Ashura The Tale of the Imam Hussien (3 page)

Yazid became too big for his boots and assumed the characteristics of a despot who, almost as a condition of his position, made boastful and frivolous claims that he alone could lead the nation.

Hussain was, however, committed to redeeming Islam and maintaining the faith intact.

He hoped that matters will improve and kept a law profile to preserve amity. He had a clear choice: stand aside and let Yazid act according to his whims; (and thus join in and implicitly justify his abominable escapades) or counter his devious bluster. Hussain had to decide: to take the situation in its stride as a price worth paying for the "status quo"; or view it as an ominous foretaste of the consequences of the extensive damage done by the far-reaching anti-Islamic activities of Yazid, the mammon of unrighteousness, whose lust for power prompted him to beat the nation into the mould he favoured. He and his profane crew conspired to scuttle the ship of Islam by worse than heinous deeds, violating the aims for which Islam was born.

Hussain had no desire to live under such a corrupt Caliph. He wanted to act as quietly and "spontaneously" as possible so as to limit the possibilities of an open clash with the Caliph. But Yazid bargained hard. Hussain could not take his effervescent nonsense perpetually and did what was right.

If the moral standards of human behaviour were as high as they were in the person of Hussain the world would be a better place to live in, is the obvious inference. His incredible cool and superhuman moral courage to achieve his mission stirs our deepest emotions. His exemplary conduct, throughout, and adorable, conscience tore Yazid's monstrous designs to shreds.

The virtuous people will continue to do their duty to maintain righteousness in this world and in this they are entitled to universal recognition and support. Hussain's acceptance of persecution in the cause of humanity was most convincing and moving proof of God's immanence in men. He was a man par excellence who maintained the highest standards set by the martyrs and heroes of all ages. With a courage that was more than human he managed to leave a message for the entire world: "Do not submit to exploitation, of any kind; maintain a tenacious grip on veracity; better die with honour than live in shame". He surely deserves universal recognition. "He is an immortal heir of Universal praise". Fourteen Hundred years have passed but the memory of that adorable hero, who resolutely faced the soul-searing trials and tribulations, has not diminished. On the contrary, it has grown in intensity. Imbued with exemplary fortitude, moral fibre and aplomb, Hussain has emerged as the most revered and meritorious martyr the world has produced, who established the highest standards of excellence of which humanity prides itself.

He was the odour of sanctity; the beauty of holiness. Here is a resolute hero, well past the prime of life, who is prepared to brace himself to confront the lurking menace and the acrimonious campaign of the powerful Caliph - to forestall a social and moral disaster. By this action he affirmed forever that it is both a social and moral duty to act when confronted with such situations and people who do not act have only themselves to blame if false values arc imposed on them. Virtuous people who were endowed with sagacity and foresight always disliked sitting on the fence just listening to scheming delinquent busybodies. They acted. They were people who valued rectitude.

And all they asked of the party in power was that they enunciated edicts which were not obnoxious and did not blatantly infringe the higher values of life. The society would indeed pay a heavy price if it ignores reformers and thus extrudes righteousness for good. Any social order, if it seeks continuous satisfaction with a bad regime, of lives in constant fear of it, when all is not well, is heading towards abject catastrophe and total disintegration. These are the situations where a "Hussain" is required. He positively had a clear concept of a healthy social order. His endearing story could not have survived without the impetus of a powerful personality behind it.

Faith and conviction prompted his motley band of men, women and children, of widely differing ages, to defy the stupendous odds. The youngest martyr was Abdullah, Hussain's infant son, the buoyancy of whose innocent brood refloated the sinking ship of Islam. It seems extraordinary that a handful of men, including small boys -some of them hardly eight or nine years - could produce results that were not only amazing but perfectly sustained through the long passage of time. It was an intense collective action - immaculate, controlled, restrained and selfless.

The conflict between good and evil remains perpetual. Both persist in their efforts to sustain. We are besieged by irresistible evil forces. We helplessly oscillate between the two and find ourselves pathetically bogged down in this quagmire. But somehow "the foot prints" of Hussain, "On the sand of time", show us the way. It is for us follow them or go astray.

Our society is swamped by mindlessness. We find ourselves perpetually obsessed by a nauseating craving for terrestrial and temporal gratification, beckoned by the primrose path of pleasure, oblivious of the values of life.

In this situation remember Hussain. Had he surrendered to Yazid, there was "bed or roses" for him but he opted for "bed of thorns".

Total abandonment of the worldly pursuits and progress, for ordinary mortals like most of us, (barring canoodling with debauchery and other frivolous sensual pleasures which are certainly execrable), is neither desirable nor feasible, in the present day world. But if we shift the stress from temporal to spiritual gains we will neither get "icebound" nor tossed around in the turbulent ocean of terrestrial life. This inexorable logic is perfectly rational and a readily accessible compromise. It would do us a deal of good. It would mean that we would be able to devote more time to honest activities. It has the simplest logical ways of making the world a better and more peaceful place to live in. It sounds rather a grandiose kind of idea but it is one that could be perfectly feasible, efficacious and irrefrangible. There is nothing really demanding about such an approach towards life, only a bit of self discipline and genuine introspection will serve the purpose. Our lives will be characterised by benevolence and magnanimity and through individual goodness a healthy society will emerge, peace and justice would prevail.

Finally: Hussain realised that no common beliefs held him and Yazid together. Hussain thought that Islam should be better acted, better practised and better observed. In short, better presented to comply with the holy text (Qur'an) and the divine will.

He administered a shock treatment, to achieve this aim, and the world of Islam came out of the deep slumber, with a jolt, as a direct result of his sacrifice. He deployed a singular strategy; lost the battle yet won the campaign. The total effect was immensely impressive all of which stemmed from his steadfastness that is to say faithfulness to the religious principles. Hussain established a new moral and religious consensus to which even (most of) his opponents felt constrained to make obeisance.

"Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few" - Winston Churchill

Part 1 - Deliberation and Prepartion

At the dawn of the 10th of Muharram, 62 A.H. (680 AD.) after Imam Hussain (A) led his followers for the morning prayer he wore the coat of arms of his grandfather, the Apostle of Allah (SAW), and put his turban on; he wore his father's sword, "Thul-Fiqar" or The two-pronged.

He then addressed his followers, stating with praise of and thanks-giving to Allah, "Allah has destined that you and me shall be killed today. I, therefor, would urge you to be resilient in fighting".

Thereupon, he mobilised his band for war. They were, as later related through Imam Mohammad al-Baqir (A), 45 horsemen and 100 foot soldiers. He made Zuhair bin (son of) Alqain commander of the right flank, Habib bin Mudhahir the left flank, and his household in the centre; he en-trusted the bearing of the standard to his brother Al-Abbas (A). The troops gathered in front of the tents where women and children were housed. He ordered the digging of a trench, surrounding the tents enclosure from the back, filling it with firewood during the night of the tenth of Muharram, setting fire to it when fighting broke out so that it may serve as a back buffer between his fighters and the enemy's army.

Part 2 - The Arena (The desert of Kerbala, Iraq)

A sweltering, simmering, broiling land
Igneous, sultry, arid sand.
No bramble (or thistle) it boasts
A crop of humpbacked dunes it hosts
A torrid, baking, seething place
Even delusion, cannot verdure trace.
Exhausted earth's infecund plot
Anhydrous, husky, soapless, spot.
Parched fragment of a barren world
A glowing meteor to the earth hurled.
No cheerless, forlorn cactus grows
Hellish, blustering simoom blows.
The blazing, fiery, flaming sun
An eerie desolation; the valiant shun.
A spooky silence, ominous hush
The wind escapes it, with a rush.
The terra firma appears ablaze
The earth stunned, in a languid daze.
A vision, on earth, of a virtual hell
A stretch of furnace, a fiery shell
The heatwave diffuses thermal haze
The fervid ether forbids the gaze.
The primeval sands primordial heat
With contempt does inferno treat
Behold a dauntless, valiant band
Stands, resolutely, on this land.
The Profit's grandson; with his group
A tranquil Guild, not a militant troop.
In this sombre, dreary terrain
They, their reverence did sustain.

Omar bin Sa'ad, the commander of the enemy's army came with 30,000 of troops. He made Amr bin al-Hajjaj az-Zubaidi the commander of the right flank of his army and Shimr bin Thil al-Jawshan the commander of the left flank. Izra bin Qais Al-Ahnasi was made the commander of the horsemen, Shibth bin Ribi'e took charge of the archers.

"Suddenly a deafening tumult I heard,
Thundering of myriad hooves, converged.
A tremor struck, the earth did shake,
My tranquillity disrupted, I was awake.
Loomed, ominously, a host of swords,
Rush, headlong, did furious hordes.
The glint of tinsel arms appeared,
As their coursers they spurred.
My waves, in terror, rushed, did flee
As their identity dawned on me.
Their sinister countenance, hideous looks,
Depicted a pack of depraved crooks.
Their obliquity; their visage betrayed,
A flash flood hit me (was dismayed)

Part 3 - Meeting the Enemy

When the two belligerent sides confronted each other and the fire was raging in the trench, Shimr shouted, "Oh Hussain! you are in a hurry to go to hell fire before the day of judgement!" Hussain enquired: Isn't this Shimr bin Thil al-Jawshan; he was told that it was him. Hussain then retorted "Oh son of goatherdess! You are more deserving to burn in it".

When Imam Hussain (A) saw their gathering, which was like a torrent he raised both his hands to the sky and prayed, "Oh My Lord! You are my haven in every mishap, my hope in every predicament my refuge and defender in every ordeal. How many a distress that weakens the heart, makes the enemy rejoices at the misfortune when I entrusted it to You and resorted to You out of preference over others, you did not let me down and had driven away and eliminated all these distressing things. You are the Giver of every boon and the ultimate source of every wish to be granted."

Qaiyim bin Haseen Al-Fizari shouted, "Oh Hussain and followers of Hussain! Can't you see the water of the Euphrates the currents of which twist like the bellies of snakes? I swear by the Almighty you are not going to drink a drop of it until you taste death in doses". It is worth noting that Imam Hussain and his followers were denied access to the water the days earlier at the orders of Ibn Ziyed through Ibn Sa'ad. This was achieved by stationing 500 horsemen between Imam Hussain's camp and the River Euphrates. Imam Hussain was forced to ask his brother Al-Abbas to bring them water on two occasions before the 10th of Muharram. The enemy troops made it exceptionally difficult for Imam Hussain and his band to get water supplies on the night and day of 10th Muharram.