History of Imam Hussain and his Martyrdom By A. Yusuf Ali

[SBM]

History of Imam Husain And His Martyrdom
By: Abdullah Yusuf Ali

Introduction

The month of Muharram, the first month of the Islamic calendar, brings with it the memory of the sacrifice of Imam Husayn [radiallahu anhu], the grandson of Prophet Muhammad , and his noble family and friends. This short text reflects the deep admiration of its author towards Imam Husayn [radiallahu anhu] and an insight into the tragedy of Karbala, its reasons and its consequences. It is presented with the hope that it will foster the Islamic unity and the brotherly love that the author seeks in his preface.

Preface

The following pages are based on a report of an address which I delivered in London at an Ashura Majlis on Thursday the 28th May, 1931 (Muharram 1350 A.H.), at the Waldorf Hotel. The report was subsequently corrected and slightly expanded. The Majlis was a notable gathering, which met at the invitation of Mr. A. S. M. Anik. Nawab Sir Umar Hayat Khan, Tiwana, presided and members of all schools of thought in Islam, as well as non-Muslims, joined reverently in doing honour to the memory of the great Martyr of Islam. By its inclusion in the Progressive Islam Pamphlets series, it is hoped to reach a larger public than were able to be present in person. Perhaps, also, it may help to strengthen the bonds of brotherly love which unite all who hold sacred the ideals of brotherhood preached by the Prophet in his last Sermon. A. Yusuf Ali.

This article is a shorter version and has been excerpted from Progressive Islam Pamphlet No. 7, September, 1931.
________________________________________
Imam Husain And His Martyrdom

When we invite strangers or guests and make them free of our family circle, that means the greatest out-flowing of our hearts to them. The events that I am going to describe refer to some of the most touching incidents of our domestic history in their spiritual aspect. We ask our brethren of other faiths to come, and share with us some of the thoughts which are called forth by this event. As a matter of fact all students of history are aware that the horrors that are connected with the great event of Kerbela did more than anything else to unite together the various contending factions which had unfortunately appeared at that early stage of Muslim history. You know the old Persian saying applied to the Prophet:

Tu barae wasl kardan amadi; - Ni barae fasl kardan amadi.

"Thou camest to the world to unite, not to divide."

That was wonderfully exemplified by the sorrows and sufferings and finally the martyrdom of Imam Husain.

I propose first to give you an idea of the geographical setting and the historical background. Then I want very briefly to refer to the actual events that happened in the Muharram, and finally to draw your attention to the great lessons which we can learn from them.


Cities and their Cultural Meaning

The building of Kufa and Basra, the two great outposts of the Muslim Empire, in the 16th year of the Hijra, was a visible symbol that Islam was pushing its strength and building up a new civilisation, not only in a military sense, but in moral and social ideas and in the sciences and arts. The old effete cities did not content it, any more than the old and effete systems which it displaced. Nor was it content with the first steps it took. It was always examining, testing, discarding, re-fashioning its own handiwork. There was always a party that wanted to stand on old ways, to take cities like Damascus ready made, that loved ease and the path of least resistance. But the greater souls stretched out to new frontiers - of ideas as well as geography. They felt that old seats were like dead wood breeding worms and rottenness that were a danger to higher forms of life. The clash between them was part of the tragedy of Kerbela. Behind the building of new cities there is often the burgeoning of new ideas. Let us therefore examine the matter a little more closely. It will reveal the hidden springs of some very interesting history.

Vicissitudes of Mecca and Medina

The great cities of Islam at its birth were Mecca and Medina. Mecca, the centre of old Arabian pilgrimage, the birthplace of the Prophet, rejected the Prophet's teaching, and cast him off. Its idolatry was effete; its tribal exclusiveness was effete; its ferocity against the Teacher of the New Light was effete. The Prophet shook its dust off his feet, and went to Medina. It was the well-watered city of Yathrib, with a considerable Jewish population. It received with eagerness the teaching of the Prophet; it gave asylum to him and his Companions and Helpers. He reconstituted it and it became the new City of Light. Mecca, with its old gods and its old superstitions, tried to subdue this new Light and destroy it. The human odds were in favour of Mecca. But God's purpose upheld the Light, and subdued the old Mecca. But the Prophet came to build as well as to destroy. He destroyed the old paganism, and lighted a new beacon in Mecca - the beacon of Arab unity and human brotherhood. When the Prophet's life ended on this earth, his spirit remained. It inspired his people and led them from victory to victory. Where moral or spiritual and material victories go hand in hand, the spirit of man advances all along the line. But sometimes there is a material victory, with a spiritual fall, and sometimes there is a spiritual victory with a material fall, and then we have tragedy.

Spirit of Damascus

Islam's first extension was towards Syria, where the power was centred in the city of Damascus. Among living cities it is probably the oldest city in the world. Its bazaars are thronged with men of all nations, and the luxuries of all nations find ready welcome there. If you come to it westward from the Syrian desert the contrast is complete, both in the country and in the people. From the parched desert sands you come to fountains and vineyards, orchards and the hum of traffic. From the simple, sturdy, independent, frank Arab, you come to the soft, luxurious, sophisticated Syrian. That contrast was forced on the Muslims when Damascus became a Muslim city. They were in a different moral and spiritual atmosphere. Some succumbed to the softening influences of ambition, luxury, wealth pride of race, love of ease, and so on. Islam stood always as the champion of the great rugged moral virtues. It wanted no compromise with evil in any shape or form, with luxury, with idleness, with the seductions of this world. It was a protest against these things. And yet the representatives of that protest got softened at Damascus. They aped the decadent princes of the world instead of striving to be leaders of spiritual thought. Discipline was relaxed, and governors aspired to be greater than the Khalifas. This bore bitter fruit later.

Snare of Riches

Meanwhile Persia came within the Muslim orbit. When Medain was captured in the year 16 of the Hijra, and the battle of Jalula broke the Persian resistance, some military booty was brought to Medina - gems, pearls, rubies, diamonds, swords of gold and silver. A great celebration was held in honour of the splendid victory and the valour of the Arab army. In the midst of the celebration they found the Caliph of the day actually weeping. One said to him, "What! a time of joy and thou sheddest tears?" "Yes", he said, "I foresee that the riches will become a snare, a spring of worldliness and envy, and in the end a calamity to my people." For the Arab valued, above all, simplicity of life, openness of character, and bravery in face of danger. Their women fought with them and shared their dangers. They were not caged creatures for the pleasures of the senses. They showed their mettle in the early fighting round the head of the Persian Gulf. When the Muslims were hard pressed, their women turned the scale in their favour. They made their veils into flags, and marched in battle array. The enemy mistook them for reinforcements and abandoned the field. Thus an impending defeat was turned into a victory.

Basra and Kufa

In Mesopotamia the Muslims did not base their power on old and effete Persian cities, but built new outposts for themselves. The first they built was Basra at the head of the Persian Gulf, in the 17th year of the Hijra. And what a great city it became! Not great in war and conquest, not great in trade and commerce, but great in learning and culture in its best day, - alas! also great in its spirit of faction and degeneracy in the days of its decline! But its situation and climate were not at all suited to the Arab character. It was low and moist, damp and enervating. In the same year the Arabs built another city not far off from the Gulf and yet well suited to be a port of the desert, as Kerbela became afterwards. This was the city of Kufa, built in the same year as Basra, but in a more bracing climate. It was the first experiment in town-planning in Islam. In the centre was a square for the principal mosque. That square was adorned with shady avenues. Another square was set apart for the trafficking of the market. The streets were all laid out intersecting and their width was fixed. The main thoroughfares for such traffic as they had (we must not imagine the sort of traffic we see in Charing Cross) were made 60 feet wide; the cross streets were 30 feet wide; and even the little lanes for pedestrians were regulated to a width of 10.5 feet. Kufa became a centre of light and learning. The Khalifa Hazrat Ali lived and died there.

Rivalry and poison of Damascus

But its rival, 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. Mecca, 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.

Husain the Righteous refused to bow to worldliness and power

We have brought the story down to the 60th year of the Hijra. Yazid assumed the power at Damascus. He cared nothing for the most sacred ideals of the people. 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. 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.
Driven from city to city

Medina was the centre of Husain's teaching. They made Medina impossible for him. He left Medina and went to Mecca, hoping that he would be left alone. But he was not left alone. The Syrian forces invaded Mecca. The invasion was repelled, not by Husain but by other people. For Husain, though the bravest of the brave, had no army and no worldly weapons. His existence itself was an offence in the eyes of his enemies. His life was in danger, and the lives of all those nearest and dearest to him. He had friends everywhere, but they were afraid to speak out. They were not as brave as he was. But in distant Kufa, a party grew up which said: "We are disgusted with these events, and we must have Imam Husain to take asylum with us." So they sent and invited the Imam to leave Mecca, come to them, live in their midst, and be their honoured teacher and guide. His father's memory was held in reverence in Kufa. The Governor of Kufa was friendly, and the people eager to welcome him. But alas, Kufa had neither strength, nor courage, nor constancy. Kufa, geographically only 40 miles from Kerbela, was the occasion of the tragedy of Kerbela. And now Kufa is nearly gone, and Kerbela remains as the lasting memorial of the martyrdom.

Invitation from Kufa

When the Kufa invitation reached the Imam, he pondered over it, weighed its possibilities, and consulted his friends. He sent over his cousin Muslim to study the situation on the spot and report to him. The report was favourable, and he decided to go. He had a strong presentiment of danger. Many of his friends in Mecca advised him against it. But could he abandon his mission when Kufa was calling for it? Was he the man to be deterred, because his enemies were laying their plots for him, at Damascus and at Kufa? At least, it was suggested, he might leave his family behind. But his family and his immediate dependants would not hear of it. It was a united family, pre-eminent in the purity of its life and in its domestic virtues and domestic affections. If there was danger for its head, they would share it. The Imam was not going on a mere ceremonial visit. There was responsible work to do, and they must be by his side, to support him in spite of all its perils and consequences. Shallow critics scent political ambition in the Imam's act. But would a man with political ambitions march without an army against what might be called the enemy country, scheming to get him into its power, and prepared to use all their resources, military, political and financial, against him?

Journey through the desert

Imam Husain left Mecca for Kufa with all his family including his little children. Later news from Kufa itself was disconcerting. The friendly governor had been displaced by one prepared more ruthlessly to carry out Yazid's plans. If Husain was to go there at all, he must go there quickly, or his friends themselves would be in danger. On the other hand, Mecca itself was no less dangerous to him and his family. It was the month of September by the solar calendar, and no one would take a long desert journey in that heat, except under a sense of duty. By the lunar calendar it was the month of pilgrimage at Mecca. But he did not stop for the pilgrimage. He pushed on, with his family and dependants, in all numbering about 90 or 100 people, men, women and children. They must have gone by forced marches through the desert. They covered the 900 miles of the desert in little over three weeks. When they came within a few miles of Kufa, at the edge of the desert, they met people from Kufa. It was then that they heard of the terrible murder of Husain's cousin Muslim, who had been sent on in advance. A poet that came by dissuaded the Imam from going further. "For," he said epigramatically, "the heart of the city is with thee but its sword is with thine enemies, and the issue is with God." What was to be done? They were three weeks' journey from the city they had left. In the city to which they were going their own messenger had been foully murdered as well as his children. They did not know what the actual situation was then in Kufa. But they were determined not to desert their friends.

Call to Surrender or Die

Presently messengers came from Kufa, and Imam Husain was asked to surrender. Imam 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 Mecca; 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. Of course he did not surrender. But what was he to do? He had no army. He had reasons to suppose that many of his friends from distant parts would rally round him, and come and defend him with their swords and bodies. But time was necessary, and he was not going to gain time by feigned compliance. He turned a little round to the left, the way that would have led him to Yazid himself, at Damascus. He camped in the plain of Kerbela.

Water cut off; Inflexible will, Devotion and Chivalry

For ten days messages passed backwards and forwards between Kerbela and Kufa. Kufa wanted surrender and recognition. That was the one thing the Imam could not consent to. Every other alternative was refused by Kufa, under the instructions from Damascus. Those fateful ten days were the first ten days of the month of Muharram, of the year 61 of the Hijra. The final crisis was on the 10th day, the Ashura day, which we are commemorating. During the first seven days various kinds of pressure were brought to bear on the Imam, but his will was inflexible. It was not a question of a fight, for there were but 70 men against 4,000. The little band was surrounded and insulted, but they held together so firmly that they could not be harmed. On the 8th day the water supply was cut off. The Euphrates and its abundant streams were within sight, but the way was barred. Prodigies of valour were performed in getting water. Challenges were made for single combat according to Arab custom. And the enemy were half-hearted, while the Imam's men fought in contempt of death, and always accounted for more men than they lost. On the evening of the 9th day, the little son of the Imam was ill. He had fever and was dying of thirst. They tried to get a drop of water. But that was refused point blank and so they made the resolve that they would, rather than surrender, die to the last man in the cause for which they had come. Imam Husain offered to send away his people. He said, "They are after my person; my family and my people can go back." But everyone refused to go. They said they would stand by him to the last, and they did. They were not cowards; they were soldiers born and bred; and they fought as heroes, with devotion and with chivalry.

The Final Agony; placid face of the man of God

On the day of Ashura, the 10th day, Imam Husain's own person was surrounded by his enemies. He was brave to the last. 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. In this crisis we have details of what took place hour by hour. He had 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. All the men of that gallant band were exterminated and their bodies trampled under foot by the horses. The only male survivor was a child, Husain's son Ali, surnamed Zain-ul-'Abidin - "The Glory of the Devout." He lived in retirement, studying, interpreting, and teaching his father's high spiritual principles for the rest of his life.

Heroism of the Women
There were women: for example, Zainab the sister of the Imam, Sakina his little daughter, and Shahr-i-Banu, his wife, at Kerbela. A great deal of poetic literature has sprung up in Muslim languages, describing the touching scenes in which they figure. Even in their grief and their tears they are heroic. They lament the tragedy in simple, loving, human terms. But they are also conscious of the noble dignity of their nearness to a life of truth reaching its goal in the precious crown of martyrdom. One of the best-known poets of this kind is the Urdu poet Anis, who lived in Lucknow, and died in 1874.

Lesson of the Tragedy

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 out-flowing 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. And that can only be done by the highest examples of man's conduct - spiritual striving and suffering enduring firmness of faith and purpose, patience and courage where ordinary mortals would give in or be cowed down, the sacrifice of ordinary motives to supreme truth in scorn of consequence. The martyr bears witness, and the witness redeems what would otherwise be called failure. It so happened with Husain. For all were touched by the story of his martyrdom, and it gave the deathblow to the politics of Damascus and all it stood for. And Muharram has still the power to unite the different schools of thought in Islam, and make a powerful appeal to non-Muslims also.

Explorers of Spiritual Territory

That, to my mind, is the supreme significance of martyrdom. All human history shows that the human spirit strives in many directions, deriving strength and sustenance from many sources. Our bodies, our physical powers, have developed or evolved from earlier forms, after many struggles and defeats. Our intellect has had its martyrs, and our great explorers have often gone forth with the martyrs' spirit. All honour to them. But the highest honour must still lie with the great explorers of spiritual territory, those who faced fearful odds and refused to surrender to evil. Rather than allow a stigma to attach to sacred things, they paid with their own lives the penalty of resistance. The first kind of resistance offered by the Imam was when he went from city to city, hunted about from place to place, but making no compromise with evil. Then was offered the choice of an effectual but dangerous attempt at clearing the house of God, or living at ease for himself by tacit abandonment of his striving friends. He chose the path of danger with duty and honour, and never swerved from it giving up his life freely and bravely. His story purifies our emotions. We can best honour his memory by allowing it to teach us courage and constancy.
Abdullah Yusuf Ali is a renowned English translator and commentator of the Holy Qur'an. He died in 1952 in England. Little would he have known that his English translation and commentary of the Qur'an would become so popular in the West and East alike, wherever English is read and understood. This article has been excerpted from a longer version that was published in the Progressive Islam Pamphlet No. 7, September, 1931. The complete article can be viewed at al-islam.org.

[anajmi]

Think about this for a second. Consider the stories written in the Quran. Consider every single prophet of Allah almighty.

Nuh (as) saved from the flood.
Ibrahim (as) saved from the fire.
Ismail (as) saved from the knife.
Lut (as) saved from destruction.
Moosa (as) saved from the pharaoh.
Yunus (as) saved from ocean in the belly of the whale.
Yusuf (as) saved from the well.
Hud (as) saved from the wind.
Isa (as) saved from the cross.

And we have spent the last 14 centuries crying about the sacrifice made my Hussain to save Islam. Seriously? Islam doesn't get saved by killing off the best muslims around. If Hussain had lived, the lives of the bohras would probably be free from the oppression that the bohras have to go through every Moharram in the name of Ashara Mubaraka!!

[Aftaab]

to be honest in some corner of my heart I do believe, Hussain had to be saved by ALLAH, because the bloody war in which small kids have been killed doesn't goes with shaan of ALLAH.

in one sense Hussain did win the war, because his name is still alive.

but again I have no idea why he would take his kids and women for an uncertain journey, which could endanger his whole family.

but I am still doing research on it, and trying to find out what is truth.

[Bohra spring]

Aftab you can try by trying to find out if the history is authentic.

See how we have come to know about Husayn , almost a century after the actual events. We have to be very careful.

Historiography of the battle of Karbala[edit]

See also: Maqtal al-Husayn
Primary sources[edit]
The first historian to systematically collect the reports of eyewitnesses of this event was Abu Mikhnaf (died in 157 AH/774 CE) in a work titled Kitab Maqtal Al-Husayn.[75] Abi Mikhnaf's original seems to have been lost and that which has reached today has been transmitted through his student Hisham Ibn Al-Kalbi (died in 204 AH.) There are four manuscripts of the Maqtal, located at Gotha (No. 1836), Berlin (Sprenger, Nos. 159–160), Leiden (No. 792), and Saint Petersburg (Am No. 78) libraries.[76]
Rasul Jafarian has counted five primary sources that are now available. Among the original works on maqātil (pl. of maqtal or place of death / martyrdom and hence used for books narrating the incident of Karbala) the ones that could be relied upon for reviewing the Karbala happenings are five in number. All these five maqtals belong to the period between the 2nd century AH (8th CE) and the early 4th century AH (10th CE). These five sources are the Maqtal al-Husayn of Abu Mikhnaf; the Maqtal al-Husayn of Ibn Sa'd al-Baghdadi, Sunni historian; the Maqtal al-Husayn of Al-Baladhuri, Sunni Historian; the Maqtal al-Husayn of Abū Ḥanīfa Dīnawarī, and the Maqtal al-Husayn of Ahmad ibn A'zham.[77]
However, some other historians have recognized some of these as secondary sources. For example Laura Veccia Vaglieri has found that Al-Baladhuri (died 279AH/892-893CE) like Tabari has used Abu Mikhnaf but has not mentioned his name.[78] On the basis of the article of "Abi Mikhnaf" in "Great Islamic Encyclopedia" Ahmad ibn A'zham has mentioned Abu Mikhnaf in "Al-Futuh" thus he should be recognized as secondary source.[79]
Secondary sources[edit]
Then latter Muslim historians have written their histories on the basis of the former ones especially Maqtal Al-Husayn of Abu Mikhnaf. However they have added some narrations through their own sources which were not reported by former historians.
Muhammad ibn Jarir al-Tabari narrated this story on the basis of Abu Mikhnaf's report through Hisham Ibn Al-Kalbi in his history, History of the Prophets and Kings.[80] Also there is fabricated version of Abu Mekhnaf's book in Iran and Iraq.[75] Then other Sunni Muslim historians including Al-Baladhuri and Ibn Kathir narrated the events of Karbala from Abu Mikhnaf. Also among Shia Al-Shaykh Al-Mufid used it in Irshad.[81] However, followers of Ali – later to be known as Shia Muslims – attached a much greater importance to the battle and have compiled many accounts known as Maqtal Al-Husayn.
Shia writings[edit]
Salwa Al-Amd has classified Shia writings in three groups:[82]
The legendary character of this category associates the chronological history of Hussein ibn Ali with notions relating to the origin of life and the Universe, that have preoccupied the human mind since the beginning of creation, and in which Al-Husayn is eternally present. This category of writing holds that a person's stance toward Hussein ibn Ali and Ahl al- Bayt is a criterion for reward and punishment in the afterlife. It also transforms the historical boundaries of Hussein ibn Ali's birth in 4 Hr. and his martyrdom in 61 Hr. to an eternal presence embracing the boundaries of history and legend.
This category comprises the literary works common in rituals and lamentations (poetic and prose) and is characterized by its melodramatic style, which aims to arouse pity and passion for Ahl al- Bayt's misfortunes, and charge feelings during tempestuous political circumstances on the memory of Ashura.
This category is the nearest to Sunni writings because it fully cherishes the historical personality of Hussein ibn Ali and regards the Karbala incident as a revolt against oppression; dismissing the legendary treatment, while using the language of revolt against tyranny and despotic sovereignty. A model writer of this category is Mohamed Mahdi Shams Al-Din.
History distortion[edit]
As Jafarian says "The holding of mourning ceremonies for Hussein ibn Ali was very much in vogue in the eastern parts of Iran before the Safavids came to power. Kashefi wrote the "Rawzah al-Shuhada" for the predominantly Sunnis region of Herat and Khurasan at a time when the Safavid state was being established in western Iran and had no sway in the east."[83]
After the conversion of Sunni Iran to the Shia faith, many Iranian authors composed poems and plays commemorating the battle.[84] Most of these compositions are only loosely based upon the known history of the event.[83]
Some 20th-century Shia scholars have protested the conversion of history into mythology. Prominent critics include:
Morteza Motahhari[85][86][87]
Abbas Qomi, author of Nafas al-Mahmoum[88]
Sayyid Abd-al-Razzaq Al-Muqarram, author of Maqtalul-Husayn[89]
Also several books have been written in Persian language about political backgrounds and aspects of the battle of Karbala.[90]
Impact on literature[edit]

Mourning of Muharram
Events
Battle of Karbala
Figures
Imam Husayn
Ali Akbar ibn Husayn
Ali Asghar ibn Husayn
al-Abbas ibn Ali
Zaynab bint Ali
Sukayna bint Husayn
Muslim ibn Aqeel
Places
Imam Husayn Shrine
Hussainia
Times
Day of Ashura
Arba'een
Customs
Majlis-e-Aza
Marsia
Noha
Soaz
Ta'zieh
Tabuik
Hosay
Chup Tazia
The theme of suffering and martyrdom occupies a central role in the history of religion from the earliest time. Sacrifices are a means for reaching higher and loftier stages of life; to give away parts of one's fortune or to sacrifice members of one's family enhances one's religious standing. Taking into account the importance of sacrifice and suffering for the development of man, Shia literature has given a central place to the death on the battlefield of Muhammed's grandson Hussein ibn Ali.[citation needed] The development of the whole genre of marsia poetry and ta'zieh theatre in the Persian and Indo-Persian world, or in the popular Turkish tradition is in this way.[citation needed]
Persian literature[edit]
The name of Hussein ibn Ali appears several times in the work of the first great Sufi Persian[91] poet, Sanai. Here, the name of the martyred hero can be found now and then in connection with bravery and selflessness, and Sanai sees him as the prototype of the shahid (martyr), higher and more important than all the other martyrs who are and have been in the world.[92]
The tendency to see Hussein ibn Ali as the model of martyrdom and bravery continues in the poetry written in the Divan of Attar.
When Shiism became the official religion of Iran in the 15th century, Safavid rulers such as Shah Tahmasp I, patronized poets who wrote about the tragedy of Karbala, and the genre of marsia, according to Persian scholar Wheeler Thackston, "was particularly cultivated by the Safavids."[93]
The most well-known 15th-century Persian marsiya writer was Mohtasham Kaashaani,[94] whose works consequently became a source of elegy emulation for Iranians.
Azeri and Turkish literature[edit]
Turkish tradition, especially in the later Bektashi Order, is deeply indebted to Shia Islam. But it seems that already in some of the earliest popular Sufi songs in Turkey, those composed by Yunus Emre in the late 13th or early 14th century, Muhammed's grandsons played a special role.[95]
Sindhi literature[edit]
As in many other fields of Sindhi poetry, Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai of Bhitshah (1689–1752) is the first to express ideas which were later taken up by other poets. He devoted "Sur Kedaro" in his Shah Jo Risalo to the martyrdom of the grandson of Muhammed, and saw the event of Karbala as embedded in the whole mystical tradition of Islam.
A number of poets in Sindh have also composed elegies on Karbala. The most famous of them is Sayed Sabit Ali Shah (1740–1810), whose specialty was the genre of "suwari". This genre, as well as the more common forms, persists in Sindhi poetry throughout the whole of the 18th and 19th centuries, and even into our own times. Sachal Sarmast, Bedil, Mir Hassan, Shah Naser, Mirza Baddhal Beg, Mirza Kalich Beg their devotion to Hussein ibn Ali is well known and deeply embedded in their Sufi teachings.[92]
Urdu literature[edit]
The most famous corpus of Urdu poetry on Karbala was produced by two poets of Lucknow named Mir Babar Ali Anis and Mirza Salaamat Ali Dabeer. Both these poets lived in the 19th century and they were the contemporaries of the Delhi based poet Mirza Ghalib. The genre of poetry that those two poets produced is known as marsia. Recently[when?], professor David Matthews of the School of Oriental and African Studies, London, has translated a full length (197 stanzas of six lines each) Marsia of Anis into English verse.[96] This was published in book form by Rupa and Co., New Delhi, India.
The legacy of Urdu Marsia has lasted to this day and many poets are still writing that kind of poetry. Both Josh Malihabadi and Muhammad Iqbal followed the genre of six-line stanza and have produced great poetry.
But there was also another way to understand the role of Hussein ibn Ali in the history of the Islamic people, and importantly, the way was shown by Muhammad Iqbal, who was a Sunni poet and philosopher.
The Adil Shahi and Qutb Shahi dynasties of South India (Deccan), predominantly Twelver Shia in religious persuasion, patronized Dakhini (an early South Indian dialect of Urdu) marsia. Although Persian marsia of Muhtasham Kashani were still recited, the Adil Shahi and Qutb Shahi rulers felt the need to render the Karbala tragedy in the language of ordinary Muslims. In the Adil Shahi and Qutb Shahi kingdom of Deccan, marsia flourished, especially under the patronage of Ali Adil Shah and Muhammad Quli Qutb Shah, marsia writers themselves, and poets such as Ashraf Biyabani. Urdu marsia written during this period are still popular in South Indian villages.[97]
Ghalib described the "King of Martyrs", Hussein ibn Ali, by using metaphors, similar to the ones he used in his odes. Ghalib used regal imagery to underscore the virtues of Hussein ibn Ali. The marsia of Mir Taqi Mir and Mirza Rafi Sauda are similar to those of Ghalib in that they perform their panegyric function for the martyrs of Karbala; but these poets also wrote marsia in which the narration of the Karbala tragedy was saturated with cultural and ceremonial imagery of North India.[97]
Josh Malihabadi renowned as "Shair-i inqilab", or the poet of revolution, used the medium of marsia as a means to propagate the view that Karbala is not a pathos-laden event of a bygone era, but a prototype for contemporary revolutionary struggles. Josh's writings during the late 1930s and the early 1940s, when nationalist feelings were running high in South Asia, had a momentous impact upon his generation. Josh attempted to galvanize the youth of his day by intertwining their contemporary struggle of liberation from colonization with Hussein ibn Ali's battle:
"O Josh, call out to the Prince of Karbala [Husain],
cast a glance at this twentieth century,
look at this tumult, chaos, and the earthquake.
At this moment there are numerous Yazids, and yesterday there was only one.
From village to village might has assumed the role of truth,
Once again, Human feet are in chains"[97]
Vahid Akhtar, formerly Professor and Chairman, Dept. of Philosophy at Aligarh Muslim University,[98] has been crucial in keeping the tradition of marsia dynamic in present-day South Asia. His marsia rely on the images, metaphors, and nuances inherited from 19th century masters, and on the values invested in this genre by socio-religious reformers like Josh Malihabadi. On the back cover of his recently[when?] published marsia anthology, for example, is the famous Arabic saying: "Every place is Karbala; every day is Ashura." By positing a similarity between Hussein ibn Ali's historic battle and the present day struggle of human kind against renewed forms of Yazidian oppression, Akhtar deflects the interpretation of the martyrs of Karbala as mere insignia of Islamic history; they are instead posed as the sinews for the revival of an ideal Islamic state of being.[99]

[Aftaab]

thats the problem, it is very hard to authenticate any thing in islamic history specially when sunnis and shias keep trying to fight instead of finding the truth.

[AMAFHH]

Below is the Link to Full Maktal of Imam Hussain (A.s.w.s) it is in Arabic

http://www.imamhussain.org/video/video.php?id=281

[anajmi]

thats the problem, it is very hard to authenticate any thing in islamic history specially when sunnis and shias keep trying to fight instead of finding the truth.

There is no need to authenticate anything. Take everything said with a pinch of salt. Specially when people ask for money after saying it. Look at it in the light of the Quran and the Sunnah. If you find out that the final sajda of hussain was not number 52 but 53 or 51, what difference is that going to make? Bohras will still be wide open for the kothar to screw.

People keep claiming that Hussain died to save Islam. I believe he didn't die to save Islam. His death actually ended up in creating a brand new Islam.

Let me explain, in the Islam that Hussain died saving, was there an Ashara Mubaraka? Was there an Imam/Dai owning your life and property? I can list dozens of such things that were not a part of the Islam that Hussain is supposed to have died saving. Things that if an ordinary bohra doesn't do, his Dai will declare him a non-mumineen!!

[ghulam muhammed]

All criticism of the author in this book is directed to the historians, and not at all to the honorable personalities of Islam - The exalted Prophet, Sahaba Kiraam, Hazraat Ali, Fatima, Hasan and Husain, all of whom inspire our reverence and respect.

At this juncture please make a note that the entire tale of Karbala has been narrated by the so-called Imam Tabari bin Rustam, the Zoroastrian, 239 years after the supposed event. Time and again he begins with, "Abu Mukhnif said this and Abu Mukhnif said that …" Renowned scholars like Shah Abdul Aziz, Allama Tamanna Imadi and 'Maulana' Habibur Rahman Kandhalwi have conducted in-depth research and are of the opinion that Abu Mukhnif is a fictitious character. Other scholars have established that even if such a person existed in flesh and blood, he had died more than fifty years before Tabari was born. It was Tabari who wrote Maqtal Husain in the name of Abu Mukhnif. Moreover, Tabari does not once claim that he ever met Abu Mukhnif. This being the state of affairs, it becomes obvious that the myth of Karbala is the product of Tabari’s own imagination. Some said Tabari was a Shia, others contend that he was a Sunni. In fact he had changed his name from Tabari bin Rustam to Tabari bin Yazeed for deceiving the masses. Tabari ascribes all atrocities to Yazeed, yet, he associates his own name with Yazeed, a shameless attempt to get some credibility!

Dear reader! Only a few excerpts have been picked out cautiously for the sake of brevity. But I have not restricted the account to merely ten or twenty points from various voluminous books in order to convey to you what has been written in them about the illustrious Imam. "Too much reverence breeds insult", (Akbar Ilahadi). The books from which the excerpts have been taken are so numerous that several pages are needed just to record the list of their long titles. Below are given only a few titles as examples:

Tareekh-e-Tabri, Usool-e-Kafi, Sunan Ibn Maja, Shaheed-e-Insaniat, Aashir Bahaar, Sirre Shahadatain, Amali Saddooq, Tafseer Baizawi, Nehjul Balagha, Ainee Sharh-e-Bokhari, Irshade Shaikh Mufeed, Al-Akhbar-il- 'Awaalee, Maqtal-e-Makram, Maqtal Ibn Sahili, Kaamil Ibn Kaseer, Nafsil Mahmmom, Qamqam, Al-Husain Maqtali Maqram, Nasikh-ut-Tawareekh, Waqai-Ayyam-e-Muharram, Zakheera-tud- Daarain, Murawwaj-uz-Zahab, Maqtal Khuaarizimi, Manaqib Shahr Ibn Ashobe, Maqatilul Talibeen, Shahadat-e-Husain, Zibh-e-Azeem, Al-Imamat Was-Siasat, Kanzul Amaal, Iste'aab, Sawa'iqul Muharraqa, Addam'ah As-Sakiba, and so on.

All these references can be looked up in Mustatab Saadat-ud-Darain fi Qatlil Husain by Allama Sarkar Ash-Sheikh Muhammad Husain, printer Maktabah As-Sibtain


TO INTELLIGENCE ABOUND : Along with these events, the historians include a relentless exchange of verses and dialogues as if it were a vocal contest of which they were eyewitnesses, or the audio-video records were being made. This is in spite of the fact that Tabari compiled the first “History of Islam” nearly two hundred and fifty years after Imam Husain’s martyrdom. In order to keep this book reasonably small, we are disregarding much of the running commentary.

SOMETHING STRANGE: It is truly amazing to note that Munajaat-e-Zainul Abideen, and Saheefa Sajjadia written by Imam Zain in his last years make no mention of Karbala at all! The usual rebuttal to this perplexity, "Well, they are a collection of prayers." But even the prayer books of Imam Zain are expected to mention his family and the Karbala martyrs.

The son of the defeated Persia, Rustam's Zoroastrian son Tabari has woven a yarn from which none of our historians has managed to break loose.

http://chagataikhan.blogspot.in/2009/01 ... ala-2.html

[Aftaab]

thats the problem, it is very hard to authenticate any thing in islamic history specially when sunnis and shias keep trying to fight instead of finding the truth.

There is no need to authenticate anything. Take everything said with a pinch of salt. Specially when people ask for money after saying it. Look at it in the light of the Quran and the Sunnah. If you find out that the final sajda of hussain was not number 52 but 53 or 51, what difference is that going to make? Bohras will still be wide open for the kothar to screw.

People keep claiming that Hussain died to save Islam. I believe he didn't die to save Islam. His death actually ended up in creating a brand new Islam.

Let me explain, in the Islam that Hussain died saving, was there an Ashara Mubaraka? Was there an Imam/Dai owning your life and property? I can list dozens of such things that were not a part of the Islam that Hussain is supposed to have died saving. Things that if an ordinary bohra doesn't do, his Dai will declare him a non-mumineen!!

you do have a point,

for me only thing to learn from Hussain(S) and karbala is to keep 100% faith on ALLAH and to show immense love for his creation.

and to stand against falsehood without fear or counting the the numbers of enemy army.

[ghulam muhammed]

Copied from an article found on internet :-

Imam Husain and Tragedy of Karbala – A Lesson For Mankind

Battle of good versus the evil is an age old phenomenon. Every religion has some story or the other to show us the ‘right’ path from the ‘wrong’ one. Hinduism celebrates the victory of Lord Krishna over the demon Narakasura, Christians remember the crucification of Jesus Christ as a supreme sacrifice in the way of God, and so do Muslims observe Ashura on 10th day of holy month of Moharram (the day on which the tragedy of Karbala took place) to commemorate the supreme sacrifice of Imam Husain (AS), the much loved grandson of the Prophet [PBUH].

Imam Husain (AS) along with a small group of 72 men, women and children as young as six years, were devoid of water for several days and then brutally massacred by several thousand armed forces of tyrannical Yazid in the
scorching heat of Karbala.

Tragedy of Karbala is most significant event in history of mankind and symbolizes the battle between justice and falsehood, the battle between freedom and slavery, the battle between humanity and oppression.

But, without taking sides, let me say that Ashoora is first about the celebration of the victory of Moses (PBUH). The "martyrdom" of Imam Husain (a.s.) came centuries later. But people never discuss the liberation of the community of Moses (PBUH) and the supreme sacrifices of many unknown followers of Moses to achieve this victory over evil.

Let me tell my Shia brothers that if they "commemorate" the "supreme sacrifice" of Imam Husain (a.s.), what about the "supreme sacrifices" of many prophets and their followers who laid down their lives? Why dont they commemorate the brutal murder of prophet Yahya (John the Baptist) or the attempted crucifixion of Jesus (PBUH) and his suffering on the cross, or the brutal murder of Hamza (a.s.), the uncle of Prophet Muhammad s.a.w. (his body was not only mutilated but his liver was torn from his abdomen and chewed by Hinda, the grandmother of Yazid), or the brutal murder of Yasir and his wife Sumayyah, one of the first converts to Islam, .......The list goes on. Why Imam Husain (a.s.) alone?

The reason is political and not religious. Shias have been exploiting the killing of Imam Husain (a.s.) ever since it happened to get back at the Sunnis. This has been the major cause for the Shia-Sunni divide today. The Shias blame the Sunni king Yazid. The question I am asking is; why should this be seen as a Shia-Sunni issue? Even a cursory glance at history would reveal that Imam Husain (a.s.) was a contender to the title of the Caliph. He was going (against the advise of his well-wishers) to Kufa to join the Kufan forces and fight Yazid. Therefore, Yazid considered him a threat to his crown and eliminated him. Imagine someone else in the place of Yazid and Imam Husain (a.s.). The result would have been the same. So why give it a religious colour?

Dear brothers, let us stop being partisan and work for Shia-Sunni unity. Let us not allow the mullahs to play on our emotions and fight with our own brothers.

[Aymelek]

Copied from an article found on internet :-

But, without taking sides, let me say that Ashoora is first about the celebration of the victory of Moses (PBUH). The "martyrdom" of Imam Husain (a.s.) came centuries later. But people never discuss the liberation of the community of Moses (PBUH) and the supreme sacrifices of many unknown followers of Moses to achieve this victory over evil.

Musa o Firo’n o Shabbir o Yazid
Ee’n do quwat az hayat aamad padeed
(Ramooz e Bekhudi - Allama Iqbal)

The evil and virtue and truth and deceit came into being with life. These opposing forces have ever since been incompatible and in conflict with each other. The paramount paragons of the eternal tussle between right and wrong were set by the conflict between Moses and Pharaoh and the clash between Imam Hussain and Yazid and are forever personified by the struggle between those who subscribe to the values and principles of Moses and Hussain and those who follow the path of Pharaoh and Yazid.

Copied from an article found on internet :-
The Shias blame the Sunni king Yazid.

Yazid was a king.. a tyrant and oppressor. Most of the Sunnis have already denounced Yazid. So its wrong to say he was a sunni king. Divide between Shia & Sunni was not present till then.

Copied from an article found on internet :-
Even a cursory glance at history would reveal that Imam Husain (a.s.) was a contender to the title of the Caliph. He was going (against the advise of his well-wishers) to Kufa to join the Kufan forces and fight Yazid. Therefore, Yazid considered him a threat to his crown and eliminated him. Imagine someone else in the place of Yazid and Imam Husain (a.s.). The result would have been the same.

People forget Yazid was given the throne by his father Muawiya in breach of the agreement with Imam Hasan. Yazid was an outright tyrant and engaged in unlawful activities. Hussain refused to pledge allegaince to such a ruler. Assassin's under Yazid orders had already been despatched to Medina & Mecca to kill Hussain, wherever he is, even before he had agreed to join or lead the Kufan forces. So its wrong to say that Hussain fought for the title of the Caliphate.

Mudda ā yash saltanat boody agar
Khud na hardy bā chuni’n sāmmāne safar
(Ramooz e Bekhudi - Allama Iqbal)

Iqbal explains that Imam Hussain’s only aim in refusing to swear allegiance to Yazid was to uphold the truth. It is borne out by the fact that when he left Medina for Mecca, he only had a small band of his kith and kin, including his sisters and children, one of whom was just a few days old. Some of his companions were more than eighty years old. If he had envisaged raging a political battle or struggle, he would not have taken such people along with him.

Copied from an article found on internet :-
Dear brothers, let us stop being partisan and work for Shia-Sunni unity. Let us not allow the mullahs to play on our emotions and fight with our own brothers.

AGREED.

[Muslim First]

ghulam muhammed wrote:
Copied from an article found on internet :-
Even a cursory glance at history would reveal that Imam Husain (a.s.) was a contender to the title of the Caliph. He was going (against the advise of his well-wishers) to Kufa to join the Kufan forces and fight Yazid. Therefore, Yazid considered him a threat to his crown and eliminated him. Imagine someone else in the place of Yazid and Imam Husain (a.s.). The result would have been the same.

Prominent among well wishers was Hz Ibn Abbas, Prophet's uncle and Ward, who grew up in Prophet's care along with Hz Ali and is considered highly versed in Quran and Sunnah of Prophet.

[anajmi]

The paramount paragons of the eternal tussle between right and wrong were set by the conflict between Moses and Pharaoh and the clash between Imam Hussain and Yazid and are forever personified by the struggle between those who subscribe to the values and principles of Moses and Hussain and those who follow the path of Pharaoh and Yazid.

There is one big difference between the two. Moses rescued the people from the clutches of pharaoh and with the help of God took them through the red sea which drowned pharaoh. Pharaoh was destroyed and his kingdom ruined. Hussain, along with his family, was killed. Yazid remained king, his children became king after him and the khilafat ended up being destroyed!! The death of Hussain didn't do anything for Islam except create a clan of chest beaters who would much rather prefer to win in battle like Moses than to die like Hussain. Consider the Imam who went into hiding and the Dai who ran during the riots!!

[humble_servant_us]

The death of Hussain didn't do anything for Islam except create a clan of chest beaters who would much rather prefer to win in battle like Moses than to die like Hussain

Yazid had declared himself as the Khalifa of the time. He was involved in liqour and adultery and was violating the principles of Islam. If Husain(as) would have given allegience to Yazid, it would have validated the dirty acts of Yazid.
Husain(as) by rejecting the Khilafa of Yazid exposed the false Khilafa of Yazid. His martydom created a wave of awakening in the minds of people to understand what was right and wrong. This act was more revelutionary than what Moses did to the people of Israeil.

It is strange you talk about the true Islamic principles for which Husain(as) stood against Yazid but at the same time you belittle the sacrifice of Husain(as). If Husain(as) would not have created this awareness of Islam, today you would have been drinking liquor and gambling justifying it in the name of the Yazid's Islam.

[anajmi]

Actually, it is you who would be drinking and gambling if Hussain had not sacrificed himself. I consider alcohol and gambling haram not because Hussain was killed, but because it is made haram in the Quran. If you need people's death and sacrifice to explain to you that which is already in the Quran, then I feel sorry for people like you.