Prophet Muhammad (SAWA) is love, affection and respect for the nearest and dearest of his blood relatives – the Ahl al-Bayt, whose pristine purity God Himself has vouchsafed in Ayah 33 of Surah al-Ahzaab.

The identity of the Immaculate Ahl al-Bayt became crystal clear when the Seal of Messengers, along with Four Fabulous Figures, gracefully entered the field of Mubahela to meet the challenge of the Christians of Najran for invoking Divine Curse upon the liars, as ordered by God in Ayah 61 of Surah Aal-e Imran.

“Should anyone argue with you (O’ Prophet) concerning him (Prophet Jesus), after the knowledge that has come to you, say: Come! Let us call our sons and your sons, our women and your women, our souls and your souls, then let us pray earnestly and call down Allah’s curse upon the liars.”

The Christian priests who had turned out for the unique contest of malediction with their whole flock were amazed to see that none of the Prophet’s hundreds of companions were with him as well as no one from the nine spouses he had married in the last ten years of life out of social necessity after the passing away of his loyal wife of 25 long years, Hazrat Khadija (SA).

Instead, as all books of history and hadith have recorded, he was accompanied by Four Radiant Visages, that is, his only daughter Fatema az-Zahra (SA), her husband Imam Ali ibn Abi Taleb (AS) – the Prophet’s first cousin), and his two young grandsons Imam Hasan (AS) and Imam Husain (AS).

The Christians had the wisdom to realize that it was self-destruction to invoke the curse of God upon liars when confronted with such flawless figures of manifest truth, and decided to conclude a treaty of peace with Prophet Muhammad (SAWA).

Later in history the Christian people of Najran embraced the truth of Islam and till this day, fourteen centuries later, they are loyal followers of the Ahl al-Bayt in spite of living under the occupation of the Saudi Wahhabi regime since 1934.

On the other hand, many of the pagan Arabs who had paid lip service to Islam, without any heartfelt conviction but for economic and political gains, especially after the surrender of Mecca to Muslims in 8 AH by such hardcore heathens as 

Abu Sufyan and his son Mu’awiyyah, violated the letter and spirit of the Holy Qur’an, thereby ignoring the Prophet’s Divinely-decreed Sunnah (practice) of love, affection, respect, and obedience to leadership of the Ahl al-Bayt.

The outcome was the usurpation of the rule of the Islamic realm by the Godless Omayyad regime led by Mu’awiyyah, whose hypocrisy and deception of the neo Muslim masses resulted in perpetration of the horrendous crimes against the Ahl al-Bayt, culminating in history’s most heartrending event, the tragedy of Karbala.

The Prophet had said: “Hasan and Husain are the Leaders of the Youths of Paradise”, yet these two Infallible Imams were cruelly martyred by the Omayyads.

Every year in the months of Muharram and Safar we commemorate the tyrant Yazid’s cruel martyrdom of Imam Husain (AS) and the equally tragic aftermath of the tragedy of Karbala when the noble children and women-folk of the Prophet’s Household were dragged in chains and fetters to courts of Kufa and Damascus, with heads of the martyrs mounted on lances.

We are clad in black in memory of the heart-wrenching events of Ashura 61 AH, and on the 7th of Safar (as well as the 28th of the same month) we turn our hearts towards Medina to commemorate the martyrdom of the Prophet’s elder grandson, Imam Hasan al-Mujtaba (AS), who was the victim of a lethal dose of poison administered on the orders of the accursed Mu’awiyyah in 50 AH – nine years after the treacherous treaty he had signed and violated its every clause.

The Omayyads felt no inhibitions in desecrating the bier of Imam Hasan (AS) when these so-called Muslims who were still pagans at heart showered the funeral procession with arrows, with many piercing the coffin and even the body inside.

Imam Hasan (AS), whose name means the “Most Excellent” and was given by the Prophet, needs no introduction. He greatly resembled Prophet Muhammad (SAWA) in appearance as well as in form, manner, and nobility. He was part of the famous Hadith in which the Prophet had specified:

“I am leaving behind the Thaqalayn (Two Weighty Things) amongst you, the Book of God (the Holy Qur’an) and my progeny the Ahl al-Bayt; hold fast to them and you will never go astray for the two never separate even when they return to me at the Fountain (of Kowsar on the Day of Resurrection).”

Once on seeing a black slave boy eating a piece of bread and giving another piece to a dog, he enquired the reason and was told: I feel shame of my dog when I eat and do not feed him.

Imam Hasan (AS) enquired the boy about his master and asking him to wait, approached the owner, paid money to him for the little slave’s emancipation, and bought the enclosure where he lived. He then returned to the black boy and giving him tidings of his freedom handed him the place as well as a gift.

If his prowess on the battlefields was proverbial his wisdom was a byword. At the same time he was so magnanimous that he did not bear grudge against even those who wronged him and his family – vividly remembering the Prophet’s passing away and the seizure of his father Imam Ali’s (AS) right of political leadership by a group of conspirators who then attacked his house, burned its door and smashed it on his mother Fatema (SA), resulting in the crushing of her ribs and death of the stillborn Muhsin –the First Martyr of the Ahl al-Bayt. 

Yet for the sake of Islam and for preserving the unity of Muslims, on growing up and becoming the political ruler (caliph) of the Islamic realm, Imam Hasan (AS) did not preach vengeance.

At the same time, he was firm against rebels, one of whom he warned: 

“O Mu’awiyah! Desist from falsehood and further revolt and pay allegiance to me like the masses have done, as you are well aware that I am entitled to caliphate much more than you in the sight of Almighty God, His angels and those having a rational mind. So, you should fear God and abandon revolt. Do not shed the blood of Muslims.”

The Omayyad rebel instead of obeying bribed and bought some treacherous leaders of tribes in Iraq to plot against the life of Imam Hasan (AS). The Imam wrote to him in explicit words that he was not a true Muslim and was trying to distort the teachings of Islam. Part of the letter, reads:

“Woe to you, Mu’awiyah! The true caliph is that who adheres to the Sunnah (practice and behaviour) of the Messenger of God (blessings of God upon him and his progeny) and his actions prove his obedience to God. By my life, we (the Ahl al-Bayt) are surely the Signs of Guidance and the Lampposts of Piety. You, Mu’awiyah, are one of those who distorted the Sunnah, revived heresies, betook God’s servants as slaves and God’s wealth as means of play. Hence, He caused your affairs to be obscure and you will live for a short time and burden the consequences of your evildoings.”

Imam Hasan (AS), seeing the fickle faith of the Iraqis who could not be trusted anymore despite being shown grace and mercy by the Ahl al-Bayt, resolved to expose this charlatan in his true heathen colours and concluded a truce which Mu’awiyyah soon violated. Before naming his son Yazid as successor, contrary to the contents of the treaty, he had Imam Hasan (AS) poisoned to death.

Imam Hasan (AS) was laid to rest in the sacred Baqi Cemetery of Medina, where his mausoleum which had stood for over a millennium was blasphemously destroyed some 94 years ago in in 1926 by the Wahhabi heretics of the Saudi clan following their blood soaked seizure of the two holy cities of Medina and Mecca.