The Sacrifice of Imam Hussain (AS) Relevance Today

The month of Muharram is upon us again, when Muslims will re-kindle the spirit of Islam. It is said, Islam is re-born with each Karbala. Recounting the sacrifice of Imam Hussain (AS)(Alaihis Salam the reverential notation used for the Prophets family and his descendants), Hazrat Khwaja Moinuddin Chisti (RA) says :

Shah ast Hussain, Badshah ast Hussain Hussain Deen ast Hussain, Deen Panah ast Hussain Religion is Hussain Sardaad na daad dast, dar dast-e-yazeed upon the (evil) hand of Yazeed Haqaa key binaey La ila ast Hussain Hussain

King is Hussain, King of Kings is Religion is Hussain, Refuge of Gave his head, but not his hand The foundation of Truth La ilaha is

The Battle of Karbala took place in 61H, 680AD when Hussain (AS), the loving grandson of the prophet, along with most of the remaining family members of the Prophet was murdered in cold blood out of primal enmity of unbelievers towards the Prophet enmity, created from the day when Angel Gabriel appeared to him with the message, Read: In the name of thy Lord who createth (Quran, 96:1). Hussain (AS), was a member of the Ahle Bayet, the matter explained in the Quran as : Allah only wishes to remove all abomination from you, ye Members of the Family, and to make you pure and spotless. (33:33), and Say : No reward do I ask of you for this, except the love of those near of kin. (42:23) Hussain (AS) is from me, and I am from Hussain (AS) , so said the Prophet (Bukhari, Tirmidhi, Ibn Majah etc) binding his own soul to that of Hussain (AS). It is therefore incumbent upon all Believers, to have love towards the Prophet and his Ahle Bayet, and to hold them in positions of the highest honour. However, it is known that faith shall not enter the hearts of the unbelievers : As to those who reject faith, it is the same to them whether thou warn them or do not warn them ; they will not believe (2:6), and, Allah hath set a seal on their hearts and on their hearing, and on their eyes is a veil ; great is the penalty they incur (2:7). Then there are those, the hypocrites, who pretend to believe, in order to derive benefits by mingling with Believers. They profess to believe outwardly, but at heart, they are enemies of the Prophet and the true Believers. The Quran contains numerous verses warning Believers about hypocrites and telling how to recognize them: Lo! The hypocrites seek to beguile Allah, but it is Allah who beguileth them. When they stand up to worship, they perform it languidly and to be seen of men, and are mindful of Allah but little (4:142), They have made their oaths a screen (for their misdeeds): thus they obstruct (men) from the Path of Allah. Truly evil are their deeds (63:2), The Hypocrites will be in the lowest depths of the Fire: no helper wilt thou find for them

(4:145). The Prophet devoted his life to establishing Islam, suffering persecution, torture and exile but always putting forward the cause of Islam before his self. He suffered terrible oppression, harassment and hounding by the Meccans. Attempts were made to murder him. He endured numerous days of hunger and even thorns were thrown in his path. In a famous incident at Taif he was stoned and beaten severely and left for dead. He was once poisoned almost to death, which left permanent pains in his body until his death. But the Will of Allah was that he live a normal life and die a natural death - to set the perfect example for all mankind of a man serving the will of Allah. But the deed of setting the final example of sacrificing everything for the cause of Allah was assumed by Hussain (AS) which he performed on the fields of Karbala, in heart-rending fashion, enduring the highest degree of physical pain and agony of losing his entire family until when he offered his own head in a terrible tale of sorrow and pain, a tale which must be told to all children by all parents. At the very core of Islam is the concept of sacrifice. In the Quran, Islam has been called the Millat e Ibrahim or the Party of Ibrahim. Sacrifice was at the core of Ibrahims life and religion. The two great days of rejoicing (Eids) in Islam are both based on self-restraint, self-deprivation and sacrifice. You will not attain true goodness until you give of what you love (3:92). Say: "Truly, my prayer and my service of sacrifice, my life and my death, are (all) for Allah, the Cherisher of the Worlds (6:162). To understand the story of Karbala, one must take into cognizance that Islam is a religion, nay, a way of life, revealed by Divine Grace, inviting all mankind to the Blessings of Allah, the Supreme. Islam, consisting of a complex structure of thought, practices, statutes, and transcendence, spread among diverse peoples, from the West Coast of Africa to the islands of the Pacific, within a matter of a few years, an unheard of phenomenon, as a miracle from the Divine. It changed the perceptions of right and wrong, and the foundation of societal interactions of preceding generations. Islam was challenging man to reach beyond himself to reach stages of the highest prosperity, spirituality and inspiration. This could not be accepted easily by the existing power structure. Ingrained base emotions especially of jealousy and vengeance raised its evil head in the form of rebellion against the Prophets legacy. As long as members of the family of the Prophet remained, they was always a threat that Hussain (AS)s supporters would come to power and, therefore Hussain (AS) had to be eliminated forever from the Caliphate. Hussain (AS) was opposed to the profligate Muaviya who had become the self-proclaimed Caliph by conspiracy and force. He was also alarmed when Muaviyas son Yazid was designated his successor. Hussain (AS) was resolute against the imposition of dynastic rule in Islam and decided to oppose Yazid by giving support to his own followers, no matter what the cost. Hussain (AS) had previously been offered largesse and many gratuities to stay away from the struggle which he had stridently refused. Hussain (AS) wanted to save Islam from corruption, and if necessary, by shedding his own blood, and that of his children. Hussain (AS) was invited to go to Kufa from Medina to become their leader. Having reached the outskirts of Kufa, beside the Euphrates river, with a group of around 175, he and his immediately family and the other direct descendants of Prophet Muhammad (SWS), and their followers, were denied water for 3 days in the desert and ultimately brutally killed by an army numbering a few thousand. Killed were two young sons of Hussain (AS) and three sons of Hasan (AS), and also 11 other blood relatives of the Prophet, among a total of 72 killed. Hypocrites, by the names of Yazeed bin Muaviya bin Abu Sufian, and Ubaid ibn Ziyad and others were at the centre of it all. They want to extinguish Gods light with their utterances : but God will not allow this, for

He has willed to spread His light in all its fullness, however hateful this may be to all who deny the truth (9:32). The story of the Battle of Karbala is actually the age old story of the struggle in man between his higher virtues that reach out to heaven, and his vices that pull him down into the abyss of ignominy, despair and defeat. Hussain (AS) showed that one must fight and strive to establish truth and justice in the land, and for it, must be prepared to offer the supreme sacrifice. Through his legacy he established firmly the basic foundation of the religion readiness to sacrifice everything for achieving closeness of Allah, which is best for the hereafter, and is the goal of the devout. To understand the decrepit state of Islamic society today one must examine it through the lens of Karbala. Power hungry men devoid of the love of Allah, the Prophet and the Ahle Bayet, unable to grasp advances in other branches of knowledge of the last 5 centuries, and fostered by a crude zeal to acquire the former glory of Islam, not for its virtues of achieving closeness to Allah but for achieving worldly power, are terrorizing not only their own communities but the peace of the entire world. Misleading the Ummah in the garb of devoutness, they borrow from history for the sake of glory. They have no appreciation of the proper qualities of leadership as personified by the Ahle Bayet, the Close Companions, and the learned ones of society, no reflective study of the literature available on Islam, and above all, no willingness to offer self sacrifice either for the Ummah or for Allah. Today, as never before, we need to know the ideals of Hussain (AS), and remember the sorrowful days of Karbala not for worldly gain but to attain the love of Almighty Allah. Every time that we remember the gallant Shahadat of Hussain (AS), we celebrate Hussain (AS)s victory over the depravity of Yazid and Islam becomes victorious. Each time we shed a tear for Hussain (AS), the doors of Allahs Blessings open once again on the tortured and wavering souls of modern day Muslims. To keep the spirit of Karbala and Islam alive in our hearts, we must learn to observe the necessary rituals in the month of Muharram reciting Marsias or poems of mourning and specially on the day of Ashura, the 10th day of Muharram when Hussain (AS) became Shaheed. But do not think of those that have been slain in Gods cause as dead. Nay, they are alive. With their Sustainer have they their sustenance (3:169). If gratefulness is a defining nature of humanity, we must learn that there is no shame in honoring them who selflessly laid down their lives for the salvation of our souls through Islam, on the blistering sands of Karbala. We can be sure that Hussain (AS) cannot be defeated and even today the Blessings of the Almighty are with those who are with Hussain (AS).

By : Syed Mujtaba Quader