Third Sermon
Ashura - Misrepresentations and Distortions
In the Name of Allah, the Beneficent,
the Merciful
All Praise belongs to Allah, the Lord of the worlds and the Maker of
all creation, and may Peace and benedictions be upon His servant and
messenger, His beloved and elect, our master, our prophet, and our
sire, Abul Qasim Muhammad, may Allah bless him and his pure,
immaculate, and infallible Progeny.
I seek the refuge of Allah from the accursed Satan
So for their breaking their compact We cursed them and made their
hearts hard; they would pervert the words from their meanings. and
they forgot a portion of what they were reminded of.
(5:13)
We stated earlier that the history of
an event of such greatness as Karbala' has been subject to
distortion at our hands both in respect of its external details as
well as its meaning. By distortion of outward form we mean the
accretions that we have piled up on the corpus of its history which
have obscured its bright and luminous visage and disfigured its
beautiful countenance. We cited some instances in this regard.
Distortions of Meaning:
Regrettably this historic event has also been distorted in
respect of its meaning, and corruption of meaning is much more
dangerous than corruption of external detail. That which has made
this great event ineffectual for us is the corruption of meaning,
not that of external detail. That is, the evil effect of distortions
in meaning is greater than those pertaining to external details.
What is meant by distortion of meaning? Without adding a single
word or deleting a single word, it is possible to misinterpret a
statement in such a manner that it gives a meaning exactly contrary
to its real meaning. I will give just one small example to
illustrate this point. At the time that the early Muslims were
building the Mosque of Madinah, 'Ammar Yasir was working hard,
making an extraordinary amount of sincere effort. Among the reports
that are of a definite authenticity is the one that the Noble
Messenger (S) said to him at the time:
'Ammar, you will be killed by the rebellious faction.[1]
The term 'rebellious faction' (al-fi'at al-baghiyah) is
Qur'anic, and it occurs in a verse which states that if two faction
of Muslims fight one another and one of them is rebellious, one must
take a stand against the rebellious faction and join on the side of
the other faction so that the matters are set right.
If two factions of believers fight, make peace between them,
but if one of them rebels against the other, fight the one which
is rebellious until it returns to God's command. (49:9)
The statement, made by the Noble Messenger concerning 'Ammar, gave
him great prestige. Accordingly, during the Battle of Siffin, when
'Ammar fought on the side of Imam 'Ali ('a), Ammar's presence in
'Ali's troops was considered a strong point in 'Ali's favour. There
were people with a weak faith who, until 'Ammar had not been killed,
were not convinced that it was right for them to fight on Ali's side
and lawful to kill Mu'awiyah and his soldiers.
But on the day that 'Ammar was killed at the hands of Mu'awiyah's
soldiers, suddenly a cry rose from all sides that the Prophet's
prophesy had come true. The best evidence of the unrighteousness of
Mu'awiyah and his companions was that they were the killers of
'Ammar and the Prophet had informed years ago through his statement
that 'Ammar will be killed by a rebellious faction.[2]
On this day it became quite clear that the Mu'awiyah's troops
represented the rebellious faction, that is, one which was unjust
and unrighteous, and that justice lay on the side of 'Ali's army.
Hence in accordance with the express injunction of the Qur'an one
had to join the battle on 'Ali's side and against Mu'awiyah's army.
This incident demoralized Mu'awiyah's troops. Mu'awiyah, who always
tried to make a headway by resorting to cunning and subterfuge,
resorted to a misinterpretation. It was not possible to deny that
the Prophet had made such a statement concerning 'Ammar, because
perhaps there were at least five hundred persons who could bear
witness that they had heard this statement from the Prophet himself
or from someone who had heard it from the Prophet. Accordingly, it
was not possible to deny the fact of the prophesy concerning 'Ammar.
The Syrians protested to Mu'awiyah, for it were they who had killed
'Ammar and the Prophet had said that he would be killed by a
rebellious faction. Mu'awiyah told them, "You are mistaken. It is
true that the Prophet said 'Ammar will be killed by a rebellious
faction and army. But it were not we who killed 'Ammar." They said,
"He was killed by our warriors." "No," he said, " 'Ammar was killed
by 'Ali who brought him here and provided the causes of his death."
'Amr ibn 'As had two sons. One of them was a worldly person like
himself. The other one was a youth who was relatively a man of faith
and he did not agree with his father's ways. His name was 'Abd
Allah. 'Abd Allah was present in a gathering where this sophistry
was put into effect. 'Abd Allah said, "What a false argument that it
was 'Ali who has killed 'Ammar, as he was among his troops. If that
is so, then it was the Prophet who killed Hamzah, the Doyen of the
Martyrs, as Hamzah was killed due to his presence in the Prophet's
troops." This enraged Mu'awiyah and he said to 'Amr ibn As, "Why
don't you check this ill-mannered son of yours!" This is what is
called distortion of meaning.
How is the meaning of events and facts distorted?
Historical events and facts have on the one hand certain causes
behind them, and, on the other, they are inspired by certain goals
and motives. Misrepresentation of a historical event lies in
ascribing to it causes and motives other than what they have
actually been, or in attributing to it goals and motives other than
what they in fact were. For instance, you visit someone who has
recently returned from a pilgrimage to Makkah. The purpose you have
in mind is that it is mustahabb to visit a hajji and so you go to
see him. Someone makes a remark about your motives for the visit,
describing them as an intention to propose your son's marriage with
his daughter under the pretext of visiting a hajji returning from
Makkah. This is how he misrepresents your motive and purpose. This
is what misrepresentation means.
The historic event of Karbala' had certain causes and motives
behind it, as well as certain sublime goals. We Muslims and
followers of Husayn ibn 'Ali have misrepresented this event in the
same way as Mu'awiyah ibn Abi Sufyan distorted the meaning of the
Prophet's statement concerning 'Ammar.
That is, Imam Husayn ('a) had certain goals and motives for
staging his uprising and we have ascribed to him some other motives
and goals.
The Character of a Sacred Movement:
Abu 'Abd Allah ('a) made an uprising that was of unusual
greatness and sanctity. The uprising of Abu 'Abd Allah possessed all
the charatertistics that make an uprising sacred, so much so that it
is without a parallel in the entire history of the world. What are
those characteristics?
1. The first condition of a sacred movement is that it
should not have a purpose and end that is personal and pertaining to
the individual but one which is universal, covering the entire
humanity and human species. At times persons make uprisings for
personal goals, and sometimes they may launch a movement for the
sake of society, or for the sake of mankind, for the sake truth, or
for the sake of justice, equality and monotheism, and not for some
personal goal. In such cases the struggle and movement is no longer
for a personal cause. One who wages such a struggle represents all
human beings. That is why men whose actions and movements were not
for the sake of personal motives and for the sake of humanity or for
the sake of truth, justice and equality, and for the sake of tawhid
and knowledge of God and for the sake of faith, are honored and
loved by all people. And that is why the Prophet (S) said: "Husayn
is from me and I am from Husayn" [3] We also say,
"Husayn is from us and we from Husayn." Why? Because Imam Husayn,
may Peace be upon him, took a stand 1328 years ago[4]
for our sake and for the sake of all mankind. His uprising was
sacred and holy and it transcended personal goals.
2. The second condition for an uprising to be sacred is
that it should be inspired by a powerful vision and insight. To
explain, suppose there is a society who people are unaware,
ignorant, and without understanding. There appears among them a man
of vision and understanding who understands their ailments and their
remedies a hundred time better than they do. At a time when others
fail to understand and see, the man of vision sees very early and
distinctly what other people fail to see at all. He comes forward
and takes a stand. Years pass. Twenty, thirty or fifty years later
the people wake up and find out why he had risen up and they
understand the sacred goals that he had sought to attain whose value
and worth was not visible to their fathers and ancestors twenty,
forty or fifty years ago.
To give an example, the marhum Sayyid Jamal al-Din Asadabadi
[Afghani] launched an Islamic movement about sixty or seventy years
ago in the Muslim countries (his death occurred in 1310 H./1892-93,
fourteen years before the Constitution Movement in Iran). When you
read today the history of this man, you see that he was truly a lone
and solitary figure. He knew the maladies of Muslims and their
remedy while the people themselves did not. He was insulted and
ridiculed by the people and they did not support him. Now after
sixty or seventy years when the facts of history have become clearer
we see that he understood things at that time which the people of
Iran, ninety-nine out of a hundred, did not. Read at least two of
the letters written by this great man. One of them was written to
the marhum Ayatullah Mirza Shirazi Buzurg, may God elevate his
station. The other was an open letter to the 'ulama' of Iran and is
like a manifesto. Or read the letters written by him to marhum Hajj
Shaykh Muhammad Taqi Bujnardi at Mashhad, or to a certain eminent
scholar of Isfahan or Shiraz. See how well he understood the
problems and how clearly he saw things, how well he knew the
character of colonialism and what effective measures he took for
awakening this ummah (pay no attention to things that are still said
about him by some agents of colonialism, for as the proverb goes,
'this henna has lost its colour'!). His movement was sacred because
it was launched by a man who appeared during a difficult era and who
saw the reality behind the appearances which was invisible to and
hardly understood by his contemporaries.
The movement of Imam Husayn is such a movement. Today we
understand fully the character of Yazid and the implications of his
rule. We know what Mu'awiyah did and what were the schemes of the
Umayyads. But the Muslims of that era, ninety-nine out of a hundred,
did not understand these things, especially due to the absence of
the media of the mass communication media which exist nowadays. The
people of Madinah did not understand the situation that existed.
They came to know the character of Yazid and the implications of his
caliphate when Husayn ibn 'Ali was killed. They were shocked and
they asked themselves why he had been killed. They sent a delegation
to Syria consisting of some eminent persons of Madinah and led by a
man named 'Abd Allah ibn Hanzalah, known as "Ghasil al-Mala'ikah."
Making the journey from Madinah to Syria when they reached Yazid's
court, after staying there for some time they came to know the
realities of the situation. On returning to Madinah they were asked
as to what they had seen. They said, "All that we can tell you is
that so long as we were in Damascus we were afraid lest stones
should rain on our heads from the heaven." They told them they had
seen a caliph who drank wine openly, gambled, and played with hounds
and monkeys and had incestuous relations with women of his family.
Abd Allah ibn Hanzalah had eight sons. He said to his townsmen,
"Whether you rise up or not, I will make an uprising even if I have
to do it alone with my sons." He fulfilled his words. In the
uprising of Harrah against Yazid he sent forth his sons to fight.
They were martyred and he himself was martyred after them. 'Abd
Allah ibn Hanzalah was not aware of the conditions two or three
years earlier when Imam Husayn departed from Madinah. Where was he
at the time when Husyan, as he prepared to leave Madinah, was
saying:
One should bid farewell to Islam when the ummah is
afflicted with such a ruler as Yazid?
Husayn ibn 'Ali had to be killed and the Muslim world had to receive
a shock so that the likes of 'Abd Allah ibn Hanzalah, the Ghasil
al-Mala'ikah, and hundreds of people like him in Madinah, Kufah, and
other places may open their eyes and say that Husayn ('a) was right
in saying what he said.
3. The third characteristic of a sacred movement is its
solitary and exclusive character; that is, it is like a flash of
lightening in total darkness, a cry in the wilderness of silence,
and a movement in the sea of absolute stillness. In conditions of
total repression when the people cannot speak out, when there is
total darkness, despair, absence of hope, and absolute silence and
stillness, there appears suddenly a man and he breaks the magic
silence and stillness. He makes a movement and it is like a flash of
light in the midst of surrounding darkness. It is then that others
begin to stirr and gradually start moving behind him and following
him. Wasn't the uprising of Husayn such a movement? Yes, it was.
Such was the movement that Imam Husayn launched. But what were his
objectives in launching it? Why were the Infallible Imams so
insistent that the tradition of mourning Husayn ibn 'Ali ('a) should
always remain alive? There is no need for us to look far for the
reasons. Husayn ibn 'Ali himself has declared the reasons behind his
movement:
Indeed, I have not risen up to do mischief, neither as an
adventurer, nor to cause corruption and tyranny. I have risen up
solely to seek the reform of the Ummah of my grandfather (s).
He says in most explicit terms: "Our society has become corrupt and
the ummah of my Grandfather has become degenerate. I have risen up
to carry out reform and I am a reformer."
I want to command what is good and stop what is wrong, and (in
this) I follow the conduct of my grandfather and my father, 'Ali
ibn Abi Talib.
Don't you see that righteousness is not acted upon and vice goes
unforbidden. In such a situation, the man of faith yearns for
the meeting with his Lord ... I see death as nothing but
felicity and life under oppressors as nothing but disgrace.
Imam Husayn ('a) says, "I have risen up to carry out amr bil
ma'ruf, to revive the faith, and to struggle against corruption.
My movement is one which is Islamic and aimed at reform."
But what we say is something else. We have made two skillful
manipulations which are very amazing (I don't know whether I should
say skillful or ignorant). In one of these cases, we said that
Husayn ibn 'Ali rose in order to be killed for the sake of the
atonement of the sins of the ummah. Now if someone were to ask us as
to the source of this notion, whether it was Imam Husayn ('a)
himself who said such a thing or if it was the Prophet or some Imam,
we cannot cite any authority. But still we keep on insisting that
Imam Husayn got killed so that our sins are atoned. I don't know
whether we have borrowed this notion from Christianity. Muslims have
unwittingly adopted many ideas from Christendom which are contrary
to Islam.
One of the doctrines of Christianity is the notion of the
crucifixion of Christ as a sacrifice made for the sake of the
atonement of man's sins. Jesus is called 'the Sacrifice,' and it is
an essential part of the Christian doctrine that Jesus went upon the
cross for atoning the sins of his people. They have made Jesus carry
the burden of their sins! However, we did not suspect that this
notion belongs to Christianity and that it is consistent neither
with the spirit of Islam nor with the statements of Husayn ('a)
himself. By God, it is a calumny if we ascribe such a thing to Aba
'Abd Allah ('a)! By God, should one attribute such a notion to
Husayn ibn 'Ali while he is keeping a fast in the month of Ramadan
and claim that Husayn's martyrdom was for the sake of such a purpose
and should he ascribe such a statement to him, his fast would be
void for ascribing a falsehood to the Imam. Abu 'Abd Allah rose to
struggle against sin, whereas we said that he rose in order to be a
refuge for sinners!
We claim that Imam Husayn founded an insurance company to
guarantee security to sinners! He has insured us against the
consequences of sin in return for our tears. All that we have to do
is to shed tears for him and in return he guarantees immunity to the
sinners. Now one could be whatever one liked to be, one could be an
Ibn Ziyad or 'Umar ibn Sa'd, as if one 'Umar ibn Sa'd, one Sinan ibn
Anas, and one Khuli were not enough! Imam Husayn wanted that the
likes of Khuli and 'Umar ibn Sa'd should proliferate in the world
and so he came and announced: 'O people, be as evil as you can be,
for I am your security!"
There is a second misrepresentation involved in interpreting the
event of Karbala'. According to it, Imam Husayn made an uprising and
was killed in order to carry out a special command that was solely
addressed to him. He was told to go and get martyred. So his action
does not relate to us and it is not something which can be followed
and emulated: it does not relate to those precepts of Islam which
are general and universal.
See, what a great difference there is between what the Imam
declares and what we say! Imam Husayn cried out that the causes and
motives of his uprising are matters that coincide with the general
principles of Islam. There was no need for a special order. After
all special orders are given in situations where the general
prescription is not adequate. Imam Husayn declared in unequivocal
terms that Islam is a religion that does not permit any believer (he
did not say, an Imam) to remain indifferent in the face of
oppression, injustice, perversity and sin. Imam Husayn established a
practical ideology which is the same as the ideology of Islam. Islam
had set forth its principles and Husayn put them into effect. We
have divested this event of its ideological character. When it is
shorn of its ideological character, it is no more capable of being
followed, and when it can not be followed, one cannot make any use
of Imam Husayn's teaching and draw any lesson from the event of
Karbala'. We have rendered this event barren from the viewpoint of
being beneficial and useful. Could there be a worse kind of
treachery? This is the reason why I say that the distortion in the
meaning of the event of 'Ashura' is a hundred times more dangerous
than textual corruption.
Why did the Infallible Imams (and there are even traditions from
the Noble Messenger in this regard) want this movement to be kept
alive? that it should not be consigned to oblivion?-that the people
should mourn Imam Husayn? What was the objective that led them to
issue this command? We have distorted that objective, declaring that
their only goal was that the mourning ceremonies are to be held for
the sake of offering consolation to Hadrat Zahra', may Peace be upon
her. Although she is with her great son in Paradise, we imagine that
she is continually restless and full of sorrow, so she should be
given consolation by the mourning of such worthless people as us!
Can there be a greater insult of Hadrat Zahra' than this notion?
Some others say that Imam Husayn was murdered without any guilt
at Karbala' at the hands of a group of aggressors and this was a
tragedy. It is true that Imam Husayn was killed without any guilt.
But is this all there is to the event that an innocent person was
murdered by a group of aggressors!? Every day a thousand innocent
persons are killed and wiped out throughout the world by criminals,
and this is of course a tragic fact. But does this kind of death
have such a value that one should go on expressing sorrow over it
and continue to mourn it year after year, for years, or rather for
centuries, for ten and twenty centuries, expressing sorrow and
regretting that Husayn ibn 'Ali was killed without guilt and that
his innocent blood was shed for no reason by aggressors? But who can
dare say that Husayn ibn 'Ali's death was in vain and his blood was
shed futilely? If one can find anyone in the whole world who did not
allow one drop of his blood to be wasted, that is Husayn ibn 'Ali.
If you can find anyone in the whole world who did not let one
particle of his personality to go waste it is Husayn ibn 'Ali. He
set such a high value for every single drop of his blood that it is
indescribable! If you take into account the amount of wealth that
has been and is spent for his sake and will continue to be spent
until the day of Judgment, you will see that humanity has spent
billions and trillions for every drop of his blood. Can anyone say
that a man wasted his life whose death, for ever and ever, sends out
tremors through the castles of the oppressors?-that his blood went
in vain? Is his martyrdom to be saddening for us because Husayn ibn
'Ali was killed in vain? It is we, wretched and ignorant people that
we are, I and you, whose lives go waste. We should grieve for
ourselves! You insult Husayn ibn Ali when you say that his life was
lost in vain! Husayn ibn 'Ali is someone about whom it is said.
Indeed you have a station with God which cannot be attained
except through martyrdom.
Did Husayn ibn 'Ali desire to die a vain death when he aspired for
martyrdom?
The Imams have exhorted us to keep alive the tradition of
mourning over Husayn ibn Ali because his goal was a sacred goal.
Husayn ibn 'Ali established a school, and they wanted his school to
remain alive and flourish.
You will not find a practical school of thought in the whole
world that may be likened to that of Husayn ibn 'Ali ('a). If you
can find a single another example of Husayn ibn 'Ali, you may ask
why we should revive his memory every year. If you can find another
example of that which was manifested in Husayn ibn 'Ali during the
event of 'Ashura', in those ordeals and taxing conditions, of the
meaning of twahid, of faith, of the knowledge of God, of perfection,
convinced faith in the other world, of resignation and submission,
of fortitude and manliness, of self contentment, of steadiness and
steadfastness, of honor and dignity, of the love and quest for
freedom, of concern for mankind, of the passion to serve humanity-if
you can find a single example in the whole world, then you may
question the need to refresh his memory every year. But he is unique
and without a parallel.
Keeping alive the memory of his name and his movement is for the
purpose that our spirits may be illumined by the light of the spirit
of Husayn ibn 'Ali ('a).
If a tear that we shed for him should signify a harmony between
our souls and his spirit, it represent a brief flight that our
spirit makes along with Husayn's spirit. Should it create within us
a little glow of his valor, a particle of his free nature, a
particle of his faith, a particle of his piety, and a small spark of
his tawhid, such a tear has an infinite value. They have said that
it has the worth an entire world even if it is so small as the 'wing
of a gnat.' Believe it! But that is nor a tear shed for a pointless
death, but a tear for the greatness of Husayn and his great spirit,
a tear that signifies harmony with Husayn ibn 'Ali and of movement
in his steps. Yes, such a tear has an incalculable worth even if it
is so small as a gnat's wing.
They wanted this practical ideology to remain for ever before the
people's view, to witness that the Prophet's family are a proof and
testimony of the truthfulness of the Prophet himself. If it is said
that a certain Muslim warrior displayed great faith and valor in
such and such a battle against Iran or Byzantine, for instance, it
is not so much of an evidence of the Prophet's truthfulness as when
it is said that the Prophet's son did such and such an act. A
leader's family is always subject to more suspicion and doubt than
any of his followers. But when we observe the family of the Prophet
at the highest summit of faith and sincerity, that is the best
evidence of the Prophet's truthfulness. No one was so close to the
Prophet (S) like 'Ali ('a). He grew up by the Prophet's side. No one
had a faith in the Prophet like him or was more dedicated to the
Prophet. This is the first evidence of the Prophet's truthfulness.
Husayn is the Prophet's son. When he manifests his faith in the
Prophet's teaching it is a manifestation of the Prophet himself.
Things which are always declared by human beings verbally but are
rarely observed in practice are clearly visible in Husayn's being.
What makes a human being so undefeatable? Subhan Allah! See the
heights to which a human being can rise! See how undefeatable is the
spirit of the human being whose body bears wounds from head to foot,
his young sons have been cut to pieces before his very eyes, he is
suffering from extreme thirst and when he looks up at the sky it
appears dark in his eyes, he sees that the members of his family
will be taken captive, he has lost all that he had and all that has
remained for him is his own undefeatable spirit.
Show me such a spectacle of human greatness in an event other
than Karbala' and I will celebrate its memory instead of Karbala!
Accordingly, we should keep alive the memory of such an event, of a
group of seventy-two persons who defeated the spirit of a host of
thirty thousand. How did they inflict such a defeat? Firstly, though
a minority facing certain death, not a single one of them pined the
enemy's side. Yet some men from the thirty thousand pined their
ranks, including one of their commanders, Hurr ibn Yazid Riyahi and
another thirty. This indicates the moral victory of this group and
the defeat of the other one. 'Umar ibn Sa'd took certain measures in
Karbala' which disclose his moral defeat. In Karbala' 'Umar ibn
Sa'd's men refrained from a man-to-man encounter during the battle.
At first they complied in accordance with the custom prevalent in
those days, before launching an all-out attack and shooting arrows.
The man-to-man fight was a kind of contest in which one man from one
side fought a man from the other. After several men were killed in
these encounters with the companions of Imam Husayn, strengthening
their morale, 'Umar ibn Sa'd ordered his men to refrain from
man-to-man fights.
When did Abu 'Abd Allah come to the field for the final battle?
Imagine, it is afternoon on the day of 'Ashura'. Until this time
there were still several of his companions who offered the prayers
with him. He has been very busy from the morning until the afternoon
of that day as it was he, most of the time, who has brought the
bodies of his companions from the battlefield and placed them in the
tent of the martyrs. He himself has rushed to the side of his
companions in their last moments and it is he himself who consoles
and reassures his family members. Apart from all this, there is his
personal grief for the dear ones that he has lost. He is the last of
all to come into the field of battle. They imagine that it would be
a simple task to deal with Husayn in such a circumstance. But he
does not give a moment's reprieve to any contestant that dares to
come forward to combat him. 'Umar ibn Sa'd then cries out: "Woe to
you! Do you know whom you are fighting? This is the son of the most
fatal of Arab warriors. He is the son of 'Ali ibn Abi Talib. By God,
his father's soul is in his body. Don't fight him singly!"
Wasn't this an indication of defeat? Thirty thousand men combat
against a single man, lonely and solitary, who has suffered all
those sorrows and ordeals., and who has been through the arduous and
grueling labors of the day, thirsty and hungry, and he defeats them
and makes them flee.
They faced a defeat not only against the sword of Abu 'Abd Allah
but also his logic and eloquence. Abu 'Abd Allah delivered two or
three sermons on the day of 'Ashura' before the commencement of his
battle. These sermons are truly amazing. Those who practice the act
of oration know that it is not possible for someone in an ordinary
state to say things which are sublime or at the height of sublimity.
One's spirit must be in a state of fervour, especially if the
oration is of an elegiac character. It is only with a heart burning
with feeling that one can deliver a good elegy. If one wants to
compose a ghazal, he must be strongly moved with the passion of love
so as to say a good ghazal. If one wishes to compose epic poetry, he
must be moved with warlike emotions.
When Abu 'Abd Allah began his address, especially the sermon that
he made on the day of 'Ashura', which is one of the most elaborate
of his sermons, 'Umar ibn Sa'd was alarmed by the effect it might
have on his men's morale. The Imam alighted from his horse and
mounted a camel in order to make the sermon, as he wanted to make
his voice heard better from a higher point.[5]
Words, which are truly reminiscent of the sermons of 'Ali ('a).
Aside from the sermons of 'Ali we won't find a more powerful and
vibrant sermon in the whole world. He spoke three times. 'Umar ibn
Sa'd was frightened lest Husayn's sermon should change the minds of
his troops. The second time when Abu 'Abd Allah started to address
them, due to the defeatist morale of the enemy, Umar ibn Sad ordered
his men to hoot and beat their mouth with their hands so that no one
could hear Husayn. Is that not an evidence of their defeat and the
sign of Husyan's victory?
If a man has faith in God, in tawhid, if he has a link
with God and faith in the other world, single-handedly he can
inflict a moral defeat on a host of twenty and thirty thousand. Is
this not a lesson for us? Where can you find another example of it?
Who else can you find in the whole world who could utter two
sentences of that sermon in conditions in which Husayn ibn 'All
spoke, or for that matter two sentences like the sermon of Zaynab
('a) at the city gates of Kufah? If our Imams have told us to revive
this mourning every year and to keep it alive for ever it is for the
purpose that we may understand these points, that we may realize the
greatness of Husayn, so that if we shed tears for him it is out of
understanding.
Our knowledge of Husayn elevates us. It makes us human beings,
free men, followers of truth and justice, and real Muslims. The
school of Husayn is a man-making school, not a school that produces
sinners. Husayn is the bastion of righteous conduct, not a citadel
for sin and sinfulness.
The historians report that at daybreak on the day of 'Ashura',
after offering the prayer with his companions, he turned to them and
said, "Companions, get prepared. Death is nothing but a bridge that
takes you across this world into another, from a world that is very
coarse, hard and base to one that is sublime, noble and gentle."
These were his words. But now observe his conduct. The reports do
not come from Husayn ibn 'All but from those who have chronicled the
events. The episode has been reported even by Hilal ibn Nafi', who
was accompanying 'Umar ibn Sa'd as his chronicler. He says, al
Husayn ibn 'Ali was astonishing to me. As the time of his martyrdom
drew nearer and his ordeals became severer, his countenance appeared
to be more refreshed and ruddier, like someone about to meet his
beloved."
Even in the last moments when that accursed wretch approached him
to sever his sacred head, he says, "When I approached Husayn ibn
'Ali and my eyes fell on him, the light and burnish of his face so
gripped me that I forgot my intention to kill him:
The light of his face and its awe-inspiring beauty so gripped me
that I was distracted from the thought of killing him.
They write that Abu Abd Allah had chosen a point for his combat
which was nearer the tents of the womenfolk. That was for two
reasons. Firstly, he knew the unmanly and inhuman character of the
enemies. They lacked even the sense of honor to spare the tents of
their attacks as it was he whom they were fighting. Therefore he
wanted to restrain them from attacking his camp so long as he was
alive and had the strength to stop them. He would make a frontal
attack and they would flee. But he would not pursue them but return
to guard the tents of his womenfolk from any assault. Secondly, so
long as he was alive he wanted the members of his family to know
that he was alive. Accordingly, he had chosen a point from where his
voice could be heard by them. Whenever he returned after making an
attack he would stand at that point and cry out:
There is no power or strength save that which derives from God,
the Exalted and the Almighty.
His cries would reassure the women who knew that the Imam was still
alive. The Imam had told them not to come out of the tents as long
as he was alive (Don't believe those who say that the women kept
running out every now and then. Never. The Imam had ordered them to
remain in the tents as long as he was alive). He had told them that
they must not make any untoward utterance which might reduce their
reward with God. He had told them that they would find deliverance
and that their ultimate end would be a good one, that God will
punish their enemies. They did not have the Imam's permission to
come out of their tents, and they did not. Husayn ibn Ali's sense of
manly honor and their own sense of feminine honor did not permit
them to come out. Accordingly, when they heard the Imam utter 'La
hawl wala quwatta illa billahil aliyyil azim', they felt
reassured. And as the Imam had come back to them once or twice after
bidding them farewell, they still expected the Imam to return.
In those days they used to train Arabic horses for the
battlefield, as the horse is an animal that can be trained. Such a
horse would show a particular reaction when its master were killed.
The members of Abu 'Abd Allah's household were in the tents awaiting
the Imam, that he might return to them once again and they might see
his angelic visage one again. Suddenly they heard the sound of the
neighing of the Imam's horse. They rushed to the tent's door
imagining that the Imam had come. But they saw the horse without its
rider with its saddle overturned. It was then that the children and
the women raised the cries of Wa Husaynah! and Wa
Muhammada! They surrounded the horse and each of them began to
mourn for him. Mourning is part of human nature. When a person wants
to express his grief he mournfully addresses the heaven, or an
animal, or some person. The Imam had told them that they must not
weep or lament so long as he was alive. But of course they could
mourn him when he died. And so in that state they began their
lamentations.
They write that Husayn ibn 'Ali had a daughter named Sukaynah,
whom he loved greatly. Later she grew up to become a learned lady of
letters much revered and respected by all scholars and literary men.
This child was very dear to Abu 'Abd Allah ('a) and she too had an
unusual love for her father. They write that this child uttered some
sentences in the way of mourning which are very heartrending. In a
mournful tone she addressed the horse and said:
O my father's stallion, my father was thirsty when he went out.
Did they give him water or was he killed thirsty?'
That was at the time when Abu 'Abd Allah lay fallen on the ground.
Continued in part 4 ...
Notes to part 3:
[1] al Halabi, Sirah v2, p77
[2] Musnad, Ahmad b. Hanbal, v2, p199
[3] al Mufid, al Irshad, p249, Alam
al Wara, p216, Ibn Shahr Ashub, al Manaqib, v4, p71,
Hilyat al abrar, v1, p560, Kashf al Ghummah, v2 pp10,61,
Mulhaqt Ihqaq al haqq, v11, pp 256-279
[4] This sermon was delivered in the year 1389
H, corresponding to Farvardin 1348 (March-April 1969)
[5] al Masudi, Muruj al Dhahab, v3, p69
