Salaam dear young friends, how are you? Hope you are fine by the Grace of Almighty Allah.
Well friends, the month of Rabi al-Awwal has started, and this means that the mourning days for Prophet Muhammad’s (SAWA) grandson and his Third Infallible Successor Imam Husain (AS) is over.
But still in some parts of the world, and especially in the Subcontinent region the 8th of Rabi al-Awwal will be the last day of the annual mourning period.
Yes, our friends have guessed it correctly, the 8th of Rabi al-Awwal which this year will be on Friday (21 Aug.) is that doleful day on which the Lord of our Age, became an orphan at the young age of 5 years, as his 28-year old father, Imam Hasan al-Askari (AS), after having entrusted to him the divine trust of Imamate, left for his heavenly abode, after a week of writhing in pain from the fatal dose of poison given to him by agents of the usurper Abbasid regime on the orders of the self-styled caliph.
Imagine the situation in Samarra, when Imam Askari (AS) left the world at the young age of 28 years on being fatally poisoned by Mu’tamed, the self-styled caliph of the Abbasid regime.
There was no one to console the little boy, since his mother had already died, and he was being raised in secrecy by his father, unknown to most people, except for a few staunch and steadfast followers of the Ahl al-Bayt.
Imam Askari (AS) needs no introduction. During his 6-year imamate he spread the pure and pristine teachings of the Prophet. He elaborated on the meanings and purport of the ayahs of the holy Qur’an.
He taught the genuine Hadith of the Prophet. He was a picture of piety and possessed immaculate manners. These virtues unnerved the regime.
Once the caliph called the Imam to his palace and ordered his army to march past before him. He wanted to boast or to impress the Imam of his power.
When the march past was over, the Imam asked the caliph to gaze between two of his fingers. What the caliph saw was a huge army of angels extending from the sky to the earth and equipped with the most sophisticated arms. The caliph became speechless, but harboured malice against the Imam deep down in his heart.
The Abbasids resorted to the cowardly practice of poison to martyr the Imams of the Ahl al-Bayt, and Imam Hasan al-Askari (AS) fell victim to Mu’tamed in 260 AH.
The plan was to prevent the birth of the 12th Imam, but it went awry, since unknown to the conspirators, the Awaited Saviour of mankind had been born five years earlier in 255 AH and was being raised in secrecy in order to materialize God’s promise.
Before bidding you goodbye we wish to remind you that Saturday, corresponding to August 22, is the auspicious 9th of Rabi al-Awwal, the start of the imamate of the Imam of the Age.
It is also the anniversary of the execution of the accursed Omar ibn Sa’d, the Omayyad commander who perpetrated the heartrending tragedy of Karbala.
God bless you until we meet again next week.