The Morning of Ashoura

When, in the morning, the soldiers approached Husain, peace be upon him, he raised his hands and said:

O, Allah, I entreat thee! In all sorrow and sadness, you are my support and the one upon whom I rely! And you are my hope in all my troubles! And in everything that happens to me and whatever comes down upon me, you are my power and certainty.

How many difficulties and sorrows there are which weaken the heart; and solutions and strategies fall short in solving them; and friends leave a person alone; and enemies unleash their cruel tongues. I have brought the weight of this sadness and troubles to you; and I complain to you about them; because I lean and gravitate toward you; and because I tend toward no other! So Allah, do away with all of these and take care of my affairs completely!

Thus, oh my Lord! You are the Waliy of all good things! And the holder of all Goodness; and the destination of all longing!

We could Never Abandon You!

Near sunset on Tasua, the ninth of Muharram, the Eminent Lord of the Martyrs, peace be upon him, gathered his companions. The Eminent Ali ibn Husain, Zain ul Abideen said, “At that time I was ill, but went close so I could hear what he was saying to them. I heard my father speak thus to his companions.

‘I praise Allah, with the best of all praises; and I praise him in times of happiness as well as in times of trouble.

O Allah! I truly praise and thank you for ennobling us with the Prophecy! And for teaching us the Quran! And that you made us experts, knowledgeable in religion!

Now, I know of no companions better and more loyal than mine, and no family that has more goodness or a better lineage than mine; therefore, Allah, on my behalf, give them the best possible rewards.

Know that I give you all my permission to leave; so, all of you may leave. I have unfastened your oath of allegiance to me and I have no claim or right upon you.

The night has come and covers you; ride it like a fast camel; and disperse!’

His brothers and children, and the sons of his brother and the sons of Abullah ibn Jafar and Muslim bin Ausjeh, and Zuhair ibn Al Qayn and a group of others stood; And all of them said in an pleading tone: ‘We won’t remain alive with you after you! May Allah not keep us alive after you! Never, never, will we do such a thing; rather we wish we had several lives and we could sacrifice them all for you!’”

Advice and Warning!

The journey of Imam Husain, peace be upon him, was a journey of guidance. The Imam is responsible for leading the people toward Allah, and that Eminent one never abandoned that mission. Thus, at a place called “Baida”, he stopped to speak to his companions, and to advise the companions of Hurr, perhaps to shed some light into their dark hearts.

He praised Allah and Glorified him and then said:

O people, The Messenger of Allah, Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him and his family said: Whoever sees that a-- tyrannical leader makes what Allah has forbidden permissible; and breaks the commitment with Allah, and acts contrary to the custom of the Messenger of Allah, Allah’s greetings and salutations be upon him and his family; and, in the midst of servants of Allah sins and oppresses--and seeing all this remains silent, and not critical either through actions or through his speech, and does not refute or censure, then Allah has made it mandatory upon Himself to take that person to the same place that He takes the oppressive leader. [Hell]

Be aware that the Ummayyeds, those tyrannical and oppressive rulers, are continually following the Devil; they consider it their duty to obey him. They have abandoned obedience to the Merciful Lord; their nastiness and corruption is apparent. They have suspended all the limits that Allah set up. They consider all the spoils of war, and all the wealth of the Muslim treasury to belong to them personally. They permit what Allah has forbidden; and they forbid what Allah has forbidden.

I am more worthy than any one else (in preventing this matter and in forbidding it, and in taking the helm of the matters of the Muslims, so that the rules of the Quran and the Messenger of Allah will be acted upon)

Your letters have reached me! And your messages have come to me, saying t hat you have all paid allegiance to me; that you would not turn me over to the enemy; and that you would not leave me alone, with no support, and that you would not forsake me, throwing me into difficulties and misfortune.

If you stand firm in your allegiance now, this is the way of growth and blessings.

I am Husain the son of Ali, I am the son of Fatima, the daughter of the Messenger of Allah, Allah’s greetings and salutations be upon him.

My self is with your selves; and my family are with your families! (In terms of life, I claim no difference between us; and I have not set aside any wealth or position just for myself! Myself and my families are like you and your families)

However, I am your model and exemplar (whom you must follow; and know that I am your leader and Imam! And you have to imitate and follow me in the way that I forego a luxurious life, and I abandon all watesfulness, and in not touching the spoils of war and public wealth.)

And if you do not, and instead if you break your promise and remove the yoke of allegiance from your shoulders, I swear by my own soul that such an action is not improbable for you, nor would it be anything new!

You have done the same to my father, to my brother, and my cousin Muslim ibn Aqil;

Deceived and duped is the person who would fall for your enticement.

Because you have turned away from what would benefit you, and upset your own good fortune! You’ve destroyed and thrown away that (guidance and goodness) which was allotted to you.

And know this: Whoever breaks their oaths, will have to suffer the serious consequences of breaking an oath;

Of course Allah will make us free of all need of you, Greetings, mercy, and blessings of Allah be upon you!

Repent or Face the Hellfire!

The Eminent Lord of the Martyrs, Husain ibn Ali, peace be upon him, is famous for this statement:

“Death with dignity is better than life with lowliness.”

And, in fact, this couplet was one of his battle cries:

"Death is better than being afflicted with lowliness.

And lowliness is better than entering hellfire!"

Note: The second line of this couplet refers to an incident which involved Omar.

Omar the accursed, the usurper of the rights of Imam Ali, peace be upon him, was the same person who ordered the door of the home of Lady Fatima to be pushed open, thus crushing her between the door and the wall as she tried to protect herself from the gaze of her intruders, a blow which led to her death just months later.

Omar the accursed was dying, and the Eminent Amir ul Momineen, Ali ibn Abi Talib came to him, offering him a chance to repent for his deeds and thus save himself from the hellfire.

The Eminent Imam Ali, peace be upon him, said to him, “Confess that you usurped the khilafat from me (stealing the right of the leadership of the Muslim nation).”

In response, Omar the accursed said, “Such a confession would bring me low, and hellfire is better than being abased.” (I am satisfied to enter the hellfire rather than to make such a confession, which would make me abased.)

I Have Nothing to Fear from Death!

Hur ibn Yazid was becoming spiritually moved by Imam Husain, and concerned over his plight. He wanted to persuade him to pledge allegiance to Yazid, and thus spare himself a battle in which he would surely be killed.

He said: Oh, Husain: Before Allah I tell you—If you fight, you will be killed!

That Eminent one, in answer to Hurr, said: “Are you trying to frighten and threaten me with death? Do you think that if you kill me, all your problems will be solved?

I answer you in the same words of our (religious) brother from Ows who wanted to go to assist [in battle] the Prophet of Allah, Allah’s greetings and salutations be upon him and his family.

His cousin wanted to frighten him: ‘Where are you going,’ he asked him. ‘You will be surely be killed!’

The Owsi man answered: ‘I surely will go; chivalry and death hold no disgrace for me; there is no shame when one

--acts for the sake of Truth,

-- fights with a sense of satisfaction and submission to God

--sacrifice’s one life and and puts oneself in the rank of the upright, pious, and righteous.

--separates oneself from the damned and rejected

--fights and opposes the sinners and criminals.

Thus, if I live through this, I will have no regrets; and if I die, no one will blame me. How disgraceful it is for you, that you would remain alive and be oppressed and tyrannized and unable to defend your own rights!’T

Imam Husain continued in his own words, words which live on in history as the slogan of free and brave people everywhere:

• Being afraid of death is below me!

• How sweet and simple is death on the way of honor and bringing the Truth back to life!

• Death in the way of honor is nothing but eternal life; Living a life of lowliness is nothing more than a death without life!

• Are you trying to frighten me by death? You are off the mark!

• I am not one to be afraid of death. My spirit is greater than that. My determination is higher than to allow me to tolerate tyranny and oppression out of a fear of death!

• The most you can do is kill me! And Good for the person who is killed in Allah’s way! You have no power to destroy my majesty, or dissolve my honor and dignity and greatness!

THUS, I HAVE NOTHING TO FEAR FROM DEATH!

Stop Right Here!

The evil, treacherous, and ungodly Umayyid government feared allowing Imam Husain ibn Alib, peace be upon him, to enter Kufa. Perhaps the people’s hearts would once again rule over their pockets and they might rise in support of their true Imam. So, they ordered Hurr ibn Yazid Riahi, the commander of a large contingent, to force that Eminent one to stop at the desolate plain of Karbala. Imam Husain, peace be upon him, did not insist on going to Kufa; in fact, he offered to return to Medina, or go to a far off land like India, but the evil Umayyids thirsted for a confrontation, what they thought would be a chance to put an end to the religion of Islam forever.

When Commander Hurr refused to allow him and his followers to journey in any direction, and forced them to remain there in Karbala, Imam Husain, peace be upon him, spoke:

First he praised and glorified Allah, and then said:

“Harshness and tribulation is something that you are now seeing and realizing with your own eyes and ears; the world and its events have been turned inside out. The despicable side of the world is now visible and on top, while all the goodness of the world has turned away. And this turn for the worse is taking place at great speed. There is little left of goodness—like a few drops clinging to the bottom of an empty container. This life has become low and worthless—like a green pasture that has been plowed and upturned, it is in ruin and in disarray.

Don’t you see that no one is enacting the Truth? And no one is preventing falsehood and deceit from being enacted? In such a situation, the believer who seeks the Truth, must certainly long to see Allah, and to meet the Truth. [In other words, no more truth and goodness is to be found on earth, so the person who longs for goodness, longs for death and to find truth in the union with Allah].

I see death as nothing but good fortune and happiness; and life amongst tyrants as nothing but wearisome and disgusting.

Most people are the servants of this mundane world. The sum total of their religion is nothing more than saliva which runs off their tongues. As long as their livelihood is abundant, they are committed to protect their religion; but when they run into difficulties and problems, and are tested, the truly religious are found to be few in number.

The Journey to Martyrom Begins here

When the Eminent Lord of the Martyrs, peace be upon him, decided to set out from Mecca to Iraq, he delivered a speech, saying:

All Praise belongs to Allah. Whatever Allah wants will occur. There is no strength and no power except Allah; Greetings upon his Messenger, the one he sent.

Death is inevitable for all the descendants of Adam.

How I long to meet upon those of my family who have died and gone before me; like Jacob longed to see Joseph!

A place has been specified and chosen for me, upon which my body must fall: I must reach that place.

It is as if even now I can see the wolves of the desert between Nawawees and Karbala are tearing me apart piece by piece, and filling their ravenous stomachs to the brim with me.

No where can one escape from the day that the Pen of Destiny has inscribed; what satisfies Allah is what satisfies us, the Ahl Bait. We are patient and persevere in the face of His trials; and He will bestow upon us the complete and total blessings and rewards of the steadfast.

The family of the Messenger of Allah, can never be separated from him, any more than the weave of a fabric can be separated from the fabric. They will join with him in the highest heaven. And the Messenger of Allah’s eyes will be delighted upon seeing them, and thus, the promise that Allah gave to His Messenger regarding his close family will be fulfilled.

So, whoever is one of us, and is ready to sacrifice his life, to give up his life blood, and has prepared his soul to meet Allah—travel, move along with us, as I am ready to leave in the morning, may Allah, the Exalted so will.

When that Eminent one began to move toward Kufa, Farazdaq ibn Ghalib, who was one of the well know poets of the time came across him upon the way. When he met him, he said,

“O son of the Messenger of Allah! How can you trust the Kufans? They have killed your cousin Muslim ibn Aqil and his followers!”

That Eminent one sought Allah’s mercy upon Muslim ibn Aqil and said, “Muslim took this journey for the satisfaction of Allah. He did his duty; our duty is yet upon us.”

Then he recited this poem:

And if it is so that the world is considered valuable; then it must be known that the next life, which is the home of blessings and divine rewards, therefore is finer to that and more noble.

And if it is such that the human body was created to die; then it must be known that being killed by the sword in the way of Allah, therefore, is higher.

And if it is such that the sustenance of the Creator is apportioned into specified, pre-destined amounts, then it must be known that being less greedy in pursuing one’s livelihood is more beautiful and finer.

And if it is such that in the end, after gathering wealth, one must eventually leave it behind, then what benefit does something have that must be left behind, that a person should be stingy and greedy about it.

The Lord of the Martyrs recited this same poem on the day of Ashura, as a battle cry.

The poet Farazdaq also reported:

“When I had decided not to stay longer in Kufa, I returned. On my way back, Husain, peace be upon him, saw me and said:

‘O, Abu Faros! What news do you have of the place you have left?’

I said, ‘Shall I tell you the truth?’ He said, ‘Yes, I want the truth!’ I said, ‘The hearts of the Kufans are with you, but all their swords are in the service of the Umayyids! Support and help is from Allah!’

He said, ‘Yes, this is something you said out of honesty and truthfulness.
--People are the slaves and servants of mundane wealth.
--Whatever they say about religion is only empty words which run from their tongues.
--They stand up for their religion only insofar as it will provide them with an abundant livelihood.
--When they are faced with trials and test, it becomes so clear that those who are truly religious are few.