Martyrdom: Arise and Bear Witness
Martyrdom
It is difficult for me to speak today about martyrdom as today marks the
Shiites anniversary of the martyrdom of Imam Husayn ('a).
There has been much written and said and much continues to be written
and said about Imam Husayn ('a) and the role he played in history. The
ancients have explained him one way and the innovating intellectuals in
another. But as I realized recently, we cannot know what Imam Husayn
('a) has done without understanding what the meaning of martyrdom really
is.
The greatness of Husayn ('a), on the one hand, and the individualistic
views of him have caused that which is greater than Husayn ('a) himself
to be concealed by the radiance of his charisma. That which is greater
than Husayn ('a) is that which Husayn ('a) was sacrificed for. We have
always spoken about Husayn ('a) but we have rarely spoken about the
purpose for which Husayn ('a) so generously sacrificed himself.
Today I intended to speak about the concept of the sacrifice which
Husayn ('a) and those like him have made and the greatness of such
self-sacrifices in the history of mankind and our religion.
And so, in the presence of the people, the created and of the Creator,
I would like to cite that idea and say something of its meaning as it
has been demonstrated by the sum total of their lives and deaths, that
idea called 'martyrdom'.
It is a difficult task. To begin with, my knowledge and my intellectual
capability do not permit me to perform such a difficult assignment. The
contradictory pattern which this issue follows (at least with respect to
myself) makes my position even- more difficult.
On the one hand, I must present martyrdom from an intellectual,
scientific and philosophical point of view. I can only use my head. Only
science and logic can assist me.
On the other hand, the story of martyrdom and that which martyrdom
challenges is so sensitive, so belovedly exciting that it pulls the
spirit towards the fire. It paralyzes logic. It weakens speech. It even
makes thinking difficult. Martyrdom is a mixture of a refined love and a
deep, complex wisdom. One cannot express these two at the same time and
so, as a result, one cannot do them justice.
In particular, for a person such as myself, who is emotionally and
spiritually weak, it is even more difficult. But I will try my best and
1 hope to succeed in communicating some of the things which it is my
intention to express.
In order to understand the meaning of martyrdom, the ideological school
from which it takes its meaning, its expression and its value should be
clarified.
In European and Western languages,[^1] a martyr is one who chooses
'death' in the defence of his beliefs against his enemy where the only
way for him is to die. But the words, martyrdom: arise and bear witness,
which exist in Islamic culture to express or name the one who has chosen
'death' has quite a different meaning from that of the western word,
martyrdom. This shows one of the differences between Islamic and
non-Islamic rites.
In European countries, the word = martyr stems from 'mortal' which
means 'death' or 'to die'. One of the basic principles in Islam and in
particular in Shiite culture, however is 'sacrifice and bear witness'.
So instead of martyrdom, i.e. death, it essentially means 'life',
'evidence', 'testify', 'certify'. These words: martyrdom and bearing
witness show the differences which exist between the vision of Shi'ite
Islamic culture and the other cultures of the world.
Its School of Thought
[Therefore] in order to understand the concept of martyrdom, we should
study it within the context of the school of thought and action which it
is based upon, and in the school of thought of which Husayn ('a) is the
manifestation par excellence. In the flow and struggle of history in
the story of mankind, Husayn ('a) is the standard bearer of this
struggle and his Karbala, a battlefield among battlefields, is the only
link uniting the various fronts, the various generations and the various
ages, throughout history from the beginning until the present moment and
flowing on into the future.
Husayn ('a)'s meaning becomes clear when we understand his relationship
to that flow of movements which we have discussed in earlier lectures
which historically begins with Abraham. This meaning should be made
clear and Husayn ('a)'s revolution must be interpreted. To view Husayn
('a) and the battle of Karbala as isolated from historical and social
circumstances would force us, as indeed it has for many of us, to view
the man and the event purely as an unfortunate, if not tragic occurrence
in the past and something for us to merely cry about (and we certainly
do continue to cry) rather than as an eternal and transcendent
phenomenon. To separate Karbala and Husayn ('a) from their historical
and ideological context is to dissect a living body, to remove only a
part of it and to examine it in exclusion of the living system of the
body.
Two Classes of Prophets
As I have mentioned in my previous lectures, throughout the whole
history of humanity, religious movements, whether related to the
contents of the religions, and conduct of the prophets and founders of
the religion or to the social class connections of the leaders of the
religion and to what they were calling the people to, are divided into
two classes. According to this classification, all of the historical
prophets, whether true or false, as well as anyone who has begun a
religious movement, are divided into two different classes:
The first group belongs to the religious chain founded by
Abraham. These chains of prophets, from the historical point of view,
are nearer to us and therefore we know them better. They consist of
prophets whose view of society arose from the most deprived social and
economic class of a society. As Muhammad ('s) said, all of these
prophets were either shepherds, as history shows us, they grazed sheep,
or a few were simple hungry artisans or workers.
These prophets stand in contrast with the messengers of the other group
or founders of intellectual and moral schools of thoughts such as those
in China, India, Iran and the founders of the scientific and ethical
schools of Athens. These latter groups, without a single exception, were
aristocrats. They arose from the noble, powerful, comfortable classes of
their society.
Throughout history, the powerful rulers of society have been one of
three groups: the powerful, the wealthy and the clergy. They exercised
political and economic power with each other and control over the faith
of the people. They co-operated with each other in ruling the people.
Their collaboration, whether or not they shared the same views, was in
order to rule the people and for the sake of the people.
All of the non Abrahamic messengers from Indo China to Athens were
either connected on their mother's side or their father's side or even
both sides to emperors, clergymen and aristocrats. This holds true for
Confucius, Laotzu, Buddha, Zoroaster, Mani, Mazdak, Socrates, Plato and
Aristotle. Whereas the Quran emphasizes,
"We appointed among the ordinary people, a Prophet from themselves." (3:163).
They were ordinary people from the masses and among the community. Thus
the Abrahamic prophets arose from the mass of the people.
This does not mean that they did not have an angelic dimension or that
they did not hold absolute powers and were only human beings. It means
they were appointed from among the ordinary mass of people rather than
relating to a special, noble, and selective class of society.
Some people believe that because the Prophet of Islam arose from among
the Arabs, he should speak Arabic, or Moses, who was appointed to the
Jewish people, should speak Hebrew. It is obvious that a Prophet
appointed from amongst the Arabs cannot speak a language other than
Arabic.
The important thing is to speak in the language of ordinary people
which means to speak the tongue and use the idioms which the mass of
that community understands. In order to speak about their needs or
troubles in a language which is understandable to them, and not as
philosophers, poets, intellectuals, scholars and educated people, they
must use a language and idioms which people are familiar with. But,
neither do they understand the thoughts and emotions of the ordinary
people nor do they understand their language. This still can be noted
everywhere. When we discuss the Abrahamic prophets, we are talking about
the people, for the mission of these prophets differs from that of the
other.
The mission of the non-Abrahamic messengers is always related to the
existing power structure so that power supports these messengers' ideas.
The Abrahamic prophets, on the other hand, were always supported by the
ordinary people against the powerful rulers of their time.
Look at Abraham. As soon as God appointed him, he wielded his mace to
destroy the idols. Moses took up his shepherd's staff and stormed
Pharaoh's palace. He brought down the wealthy and powerful Croesus,
buried him in the earth and drowned Pharaoh in the sea. And the Prophet
of Islam first went through a stage of individual development, and then
began his spiritual struggle. Within a period of 10 years, he fought 65
battles, that is, every 50 days, a battle, a military encounter. The
miracles of the Abrahamic prophets are also in accordance with their
mission. The turning of the staff into a serpent was used to destroy
wizardry and to attack the Pharaoh's throne.
The Quran clearly announces the principle that Islam is not a new
religion because, in fact, throughout history, there has only been one
religion. Every prophet was appointed to establish this religion in
accordance with the circumstances of the time and in compliance with the
needs of that era.
There is only one religion and its name is Sub-mission "Islam". Through
this announcement, the Prophet universalizes it and gives the idea of
Submission a universal, historical viewpoint. He relates the Islamic
movement to other movements which have, throughout history been fought
to free people. They have stood up, risen against the powerful, the
wealthy and the deceivers. In this way, they have shown their unity of
vision: one spiritual struggle, one religion, one spirit and one slogan
throughout the whole of humanity's history in all domains, all times and
all generations.
Let us take a look at this verse of the Quran and consider its
historical context and choice of words and see how the historical
perspective is expressed in the Quran and see how it places these
movements one after the other.
"Those who disbelieve in the signs of God and slay the Prophets
without right and slay such men as bid to justice. . ." (3:21)
We see that in this verse three points are connected to each other:
first, the signs of God, second, Prophets and third, men who call for
equality in opposing the disbelievers. The Prophets and men of justice
are put on one level. We see how a type of social encounter and
philosophy of human history and description of previous movements is
expressed in the Quran.
The Prophet of Islam is the last messenger of this religion of
Submission, which throughout history, as the Quran has repeatedly shown,
the Prophets came to bring. Their message consisted of wisdom, the Book
and justice for the world. The Prophet of Islam is the last messenger of
this world and human movement who, in the name of Submission (Islam)
called the people to serve God and the One so that they would be freed
from obeying and serving any other than Him.
The Prophet of Islam came to confirm the universal view of Unity
(Tawhid) and even to bring that unity into human history, to all
races, nations, groups, families and social classes and to eliminate the
discord brought by polytheistic religions. The slogan of Islamic unity
was a slogan which gave freedom. Before intellectuals, scholars, the
educated and philosophers became aware of it, slaves, the tortured,
hungry and the belittled were sensitive to and aware of it. It is
because of this that the group which gathered around Muhammad in Mecca
were among the most deprived, who had been belittled and were among the
most debased elements of society. The Prophet of Islam was scorned by
his enemies because only the dregs of humanity surrounded him. This is
the greatest praise today for this movement while we see that the
leaders of the Buddhist religion are all of the nobles and aristocrats
of China and India. Today, values have changed!
This is why the Prophet of Islam marked the turning point for slaves
who, throughout history, were certain that their fate was slavery.
Slaves and the debased were convinced by the tongue of religion,
science, philosophy or with the tongue of the day or with poetry or art
that their fate was to serve their masters and they believed that they
existed solely to experience suffering, to carry heavy loads and to go
hungry, so that others might receive pleasure. They were born and
created for this.
This deprived class who were convinced that the gods or God were their
enemy, believed that in order for the world to function and for the
performance of the jobs of the people, they were created as porters in
order to carry the loads. Or as the Prophet Mani had said when speaking
of light and darkness, "The wretched and defeated are of the essence of
darkness and the conquerors are of the essence of light." Aristotle and
Plato, intellectual geniuses that they were, had said "God or nature
has created some as slaves of creation and others as free so that the
slaves perform the ordinary jobs and the free ones can then be free to
attend to the higher affairs such as morals, poetry, music and
civilization."
The Prophet of Islam had been appointed in order to complete the
movement which had existed throughout history against deception,
falsehood, polytheism, creation of discord, hypocrisy, aristocracy and
class differences which were all made an object of the spiritual
struggle and by announcing that all of humanity is of one race, one
source, one nature and one God, to declare equality for all, with
philosophical explanation and by fighting an economically powerful
regime to maintain social equity.
Take the model society of Medina as an example where Balal, a debased
slave was recognized as more noble and of greater value and was treated
with more respect than the aristocrats of Arab society. Everyone
accepted his position. Suddenly the inhabitants of Medina, the Arabs,
Jews, the Quraish find themselves greeting the young slave of Hozaifah
as an equal, he who had once gone about in the narrow streets as a
debased and deprived slave, now, in the Ghoba Mosque standing for prayer
in front of the noble Emigrants of the Quraish, is one of the dearest,
most radiant figures. The most distinguished personages of the
pre-Islamic era and even of the present ones are praying behind him.
All values were shattered when the Prophet himself began his efforts to
destroy all of the values of ignorance and aristocratic thinking. He
instructed them to shorten the long, flowing robes they wore and to trim
their long beards which were signs of aristocracy. He ordered people not
to strut with pride in the streets. He instructed people to ride two at
a time on horseback. One would ride in front and another behind.
Sometimes, in order to break down the values of the aristocracy in the
eyes of the people, he would ride a donkey bare back.
One day an old woman, who had for many years heard of the greatness and
magnificence of the Prophet, came before him. She stood tongue tied in
awe of his presence. The Prophet, softly, kindly and simply took her by
the shoulder and said, "Why are you afraid? I am the son of that Quraish
woman who milked sheep. Who are you afraid of?"
When this shepherd, who was the last appointed Prophet, the last
messenger for those who suddenly arose out of silent deserts and
assaulted the lords of power, wealth and deceit in the cities, died,
suddenly everything was different. Discrepancies appeared immediately
upon his death. The path of historical events did not deviate from the
true way more than a centimetre at first. The angle which appeared
between the School of Islam and the History of Islam, between the truth
and reality was narrow at the beginning. But after the Prophet died, the
gap between them grew wider and wider. It was like the angle between two
lines which are at first close together (no more than a thousandth of a
centimetre apart) but gradually the distance expands as history moves
forward. The two lines widen so that in an eternity there are kilometres
of space between them. If other factors and causes become operative as
they do, we may see that the two lines which extend from an angle move
apart as the line of history from the line of the truth of Islam has
done in this case.
Deviations Appear
Thus after the death of the Prophet, the deviation, so very slight at
first, developed and generation after generation, the distance between
honesty, rectitude, truth and justice progressed so that after 14 or 15
years when we reach Othman he, like a magnetic pole, attracted all of
the counter-revolutionary agents who were scattered here and there. He
gathered them at the centre of Islamic power and the Islamic movement.
Othman served as a link between the mentality of the age of ignorance
and the Islamic revolutionary period. His link was the Caliphate which
served as a bridge for the most despicable elements of the rejected
aristocracy who still lingered on. They usurped the positions which had
been gained through the spiritual struggle of the Emigrants and the
helpers.
Othman bridged the gap and across his bridge of the Othman Caliphate
passed the dirtiest, half-dead, rejected agents of aristocracy. They
took positions which had been gained through the jihad [religious and
spiritual struggle] of the Emigrants and of the Companions of the
Prophet.
Othman acted as the instrument of the Ummayyids, the basest enemies of
Islam, and, through him, they not only made up for the blows they had
received at the time of the Prophet, but they appropriated the successes
of the Revolution as well.
This kind of setback has repeated itself over and over again throughout
the course of Islamic history to the point of becoming a rule - I do not
mean to say a necessary rule.- that a revolution necessarily devours
its children. But Othman allowed the faithful children of the
Revolution to be devoured. Those who wielded their swords and pursued
their jihad with faith, self-sacrifice, devotion and endurance were
destroyed by' the oppressors and usurpers of power, government, the
rights of the people and the heritage of the Revolution.
The founder of the movement and the first sacrifice of Othman and the
Ummayyids who dominated him was Ali ('a), a victim of the revival of
the Age of Ignorance by the surviving counter-revolutionaries. The
political, social and international make-up of Ali was the
representative par excellence of a new struggle, a struggle between the
leaders and the loyalists of the new set of values, of the new faith,
who rose up with new and true slogans of Islam and found themselves
confronting the greed and worst elements of the revival of the rule of
ignorance which was imposed with a new fervour. These usurpers, with new
vigour, both openly and undercover, launched their struggle against the
noblest figures of the Islamic Revolution.
The Prophet is the manifestation of the struggle of an age in which, on
the one hand, true, believing Muslims confronted foreign enemies who
were known to be anti Muslim, while Ali is the manifestation of an age
in which an internecine struggle took place between the loyal, faithful
and anti-movement elements who had donned the masks of faith.
The struggle between the Prophet and Abu Sufiyan [who as an opportunist
only accepted Islam when his party was finally defeated] was an external
struggle, a battle purely and simply between friend and foe. Whereas in
contrast, the struggle between Ali and Mu'awiyyah, the son of Abu
Sufiyan was an internal affair between friend and pseudo-friend or
should we say, 'an internal enemy', theoretically supporting the
movement.
The battle on the foreign field, the struggle with the external foe,
resulted in victory whereas the internecine struggle with the internal
foe ended in defeat. This is what is described in Islamic terminology,
in the language of the Quran, as 'hypocrites' (munafiqin) - those who
are baser and more dangerous than an out and out atheist (kafir) or
even a polytheist (mushrik). The Prophet is thus the manifestation of
Islamic victory on the foreign front,- over outright atheism and
polytheism, whereas Ali is the manifestation of Islamic defeat within
the ranks, at the hands of hypocrisy.
Confronting the 'neo-ignorance' and 'neo-aristocracy', which comes to
life within the context of Islam under the cover of Truth and the very
heart of the justice seeking Revolution of Islam, Ali is the base of
resistance. For many years, Ali struggles and strives against
polytheism within his ranks, a polytheism which has cloaked itself in
the dress of Unity (tawhid). He has to grapple with the atheist who
has assumed the mantle of Islam and who has positioned the Quran on the
point of the lance [at the battle of Siffin]. In the end, Ali is
killed by pious but unconscious people who always become tools at the
hands of a sharp enemy.
As we move forward in time, the true base of the Islamic Revolution
becomes increasingly weakened, while in contrast, the base of
neo-ignorance and the internal enemies grows ever stronger until we
reach the age of Imam Hasan ('a) (660 A.D., 40 A.H., the eldest son of
Ali ('a) and Fatima ('a)).
Imam Hasan is the inheritor of Ali's administration and becomes
commander of an army in which hypocrisy has developed affecting even his
closest friends. His best commanding officers are secretly tied in with
the plotting of the Ummayyids in negotiating with the tender of money,
power, and promises. Those officers are bargaining their souls with
Mu'awiyyah and his court, purchasers of humanity and honour, in
Damascus. From the administrative point of view, Hasan ('a) has no
authority over one of the most powerful, dangerous and sensitive
sections of the Islamic domain (the province of Syria) which has
entirely fallen into the hands of the enemy. In Iraq, the various
factions are in dissention. The aristocrats can not remain loyal to the
Alawite regime. The masses are neglected and indifferent.
The Khajirites, who are from amongst the most fanatic zealots and a
dangerous power in the populace, confronted Imam Hasan ('a) who is the
manifestation of the last struggle of the dearest, most aware and most
progressive companions of the new Islamic movement. The rank of the
hypocrisy of the internal enemy is growing stronger day by day until the
agonizing and catastrophic moment of the last struggle to defend the
Islam of justice against the Islam of aristocracy. The only alternative
is to make peace. He has been defeated. A defeated party does not
specify the terms of a peace treaty. They are imposed upon him. Hasan
('a) is broken.
Thus, Hasan ('a), who is the leader and manifestation of the spirit of
the struggle of the Revolution, sits in resistance to the reawakened
neo-ignorance. He is disarmed and like an ordinary soldier when we see
within the very household of the Imam and leader of the people,
turncoats and Ummayyid spies, those who had broken bread with him, turn
against him. They even buy off his wife and, through her, have Hasan
('a) poisoned.
We can see to what extent the justice, freedom and the people have
weakened. It reaches the point that the power of Imam Hasan, the leader
of a force which is still resisting today and defending the name of
Islam, has so dwindled that when he dies, he can not be buried next to
the Prophet (his grandfather) in Medina, the city of his grandfather,
father and mother and the city of his family, the city of the Emigrants
and Helpers of the Prophet of Islam. Imam Hasan ('a) is buried in the
public cemetery of Baqi.
Imam Hasan ('a), the manifestation of loneliness and isolation in
Islamic society, even in the Medina of the Prophet, clearly shows how
the Truth-seeking party in Islam is utterly shattered. The new force of
revolution completely overwhelms every one and every thing and conquers
in every domain. Now it is Husayn ('a)'s turn.
Imam Husayn ('a)
Husayn ('a) inherits the Islamic movement. He is the inheritor of a
movement which Muhammad has launched, Ali has continued and in whose
defence Hasan (‘a) makes the last defence. Now there is nothing left for
Husayn ('a) to inherit, no army, no weapons, no wealth, no power, no
force, not even an organized following. Nothing at all.
It is now around the year 60 A.H. (680 A.D.), fifty years after the
death of the Prophet. Each Imam chooses the form his struggle will take.
(Please pay special attention from here on to what I am trying to
express. This is where I am getting to my main point.)
The form of the struggle of each Imam and each leader is not based upon
his own personal tastes, but it has to take shape to fit the
circumstances, and evaluate the factions, and the nature of the enemy's
strength and formation.
Thus the shape of the struggle which Husayn ('a) chooses cannot be
understood without taking into account the nature of the circumstances
in which Husayn ('a) launches his particular revolt. Now, when Husayn
('a)'s turn comes, the times and the people are looking for a man. How
difficult it is when such a situation arises - sometimes the fate of a
nation, the fate of a faith, an idea, a society, a generation is looking
to an individual or several individuals in anticipation of how they
will act.
Now the responsibility of safe-guarding the revolution has fallen upon
Husayn ('a)'s shoulders at a time when the last bastions of resistance
have been lost. Nothing has remained for him from the power of his
grandfather, his father, his brother, the Islamic government or the
party of Truth and justice, not a sword, not a single soldier.
The Ummayyids have occupied every base of society. For years, the
Quraish in their neo-ignorance, dominated the values and
mis-appropriated the fruits of the Islamic Revolution. It is years since
the convergence of the Islamic Revolution has been pulled apart and the
companions and the early strugglers of the Revolution, the disciples of
the school of Muhammad, have fallen into three groups.
The first group, the one which refuses to tolerate the perversion of
the movement and stands up and dies for their cause, by the year 60
A.H., have all disappeared. Abu Dharr is no more. Ammar, Abdullah ibn
Mas'oud, Meitham, Hurrr ibn Adi have all passed away.
The second group of people, are those who have retreated into a quiet
corner. They busy themselves with prayer and ascetic devotion in
difficult times which ask for worship in the form of self-sacrifice in
which true Muslims have neither conquered nor been blessed with
martyrdom but have been tortured in prison. They have found another way.
Instead of seeking heaven on the battlefields through the ranks of
jihad, they strive for it in retreat through ascetic disciplines and
retiring in the meditations of divine love, long fasting and
mortification, self-abnegation and supererogatory prayers. The prime
example of this group is Abdullah ibn Omar.
These great figures are those who, during the age, the very moments in
which the masses of Muslims are being lashed by the whips and slain by
the swords of the agents of the Ummayyids, who are looking towards their
rising up and resisting - those who are .fostered in the Islamic
Revolution and had struggled shoulder to shoulder with the Prophet - at
the moment when they should have taken a stand on the field of spiritual
combat, they retreat to the corners of the mosques in the silence of
mortification.
Who are the best Muslim figures who are sacrificed while the devout
retreat from the agents of oppression and disbelief? Yes, those who at
such times have left the field of combat and have crawled off into the
niche of the mosque, away from society? Their hands are polluted with
crime, polluted with the blood of the pure hearted heroes and even with
their very own blood.
The conscious person feels his responsibility and recognizes the
difference between right and wrong; if he retires into solitary
devotion, it is as if he had directly sacrificed a free and conscious
mujahid [one engaged in religious and spiritual struggle] to the
advantage of the oppressor. This sacrifice may even be himself. He is a
criminal who commits a crime even if it be without pay or through
blackmail. He sacrifices the best elements of faith in favour of
disbelief. These are the worst elements. They commit suicide at the feet
of the oppressor.
The third group are those Companions who had abandoned the battlefield
in full awareness. They are from the contingent that fought at Badr,
Uhud and Husayn ('a), and the Medina of the jihad and the Prophet's
migration and side by side with the Prophet of Islam, sold off the
honours they had gathered directly to Mu'awiyyah in his Green Palace.
They collected their money by selling their accounts of what the Prophet
said and did at the rate of a dinar per tradition. These people included
Abu Darda, Abu Hurairah and Abu Mosa. Abu Hurairah, being a companion
who was always beside the Prophet of Islam, was known as the companion
who specialized in the science of hadith (relating the Traditions of the
Prophet). He had attained such eminence in the Ummayyid court that
Yazid (the son and successor of Mu'awiyyah to the Caliphate) employed
him as a go-between to seek the favours of Oreinab, the wife of Abdullah
ibn Salam.
Now what do you suppose the young people think when presented with such
a situation? Here it is the time of Husayn ('a). It is only the second
generation after the Revolution: a generation has grown up who did not
experience that glorious time, those precious victories, the zeal and
love as the Companions had. To hear such things from the tongue of one
of these Companions drew love away from the hearts of the youth. All of
their hopes, faith, thoughts had rested in the Companions who had been
trained in the Revolution.
When everyday they see one of their heroes fall, what disappointment,
what loss of faith must be their experience in that thing that they call
Islam. This is the fate of the Companions, yesterday's generation, the
generation of the age of the Prophet, the age of the revolution.
But the second generation, which comes to the fore, full of excitement,
zeal and spirit - whether experienced or not - ready for the struggle
against the order of the neo-ignorance, are nevertheless aware of what
is going on. The manifestation and leader of the second generation of
the Revolution is Hujr ibn Adi. Hujr had been a youngster at the time
of the Prophet. He had grown to be a youth at the time of Ali and then
entered the arena at the time of Hasan. He has statesman-like qualities.
He is responsible and an aware mujahid. At the time of the peace treaty
between Imam Hasan and Mu'awiyyah, he had been one of the most vigorous
and radical opponent of Imam Hasan's signing of the treaty. He had even
gone so far as to chide the Imam, saying, "You have really humiliated
the people by doing this!"
He is a zealous and fiery revolutionary but Imam Hasan takes him aside
at Medina and quietly convinces him and even makes him hopeful of the
future of the struggle. There is no clear account of this conversation
in history. All we know is that Hujr comes away reassured. Hujr is not a
credulous person nor is he somebody to accept a conservative approach
involving compromise or the logic of dissimulation, passive endurance or
a non-dangerous approach to struggle. Nor is he such an idolizer of
leadership that he simply accepts Imam Hasan's opinion without
question.
Taha Husayn ('a) (the famous Egyption writer) writes about this meeting
of Hujr and Imam Hasan as well as another encounter with Soleiman ibn
Sorad-i-Khaza'i and the Imam. As he states, Soleiman is also very
critical of a kind and peaceful compromise, yet like Hujr, comes away
satisfied with Imam Hasan's reasoning. Taha Husayn ('a) says that Imam
Hasan's argument must have run like this: any kind of open military
struggle such as mounting an army in the field would serve no purpose
except to annihilate whatever forces they had left. He had talked about
establishing the foundation for a secret organization effectively
continuing the struggle underground.
The resistance movement or revolutionary operation against the regime
took shape. It is this organization which during the two Caliphates of
the Ummayyids and the Abbasids up to the last Shi'ite Imam ('a) formed
networks which expanded throughout the lands of Islam, providing the
basis for the Shiite Resistance Movement.
Hujr, and his companions, who are zealous young men, like Ali ibn
Hatam, can not tolerate an age of suppression and black dictatorship of
ever-increasing oppression, autocracy, exploitation of the people and
their rights and the dispersion of the human aims of the Islamic
Movement. They insist on defying this perverted rule over the people who
is growing stronger day by day at the expense of right, justice and
Islam.
The struggles, under the leadership of Hujr, increased and became ever
more vigorous until the Ummayyids, through a nefarious plot, issued a
decree against Hujr condemning him as an atheist (and this coming from
the likes of the Ummayyids!). Then these young paragons of resistance of
the second generation of the movement are seized and executed in Syria
for their revolt against the establishment of Damascus, these disciples
of the school and way of Ali who loyally persevered in their
resistance.
Now Husayn ('a) appears but the central base of the power of the
Revolution has been lost. The companions of the Resistance struggle have
either been killed off or silenced. The faithful companions, who had not
sold themselves, sought the security of devotion in out-of-the way
corners rather than be bothered with the battling for that which is
right and the risks involved in social and political struggle, to
liberate the people and free them from their oppressive lot.
They have slipped into the shell of respectability, piousness,
self-centeredness and remaining silent. A group of the most notable
Companions of the Prophet have been passing their time in the Green
Palace of Mu'awiyyah helping themselves to the public treasury while the
second generation had been defeated in their striving and struggling
against the Ummayyids. The power of the tyrant, enforced with sword or
with money or with position or with deception, brings a pall of stifled
silence upon everyone.
The mechanism of neo-mystification goes into operation along with the
pressure of fear, money and fraud and the freedom of license and
corruption along with the repression of ideas and faith and a sense of
responsibility - we might say 'the freedom of repression' and 'the
repression of freedom'. In this way the regime brings about a decay of
the moral fiber of society. They bombard and obliterate the real
fundamentals, the truth of faith, the Revolution, the bases of the
movement and Islam: They paralyze hearts and minds by making sly appeals
to quietism.
The regime of neo-ignorance knows well that the danger of revolution
will not come about by destroying the House of Muhammad or murdering Ali
or defeating the army of Hasan or the secret and unmanly destruction of
Hasan himself. It knows that the uprooting of every base of resistance
or the scattering of all uncertain forces, the ruthless massacre of the
fiery figures of the revolt of the younger generation in Kufa such as
Hujr; the exile, murder or condemnation to poverty and cutting off from
the rights for which the Companions such as Abu Dharr, struggled through
the glorious power of faith, is pointless. It senses that the breadth,
the fine sensitivity of awareness, the keen edge of faith in the Truth,
the profound understanding of the spirit of Islam, the true knowledge
of the path of the call, the real meaning of the mission of the Prophet
could not be repressed by the brute force, aggression, underhandedness
and the travesty of justice which the Ummayyid establishment stood for.
Even the killing of brave souls like Abdollah ibn Masoud, who stood up in protest against injustice and was tortured, is useless along with the levelling of every barricade in the fight for justice, the eradication of every potential of resistance against the system of the ruler, and, altogether, the martyring of the true leaders of the Movement and the forcing aside of the deserving participants in. the struggle. They take the most important men into their service and the greatest talents, crushing all of the strivings, winning on all the fronts and establishing total hegemony of the Ummayyid Monarchy in all the lands of Islam extending from Syria to Khorassan. With all this, there is no way of rooting out the Resistance.
However much they want to guarantee the stability of their regime and
allow them to rule with a free hand, the fact is that all of these
efforts - conquest, gaining domination, seizing the reins of leadership,
smashing the people's liberation front, scattering and crushing all the
defenders of faith, lovers of freedom, seekers of rights, disarming
justice and finally, inheriting the arms, shields, armour and steeds of
Islam and bringing people under the lashes of their dominance - all
these efforts come to nothing.
The intelligent, aware, politicians of the Ummayyids know themselves
well. They know their people and the spirit of the times. This society
is only one generation away from the birth of the great intellectual,
social, political, spiritual Revolution which is Islam. From one point
of view this regime is one generation away from ignorance and polytheism
and the battles of Badr, Uhud and Khandaq, the age of all these leaders
of the atheistic, idolatrous, slave-dealing and capitalistic faction who
fought the Prophet.
The Ummayyids know that under the black ashes of defeat smoulders the
red threat of a potential explosion. The army may have been defeated but
Islam is still very much alive. The party of faith has been dispersed
but faith itself is very much alive. The leaders of justice and
supporters of Truth, the arms and shields of freedom and humanity all
have been destroyed. The barricade of liberty has been razed and the
base of resistance has been destroyed.
But what about the cause of justice, the worship of the Truth, the
taste for freedom and the love of humanity? Ali is slain at prayer but
what of the fire of Ali? Abu Dharr is exiled, then silenced by death at
Rabazah, but what about the rallying cry of Abu Dharr? Hujr is executed
in Syria, yet what of the rebellion of Hujr?
The true heart of these dangers, the well-spring of these revolts is
not in Medina where people are massacred, nor at the Ka`ba where people
are stoned, nor at Kufa which is controlled by a coup d’état, nor at the
Mosque of the Prophet where people are trampled under the feet of horses
and chopped down by their riders, nor even in the house of the Prophet
which lies in ruins, nor in the house of Fatima which is now ashes, nor
in the Quran which they pierce with spears. . . Then where, indeed, is
the heart of the fire, where is the constant well-spring of danger?
It is in the hearts and minds! If these two sources are not destroyed,
all the victories remain without effect and all forces are endangered.
If these two remain alive, all the people like Abu Dharr, Hujr, Omar and
Malek, will also remain alive in their martyrdom and will send new
people to the battlefield. All the Alis will reach martyrdom before
death and will die in life. But if the fire of his school of thought is
not destroyed, no immunity, either black or red - can be maintained by
mass executioners. They will not remain immune for a moment in the sea
of blood and the cemetery of death.
The mission of divine Revolution is not in the Quran, it is here.
Although Ali is murdered in the Kufa Mosque, he still exists. All of
those who are killed, all of the places which are conquered, all of the
fronts which are defeated, all of the arms and fortresses which are
taken and occupied belonged to truth, freedom and justice. The struggle
for securing truth, freedom (liberty) and justice still exist and they
are busy working on these two main principles. Therefore, these two
centres should be destroyed. If these two fire-giving, luminous powers
and the movement creating centres are destroyed, this can remain and
make a nest.
Attacks begin. Arms are gathered to destroy the two sources of danger,
the two real sources of explosion and fire - hearts and minds.
But this battle needs another type of arms, shields, bows and arrows
and another type of army, policy, design, plan, rulers and conquerors.
In the leading of this army and attack, neither gold is effective nor
the giving of rights to Rey or Iraq to rule nor tricks nor the genius of
Amr nor the works and murders of Barnar ibn Artat, Yazid ibn Mohlab and
Hajjaj ibn Yusef.
In this surprise attack, the Quran is the arms, the customs of the
Prophet (sunnah) are the shields. Thought and science are the
equipment, faith is the fortification, Islam is the flag and the army
consists of commentators, exploiters, lecturers, religious theologians,
scholars, judges and the leader. The leaders are the great Companions of
the Prophet, the important clergymen and the great Muftis.
The attack begins. The army of religion progresses smoothly and
successfully in the land where a worldly, earthly army had already
progressed and had eliminated any obstacles and resistance. Thus, they
enter, develop and progress in the two main centres of fire, gradually
conquer them, and without any noticeable resistance, they ruin them from
the inside with a terrible compound. They use an elixir, the making of
which formal clergymen of all religions know well. They transfer its
recipe to each other throughout history. It is this same inauspicious
elixir from which Moses is given the power to destroy the Pharaoh, Qarun
and made the Jews, who are more murderous than the Pharaoh, greater
worshippers of wealth than Qarun and more deceitful than Balaam and from
the lover and founder of peace, Jesus Christ, it made a Caesar with
satanic actions and disdain for religion.
The intellectual is sold and the clergy relate to the powerful. In
Islam the subject begins which changes the fate of everything. All of
the values are annihilated. They kill the spirit, change the direction
of the Islamic Revolution and finally, sacrifice the people in the name
of religion.
It is the first time that Islam, with the assistance of religious
scholars, testifies to the elements and actions of the regime. The
religious authorities compulsively believe that everything should be
related to God. Two horrible cancers fall upon the people - "in the Name
of God" and "the religion of God".
The first one is the cancer of the religious authorities. They are the
pseudo-Islamic scholars and clergymen. They are the speakers of Islam,
religious scholars and leaders of the community. They have no official
position or situation. They are not murderers. They study in the corners
of schools, learn, and teach. Who are the religious authorities
(marj'a)? What does religious authority mean?
Their thesis is that anyone, sinful or pure, anyone who has done a
wrong, a deceitful thing, created a conspiracy or committed a crime
must have hope for the mercy and forgiveness of God. He must have hope
because God has said, "There are people who are hopeful to God's
command." It is having hope that allows God's forgiveness, mercy and
compassion. God forgives and there is the hope that he will forgive any
crime. Therefore, it is forbidden for any normal man who may himself be
sinful to call such criminals bad names. You cannot call them bad names
and fight against them.
On the other hand, when you call a criminal, an oppressor and
conspirator and condemn him and on the other hand, call someone
oppressed, or slave, it is as if you claim to be God because God is the
chief commander and it is on this basis that God takes everyone's
actions into account and judges the procedure and behaviour of anyone
who is against the balance of justice. So, you do not have the right to
judge the oppressor and conspirator.
You want to establish the balance of the scales of justice here. Are you
God? Do you want to accuse people and clear their accounts before God
does so? No. It is not our duty to judge between a conspirator and a
server. We are not allowed to condemn the criminal. We are not permitted
to stand against this or that group. We should accept all of them. We
must be patient and leave the punishment of everyone to God. It is the
problem which arises from religious authorities in that they say, "Leave
everything to God."
This disease of hope or cancer of the religious authorities paralyzes
the second generation of Islam, who have not had sufficient training in
the school of Islam and who have not received the language of the Quran
and Islam from the tongue of the Prophet, Ali, the Emigrants and the
Helpers. Thus, they are obliged to receive their Islamic teachings
second-hand from those who have sold their thoughts and ideas. It is for
this reason that their awareness, findings and religious spirits are
permanently poisoned with the propaganda of the religious authorities
who are backed by the ruling regime. It is the strict, responsible
fundamentalist Muslims, sensing their responsibility every moment 'to
enjoin the good and forbid the evil' (amr bi'l maruf wa nahiy anil
munkar) thick-headed people who extend themselves by imbibing in both
God and the devil who existed side by side, one having nothing to do
with the other one.
The second cancer is the cancer of fatalism which also grows in this
period. The first religious school of thought which is created during
the time of the Ummayyids is the school of the religious authorities.
They use the Quran as a means to paralyze and destroy all ideas and
beliefs, much less jihad. The other one is the school of fatalism which
is the first school of philosophy that comes into being during the
Ummayyid times as a divine philosophy.
We are going to see what corruption is hidden behind saintly and sacred
faces. Divine Fate means, as the Quran tells us, "God is the Absolute
Commander". They extend this to mean that whatever suffering occurs in
the universe is according to His wishes. Whatever one does is done
according to the wishes of God. Whatever position one has, in whatever
situation one be in, whatever choice one makes, in whatever action one
takes - whether corrupt or pure, murderer or non-murderer, executed or
executioner, reactions to God's Will and Determinism. Whether one is a
slave or a master, are all ruled or ruler belong to God. It is God that
gives power and takes it away. It is God that kills and brings into
being. It is God that gives honor or abasement. No one has any right
whatsoever.
The correctness or attractiveness of this explanation of fatalism had a
powerful effect upon the faithful Muslims who took the Quranic words
into consideration together with the Traditions of the Prophet -
Traditions automatically produced by people like Abu Hurairah in
'Tradition-making-machines' until they reached 40,000 different
Traditions in the name of the Prophet. The Prophet-would have had to
have lived 1000 years to have said all of them.
These teachings of the scholars have a paralyzing effect upon the
thoughts of Muslims who live in obeyance of God's Will. It is explained
to them that the Ummayyids ruled because God gave them this power. If
Ali is defeated it is because God willed him to be defeated. Whether or
not one is bad or good, if the good are destroyed and the bad, rule, it
is all based on a higher wisdom that is not clear to u5 but depends upon
God's Will. It is out of our hands. Therefore, any rudeness, crime or
plunder of any position or person is considered to be a protest and
criticism of God's Will, Power and Determination.
Sixty years have passed since the migration of the Prophet. Everything
earned by the Revolution has been destroyed. All of the successes earned
half a century before have been abolished. The Book brought by the
Prophet is placed on the spears of the Bani Ummayyid. The culture and
ideas which Islam had developed through jihad, struggles and efforts in
the hearts and thoughts of the people became a means for explaining the
Ummayyids rule.
All of the mosques are turned into support systems for polytheism,
oppression, deceit and making fools out of the people. All of the swords
of the mujahids are put to use for the executioners. All of the income
from zakat and other religious taxes is used to run the Green Palace
of Mu'awiyyah. All of the words relating to reality, unity, the Prophet,
the sunnah, the Quran and Revelation are in the possession of
Mu'awiyyah and his regime. All of the leaders of the community, judges,
interpreters of the Quran, reciters of the Quran, scholars and speakers
at the mosques have either been killed or pray in silence in the corners
of the mosques or are propagators for the regime in Damascus (i.e. the
Bani Ummayyiah).
The foundations of Muhammad no longer have a spokesman nor an altar, or
a pulpit. Throughout the whole of this wide territory which included
Rome, Iran and the Arabs, no one remains who relates to the Prophet's
family or who was of the generation of those faithful to the Revolution.
The results of all of the sufferings of the Emigrants and the Companions
went with the wind. The palace of Mu'awiyyah gained a treasure, easily
earned.
The revolutionaries of the past have either died in the remote desert
of Rabazeh or have been killed in the fields of Marjal-Azar. The second
generation of the Revolution who have created a movement and fought a
struggle are mass-executed. The others are either engaged in a
pessimistic philosophy of fatalism or surrender to the side of the
religious leaders. They realize that any effort to change the present
situation is useless. Through experience they have learned that any
struggle to guard Islam and to establish truth and justice and any fight
against the ever increasing neo-ignorance, had been defeated.
So, now, sixty years after the migration, all of the powers are in the
possession of the oppressive ruler. The values are determined solely by
the ruling regime. Ideas and thoughts are developed by idea-making and
thought making agents. Brains are washed, filled and poisoned with
material presented in the name of religion. Faiths are altered, bought,
paralyzed. If none of these efforts prove successful, faith is cut off
with the sword. Now, Husayn ('a) has come up against this power, the
power which possesses the thoughts, religion, Quran, wealth, sword,
propagation, public arms and heredity of the Prophet. Husayn ('a)
appears with empty hands. He has nothing. What can he do? Can he become
an ascetic and run away to a corner to worship? Should he keep quiet
rationalizing that since he is the grandson of the Prophet, the son of
Ali and Fatima, therefore Paradise has been guaranteed to him?
This argument does-not hold with him. The other believers believe it
but he is responsible, committed. Can he change his responsibility to
perform the jihad into reaching nearness to God through reading and
reciting prayers which is certainly easier? He cannot choose this
solution because it is just 60 years after the migration and no prayer
books have as yet been printed.
He has two ways open to him - either to say "No.
I cannot start a political fight against the Ummayyid tribe because a
combat like that needs an army and 1 have no power so I have to just sit
down and perform an intellectual, a mental jihad." But Imam Husayn ('a)
cannot choose this solution.
If we see that later on, Imam Ja'far Sadiq ('a), the sixth Imam, in the
ninth generation after the Prophet (742 -752 A.D.), establishes an
intellectual school, it is because of two facts. During the last days of
the Ummayyid government and early stages of the Abbasid Caliphate, on
the one hand, Greek philosophy enters the thoughts of Muslims and on the
other hand, Indian and Iranian Sufism as well as Christianity have
become very dear to the hearts of Muslims.
Because of these, the Muslim intellectuals at the time of the Abbasids
intend to become sensible about politics. They begin thinking about
right and wrong, truth and falsehood. They begin to wonder why Ali went
and Mu'awiyyah came. They began to wonder who should rule the community
and who should not. They are concerned with the "Seven Cities of Love".
They are occupied with the relationship of the first chaos to the other
chaos' which came about seemingly by themselves. They are concerned with
the identity of the original or basic material from which God had
created the world. It is these philosophical questions of the Quran
which concerned them or the discovery of some particular Gnostic
questions in the Quran. But even if they have succeeded in answering
these, their answers are not worth a penny.
Gradually questions concerning the soul, the body, chaos, essence,
attribution, love, the first era, the last era, ecstasy, embezzlement,
etc., develop among them but the problems of responsibility, commitment
to society, the community, justice, equality, leadership, etc., have
been entirely forgotten.
The regime has begun to create its own schools of thought and supplies
them with theologians, rationalizations, philosophies and ideologies so
that the roots of Islam can be changed and the regime can then justify
its competence.
In such a situation, an intellectual struggle is obligatory especially
for a person like Imam Sadiq ('a) who has no possibility of engaging in
a political struggle, who has said, "if I only had seven faithful
soldiers, I would rebel."
But in the time of Imam Husayn ('a), the situation is different. Sixty
years after the migration there is still no sign of Western philosophy.
The sciences which convert the reality and truth of Islam have not as
yet entered into it. Islam still has its original roots, its memories
and the people still have a clear recollection of it.
Mu'awiyyah wants Imam Husayn ('a) to sit in the Damascus mosque and
teach theology, explain the verses of the Quran, Islamic culture,
monotheism, the history of Islam or the customs and behaviour of the
Prophet or anything else that he wishes. He is even prepared to provide
a budget for him providing that Imam Husayn ('a) does not engage in
political activity which Mu'awiyyah considers to be an inferior activity
for an Imam! But the Imam knows that 'the value of any action in society
is equal to how much it hurts the enemy!' What must he do? He must
rebel. Armed Revolution? An armed Revolution needs power and Imam
Husayn ('a) has no power.
A book has recently been published which has become very popular - and
has been very much attacked.
Its contents inadvertently show it to be a worthwhile book. I noted in
studying it that it is the only book among the books written by our
scholars which is written based upon studies by the author himself. All
the documents have been gathered and both views, pro and con, have been
presented, analyzed, explained and criticized. The author has even shown
great courage by not rejecting or approving them. In other words, he
undertakes an extensive study with a wide-range of references to perform
scientific research in order to be able to announce a new scientific
theory.
These are the values of this book and I admire the author although I do
not know him personally. I respect him as a scientist who has
undertaken serious research, explanation and analysis, as an
independent thinker in which he announces a new thesis: "Imam Husayn
('a) left Medina in order to undertake a political or military revolt
against the ruling government and regime by destroying an oppressive
regime to obtain his own rights and the rights of the people."
I am not in agreement with this theory, although it is an ideal one,
but it does not comply with the particular realities of the situation.
One person, in rejecting this theory, said, "Imam Husayn ('a) was not a
politician in order to be able to revolt against the ruling power."
It is surprising! For what purpose then, were the Prophet and Ali
fighting? For what purpose was Imam Husayn ('a) fighting? Is it not the
question of politics? Is it not the fact that criminals are ruling over
the people? Therefore, a person who is responsible should abolish the
oppression and by taking possession of the rulership, give the people
their rights. It is not only the right of the leader to do so, but it is
his obligation.
Therefore, certainly the Imam must militarily or politically arise
against the usurping government and destroy the powerful ignorance,
govern through their revolutionary power and establish the truth in the
community and keep the leadership in his own possession. I would like
to say that this military or political revolution is the very mission of
Imam Husayn ('a) but that he, in actuality, does not possess the
ability.
Those that believe that Imam Husayn ('a) undertook a political and
military revolt, use the argument that Kufa was a centre which supported
and protected Imam Husayn ('a), his family and the family of the Prophet
and Ali. It is correct that Iran is behind Kufa and that the Iranians
supported Ali and his family and that they even believe that all of Kufa
is in the possession of Imam Husayn ('a) and that the people of Kufa
were faithful and loyal to Imam Husayn's ('a) agent, Muslim ibn Aqil.
I assume that if Kufa is so powerful, in the case that Imam Husayn ('a)
is able to reach there, he could have transformed it into a strong
Islamic foundation and could even defeat Damascus and establish a free
Islamic government under his leadership. Nevertheless, I believe that
the movement of Imam Husayn ('a) had not been a political and military
one.
Let me add - not for the reason that, as some people say, it is a
defect for Imam Husayn ('a) to attend to politics and undertake a
political revolution. No. This is the duty of an Imam. What I say is
that he did not have the possibilities available to him to make such a
Revolution.
You may argue: How is it possible that if Imam Husayn ('a) had reached
Kufa, you yourself admit that Kufa had the possibility of defeating
Damascus and thereby giving the leadership of the government to Imam
Husayn ('a)? Therefore, why is it that you do not believe the revolt of
Imam Husayn ('a) to have been a political and military Revolution
against the Ummayyid regime? In order to clear up this point, we should
look at the start and form of the Imam's movement from Medina.
Imam Husayn ('a) leaves Medina and goes to Mecca. In Medina, he
receives the invitation of the people of Kufa, "We believe in you and
expect you to accept the leadership. We need your leadership. We will
give power to you. We will stand with you against usurpation and
oppression. We will defend you. Please release us from this exploitive
government."
In Medina, Imam Husayn ('a) announces: "Following in the traditions of
my grandfather and my father, I am leaving Medina to 'invite people to
the good and to forbid evil.' “Then he travels the 600 kilometres and
arrives openly in Mecca, accompanied by his family.
In Mecca, he announces to the pilgrims who had come for the annual
pilgrimage, "I am going to my death." A person who is planning a
political rebellion does not speak in these terms. He would say, "I am
going to fight to kill. I will conquer. I will destroy the enemy."
But Imam Husayn ('a) addresses the people, saying, "Death, for the sons
of Adam, is as beautiful as a necklace around the neck of a young and
beautiful girl. Death is an ornament for mankind." Then he leaves Mecca
to go towards death.
Is it possible that a politician, who is living in the centre of the
power of the Ummayyid tribe and is surrounded by a district of the
ruling government, in reply to an invitation sent to him from one of the
remote cities which had rebelled against the central government, to go
to them to accept their revolutionary leadership and then formally
announce, "I am coming," takes his wife, children and all the members
of his family, his nephews and all the men and women of his family in an
open caravan -not secretly - moves very naturally from one town to
another all of which are occupied by the enemy who are supporters of the
central government?
He crosses six hundred kilometres in this manner, and enters Mecca.
There, all those who are ruled by the Damascus government, all of the
powers, fronts and Islamic nationalists are gathered. Here he announces
once more that he intends to go to Kufa. He leaves by the western side
of the Arabian Peninsula and passing the whole eastern-western
diameter, in the same manner, goes to Iraq and arrives near Kufa, the
centre of rebellion and revolution. It is obvious that the central
government would not permit such a movement.
If a well-known political personality or even an ordinary opposing
politician intends to leave a country to join the revolutionaries who
are out of the country, to participate in their activities against the
regime, it is clear under what conditions and in what manner he should
leave the country and approach them.
Certainly, he should not announce it. He should not make the invitation
known. He should keep his goal and his journey quite secret so that no
one knows about it. it is obvious that if he formally announces to the
government, "I am a revolutionary who opposes the regime. I will not
give my allegiance to the regime. I intend to leave the country in order
to join the revolutionary group outside of the country and fight with
them against the present regime. The revolutionaries have asked me to
become their leader. Because of this, I am leaving the country. Please
issue my passport!", they will not issue him a passport, but will seize
and destroy him. But what does Imam Husayn ('a) do?
He formally, clearly and distinctly announces to the government, to the
ruling power, to the military governor, to the people, "I do not give my
allegiance. I am leaving Mecca. 1 am migrating to Kufa. I am migrating
to death. I begin to move."
If the people suddenly realized that Imam Husayn ('a) had left the
city, if Imam Husayn ('a) had left the city secretly, if he had quietly
migrated and through the help of the tribes, reached Kufa in the same
way that the Prophet migrated from Mecca to Medina, after a time, the
central government would realize that he was in Kufa and among the
revolutionaries. It would then be obvious that Imam Husayn ('a) had
rebelled against the government.
But the form of his movement, his moving with the caravan shows that
Imam Husayn ('a) has moved for another purpose. His purpose is neither
to run nor to seek seclusion. He is neither surrendering nor putting
aside politics and a political rebellion for intellectual, scientific,
theological and moral affairs, nor for a military revolution. Then
what?
It had reached the point where thoughts had become paralyzed.
Personalities had sold out. The faithful have been left alone. Virtues
have been isolated. Young people are either in a state of hopelessness
or they have sold themselves out. The important pioneers of Islam have
either been martyred or silenced and choked or made to sell out. It is a
time when no sounds are heard from the community. Pens have been broken.
Tongues have been cut off. Lips have been scaled shut. All of the
pillars of truth have been knocked down, and have fallen on top of the
faithful followers.
Imam Husayn ('a), as a responsible leader, sees that if he remains
silent, Islam will change into a religion of the government. Islam will
be changed into a military-economic power and nothing more. Islam will
become as other regimes and powers. When their power diminishes, when
their army and government are destroyed, nothing will remain. It will be
nothing more than a memory in history - an accident which occurred in
the past and has ended.
It is for this reason that Imam Husayn ('a) now stands between two
inabilities. He can neither remain silent nor can lay fight. He cannot
remain silent because time and the right opportunity are passing.
Everything is being destroyed, abolished in the minds and deep
consciences of the people - feelings, thoughts, schools of thought,
goals, targets, meanings, ideals - everything brought by the message of
Muhammad, all of the Islam that he brought and developed through jihad,
great efforts and struggles. All of the others are obeying the ruling
power. They are being; deceived. Their present atmosphere is one of
complete silence, palpitations and surrender. He cannot remain silent
because he has a duty to fight against oppression.
On the other hand, he cannot fight because he has no army. He is
surrounded by the ruling, oppressive regime. He can neither shout out
nor surrender nor attack. He remains with empty hands, yet the heavy
burden of all of these responsibilities rests on his shoulders. He
receives nothing from the power and the results of the struggles and
efforts of his grandfather, the Prophet, his father, Hazrat Ali, and his
brother, Imam Hasan, except an honour, a misery and a very heavy
responsibility.
He is alone, unarmed. Opposing him is one of the most savage empires of
the world which is being covered over by the fairest and most deceiving
cover of piety, sacredness and unity which the ruling power possesses.
He is alone. He is a lonely man who is responsible to this school of
thought. In this school of thought, the lonely man is also responsible
to oppose the determining power of fate because responsibility appears
from awareness and faith, not from power and possibility. Whoever is
more aware is more responsible, and who is more aware than Imam Husayn
('a)?
What is his responsibility? He is responsible to fight against the
elimination of truth, the destruction of the rights of the people,
annihilation of all of the values, abolition of all of the memories of
the Revolution, destruction of the message of the Revolution, and
protect the most beloved of cultures and the faith of the people, for
their destruction is the aim of the most filthy enemies of the people.
They want to once again create the unknown, mysterious deaths, exiles,
putting people in chains, the worshipping of pleasure, discriminations,
the gathering of wealth, the selling of human values, faith, honour,
creating new religious foolishnesses, racism, new aristocracy, new
ignorance and a new polytheism.
The responsibility of resisting, struggling and fighting against all of
these treacheries to the thoughts and crimes of the people, strikes
against the people and jihads which are performed against the new
conservatism and guarding that great, divine Revolution, are all placed
upon the shoulders of one man. Alone! No one else has remained in the
ranks of truth, justice, awareness, the people and God.
All fronts have been released. All of the defenders have either been
killed or have run away. He has remained alone, empty handed, without
any possibility, surrounded by the enemy who caused others to surrender
to the silence, to become indifferent and fall into public ignorance.
He can neither keep silent nor can he cry out. He cannot remain silent
because all of the responsibilities are awaiting the actions of this
lonely man. He cannot cry out because the sound of his voice has been
curtailed. His cry will not reach the terrible silence of the
sacrificing people; it will not reach the threat of immunity, the
negligence of ignorance, the stupefaction of the ruling religion, it
cannot effect the brawls, false and savage wars of the Caliphate which
are performed in the name of jihad, victory, profit, slogans,
assemblies, the pilgrimage, the Quran and Islam. In the meantime,
dance, music and art progress; power, pleasure and corrupt liberties are
announced in the name of the Caliphate.
He must fight, but he cannot. How strange. He must and yet is unable.
This responsibility burdens his awareness. It results from 'being Husayn
('a)' not from his 'ability'. He is still Husayn ('a) alone, unable,
unarmed and helpless.
What should he do? 'Being Husayn ('a)' calls him to fight but he has no
arms to fight with and yet he still has the duty to fight. All of the
supporters of wisdom and religion, advisors of tradition and common law,
recommenders towards goodness and logic, all, unanimously say, "No!" But
Husayn ('a) says, "Yes."
He leaves Medina for this purpose. He has come to Mecca to announce his
unique answer to all Muslims who have gathered there for the pilgrimage
ceremonies. He leaves Mecca to reply to the question, "How?" The
question existed in that important moment of history in which the fate
of the people and Islam were changing and being determined. At the
moment, all things have fallen down. All of the intellectuals and aware
people and those who are faithful to the truth, justice, freedom of
Islam and revolution, all those who could see, feel, understand and thus
suffered and felt themselves responsible, who are thus looking for a
revolution, are then asking, "What should be done?"
Everyone has an answer.
The fatalists say, "Nothing." Whatever has occurred will continue to
occur in accordance with divine wisdom and divine profundity. God wishes
it to be this way. You must be satisfied with what has been given to you
and be grateful for it, because you are not allowed to freely decide
your fate.
As they say, it is true that oppression crime, usurpation, rights,
claims of jihad, zakat (religious taxes), Traditions of the Prophet,
the victory of Islam, turning the fire temples and homes of idols into
mosques for the Propagation of the Quran to increase the number of
Muslims, exist. All these are false and deceptive.
But what can be done? A leaf does not fall from a tree unless God so
wills. God has so wished. This is how His wisdom rules. No one can
protest, criticize or even say why it is so. Everyone is run by his or
her fate. Anything that occurs, good or bad, is according to the
eternal fate and is recorded in the Quran.
If Ali is defeated and remains alone, if Mu'awiyyah conquers and attains
power, these are all in accordance with God's wishes. The Quran Says:
"God causes whomever He wishes to arise." "God brings down whomever He
wishes." "God gives power to whomever He wishes." Thus, what can one
say? What can one do? One can only be patient and remain silent. Other
than remaining content and surrendering, what can a person who is bound
in the chains of fate and destiny do? Nothing.[^2]
We see that with such a philosophy, the question of ability, inability
or jihad, are not even important. They release any sense of
responsibility because there is no way to choose the right way. The
religious leaders reply, "What must we do? Against whom? In opposition
to whom? God asks all of the people to hope and to seek salvation and
paradise. How can we condemn a person and say that he will go to hell
and then fight him? It is as if you performed a godless act by arising
before the day of doom and condemning prior to the day of justice.
"What will happen if this condemned person, this criminal Mu'awiyyah is
forgiven by God on the day of doom? Do not forgive him nor call for his
punishment so that if tomorrow God should bless him, what will your
reply be? What will your duty be? What should be done? Whom should you
ask? Who must reply? Who must act? No one. Nothing. We must wait and see
what God does."
The religious leaders also argue, on the other hand, that Abu Bakr,
Omar, Othman, Ali, Talha, Zobayr, Mu'awiyyah and Yazid were all
Companions of the Prophet. They were all mujahids. Each of them acted
according to his own findings and religious discernment. There is no
discrepancy between the sacred and the profane, the oppressor and the
oppressed, friend and enemy. Experts are not obliged to consider the
views of the public. Ordinary people should not interfere with
religious experts and theologians. God is the final judge. God is most
Merciful. You and I are not allowed to ask why.
The strict religious group, the fundamentalists, replies: "There are as
many ways to God as there are people. Is jihad the only answer? The
ritual prayer is one of the pillars of the religion while jihad is one
of the branches related to encouraging good deeds and prohibiting evil
deeds. Do you, yourself perform and follow all of the formalities,
performances, rules, commandments, duties, conditions which relate to
the daily ritual prayer? Do you remember all of the regulations
regarding doubts in the ritual prayers which are like complicated
logarithmic tables? Have you learned the rules of the pure and the
impure? The important and obligatory rules of the prayer?
"Have those of you who are thinking about the people and who are
intending to guide and direct them, rectified yourself? Have you reached
the position of never stumbling over an error? - not being selfish, not
having any desires? - being released from the whole body of wishes? -
being completely pure and innocent? Are all of your thoughts and deeds,
even the slightest ones, for the sake of the satisfaction of God? Only
and purely for God? Have you corrected all of the principles and the
various branches of your religion? Have you been purified, and received
piety? Do you now consider yourself as innocent and rectified so that
you are now trying to rectify the community?
"On the other hand, paradise has eight doors. You are not obliged to
enter only through the door of jihad. Jihad is simply one of the keys
that opens the doors to Paradise. Prayers, other forms of worship, and
incantations are safer keys and you can use them without any harm,
loss, danger or risk!
"There are a lot of charitable affairs that will take you to the same
point such as feeding the needy, looking after poor families, visiting
holy places, praying, asceticism, piety, making vows, dedication,
helping your neighbour, incantations, prayer ceremonies, lamentation
and intercession. You will reach the same goal as the person who chooses
jihad so why cause yourself suffering and pain by choosing the much more
difficult action of jihad?
"It has been mentioned in some of the prayer books that by simply
reading some of the prayers in that book, the person is given more
rewards and benefits than seventy martyrs at the Battle, of Badr! So is
it not clear what should be done?"
Another group believes that the entrance of a holy personality or a
religious clergyman into political affairs is a deviation from true
religion. It means selling religion to the materialists and instead of
attending to ethics and religious affairs; it means to seek after wealth
and the gathering of earthly things. These cannot be mixed with each
other.
"Did the Prophet not say, returning from a holy war, 'We are now
returning from the lesser jihad but we are confronted by a greater
jihad.' They asked him, what the greater kind of jihad was. He answered,
'The jihad against carnal desires!' Therefore, one must put aside the
lesser jihad and only attend to the greater one. One should confront
one's carnal desires, not an external enemy."
The Companions, outstanding personalities, theologians and religious
scholars, dependent upon the regime, declare, "Ali's type of thinking is
not practical and contains too much hardship. It is too strict. One
must consider realities. One must be a realist, not an idealist. Ali
ruled over the greater part of the known world, but he still mends his
own shoes himself! He works like a common labourer. Today people judge
by what they see. This is particularly true since Iran and Rome have
been defeated and Muslims have seen the glory and magnificence of the
huge, fantastic palaces and the greatness and majesty of the King of
Kings of Iran and the Caesars of Rome. No, this kind of living is not
acceptable! It is not good for the reputation and prestige of an Islamic
Government.
"On the other hand, can Ali's regime be tolerated in the aristocratic
societies of Iran and Rome? When Ali was appointed Caliph, he changed
all of the wage scales of the salaries, making everyone equal. He gave
the same salary of 3 dirhams to Othman ibn Hanif, the great and
important politician and close friend and outstanding officer in Ali's
government, as he gave to a slave!"
According to this idea, this economic system is impractical. They
argue, "We saw and still remember that in Iran, which is now occupied by
the Arabs and is part of the Islamic Empire ruled by Ali, when Khosroes
was coming to fight the Muslims - realizing that according to conditions
for war, he should leave aside as many ceremonies as is possible - he
had seven thousand women, slaves, servants and musicians with him!"
They say, "We do not want to argue as to whether or not this was right.
We are saying that if Ali failed, it was because his school of thought
was not practical. He could not adapt himself to the current situation
and social realities. He was not a politician! He was not a sociologist!
He offended everyone. He was too strict. He never humbled him-elf before
the outstanding personalities, the heads of the tribes, the powerful,
the aristocrats or the noble families."
They say, "You must not compare the Caliphate with the Imamate and
Prophecy! You must not compare Mu'awiyyah and Yazid with the Prophet and
Ali! You should compare them to the Caesars and Kings. The present
court of Damascus which you have announced to be a Green Palace, in
which public funds have been invested and the rights of people have been
destroyed there - is the place from which the Islamic Empire of the
world rules over Iran, Rome, etc. but it is still more humble than the
palace of a Roman Council or an officer who was appointed as the
governor of Syria."
Abu Dharr attacks Mu'awiyyah with these words, "Why is your bread made
of bleached wheat and you only eat the centre of the wheat? Why do you
wear a different dress during the day and another at night?"
The followers of Ali believe that we are still living in Medina as it
was at the time of the Prophet and that the 'civilized' Romans and
Iranians who have joined the Islamic world are Emigrants and Helpers!
They argue, "We should consider the relativity of the issues. Correct
worship and absolutism are idealistic. You must see the realities. It is
not possible to convince the poor, backward Muslims who are ruling an
important part of the world that having two empires - East and West -
one should live like they did at the time of the Prophet or behave as
Ali is behaving. Standards of living have progressed.
The traditions, rules, etiquette of society, economic and aristocratic
systems, thoughts, ideas, tastes, literature, poetry, music, dance,
amusements, social relations, ethics and manners of 'civilized' Rome and
Iran, the social class system and aristocratic regime, the political
system of the Caesars and Kings, the type and form of monastic and
clerical traditions and proprieties which are hierarchical, bureaucrat,
official and classical system of rule, and finally, the progressive
Iranian and Roman civilizations certainly had an influence upon the
simple Islamic communities.
The wealth, power, position and countless 'spoils' which had been
earned in the Muslim victories make the people grow fat and it is
because of this that they are no longer listening to Ali's advice, his
goal and his sufferings. The majority of the people are quite happy with
the situation. They are no longer fond of such problems. They show no
sensitivity whatsoever to them. These people have now changed into being
the servants of wealth and power. Those few who did not obey had been
tried by the sword!
Do you remember what happened to Ali and Fatima in their own town of
Medina, in their own time, at the hands of their own friends and
companions, and those who fought in the same rank as they did?
You saw that the Ummayyid tribe had not been present in either Medina
or Saqifah. None of them had been part of the election committee
(shura). Do you recall the outstanding officers of Hazrat Ali and Imam
Hasan with glorious backgrounds? And, how they sold themselves to
Mu'awiyyah at the peak of the battle? How they dealt a good hand to
themselves, their religion, their past self respect and all of the
soldiers under their command with Mu'awiyyah?
The Khawarij had been neither from the Ummayyid tribe nor had they been
related to the Ummayyid regime. They had even been the blood enemies of
the Ummayyids and their regime. They had all come from the mass of the
people, ordinary tradesmen from the countryside. They had even been
symbols of the sacred, pious devotees who underwent ascetic practices.
They had been outstanding and well-known examples of the strict
religious types. You noted how they unconsciously had become tools in
the hands of the Ummayyids. They had been indirectly agitated from
Damascus and thus had opposed Ali. In the crisis of the battle, they had
argued with Ali and had left him alone. So they become unpaid servants
of the enemy who are used to defeat Ali. They are good, religious people
who weakened Ali by accusing, insulting and even excommunicating and
debauching him.
Those nominous people like Amr Aas, who had been well-known among the
people, could not hurt Ali's spiritual and religious reputation so they
try to destroy him through excommunication. We saw how they finally
manage to kill him with their motives and fanaticism. Through these
experiences, one may think the answer to, "What should be done?" is
"Nothing." Mu'awiyyah suits these people, not Ali. On the other hand,
Mu'awiyyah, taking all of his weak points and deviations into
consideration, is much more of a modern thinker and more realistic than
Ali. Ali intends to have the person live with piety and simplicity,
which is impossible. But Mu'awiyyah's regime, even though it is
oppressive, corrupt and discriminating, rapidly develops the community.
With its free and careless spirit, it easily imitates all of the forms
and types of Iranian and Roman civilizations. During the twenty years
which he had held power, after the settling of internal difficulties and
discrepancies and obvious personalities like Abu Dharr, Ali, Hasan,
Hujr, etc., he turns the capital of Islam into a modern and
progressive, western-like town. He establishes an armed marine force in
the Mediterranean, occupies Cyprus and holds permanent attacks against
the king of the Eastern Roman Empire.
In the construction of the Green Palace of Mu'awiyyah, a Roman style of
architecture is followed and it is decorated in a Sassanian style.
Instead of a few bedouin Arab slaves, he manages an orchestra full of
the best Iranian musicians together with Roman dancers. He imitates the
traditions and customs of the fictitious courts of the Caesars and the
Kings of Iran. Their clothes, food, entertainment, decoration, music,
poetry, literature, manner of living, city-plans, palaces and
socio-political systems have all been altered from the original and
simple Arabian styles to modern, civilized and 'revolutionary' Roman
styles.
Putting aside arguments of truth and falsehood, oppression and justice,
whether Ali is right or Mu'awiyyah is right, from the apparent progress
and point of view of civilization, a lot had been done and will continue
to be done. Anyhow, renewing the construction of the capital and the
tools of respect, the respectful manner of living of the Caliph and his
palaces is the honor and respect of Islam in the eyes of foreigners,
Christians and Magians.
On the other hand, comparing the previous regime -that of Hazrat Ali -
with the Roman and Iranian regimes, they say that one has to admit that
the new Caliphate of the Ummayyids is better serving the people and is
more useful to them. They make the people behave better -things are
smoother and freer. They are also creating respect, power, spoils,
benefits, victories, expansion, good reputation and a sense of
importance for Islam. Many temples and churches have been replaced by
mosques. There are many cities and towns in the profane lands where the
cries of Allah u Akbar (God is Greater), la illaha illa lah (There
is no god but God), and Muhammadin rasulu lah (Muhammad is the
Prophet of God) can now be heard. There are many treasures and spoils
running into the public treasury. Even though these funds may not have
been obtained -properly (that is, justly and according to Islamic
principles), they are being used in Islamic countries. Some of the
Muslims take advantage of this. Furthermore, these victories create new
professions and income for the young people, positions for the nobles
and jobs for some of the Muslims.
Therefore, in reply to "What should be done?", they answer, "The
idealistic revolutionary standards of Islam at the time of the Prophet
should be reviewed. Times have changed and Islam today no longer
revolves around Mecca and Medina. It stretches from the Byzantium to
Iran. It should therefore, not be influenced by those idealistic desires
of Ali and his strict and difficult ways which reach towards complete
justice." They run towards Mu'awiyyah. How can one expect the people,
who are being ruled by a Caesar or a King, to tolerate anything but
this?
"You must look at the present situation realistically. You must admit
that the Ummayyids power, politics, intelligence, wealth and force are
serving in the name of Islam and for the purpose of establishing the
rituals of Islam in the world, the development and growth of Islam. It
is undertaking a struggle with profane religions, enhancing the
reputation of Islam, taking the Quran and the Prophet forward. It is
trying to promote the civilization of the Islamic community, to develop
cities, raise the standard of living, create social welfare, gain wealth
and have the great civilizations of the East and West adapt to it.
"Therefore, in response to 'What should be done?', we say one should do
as we have - enter the Ummayyid regime. We have seen that interference,
internal fighting, political struggles, intellectual and mental debates
of right, justice, Imamate, selection, election, virtue, piety,
chastity, traditions, innovation, heresy, are all useless and its
results are defeat.
"Furthermore, it is not advisable when the Ummayyid Caliph is fighting
a holy war against Iran and Rome with Christianity and the Magis,
profane and external enemies that a combat on the internal front be
undertaken which will cause official Islamic power to be weakened. This
will only prohibit its progress.
"All of us with a realistic spirit must discontinue political
struggles, choose seclusion, Sufism and piety by accepting the present
reality, and try to support the Ummayyid regime in its services to the
people for Islam. As to its deviations - we should try to correct and
amend them. How-can we perform our part? It is obvious - by adhering to
the ruling system.
"On the one hand, we can serve the poor people, earn the rights of the
oppressed ones, undertake social affairs, help the needy, even be
religiously active and propagate religion, promote ideas, reform
society, combat against any future corruption when we are part of the
ruling system and have an important and high position and profession.
"On the other hand, scholars and men of letters say: 'It is sixty years
since the migration. Ali's revolution has been defeated. Hasan, the last
leader who opposed oppression, conservatism and ancient traditions which
were against people and the divine, had to make peace with Mu'awiyyah,
and was poisoned by him. Therefore nothing can be done. It is useless.
We should only attend to religious problems, divine knowledge, religious
jurisprudence, research, gnostic discoveries and observations and
through these means, acquaint the people with Islamic thoughts, ideas
and realities and discover the spiritual aspects and scientific secrets
of the Quran.
"We should only undertake research that allows us to sink into divine
knowledge and wisdom, metaphoric philosophy, secrets of the Quran,
rhetoric, eloquence, meanings, expressions, innovations, heresy,
gathering and collecting the Quran, training, teaching, writing down
ahadith, the study of the behaviour of the Prophet, holy wars,
jurisprudence, theology, etc. We should concern ourselves with research,
training, the propagation of religious knowledge, rituals and roles,
promotion of Islamic culture, serving Islam and the Islamic community
mentally and scientifically and nothing else!"
It is so wonderful that it is so clear to intellectuals, that is, the
followers of Ali, even Ali's family and those who are close to the
Prophet's family and the Banu Hashim, that the response to the
question, 'What should be done?' is 'Nothing!', because the result of
any action is defeat. Nothing can be done. It is the story of Cain and
Abel. It is not lawful to stand bare-handed before the sword. It is not
permitted. And yet, you are still responsible and will be punished. Has
it not been said, "Do not place yourself before death with your own
hands."? The jihad, where one's destiny and death is fixed, is certainly
suicide. It is to the advantage of the profane and the oppressor. It is
useless.[^3]
They recommended he remain silent and attend to the religious training
of people, teaching the Quran, promoting religious jurisprudence and
repeating the Prophet's Traditions.
So we see that all classes, including those who were in power,
religious men, scholars, even Shiites - that is, intellectuals who
sought out the truth and knew the truth and their social; mental and
political policy to be quite clear and distinct - all of them at this
time, sixty years after the migration - in reply to the question of the
times, without any exception - say 'No!'
There is only one man - a lonely man - who says 'Yes.' What is that
yes? It is a response behind which is total inability, total weakness in
a time of darkness and silence, against oppression and tyranny, an aware
and faithful man who still has the responsibility of the jihad. It is
Imam Husayn ('a)'s command: 'Yes!' There is also a 'must' in his
inability. For him it is living in idea and jihad.
Thus, if he is alive, to continue living, he is responsible to fight
for an idea. A living man is responsible, not an able man, and who is
more alive than Husayn ('a)? Who in our history has more right to live
and is more worthy to be alive than Husayn ('a)?
The soul of humanity, being aware, having faith, being alive, creates
the responsibility of jihad in man and Husayn ('a) is the highest
example of being alive, beloved and aware of humanity.
Ability or inability, weakness or strength, loneliness or crowds only
determine the form of the mission and the manner of approaching the
responsibility, not its necessity.
He must fight. But he has no arms. Nevertheless it is his duty to
fight. Husayn ('a) answers his command and he is the only one whose
opinion is 'Yes.' He is the only man who in answer to this question in
such conditions says, 'Yes!' He is a lonely man. He has left his home in
Medina. He has gone from Medina to Mecca as it is the season of the
Pilgrimage, beside the Ka'ba, where the people have gathered to say,
'Yes'.
And now, he is leaving Mecca. He is in a hurry. His Pilgrimage is half
finished in order to show the world, 'how'.
It is sixty years after the migration, fifty years after the death of
the Prophet. All are misssing. Ali is missing. Hasan is missing, Abu
Dharr is missing. Ammar is missing. In the second generation, Hujr is
missing and his companions are massacred. The gallows have been
dismantled and blood washed away.
Thoughts and ideas have turned to despair, obscurity, deterioration,
deviation, silence, fear. Darkness has spread everywhere. Persons like
Abu Hurairah, Abu Musa, Shoreihs, Abu Dardas and those similar to them -
those who during the Islamic Revolution, in that glorious period, had
boasted and gained such respect - had become disgraced and had evidently
made allegiance with profanity and oppression.
The warrior Companions and Emigrants were sticking their heads into the
stables of the public treasury. Their stomachs were bloated with food.
They had given the hands and arms of jihad to the hands and arms of the
executioners and under the guise of need and abjectness they had
gathered around Yazid and the shadow of the red sword of security had
spread itself all over from Khorasan to Damascus. The massacres,
defeats, treacheries, conspiracies, escapes, desertions and black
disappointments had spread death all over the empire and had imprisoned
the breath within the rib cages:
In the cemetery of the noiseless town, even the hoot of an owl is not heard
Those in pain are keeping soundless silence and the angry people are silent
The clenched fists of warriors have loosened and are disgraced and have turned to begging, hidden or openly.
In the cemetery of the noiseless town, the gallows have been dismantled and the blood washed away.
In their place, bushes of anger and hatred arise and weeds grow up And - we - angry, dishonest have remained
Now, time awaits one man. Everything is in expectation of a man who
embodies the values which are being destroyed, who embodies the symbols
of all of the ideals which have remained friendless and abandoned.- The
supporters of the manifestation of these ideas and this faith have
joined the enemy. Yes. Time is awaiting a man's action. It is sometimes
so in history. Sixty years after the migration, fifty years after the
death of the Prophet of liberty, justice and the people. The age has
arrived where everything is dropping away. All of the aims of the
Revolution are destroyed. The fixed faith of the people rests on
disappointment.
Yes. In these black times the ignorant aristocracy is being revived.
Power is being dressed in piety and sacredness. The desires for liberty
and equality created by Islam in the hearts of those sacrificed for
power or policy are breaking down. Tribal ignorance has replaced the
humanitarian revolution. The true Book has been placed upon the spears
of deceit. From the minarets of mosques, the sound of the call to
profanity is heard. The golden calf is calling for Unity. Nimroud
replaces Abraham. Caesar wears the turban of the Prophet of God. The
executioner takes the sword of jihad. Faith turns to narcotics. The
labours against profanity and the struggles of the warriors are gone
with the wind. In place of these, treasuries are gained for the
hypocrites. The jihad has become a means for massacre. The religious
taxes are a means of public plunder. The prayer is a means of deceiving
the public. Unity has been covered with the mask of profanity. Islam has
become a chain of surrendering. The Traditions of the Prophet have
become the pillars of rule. The Quran has become a means of ignorance,
the sayings of the Prophet fabricated. Flashes of the sword are once
more coming down upon the shoulders.
Nations are being taken into slavery as before. Freedom is interlocked
into a permanent chain. Thoughts are imprisoned in jails and remain
silent. The masses have surrendered. The free have been captured. The
foxes are being kept warm. Wolves are being fed. Tongues are either sold
for gold, shut off by force or cut off by the blade.
The respect and honour which the Companions had gathered in the period
of faith and jihad, during the Revolution, at a costly price, have all
sold out at cheap rates and have exchanged the past respect with civil
governorship. They had avoided the risks of revolt by withholding their
shoulders of responsibility and escaped into secure corners and pure,
restful asceticism thereby earning their health and safety in a
respectful way, replacing their silence against oppression, submitting
to the profane. Or they have been killed in the Rabazeh desert or the
Azra grazing field.
Now, religion and the world are running in favour of profanity and
oppression. Swords are broken. Throats are cut. Gallows have been
dismantled. The blood has been washed away.
The waves of revolution, the shouts of protest, and the flames of
rebellion have all been calmed. Excitement and enthusiasm have
diminished. Shadows of fear and strangulation have spread over the
cemeteries of martyrs as well as on the cold and silent cemetery of the
living. There is not even the hoot of an owl to be heard in the ruined
place of the faith and hope of the Muslims.
New ignorance blackens heaven. It is more savage than the previous
ignorance. The enemy is more intelligent, more victorious and more
aware than the former.
Intellectuals have tasted the bitter experiences of the rebels which
resulted in their defeat and martyrdom.
Suddenly a spark appears in the darkness and bursts through the
silence. The radiant visage of 'a martyr who walks alive upon the
earth'. From the depths of darkness, the immense corruptions and obscure
nights of despair, the light and powerful feature of 'a hope' is seen.
Once more, from the silent and sorrowful home of Fatima, the little
house which is greater than the whole of history, a man emerges - angry,
determined, in a state of rebellion against all of the palaces of
cruelty and fronts of power. He is as a mountain which holds a volcano
within it or as a hurricane like the one God sent to the tribe of 'Ad.
A man emerges from Fatima's house. He looks. at Medina and the mosque
of the Prophet, Mecca and Abraham, the Ka'ba which is enchained by
Nimroud, Islam and the message of Muhammad, the Green Palace of
Damascus, the hungry people, the slaves and . . .
A man emerges from Fatima's house. The load of all of the
responsibilities has been placed upon his shoulders. He is heir of the
great suffering human being. He is the only successor to Adam, Abraham,
Muhammad . . . a lonely man.
But no! A woman has come out of Fatima's house with him, walking side
by side with him. She bears half of the heavy mandate of her brother
upon her shoulders.
A man emerges from Fatima's house. Alone, friendless, with empty hands
he confronts the terror the darkness and the sword. He has only one
weapon - death. But he is the son of the family who has learned the art
of dying well in the school of life. There is no one in the whole world
who knows 'how to die' better than he does. His powerful enemy who is
ruling the world is deprived of this knowledge. It is because of this
that this lonely hero is so confident of his victory over the immense
army of his enemy and so determined. He confronts it without doubt.
The great teacher of martyrdom has now arisen in order to teach those
who consider the jihad to relate only to those who have ability and
victory to be only in conquering. Martyrdom is not a loss, it is a
choice, a choice, whereby the warrior sacrifices himself on the
threshold of the temple of freedom and the altar of love and is
victorious.
Husayn ('a), the heir of Adam, who gives life to the children of
mankind, and the successor of the great prophets, who taught mankind
'how to live', has now come to teach mankind 'how to die'.
Husayn ('a) teaches that 'black death' is the miserable fate of a
humbled people who accept scorn in order to remain alive. For death
chooses those who are not brave enough to choose martyrdom. Death
chooses them!
The word shahid, martyr, contains the highest form of what I am
saying. It means, being present, bearing witness, one who bears witness.
It also means that which is sensible and perceptible, the one who all
turn towards. Finally, it means, model, pattern, example.
Martyrdom: To arise and bear witness in our culture and in our religion
is not a bloody and accidental happening. In other religions and tribal
histories, martyrdom is the sacrificing of the heroes who are killed in
the battles of the enemy. It is considered to be a sorrowful accident
full of misery. Those who are killed in this way are called martyrs and
their death is called martyrdom.
But in our culture, martyrdom is not a death which is imposed by an
enemy upon our warriors. It is a death which is desired by our warrior,
selected with all of the awareness, logic, reasoning, intelligence,
understanding, consciousness and alertness that a human being has.
Look at Husayn ('a). He releases his life, leaves his town and arises
in order to die 'because he has no other means for his struggle to
condemn and disgrace his enemy. He selects this in order to render aside
the deceiving curtains which cover the ugly _ faces of the ruling
power. If he cannot defeat the enemy in this way, at least he can
disgrace them. If he cannot conquer the ruling power, he can at least
condemn it by injecting new blood and the belief of jihad into the dead
bodies of this second generation of the Revolution revealed to the
Prophet.
He is an unarmed, powerless and lonely man. But he is still responsible
for the jihad. He has no other means except to die; having himself
selected a 'red death'. Being Husayn ('a) makes him responsible to
perform the jihad against all that is corrupt and cruel. He has no other
means at his disposal for his jihad but his own death. He takes it and
leaves his home only to enter the place of execution.
We see how well he carried this out with his accurate plans, reasoning,
a glorious, accurate and well-planned departure, movement and migration.
Stage by stage, he clears the way, explaining the aim which he is
'moving towards', with a unique selection of companions - men who had
come to die with him - as well as all of the members of his family.
These are all of the things that he possesses in this world and he leads
them to be sacrified at the altar of martyrdom.
The fate of faith which is being destroyed, the fate of those people
who are awaiting Islamic justice and freedom but have now been captured
by an oppression and pressure worse than the period of ignorance, are
now awaiting his action.
He who has no arms and no means has come with all of his existence, his
family, his dearest companions so that the martyrdom of himself and his
whole family will bear witness to the fact that he carried out his
responsibility at a time when truth was defenceless and unarmed. He
bears witness that nothing more than this could be done.
You have heard that at the battle of Ashura, on the tenth day of the
month of Muharram, Imam Husayn ('a) takes the blood flowing from the
throat of his child, Ali Asghar, in his hands and throws it up to the
heavens saying, "Look! Accept this sacrifice from me. Be my witness, my
God!"
It is in this period that 'dying' for a human being guarantees the
'life' of a nation. His martyrdom is a means whereby faith can remain.
It bears witness to the fact that great crimes, deception, oppression
and tyranny rule. It proves that truth is being denied. It reveals the
existence of values which are destroyed and forgotten. It is a red
protest against a black sovereignty. It is a shout of anger in the
silence which has cut-off the tongues.
Martyrdom bears witness to that which they desire to remain hidden in
history. It is the symbol of that which must exist. It is bearing
witness to what is taking place in this silent and secret time and
finally, martyrdom is the only reason for existence, the only, sign of
being present, the only means of attack and defence and the only manner
of resistance so that truth, right and justice can remain alive in a
time and under a regime in which uselessness, falsity and oppression
rule.
He has defeated all of the ~bases. He has massacred all of the
defenders and faithful followers. 'Being human' is to stand at the
threshold of decline and the danger of dying forever. All of these
miracles are performed by martyrdom: arising and bearing witness.
Sixty years after the migration, a saviour should appear and arise upon
this black and silent graveyard. And Husayn ('a), aware of his mandate
which history's hatred of humanity has put upon his shoulders, leaves
Mecca without hesitation and moves towards his place of martyrdom. He
knows that history is waiting for him. Time, which is held in the hands
of reactionaries and polytheists, watches for him to take a step
forward.
People who are captured, motionless and in silence, in slavery, badly
need his movement and his cries. Finally, the mission which is now in
the hands of devils, commands his death so that with it he can bear
witness to the disaster. It is said that the Prophet had said to him,
"God wishes to see you killed."
Martyrdom also has' a special meaning in. our humanistic philosophy.
The creation of a mankind who is a blend of God and the devil, a mixture
of the spirit and clay and the combination of the lowest and highest
peaks, in the composition of religion and its recitals, devotions,
prayers, jurisprudence, good-deeds, services, science and all of these
are only struggles and exercises made by man in order to weaken his
inferior being in favour of his superior being and his devil clay part
in favour of his divine spiritual part. But martyrdom is the action
which a man suddenly and in a revolutionary way performs and throws his
inferior being into the fire of a love and a faith and turns it into a
light and divine being.
It is for this reason that a martyr does not need to perform the
ablution, has no shroud and does not need to give any account on the Day
of judgement. A martyr has already sacrificed the being of error and sin
prior to death and now has arisen to bear witness.
It is for this reason that on the evening before Ashura, Imam Husayn
('a) washes himself carefully, shaves so keenly, puts on his best
clothes, uses the best perfumes. Amidst the flow of the blood of death
he destroys all of his belongings and on the threshold of his departure,
seeing that the number of martyrs increase as they fall upon each other,
his fate turns more red and more exciting. His heart beats faster with
enthusiasm. He knows that the distance to his 'presence' is shortening
and that martyrdom itself is presence.
Martyrdom, in summary, in our culture, contrary to other schools where
it is considered to be an accident, an involvement, a death imposed upon
a hero, a tragedy, is a grade, a level, a rank. It is not a means but it
is a goal itself. It is originality. It is a completion. It is a lift.
It itself is mid-way to the highest peak of humanity and it is a
culture.
In all ages and centuries, when the followers of a faith and an idea,
have power, they guarantee their honor and lives with jihad. But when
they are weakened and have no means whereby to struggle, they guarantee
their lives, movements, faith, respect, honor, future and history with
martyrdom. Martyrdom is an invitation to all ages and generations that
if you cannot kill, die.
[^1]: This paragraph and the next are excerpted from Shariati's book, Shi'ism.
[^2]: It is not accidental that Omar Khayyam is being revived in our culture. After the Second World War he met the desires of all of the people of the world. Not the scientist Khayyam, mind you, but the poet! Not the genius Khayyam with his miraculous arithmetic thoughts but the cunning Khayyam who recited some poems. It is not without purpose that the majority of orientalists, islamologists and Iranologists write such huge tomes on the various aspects of cultures and civilizations and show such interest in the revival of Sufism. While over seventy percent of our scientific, literary, Islamic, historical, philosophical and artistic works remain as hand-written copies in the store-rooms of public or private libraries, works on Sufism are printed in several forms and editions. It is true that everything which happens has a purpose which is unknown to us and everything is ruled by fate, wishes, fatalism and destiny but not divine wisdom, fatalism and destiny but by masters, not in heaven but upon the earth.
[^3]: One must remember the advice of the kind and sympathetic relatives of Imam Husayn ('a) who prohibited such arguments and even encouraged him to stay like Abdullah ibn Jafar, the husband of the great Zainab. She divorced him in order to be free to follow Imam Husayn ('a) and Muhammad Hanifah, the half-brother of Imam Husayn ('a).