IS HUSAIN’S (AGNIDEV’S) MARTYRDOM STILL CAPABLE OF TRANSFORMING OUR SOCIETY?
We need not be told of the fate of international society in an era of globalization and the ability or rather the inability of the inherited society of sovereign states to provide a practically viable and normatively acceptable framework for global political order. It is evident that all the progress that has been made by our society is only in creating of new gadgets and devices that provide comfort and ease to human life. But if you look at the humane angle, there has been no progress at all, despite framing up of decorative terms like human rights, equality and universal justice. In other words, if seen from the spiritual point of view, man of today has gone from bad to worse.
If there were cases of large scale murders and loot in pre-historic times, we can still see mobs vandalizing, killing and tormenting the innocents wherever they get a chance in each and every corner of this so-called civilized society. It require stricter and stricter laws to safeguard women from the prying eyes of men and rape. If there are cases of Nimrods and Firauns who hoarded money, we can still see the lust for money to such an extent that entire money of countries is increasingly getting confined into the hands of fewer and fewer people. If we saw Alexander in pre-Christ age who wanted to control the world, there are still countries and groups of people who wish to create the New World Order.
A cursory look at the newspapers or internet will show that several nefarious plans are being hatched by those in power, some succeed while some fail. One such plan has been devised by the family of an American/European financial elites of immense wealth and power with ancient historical roots, called by some the “Illuminati”. Their plan is to rule the world and it is said they are not going to leave any stone unturned to achieve their objectives.
Some people have started claiming that this centuries-old conspiracy is to impose a global totalitarian society where there are just the rulers and the ruled.
Modern democracy, as we know it, is less than 250 years old. For most of history, except for this brief period, the world has been ruled by powerful elites who wielded absolute power over their societies, controlled the wealth and resources of their known world, and dominated their people by force. The New World Order (NWO) cabal plans to restore this model of totalitarian rule on a global scale.
The endgame will be a one-world government presiding over the earth for the benefit of global oligarchs and their superclass functionaries, leaving the mass of humanity as serfs, to serve the elite, while suffering impoverishment and immiseration. As per reports available on internet, the plan includes scientifically engineered global population reduction (viruses/vaccines/genetically-modified food), cutting the world’s population to less than one billion, which means they will have to kill 5 billion people on this planet out of the present population of nearly 7 billion plus inhabitants and the population that will remain will comprise of only the rulers and the slaves. Can you fathom of greater depths that humanity can fall to?
Chapters and chapters have been written on different forms of global inequality and the problems of legitimacy that such attempts to lord over the world have created in the past and consequent challenges of value conflict, societal inequality, death and disaster that it poses. Democracy and various isms were created to provide solutions to the ailing humanity but such concepts have been used by the mighty and the powerful to meet their own personal gains. Today, democracy is not about creating a system where global equality is there for all the citizens but terms like saam, daam and danda bhed meaning that everything is fair in war are used to support attempts to capture power and material wealth at any cost.
Those in the power think they can commit any crime under the sun? No rules apply to them. Look at the highest offices of power, look at the politicians you are in touch with and look at the local police constable of your area. They are all busy in misusing the power bestowed upon them to meet their own objectives or that of people close to them. It is evident that the world is getting from bad to worse, each passing day.
It seems this has been the human mind-set in all ages and in all creations, be it Nimrod or Firaun, Alexander or Hitler. This is evident from the Quranic description of the conversation between angels and God at the time of creation of the first of human beings viz. Adam. The angels asked: “Will you create someone who will commit bloodshed and murder on earth?
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Where does Husain and Karbala stand in a world where the powerful negative powers are bent upon using every trick in their armour to gain control of the masses and their mind? Is it possible that a single person or his thought has the potential to create order in the world where its own movers and shakers have willingly created the disorder in their own interests? More importantly, a man who was himself butchered to death in the most ruthless fashion, whose entire family and friends were slaughtered by the forces loyal to the greatest super power of those times – the Muslim empire – and even women-folks and children kept in prison for more than a year, how is it possible that he or his teachings can bring about a change for betterment in today’s world?
Fact is that it is true. One person who is capable of bringing about a sea-change in today’s politics is Husain and one incident that is capable of serving as a lesson to all those who want the world order to change is Karbala. The day the world will know the true aspects of Husain’s teachings and Karbala, it will realize that a solution do exist to all the big problems facing humanity. One can only imagine the wave of optimism that can be generated on global basis by the crisis-weary population. The entire world will be grateful to Husain for showing the means to create a new and better world.
Let’s have an example. Fritz Springmeier, author of ‘The Top 13 Illuminati Bloodlines’ who first exposed the New World Order conspiracy by the Illuminati reports that ‘Slides’ is a CIA term for a conditioned type of response which dead ends a persons’ thinking and terminates debate or examination of the topic at hand. Highly tuned and extremely sophisticated Mind Control (MC) training programs are employed that begin the programing process while the intended victim is still in the womb. These include trauma-based MC programs and non-trauma electronic means of MC programming. These conspirators manifest their agenda through the skilful manipulation of human emotions especially fear. Consequently, what most Americans believe to be “Public Opinion” is in reality carefully crafted and scripted propaganda designed to elicit a desired behavioural response from the public.
Compare this with the situation in the Muslim world a little after the Prophet. In the battle of Camel, Muawiya said that I have brought men to fight Ali who were incapable of distinguishing between a male and female camel. Is this not an example of mind control? A huge retinue of Muslims was prepared who were ready to get themselves killed but whose reverence for a camel was such that they were ready to eat its dung, just because it was the camel ridden by the Prophet’s wife. Trauma-based mind control was utilized to such an extent that Muslims, who even today won’t accept if the Friday prayers are held 15 minutes before stipulated time were witnessing that the Friday prayer was led by the Caliph on Wednesday and they weren’t complaining. Wine drinking is still a taboo in Muslim societies but the Muslim society during the rule of Muawiya was even witness to morning prayers being led by an Imam totally inebriated due to intoxication. Highest punishment has been prescribed under Islamic law for adultery but the people had been numbed to an extent that they were mute witness to even sacred relations of mother and sister being compromised at the hands of the rulers and their chieftains, something that no civilized society would permit. The most revered and knowledgeable companions of the Prophet were being insulted and even slaughtered at public places and there was no word of dissent.
Yet Karbala changed all that. The morbid society was suddenly aroused. The sleeping minds were shaken. The mighty citadels of power and might trembled. The greatest super power of the world crumbled, all its time-tested political mantras failed. All the money, all the gold and other world incentives couldn’t lure the newly awakened minds. All this because Husain aroused the society deep in slumber through a sprinkle of his own blood and that of his relatives, friends and children.
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This essay has been compiled extensively through quotes from Martyr of Humanity.
Husain’s grandfather, Prophet Mohammad had arduously worked to reform a diseased social order where petty fights resulted into bloody warfare lasting generations, people slaughtered their daughters, considering it an act of maintaining their self-respect, rich and high-born were considered superior to the rest of the people, so much so that the murder of an important person was avenged by putting to death hundreds of people belonging to the tribe of the murderer, whereas important people were allowed to kill ‘insignificant’ or ‘unimportant’ men.
Prophet’s job was to cleanse all those beliefs, superstitions and traditions that had become integral parts of their lives. He had to teach tolerance, forbearance, humility and forgiveness to those who deemed forgiveness as evidence of weakness and forbearance to those who saw it as symbol of cowardice.
The Prophet had to give lessons in equality and fraternity to those who divided themselves upon their high births. The Arabs could not even dream that piety and righteousness were the highest merits in the eyes of God, or that the lowest of men could claim equality with any member of the noblest families in Arabia. The priestly order was all-powerful which claimed to be an intermediary between the worshippers and the worshipped. On the contrary, the Prophet brought a message of freedom to world groaning under the power and authority of priests; he gave freedom from the tyranny of the affluent, who unmindful of any divine law or human regulation, brazenly enjoyed the fruits of the toil and labour of others, he gave freedom to the slaves and the suppressed classes from the oppression of their masters and social superiors, he gave freedom to women from what was, to all intents and purposes, slavery which divested them of even their elementary human rights, and he gave freedom to the ordinary man from the constraints imposed upon him by narrow inhibitions of castes, colour and race.
Ali is known for giving the first charter of ruling a nation, when he was made Caliph of the Muslim world for a brief period of four years. He is famous for giving strict guidelines for his governors, about the manner in which even the poorest of poor ought to be treated. Ali showed to the world for the first time what a ruler’s role ought to be when he lived like a poor man and took only that amount from the government treasury that went to the poorest of the poor. Muawiya, on the other hand, was an epitome of materialistic desires and practiced the type of capitalism where all wealth had to be his, in whatever manner it was earned. Yazid – Muawiya’s son who acceded to the throne upon his father’s demise - was no better.
From his childhood, Husain had seen his grandfather toil hard to eradicate all kind of evils from the society. Husain grew up to seeing a sincere attempt by his grandfather and later his father to eradicate all kind of evils from the society. He grew up in an environment where righteousness, piety, justice, generosity and uplifting of all social virtues were the order of the day. After his grandfather’s death, Husain saw how the entire direction that his grandfather had given to the teachings was hijacked by the self-seekers and satanic forces, so much so that lot many customs of the pre-Islamic period that were banned by Islam, were reintroduced. It started with those who showed themselves to be the most pious, but in their hearts valued their own interests more than Islamic injunctions. And then, within 50 years, it came to a stage where vices were not only being openly committed, but there were deliberate attempts to portray Islam as a constituent of those vices. Degradation had reached a stage that Islam’s face was distorted and people had begun to view the Islam of Muawiya as the real Islam. Yazid even went further and distorted the teachings of Prophet Mohammad to such a degree of ugliness that it became a mockery, not only of the teachings, but also of the basic rational inclinations of the human mind.
Husain’s grandfather Prophet Mohammad had taught the virtues of peace and piety, Yazid was preaching war and hatred. Blood of innumerable innocent people was made to spill under his orders. Mohammad had never allowed forceful subversion of other territories, whereas Yazid and even his father Muawiya had sent Muslim armies as far as Africa and India, so much so that even today, it is said that Islam spread through sword.
Mohammad had preached simple living and Ali, even when he had become the Caliph of the Islamic world, lived in a small cottage, while Yazid’s palace vied with the palaces of Byzantine and Persian kings, in grandeur.
The conscience of the rightful was either purchased or their souls tormented into obedience and to such humble submission that their sensibilities were deadened to dumbness. Yazid was committing every crime and evil under the sun, that too under the banner of Islam – the very religion that had taught the Arabs the essence of being humans. He considered himself as an almighty dictator who paid no heed to the laws of civilized society.
Husain, when a child, was the most beloved of Prophet Mohammad. Historians have narrated incidents when people saw Mohammad carrying the young Husain on his shoulders or prolonging the prayers when the child came to sit on Mohammad’s back as he prostrated before God. Not merely this, Mohammad also confirmed the spiritual or rather the Divine role of Husain. He declared Hasan and Husain as the leaders of the youth of heaven. When the two were young children, Rizwan – a guardian angel of heaven – brought heavenly clothes for Hasan and Husain. There are traditions where even angels were relieved of the punishment given to them by God, courtesy Husain. If Husain as child bestowed 7 sons to someone, that person actually went on to father 7 sons. Husain was one of the five (Panj-tan or five bodies) who were seen by all at Mubahila, on whom God showered his praises to the extent that He took guarantee of their purity. Husain was also one of the Panj-tan when the famous tradition ‘Hadees-e-Kisa’ quoted God as saying that the sun, the moon, the earth, the sky, etc. were created by God in love of the Ahlulbayt. Prophet Mohammad, about whom God in Quran says that he speaks nothing from his side but that is ordained by God, even confirmed Husain’s role in salvation when he said Ahlulbayt are akin to the ark of Noah, one who come overboard gets salvation and one who doesn’t is drowned. Another universally acknowledged exhortation of Prophet Mohammad says:
I leave behind amidst you the two great things, the Book of God (Quran) and my Itrat, my Ahlulbayt (progeny).
This apostolic instruction enjoins on every true Muslim to abide by the holy book Quran and Ahlulbayt and to no one else.
It is a great irony that despite all this, Imam Ali bin Husain Zainul Abidin – the fourth Imam – had to say:
In view of the clear instructions of the Holy Prophet and the decisive injunctions of the Quran it is obligatory to love, revere and follow the Ahlulbayt, but, even if the prophet had commanded the ummah to hate and abuse his children, they could not have been able to do worse than what they did to us.
They persecuted the Ahlulbayt in whichever town they took shelter, forced them to drift from place to place, and at last surrounded them from all sides in the desert of Karbala, and then murdered in cold blood, all the male friends, relatives and companions of the grandson of Prophet Mohammad – Husain. They spared no one, not even the six month infant son of the Holy Imam. The persecutors, in devilish frenzy, trampled the bodies of the devoted martyrs under the hooves of their horses, plundered, looted and set the tents of the Ahlulbayt on fire. It was a premeditated, ruthless and satanic dance of death. The ladies and children of the holy house in chains, along with the severed heads of the martyrs, walked through the streets of Kufa and Damascus (to the court of Yazid).
This tragedy of Karbala casted such a gloom upon every refined, compassionate and God-fearing soul that to this day it makes hearts bleed and tears flow. When Husain’s suffering is described by narrators, cries of lamentation reach the heavens.
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The Muslims continued to drift from the teachings of their Prophet, so much so that by the time of Muawiya, the true teachings of Prophet Mohammad had got corrupted to such an extent that the Muslims were confused. Most of the mullahs in the then Muslim world had become subservient to the monarchs of the period. This can be seen from the cursing on Ali that was done from 70000 pulpits every Friday, under the sanction of Umayyad rulers. Evidently, 70000 imams of mosques all across the Muslim world were being paid from state exchequer to curse Ali and his family. Considering the fact that merely about 30 years had elapsed since Prophet’s departure, it can be taken as certainty that a good number of these mullahs were Prophet’s companions. As per Islamic rule, particularly in the light of importance that the Prophet bestowed on Ali, the Quranic injunctions regarding his truthfulness and purity and his contribution to Islam during the initial years, such cursing actually made all these mullahs Kafirs. But they continued to curse Ali, even if they knew it was unIslamic, for petty gains.
Power and wealth were the primary motives behind Muawiya attacking Ali while he was the 4th Caliph. Ali engaged in the war because he could not shirk his responsibility to preserve the Islamic ideal of justice, as well as Islam’s polity intact, while for Muawiya and Amr b. As, it was a way to gain power and wealth. This contrast in the motives of the Imam and his opponents may be clearly discerned in the conduct of the two parties.
Ali’s stand for truth and justice was faced with someone who had least regard for these values. Like every worldly ruler, Muawiya knew that victory is foremost, even if it comes after trampling of innocent lives, loot and plunder. For Ali, adherence to truth and justice was paramount. Islam wanted its followers to stand for truth and justice in all situations even at the cost of their lives but Muslims had forsaken these teachings.
Imam Ali is reported to have written to the leaders of the army which he dispatched ahead of him to Siffin, enjoining them not to transgress against people in their towns and villages. They should not disturb them except when in dire need of food, or to ask for a guide in case they lose their way. He said:
God has made you all equal before the truth, the black and the red of you (that is everyone regardless of ethnicity and lineage). He likewise made your relationship to the ruler (wali) like that of a father to a child, or a child to the father. Your right over him is that he should act justly among you and refrain from usurping your lawfully gained booty (fay). If he does that, then it is incumbent upon you to obey and support him in whatever is consonant with the truth, and that you defend God’s authority. For, you are God’s defenders in the land. Be, therefore, God’s helpers and supporters of His religion.
The Imam concluded with the Quranic injunction:
Do not spread corruption in the earth after it has been set right, for God loves not those who spread corruption.
The Imam’s problems at Siffin did not arise only from Muawiya’s lavish bribes with which he bought the hearts and consciences of men, but also from the radical and often aggressive individualism of the tribesmen in his camp and the obedience of the more urbanized Syrian army to Muawiya’s every command. This radical individualism, which often expressed itself in spontaneous and hasty emotional actions, was an important component of the clash of narrow tribal politics with religious morality in early Islam.
This clash was clearly illustrated by an event which occurred at the banks of the Euphrates prior to the encounter of the two armies at Siffin. Muawiya’s soldiers preceded Ali and his fighters to the water and vowed to block their way to it at all cost. Their determination was expressed by al-Walid b. Uqbah who vowed:
I shall deny them water as they did deny it to Usman b. Affan. They besieged him for forty days and denied him the taste of cool water and good food. I shall kill them with thirst, may God kill them.
[Note that the weapon being used by the proponents of evil was still people’s emotional attachment to religion and Islam. They used it to their advantage so much so that even in Karbala, there were some who wanted to kill Husain in the name of Islam. This was the result of the continued propaganda drive against Ali and his family and vigorous attack on their personality, even if it meant falsely implicating Ali of the murder of Usman, by those who themselves were suspicious of being involved in the crime.]
When Ali and his forces reached the site, water was denied to them. His forces started dying due to dearth of water. It was matter of life and death for them. Ali and his forces attacked Muawiya’s army and a little later the tide of the battle got reversed. Ali’s forces gained control of water and it was the turn of Muawiya’s army to feel the scarcity of water. But Ali asked his forces to leave control of water as water was God’s grace for all humanity. This incident too shows the difference between Ali and Muawiya’s stance.
Imam Ali spent the last months of his life frustrated and virtually deserted. Day after day, he would call upon the men of Kufa to rise up against Muawiya, whose soldiers continued to intimidate the people and coerce them into pledging allegiance to him, but Muslims had forgotten all the teachings of Islam which wanted them to value the next life over this. The Imam’s appeals and exhortations have been preserved in moving orations, which remain among the great gems of Arabic literature. Finally, he convinced his long-time devotee Jariyah b. Qudama to restrain Busr’s incursions against the peoples of the Yemen and the Hijaz with a force of over two thousand horsemen. Imam Ali was martyred as this final effort to oppose wrongdoing and establish justice in Mohammad’s community was going on.
After Ali’s death, people recognized Hasan as caliph. But they were the same people who had disenchanted Ali and Hasan was no different than Ali in character. He too had to face the ingratitude of them, as they wanted to be part of worldly gains, and not indulge in sacrifices. Therefore, it is evident that Ali lived and died for God while in the midst of those who only had this world to seek. Consequently, as a result of a treaty between Hasan and Muawiya, the latter became the Caliph of the entire Muslim world. The traitor of Islam and the one who had rebelled against the Caliph became the Caliph of Islam. Muawiya showered wealth and consequently several historians wrote narrations praising Muawiya’s conduct and extolling his virtues. So much so that the greater percentage of Muslims accept Muawiya as caliph right till this day.
It was left to Husain to show the extent to which an ideal Muslim should take a stand when faced with evil, untruth and injustice.
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Arabia mostly a desert is a vast country along the western marches of Asia, its shores washed by the breakers of the Red Sea. From this land originated a great revolutionary wave, called Islam, in the seventh century of the Christian era. It was generated by Mohammad, son of Abdullah, who declared himself a Prophet, and imparted to the World a message of the absolute unity of God and took his stand against the worship of idols and of pelf and power, in fine, against the worship of everything other than God. This earned him the opposition of those to whose power this teaching posed a threat. They endeavoured to stem the tide of this revolution, and the Prophet had to suffer greatly at their hands.
The Umayyads took a leading part in the resistance to the Prophet’s teaching which, without directly upholding the superiority or affirming the humbleness of any family, made the excellence of performance and thoroughness in carrying out one’s duties as a human being, the sole criteria for the achievement of superiority, honour and merit. Most of the Umayyads did not measure up to these standards and, in consequence, Abu Sufiyan, son of Harb son of Umayya, unfurled the flag of revolt against Islam. The perverse and benighted iconolaters of Arabia rallied round his flag, and began harassing the Prophet and placing all manner of obstruction in his spreading the message of Islam.
Abu Sufiyan’s son Muawiya followed his father in opposing the teachings of Islam. Husain was martyred at Karbala at the hands of Yazid’s forces. Yazid was the son of Muawiya and had acquired the rule of entire Muslim world, in inheritance from his father.
During Muawiya and Yazid’s rule, the city of Damascus fattened on luxury and Byzantine magnificence. Its tinsel glory sapped the foundations of loyalty and the soldierly virtues. Its poison spread through the Muslim world. Governors wanted to be kings. Pomp and selfishness, ease and idleness and dissipation grew as a canker; wines and spirituous liquors, scepticism, cynicism and social vices became so rampant that the protests of the men of God were drowned in mockery. Makkah, which was to have been a symbolical spiritual centre, was neglected or dishonoured. Damascus and Syria became centres of a worldliness and arrogance which cut at the basic roots of Islam.
When Yazid assumed the power at Damascus, he cared nothing for the most sacred ideals of the people. In fact, what all sins his father committed in solitude, he started committing them in open. He was not even interested in the ordinary business affairs of administration. His passion was hunting, and he sought power for self-gratification.
The discipline and self-abnegation, the strong faith and earnest endeavour, the freedom and sense of social equality which had been the motive forces of Islam, were divorced from power. The throne at Damascus had become a worldly throne based on the most selfish ideas of personal and family aggrandisement, instead of a spiritual office, with a sense of God-given responsibility. The decay of morals spread among the people.
Yazid was a great drunkard and was so exceedingly depraved that he was ‘guilty’ of moral transgressions of which the barest mention is taboo in decent society. Even so the dread inspired by the long-established Umayyad authority prevented even one voice from being raised against the goings on of the ruling clique. This was particularly because of the oppressive rule of Muawiya during which several of Prophet’s companions were butchered to death, and even Ali – Husain’s father, and Hasan – his elder brother, were not spared. A propaganda drive was commenced at the instigation of Muawiya all over the Islamic world against Ali and his character. And those loyal to him were tortured, imprisoned or killed.
Injustice, cruelty prevailed during Yazid’s rule. He was a usurper of wealth and treasures while people died of hunger on the roads of Damascus. Whereas Mohammad had given freedom to women form the age-old traditions of suppression, and brought restrictions on the number of permissible marriages, Yazid went back to the pre-Islamic era where women were treated as peace of objects.
Despite his being engrossed in materialistic pursuits, Yazid knew to a certainty that in that quarter of Medina where resided the Hashimides in the Hijaz, there lived a man who was unafraid of him, wedded only to the fear of God. He was the real defender of the principles of Islam, a grandson of the Prophet. He might be silent for the time being, but there was no knowing when the scales may fall off the eyes of the people, and they may be attracted to the truth. Yazid’s anxiety, therefore, mounted, and he longed to obtain the oath of allegiance to himself from Husain without loss of any time, somehow or other. Accordingly, he directed Walid s/o Utba s/o Abu Sufiyan, Governor of Medina, to obtain the oath from Husain, and not to show any lenience in the matter. Husain instantly divined the import of Yazid’s message. On principle it was impossible for Husain to pledge his fealty to Yazid. Indeed, it was much easier for him to offer his head than his hand to Yazid but before doing so, he had to abide by the basic duty enjoined by Islam to make every legitimate effort for self-defence.
There was one man who could stem the tide. That was Imam Husain. He, the grandson of the Prophet, could speak without fear, for fear was foreign to his nature. But his blameless and irreproachable life was in itself a reproach to those who had other standards. They sought to silence him, but he could not be silenced.
They sought to bribe him, but he could not be bribed. They sought to waylay him and get him into their Power. What is more, they wanted him to recognise the tyranny and expressly to support it. For they knew that the conscience of the people might awaken at any time, and sweep them away unless the holy man supported their cause. The holy man was prepared to die rather than surrender the principles for which he stood. The conscience of people that had been put to sleep by Mind Control and other activities was aroused by the sprinkle of blood – human blood of Husain, his friends and the rest of male members in his member, inclusive of a six-year old male child, the only exception being Husain’s son Ali who was too ill to fight.
As forces surrounded him, Husain was asked to surrender. Husain offered to take one of three alternatives. He wanted no political power and no revenge. He said “I came to defend my own people. If I am too late, give me the choice of three alternatives: either to return to Makkah; or to face Yazid himself at Damascus; or if my very presence is distasteful to him and you, I do not wish to cause more divisions among the Muslims. Let me at least go to a distant frontier, where, if fighting must be done, I will fight against the enemies of Islam.” Every one of these alternatives was refused. What they wanted was to destroy his life, or better still, to get him to surrender, to surrender to the very forces against which he was protesting, to declare his adherence to those who were defying the law of God and man, and to tolerate all the abuses which were bringing the name of Islam into disgrace.
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For ten years after passing of Hasan and becoming the Imam of the people, Husain was a silent witness to the tortures and misdeeds of Muawiya. In fact, he was witness to open flaunting of the peace agreement between his elder brother Hasan and Muawiya for the past twenty years. When Muawiya appointed Yazid as his successor, he also violated the last of the points of the treaty as well, who demanded allegiance from Husain, without giving a way out. Giving allegiance meant that Husain had given his consent to the (mis) rule of Yazid, whose very position as the Caliph was as violation to the terms of the treaty. Therefore, not only his nomenclature was unjustified from the point of view of the treaty, Husain also knew that Caliphate was a Divine honour, and anybody who became a Caliph by his own might was a usurper. How could have Husain given his consent to the allegiance when he had seen that his father too never did so.
As long as the Ahlulbayt were not forced to pay allegiance, they led a simple, secluded life. During this period, nobody could have ever pointed a finger at them that they were working against the interests of the state. But when allegiance was demanded, and it was made clear that there was no way out, Husain had no choice but to migrate or fight.
Muawiya was astute enough not to pressurize allegiance from this household. However, Yazid was not even that foresighted. When the question of allegiance was put forward to Husain, and he was left with no other alternative, he decided to leave Medina in the wee hours of night and went to Makkah. According to international usage as, indeed, according to Islam as well, Makkah was such an abode of peace that nobody need have entertained any manner of fright there. To this day, it is prohibited to kill even insects in Makkah. This was an irrefutable proof of his entertaining no wish to fight with anybody and imperil his own life and the lives of those who had kept him company, if he was not compelled to pledge his loyalty to Yazid.
But the grandson of the Prophet noticed here also that preparations were on foot to put him to death. Mercenaries were sent there as well in the garb of Hajis. Towards the last days of the approach of the time for the Hajj pilgrimage, when people from all quarters of the Islamic world were converging upon Makkah, Husain had to bid goodbye to that city.
In the meantime, the Kufans had deluded Husain with invitations to come to Kufa. Hundreds of them had signed inviting him to come and guide them in religious duties. Therefore, Husain left Makkah and started moving to Kufa. Moreover, he had already dispatched his cousin, Muslim s/o Aqeel, to observe how things stood there. In the interval, however, conditions at Kufa had completely altered for the worse, upon appointment of a very cruel governor by Yazid. Husain’s representative to Kufa, Muslim s/o Aqeel was killed while the Kufans watched. After this melancholy development it was, to all appearances, highly inexpedient for Husain to persevere in his resolve to go to Kufa, but return to Makkah or Medina was also not feasible, since from Kufa had been dispatched a heavy contingent to take him captive. This barred Husain’s onward progress no less than it prevented his retreat.
Husain, accompanied by only 17 of his male relatives and about a hundred to hundred and fifty close friends, besides women and children, changed his route towards wilderness. When he had reached a place called Naineva or Karbala, he was forced to disembark and prevented from moving further. Husain’s companions could have easily killed the small band of about 1000 horsemen, if they had wanted and proceeded further, as the first contingent that stopped them was exhausted and drained because of riding the horses for a long time in scorching heat. But Husain kept abiding to his stand that he was not going to start the fight at any cost. Consequently, more forces arrived which is said to be anywhere between 30,000 and 100,000 or even more. Husain’s camps from close to the river were forcefully uprooted, yet he didn’t start the war. From 2nd of Moharram, Yazid’s forces prohibited Husain’s companions from gaining access to water. The little provisions that Husain and his companions had lasted till the 7th of Moharram. Then there was no water or food to eat. The situation remained so till the morning of10th of Moharram. In the meantime, Husain tried level best to find a peaceful exit and is said to have talked of coming to India, but the governor of Kufa – Obaidullah s/o Ziyad - rejected all these and left him with no choice but to pay allegiance or die. Husain’s approach was so reasonable and pacific that Son of Saad (Ibne Saad) had to concede that Husain’s approach was one of peace, and he wrote to the Obaidullah as much. Obaidullah was, however, drunk with power and could fathom no idea of the lengths to which Husain could go in braving hardships. He thought that Husain had been reduced to seek a peaceful settlement of the outstanding issues between the parties on account of weakness and lack of resources, and wrote back to Oman bin Saad that Husain could purchase safety only by making an unconditional offer to swear allegiance to Yazid. Husain, who was as self-respecting as he was aware of his religious responsibilities, found it impossible to abandon his stand. Husain refused to pay allegiance to a sinner, Yazid, and consequently chose death over life.
On the evening of the 9th of Moharram, Yazid’s army, overwhelmingly superior in numbers, launched the offensive against Husain’s small band. Husain applied for a night’s truce, and it was only with much reluctance and difficulty that it was granted. Husain’s object in seeking this brief truce was simply to spend the last night of his existence in offering prayers to God. And since it had been finally decided to entrust the event of the quarrel to the arbitrament of war, Husain might well have considered it eminently desirable to afford an opportunity to friend and foe alike, to quietly think over the whole matter once again, and deliberate upon the course to be finally adopted by every one of them, individually, so that should any of his companions elect to withdraw his support, and leave him to his fate, he may be free to do so. As to his enemies, no further argument had been left to be urged upon them to dissuade them from indulgence in the unholy war. He collected his companions and told them plainly that the following day would see the end of his existence, and he gave them complete exemption from adhering to the oath of loyalty to him. Indeed, he encouraged them to leave for any destination they chose, and make good use of the cover of darkness afforded by the night. His brave, and selfless companions, with one voice, told him that they would never forsake him, which was, indeed, exactly what they did.
A restless sea of a multitudinous army spread before him, sheer desolation and utter ruin surrounded him but Husain had in his immediate proximity the dear handsome faces of his brothers, nephews, sons and other relatives and friends. He had with him ladies as well, who lived in seclusion as they observed purdah. There were small children also with him. The enemy completely and closely guarded all approaches to the Euphrates. Husain and his companions were denied even a drop of water. Innocent children were greatly agitated and in deep distress on account of thirst. All manifestations of might and exhibitions of authority and all modes of persecution, however, failed to coerce Husain or his companions into the recognition of a sinful and depraved man as a ruler of Islam.
The battle started on the morning of 10th Moharram, which was one-sided right from its start. Even if we are to take the minimum number of people mentioned in various narrations to be true, i.e. 30,000, they were faced with a group of about 150 men, including young boys and very old men, some of whom were the Companions of the Prophet. Despite this, this brave group inflicted casualties many times more than their numbers. Even against this small band, all norms of the battle were forsaken by Yazid’s forces. (Putting prohibition on water is a glaring example). This shows to what extent evil was afraid of good. On Husain’s side, the small group of men was afraid of nothing. Their stand is exactly the one described in Gita. To them, it didn’t matter that death was staring at them. They knew that they have to bear the standard of humanity, truthfulness, justice and piety at all cost and in the most adverse of circumstances. If death came while on that path, it was only too good for them.
Initially, it were Husain’s brave companions, outside his family, who sacrificed their lives for him and his doctrines. When all of them had attained martyrdom, the turn arrived for the relatives of Husain to sacrifice themselves. It would have been far easier for Husain to have sacrificed himself first of all, but he had to undergo the most thoroughgoing and harrowing test of his powers of endurance. His relatives, therefore, started leaving for the field of battle, one by one, to offer the sacrifice of their lives. Ali Akbar, Husain’s grown-up son, who resembled the Prophet himself in appearance, was the first, among his relatives, to be sent to fight and to sacrifice himself. His mother was in her tent at whose door stood his father. She saw their handsome and valiant son getting lost in the innumerable shifting of crowd of hostile forces. His father saw, and his mother heard that Ali Akbar had been cut to pieces in the field of battle. They, however, did not lose control over themselves, and remained patient and composed. Then Husain’s other relatives sacrificed their lives one after the other. Abbas, brother and the standard-bearer of his army, was then sent to die fighting. When left with none else to be offered in sacrifice, Husain offered for sacrifice one who, under no law whatever, could have been held to have committed any wrong. The shocking plight of his infant son, Ali Asghar, restlessly gasping in his mother’s lap, was noticed by Husain, who raised him on his hands before the hostile army. He said to them, ‘if you feel I have done some wrong, then what wrong has this six-month old child committed. He is dying of thirst. I lay him down on the ground and get back so that you can give him water with your own hands, lest you fear that I am asking for water under his pretext.’ Husain did the same, but none came forward. Thereafter, Husain lifted the child back in his hand. At that moment, a soldier fixed an arrow to his bow, aimed it at the infant’s neck and released it. The arrow pierced the infant’s neck. This outraged the conscience of humanity and symbolized the utter collapse of all feelings of mercy and kindliness. Husain had now to offer his own sacrifice after offering resistance in self-defence, as enjoined upon him by the Islamic code. Heart-broken and helpless, Husain unsheathed his sword and defended himself according to the injunctions of Islam as best he could. The manner in which he confronted the enemy is normally far beyond human strength, but how can a man single-handedly withstand an inundation of steel swords? Numberless wounds and injuries were inflicted on Husain’s body, and he fell off from his horse. He was brave to the last. This stage had indeed been imminent since the very beginning but now it had actually arrived. He was cruelly mutilated. His sacred head was cut off while in the act of prayer. A mad orgy of triumph was celebrated over his body. The severed head of the grandson of Prophet Mohammad was held aloft on a spearhead by those who called themselves Muslims.
At death, Husain is said to have 45 wounds from the enemies’ swords and javelins, and 35 arrows pierced his body. His left arm was cut off, and a javelin pierced through his breast. After all that agony, when his head was lifted up on a spear, his face was the placid face of a man of God. The dead bodies of the martyrs were trampled by horses, the effects and belongings of Husain and his companions were given over to plunder and the veils that covered the heads of the respectable ladies of the Prophet’s family were snatched away. Their tents were committed to flames. From among the men of Husain’s party, a weak patient, namely, his son, Ali or Imam Zainul Abidin, was the only one to survive the holocaust; he was put under irons. The modest ladies of the noblest family in Arabia were publicly paraded from city to city.
This terrible calamity is often known as the “happenings of Karbala”. Ordinarily every incident, on account of its place of occurrence is related to some particular locality, country and section of society. Accordingly, the events of Karbala are also connected with the region of Iraq, the country of Arabia, the stock of Hashim and the community of the Muslims. Incidents however, acquire universal and general application from their peculiar features and far-reaching consequences, which have relevance for the entire community of man, without any distinction of caste and creed. Thus on the events of Karbala converge the interest and attention of the whole of mankind for a variety of reasons.
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By nature men are drawn towards happiness and shun grief. Distress occasioned by the chances and changes of life is sought to be driven into oblivion. Accordingly, among the nations of the world most celebrations are commemorative of occasions of good cheer. Events fraught with pain and grief have been sparingly commemorated. It is only Husain’s martyrdom that has been solemnized over the centuries to the accompaniment of marks of mourning and symbols of woe. Since human nature cannot support any burden of gloom and depression for any great length of time, it follows from the doleful manner in which, for ages, the tragedy of Karbala has been solemnized, that it is productive of beneficial results and advantages to mankind.
It is in human nature to detest the oppressor and sympathize with the oppressed, irrespective of whether or not we personally know those involved in such an unhappy relationship or their creed or religious persuasion. The cruelties and savagery employed against Husain in Karbala are unparalleled in the annals of the world. Many prophets and saintly personages have, on occasions, been the victims of a variety of ruthless brutalities; many innocent persons have been put to the sword; many more have been deprived of their all, and many more have been thrown into prisons without any fault, but all manner of inhuman atrocities and barbarities meted out to others severally and on separate occasions were perpetrated against Husain alone, and simultaneously with one another. This makes the persecution of Husain unique for all time. Accordingly, as unequalled as the oppression exercised against Husain was and as unexampled was his persecution, as intense might well be the degree of sympathy evoked by and shown to Husain, and as unmatched might appropriately be the measure of aversion evoked by his oppressors. And since the persecution to which Husain was subjected excelled that to which anybody else was exposed, so unrivalled might aptly be the abhorrence in which his oppressors might be held.
Another reason is that the sufferings of Husain were not due to his helplessness as would be those of a man, who say, might be waylaid and plundered by highway robbers or killed by them. Such a person would indeed be held to be an oppressed one, entitled to sympathy. His helplessness, however, is uninvited and unwilled. It does not follow any act on his part which would be based on high principles. Consequently it would bear no comparison to Husain’s helplessness, as Husain undertook to suffer all the hardships, and all the cruelties in support of a rightful cause and in defence of an exalted principle, which constitutes self-sacrifice. A variety of objects might be sacrificed but the supreme sacrifice consists in laying down one’s life. And if a man falter not in offering himself up to his supreme ordeal he would be entitled to the esteem and respect of all mankind. Such a sacrifice would command honour and be entitled to homage in proportion to the merit and the excellence of the object for which it has been made. The self-immolation of Husain in Karbala stands unrivalled in the chronicles of mankind. Truth and justice were being shaken to their foundations; brute force and tyranny were riding roughshod over men’s right to liberty of conscience. At this critical juncture, Husain tore the mask off the face of unredeemed tyranny and sheer perversity by taking to the battlefield along with him his relatives and even children of tender age. He thus presented to the world the highest example of steadiness, resolution, self-control, patience, self-abnegation, and sacrifice, devotion to the truth and firmness and purity of character. On account of these virtues which Husain so splendidly vindicated, he may, in justice, not be identified exclusively with any one particular nation or religion, but must be reckoned as correlated and belonging to the whole of mankind. His performance re-established humane conduct which was at its last gasp and gave to mankind a message which is, and would remain, deathless. He acquainted the world with the real value and merit of truth and truthfulness, and presented for its edification a mode of death in which immortality itself is unmistakably latent. Accordingly, all the nations of the world who prize sacrifice in a noble cause like truth, liberty of conscience, or freedom of worship cannot but value exceedingly highly the sacrifice which Husain offered.
There is yet another reason. Husain’s object, in submitting himself to the sacrifice, was not such as might be the subject of the slightest controversy between different faiths. At a certain level concerning human excellence and high morality, all religions tend to be at one with each other, for the underlying object of them all, supporting their various super-structures, is to develop human conduct and morals to perfection. It is entirely another matter, indeed, that on account of the contrariness of the times, certain principles and directions of the various religions might have been modified or altered on account of the misunderstandings of succeeding generations. As already stated, however the nub of all religions is to refine human conduct and perfect human qualities. Husain’s aim coincided with this common objective of all religions. If Husain had striven against the non-Muslims then, howsoever impeccable might have been the object of his sacrifice, and, howsoever heartlessly he might have been led to martyrdom, his adversaries might well have pleaded animus with his name, faith and objective, to get away with their crimes. The tragedy of Karbala may well have fallen short of commanding universal sympathy. Husain’s self-immolation was not formally meant to obliterate or support any particular faith. On the contrary, his sacrifice had been made to uproot the defects of, and re-establish virtue amongst, followers of one and the same faith. Consequently since in principle, there are no fundamental differences between different religions about the concepts of virtue and vice, and all religions equally believe in fostering virtue and eradicating vice, the adherents of all faiths would applaud Husain’s object, and do honour and pay homage to Husain’s sacrifice.
Again, the perfect examples of a variety of excellent qualities of behaviour and of the manifestations of cardinal virtues that Husain and his followers furnished in such profusion during the tragic developments at Karbala provide for all men, without any distinction whatever, a perennial source of practical instruction which may be turned to advantage by them all. It was for these reasons that despite all their internal tensions and mutual differences, people the world over have looked upon the tragedy of Karbala as one in which they all were intimately concerned, and the nations of the world have alike conceded its importance.
Numberless revolutions have taken place in the world after the events at Karbala. Civilization has seen many upheavals and standards of behaviour and modes of thought and feeling have undergone many radical alterations, but the memory of the sacrifice to which Husain gave himself up has been kept alive continuously for nearly 1400 years without losing any of its cordial sincerity. It would have, in consequence, to be conceded that Husain had offered the sacrifice in defence of such unexceptionable and exalted principles of human conduct, as are shared in the largest measure by people, all over the world. As a corollary, so long as mankind and the nobler traits of humanity survive, those principles will continue to be cherished and the memory of Husain’s sacrifice would remain fresh.
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That briefly is the story. What is the lesson? There is of course the physical suffering in martyrdom, and all sorrow and suffering claim our sympathy, —— the dearest, purest, most outflowing sympathy that we can give. But there is a greater suffering than physical suffering. That is when a valiant soul seems to stand against the world; when the noblest motives are reviled and mocked; when truth seems to suffer an eclipse.
It may even seem that the martyr has but to say a word of compliance, do a little deed of non-resistance; and much sorrow and suffering would be saved; and the insidious whisper comes: “Truth after all can never die.” That is perfectly true. Abstract truth can never die. It is independent of man’s cognition. But the whole battle is for man’s keeping hold of truth and righteousness.
Husain’s role in Divine Creation Plan has come to surface lately, courtesy the study of Vedas and Upanishads. It is being proved that Husain is none other than AgniDeva of the Vedas. Several of the incidents of Karbala described above were already foretold in the Vedas. When we consider this role of Husain as Noor or Deva (representing the Forces of Light), we will get to realize why the Forces of Darkness used all their resources and power to strangulate the voice of Husain in the desert of Karbala itself.
History records that much later than the time of Vedas, and after Puranas were compiled by Vyasa, there was a time when the Vedas had fallen in disuse and forgotten, and the brahmins were again instructed in them by Saraswata, son of Saraswati. It was perhaps this reason why a river was named Saraswati, and a distinguished tribe of the brahmins were known as Saraswata, based on the name of Saraswata who revived the Vedas once they had fallen in disuse. It seems that these brahmins continued to hold on to the real teachings of Vedas till the time of the advent of Prophet Mohammad. We can say this because it was these Saraswata brahmins who went to the aid of Husain, when enemies at Karbala surrounded him. By the time they reached Karbala, Husain had already been killed. The fact that these Saraswata brahmins realized the true position of Husain through their scriptures can be understood from the fact that they stayed back in Iraq even when they got to know that Husain and his friends had been killed. The Saraswata brahmins, who proudly call themselves Husaini brahmins to this date, played a key part in avenging the killing of Husain. In the process, several of them got killed but they returned to their native country only when they had seen with their eyes that the killers of Husain got killed.
The divine role of Husain and the stance of those who had collected to fight him can also be understood by a glaring difference between the stand of the two at Karbala. When Umar Ibn Saad, the commander of the Yazidian army, fired the first arrow on Husain’s forces, he said: O people, be witness that it is I who fired the first arrow at Husain. On other hand when Husain’s friends and several relatives had been killed and his son Ali Akbar started moving towards the battlefield, Husain said: O God, be witness that the one who is now going to the battlefield resembles the most to your Prophet, Mohammad. This shows that while all those who had assembled against Husain wanted to have the best of this materialistic world, the handful of people who collected under the banner of Husain – not to kill but to get killed – wanted to have the best of the next world.
Being a representative of Noor, Husain showed that lust for materialism and wish for spiritual elevation cannot come together in a soul. Forces bent on pursuing all material powers can be fought only through developing a spiritual mind set through purification of self. God alone is to be worshipped. When God alone is considered the ruler of our self, people would stop supplicating to imperialistic powers. “He who knows this imperishableness” stands for the imperishableness of life for the righteous through death. Husain was ready to live a life of a recluse, but when the greatest imperialist power of that period, in the form of Yazid’s mighty army, wanted him to forsake his freedom and will in front of Yazid, he knowing fully well the imperishable nature of life, decided to sacrifice his entire family, including his own life, but didn’t bow down to the wishes of Yazid. Who emerged victorious, Yazid or Husain? Those who wear glasses of materialism would still say that it was Yazid’s mighty army that was victorious. Because the end result of the day-long battle was that all able-bodied men on Husain’s side were either killed or captured, their belongings looted and women-folk and children imprisoned. But we will understand the reality when we see the meaning of victory and loss in the dictionary. No dictionary says that the victor is the person who has killed and loser is the person who got killed. Instead, victory is for the person who is able to attain his objectives, while loss is to the person who is unable to fulfill his objectives. The history proves who attained his objectives, and who failed? Yazid wanted Husain and supporters to bow down meekly to his immense power as the rest of the world had done. Husain didn’t. Husain wanted to ensure that the people begin to distinguish between the real teachings of the religion propagated by his grandfather, Prophet Mohammad, while Yazid was openly ridiculing the teachings of Islam while proclaiming to be the Caliph who ruled the Muslim world. And the people had begun to see Muawiya and his son Yazid’s politics as true politics, their life as the ideal life and their way as the true Islam. In one stroke, all this changed. In less than one year, there was such unrest within the boundaries of the Umayyad Empire that Yazid had to openly admit that killing of Husain was wrong. Women-folk and children of Husain’s family were released and allowed to return. There were widespread rebellions. Even the Brahmins were fighting to avenge Husain’s death. Yazid died an unceremonious death. His son refused to accept Caliphate whose hands were coloured with the blood of Prophet’s grandson. The great empire that Muawiya had created began to collapse. Cities and cities continued to move out of Umayyad domination. Finally the super-power itself collapsed. Who lost and who won?
What is so significant about Karbala that even after 1400 years of its happening? Is it just that it has the power to make people weep over the past incidents? Why was Husain’s martyrdom so different from all the other people who keep dying for one cause or other, each day? And why was it that Husain, who reached Karbala on 2nd of Moharram, did not budge from his stand despite the then ruler of the Islamic world, Yazid, putting all his forces against him? Husain and his 100 odd companions stood firm against a huge army of 30,000 or even more, and despite having no water or food for three days, from the morning of 7th Moharram onward, that too in the scorching summer heat of Karbala, preferring death over life on the 10th of Moharram.
And why it is that the tragedy of Karbala is the highest example of the fight between truth and untruth, between godliness and evil, and between attempts to restore order against those flaunting the teachings of God. In effect, Karbala can also be described as a war against those who commit crime, spread hatred among humans, amass wealth, forgetting the plight of the poor, or indulge in any type of corruption, and indulge in acts of terrorism, oppression or those which hinder peace, even so these are performed by the State. Karbala is the voice of the downtrodden, weak and insecure against oppressors and unjust people.
In Karbala death was easy and living was more difficult. Last Chapter of Yajur Veda has clearly told the conditions of the martyrs of Karbala, whose limbs were not moving, whose marrow from bones had melted, fat in the body was all gone and there was just skin, shrivelled and burnt by the blazing sun that protected the weakened bones inside. All because of heat and no water and food. All that had happened within a matter of 9 days, from 2nd of Moharram when water and food supplies were blocked and till 10th of Moharram, when they were killed.
Husain knew well that a large number of people looked at him as the true inheritor of Prophet’s legacy and teachings and if he would put his stamp of approval, all evil acts would henceforth be seen as given sanctity by Islam.
The battle of Karbala can never be defined as a clash of arms between two princes, but as a war between two contradictory principles and ideologies, one upholding piety, love, truth, righteousness and spiritualism and the other clinging to debauchery, power and materialism that resulted in tyrannical imperialism and spiritual bankruptcy. He stood for his stand for not giving allegiance of the untruth, even at the cost life.
It is human nature that fresh events in life blot out the memory of earlier happenings. The tragedy of Karbala has so forcibly defied this tendency, has maintained its sway over the hearts and minds of people so long, as evidenced by the undiminished fervour with which it has been observed for centuries, and has stood its ground against all later events with such conspicuous firmness, that one is constrained to believe that the world has yet to produce an event of greater weight and moment, whose impact on the imagination of humanity might rival Husain’s sacrifice.
It was the impact of this great sacrifice alone that the downfall of this mighty Ummayyad Empire began. People whose voice had been silenced by various Mind Control activities suddenly realized that truth and righteousness was all that mattered. Rebellions started everywhere signifying that Karbala became the deathblow to the politics of Damascus and that it stood for.
In short, Karbala is an attempt to lead mankind back towards God not just through giving sermons put showing how those can be put to practice even in the most adverse of circumstances. Karbala is not just the epitome of Islamic teachings put to practice but depicts a more vivid adherence to all that is contained in Gita, the great difference being that while Krishna fought a victorious war where the sacrifices that were given were minimum, where Husain fought a war where sacrifices were of such nature that history trembles even upon describing them.
Not just that, Moharram and Husain’s sacrifice has still the power to unite humanity against the politics of injustice, hatred and deceit. That is why all attempts are on by the vested forces to stop, alter or cripple the message of Karbala.
As renowned Urdu poet Josh Malihabadi rightly said:
इंसानियत को बेदार तो लेने दो,
हर क़ौम पुकारेगी हमारे हैं हुसैन।।
