Portraits of Youths in Quran and the History of Islam
Youths of Kerbala
Who Became Famed In The History Of Mankind
The confrontation of Imam Husain (a.s) with the forces of Yazid in Kerbala is the unique episode in the history of mankind, which will remain outstanding till the Day of Judgment. Yes, why we cannot call it the greatest episode of history? Has anyone ever come across a battle where a band of seventy-two faced a huge army minimally estimated to be comprised of 30,000 well-trained and well-equipped fighters? In addition to this, the band of seventy-two was initially invited as guests. Then the same people who had invited them took up weapons against them, obstructed their way and forced them to camp in the arid desert and burning sands. Then they stopped food and water supply to this small battalion, while it comprised of people who were absolutely harmless and innocent.
It is worth contemplation…
Who were these personages? Were they descendants of the Prophet or not? Which Prophet? That same Prophet whom these 30,000 strong army followed. By whose name they received their livelihood and passed their days.
Those people who were unprepared for battle and unwilling for martial confrontation, because they had not come with the aim of fighting.
Also, the most remarkable fact about this group was that its majority consisted of women and children in whose veins flowed the blood of the Messenger of Allah (s.a.w.s.) and each of them was a gem of the treasure of Prophethood.
The tragedy of Imam Husain (a.s), the terrible incident of Ashura (10th of Mohurrum) and the horrible scenes of carnage occurred in the 61st year of Hijrah when seventy-two purified youths and loyal personages were martyred. This episode blackened the face of history and the head of mankind bowed down in shame.
The people of Kufa had invited the grandson of the Prophet, Imam Husain (a.s) to Kufa so that he could lead them in revolt against Yazid; the deboucherous son of Muawiyah like Imam Ali (a.s) had confronted Muawiyah. After that these disloyal and materialist Kufaites martyred the honorable son of the Holy Prophet (s.a.w.s.), along with his companions, brothers and sons in such a cruel way that to describe these atrocities burns the tongue of the narrator and the pen breaks due to shame.
Among these martyrs were eighteen youths of Bani Hashim from the family of Abu Talib. They displayed such daring in the battle that their equal is not found anywhere in history. Imam Reza (a.s) told Reyan Ibn Shabeeb:
“O son of Shabeeb! There were such eighteen youths from Bani Hashim in Kerbala as have no equal on the face of the earth. Except for Imam Husain (a.s) who was fifty-seven at that time all these eighteen persons from Bani Hashim were
in their youth. Among them was a thirty-five-year-old man and even some boys hardly aged twelve or ten years. In other words we can say that the battle of Kerbala was one where the youths predominated.
The following are the martyrs of Kerbala:
6 sons of Ali Ibn Abi Talib (a.s)
3 sons of Imam Hasan (a.s)
2 sons of Zainab binte Ali (a.s), who was the sister of Imam Husain (a.s) and the wife of Abdullah Ibn Ja'far ibn Abi Talib.
5 sons of Aqil Ibn Abi Talib (a.s)
2 sons of Imam Husain (a.s).
This is the list of the names of those young people who achieved martyrdom in the service of their Holy Imam, the honorable Abu Abdillah (a.s). They laid down their lives for the sake of Islam through their perfected valor and unflinching loyalty. They saved the honor of Islam at this dangerous juncture in history by giving up their own blood. When Yazid, the son of Muawiyah arose as an ugly blemish on the shirt of humanity, these youths rose up to confront him and stood like firm mountains against him. It was such a magnificent contest and a great revolution, which squeezed the history of centuries into a few moments, which made the faces of these youths brilliant and shining like the sun.
Even though centuries may pass but the memory of these young men of Kerbala would always remain fresh.
