Understanding Karbala

Preface to the First Edition

Praise be to Allah, the Lord of the worlds. And blessings and salutations upon His best creature, Muhammad and his Purified Progeny.

The present book is based on my articles on the various aspects of the Karbala’ Tragedy. Most of these articles were written by me before relocating to Africa, and were published in the periodicals of India and Pakistan. When the Bilal Muslim Mission was established in Africa, it became necessary to translate religious literature into English. An important link of this chain is the Bi-monthly “The Light.”

I had also to write articles for the “As Serat” Journal of Muhammadi Trust, London, on occasions related to Imam Husayn (a.s). Afterwards many of these articles were translated into Urdu and published in Urdu Magazines. These articles are also included in this collection.

The most respected Hujjatul Islam Maulana Sayyid Ahmad ‘Ali Abidi is among those contemporary scholars who, keeping in mind the needs of the present age, are performing unequalled services in the field of religious propagation. The respected friend is one of the founders of Noor-e-Islam Organization and the main driving force behind it. This organization publishes books on important religious subjects. It has also started correspondence course in Urdu in co-operation with Dar Rah Haqq, Qom and Usool-e-Deen Organization, Qom.

This honorable friend had requested me to give a book of mine that can be published from Noor-e-Islam. This collection is being published as per this request.

The articles are arranged in such a manner that continuity of topics is maintained. It is hoped that their study would illuminate the various historical, religious and philosophical aspects of the tragedy of Karbala’, and the readers would be able to understand, to a great extent, this supreme sacrifice.

I had no idea that collecting old articles is such a tedious job. I am thankful to the editors of Al-Jawwad (Benaras), Al-Waez (Lucknow), Sarfaraz (Lucknow) and Razakar (Lahore) for providing me copies of the articles from their archives; otherwise this collection would have been incomplete. May Allah reward them with a good reward.

If this collection is liked by the literate people, the future editions will also include articles on other topics, Insha Allah.

Was Salaam
Sayyid Sa’eed Akhtar Rizvi
13 Rajab al-Murajjab 1401 AH