Hussein the Saiviour of Islam

The Messenger From Madina

IT IS REPORTED that when the Holy Imam was busy digging a tiny grave for the martyred baby, in the burning desert with his sword, a camel rider arrived into the field and wished him. The Holy Imam raised his wounded head and looked at him with wonder if there was any one still left to wish him in that hostile land at that very terrible and testing hour. The Arab was a messenger and had brought a letter from Fatema Sughra the sickly daughter of the Holy Imam, whom he had left alone in his deserted house at Madina.

She had requested him in the letter either to return home soon from his journey or to send her brother Ali-Akber or her cousin Qasim or her uncle Abbas, (who were already slain) to take her to him. The most pathetic was her request to her father to kiss her baby-brother Ali-e-Asghar, whom Husain was just then burying. The Holy Imarn could not help shedding tears, and kissed the dead baby on behalf of its sister at Madina saying:-

" Asghar dear! Your sister sends her kisses to you." and then addressed the messenger saying:-

" Brother! Bear witness, that I have complied with the request and have kissed Asghar before thee."

Husain took the letter and read it out to his brothers, his son, and his nephews who lay martyred for whom it contained a wish and then turning to the messenger said:-

" Bear thou witness Brother! that I have conveyed the messages also to one and all concerned."

The messenger stood aghast, stunned and struck with sorrow and wonder. When he demanded a reply to the letter, Husain was only thinking as to what should he say in reply to it, when, suddenly an arrow from the enemy's ranks struck his forehead and blood began to drop down from the wound. Husain took a few drops of his blood on the letter and returned it to the messenger saying:-

"Brother! Return thou to Madina with this reply and if my daughter asks thee anything more about me, relate what thou hast see;: here and tell her on my behalf to be patient."

"But, Beware, get thou quickly out of the range v/thy hearing, away from this plain, for soon I will be issuing my last call, unto all around for help in the way of the Lord, whosoever heareth, it shall be imcumhent on him to respond to it. Lest thou heareth it and get obliged to respond to the heavenly summon and then thou will not be able to return to Madina without becoming an infidel Go away my brother! God be with thee." The messenger in utmost wonder and sorrow left the fatal plain with tears in his eyes for the plight of the Holy Soul.

The Final Separation

THE DETAILS OF the final separation of the Holy Imam from the helpless ladies and children and other inmates of his camp, parti- cularly from his sisters Zainab and Umme-Kulthoom, are very heart rending and it is impossible for any one to describe the whole sorrowful scene in a paragraph or two of a brief work like this. The Holy Imam at last bade bood bye to all the helpless inmates of his camp foretelling the calamities that were awaiting them following his martyrdom, and preaching patience to one and all. To Zainab, his sister, he exhorted in particular to bear every hardship and torture with extreme patience and never to curse the enemy for her curse would surely invoke the wrath of God upon the people and what he had done with so much of patience and fortitude would be undone.

Husain hands over the Charge of the Imamat

ALI,THE ELDEST Son of Husain called Zainulabideen (i.e., the Grace of the pious), was lying unconscious on his sick bed. Husain went to him and handed over the charge of the sacred office of Imamat to him. He enumerated the difficulties and the tortures that would befall him immediately following his martyrdom and advised him (who was to succeed as the Fourth Holy Imam) to observe the highest degree of patience and fortitude against every aggression and oppression that would be inflicted on him and his dear ones, and never to get angry or curse the people.

The Parting Advice to zainab and Umme-Kulthoom

To ZAINAB AND Umme-Kulthoom, his two sisters, Husain said:-

"Our camp will be plundered and set on fire. After I am slain, the series of calamities to you all would bein. Your heads will be stripped of your covering cloths veils. Beware o' My Sisters dear, let not patience under any suffering be lost. Bear every cala- mity in the way of the Lord with patience and fortitude. Sisters dear, let not what I have done be undone by your impatience." The Hoty Imam at last came into the field bidding goodbye, to all, not to return again to his camp, but to drink the cup of martyrdom to fulfil the covenant with the Lord to save and secure the Truth for all times until the Day of Judgment.

Husain in the Battlefield to Offer the Greatest Sacrifice for the Truth

HUSAIN FIRST pREACHED to his enemies, the love of God, the obedience to the Holy Prophet and abstinence from vice and wickedness, and at last asked the people:-

" Why doye kill me?"

" Did I commit any sin or crime?"

" Did I plunder anybody?"

" Did I interfere with any one's affairs?"

All stood dumb and nonc answered. Then the Holy Imam continued:-

"Then why do ye kill me? What answer have you to give to God, and to the Holy Prophet on the Day of Judg- ment?"

When no answer from the Devil's forces, the Holy Imam said:-

"You have killed all my companions, my children, my brothers and even my little baby; now I tell you leave me, I will migrate to Yeman, to Iran or even to the far off Hind (India), stain not your hands with my blood, which is the blood of the Holy Prophet himself, you will not have salvation. It is for you; I tell you, shed not my blood and save yourseLves.

This last offer of the Holy Imam was superb and matchless and yet the devils did not avail of it. It was in fact the fulfilment of the 'Hujjat' or the argument to give the last chance to the greedy devils to save themselves from the wrath of God.

The Last Call of the Holy Imam in the Way of the Lord

LEST LATER ANY one in the surroundings should say that he was neither called nor given any opportunity to serve the cause of defending the Truth by helping the Holy Imam who was fighting for it,Husain now standing all alone, bleeding from innumer- able wounds from head to foot, having lost one and all of his godly comrades, having offered the last and the greatest of his offerings in the way of the Lord, the six months babe Ali-e-Asghar, gave his last call to humanity around him, inviting them to join him in the way of the Lord, saying:-

"Hal min Nasirin Yansorona ?"

'Is there any helper to help us?'

"Hal min zahbin yazubbo an Harame Rasoolullal?" 'Is there any defender to repulse the enemy from approaching the tents of the family of the Holy Prophet?'

When there was no response from any one of the thousands standing around him, he then said aloud:-

"Alan Tasma'o ? Alaisa fikum Muslimu?"

Do ye hear me not ? Is there not even a single Muslim among you?

Yet there was no responsc.

When Husain gave his final call to the world around him inviting the people in the way of the Lord, Husain's son Ali-e- Zainulabideen who was confined to bed with high fever, and who had just a little before received the charge of the Imamat from his father, got up and leaning on a staff, dragged himself out of his tent with his feeble sickly voice, walking towards the HoW Imam saying:-

" Labbaik Ya Abata, Labbaik!"

"Yes, Here I am o' Father dear ! Here I am."

Husain sccing his ailing Ali coming out tottering in the high fever, bade him saying:-

"Get thee hack o' son! My progeny is to spring from thee."

It is rcportcd that in response to the call from the Holy Imam, Some mysterious voices of 'Labbaik! Labbaik!' (Yes we are here o'son of the Holy Prophet) were heard from the spiritual world above, to which the Holy Imam replied 'Thanks to you all, but my concen here today is only with the living in the physical world.' Saying this, the Great Godly soul the Holy Imam himself to be mar- tyred by the Devil's forces surrounding him.

The Unique Unparalleled Prayer (Namaz)

EVERY AWAKENED MIND will surely confess that it is not possible for any mortal to understand the great heavenly personality which enacted the absolute submission to the Lord, which he displayed on the field of Karbala.

Having lost every one of his faithful comrades including his baby son, himself fully wounded from head, to foot with arrows struck in his holy body with his blood flowing from the wounds, his clothes drenched with blood, and that of his comrades, his kith and kin whose dead bodies he removed from the field of the massacre to a tent in his camp to spare them from being trampled under the hoofs of the cavalry of the heartless enemy, hunary with choking thirst for the last three days, Husain was seen seated on his horse the Zul-Jinah, looking every now and then towards Heaven with prayers for the acceptance of his sacrifices. In the midst of the indescribable miseries, sorrow and grief, and under the undcfinable agony of the worst torturous and the most painful death, the Holy Imam ever remained mindful of the Lord and his submission to Him with the desire not to leave the world defaulting not even a single one of the prayers (Namaz) prescribed by him for man in this world.

His condition was such that Husain now could not of his own efforts get down from the horse. Husain hinted to his horse saying:- " Wilt thou my dear Zul-Jinah kneel down a little to enable mc to roll myself down to the ground? I know thou hast also been hungry and thirsty along with me. Pardon me my dear Zul-Jinah for Husain is helpless. May the Lord bless thee."

The faithful animal which was itself hungry, thirsty and wounded, spread its legs in such a way that the godly soul, one of the most brilliant stars of the heaven of divinity, slid himself down.

Now lying with his bleeding wounds on the flaming sand of the burning desert, Husain, desirous of offering his prayers gathered the sand in front of him and himself engaged in his last prayer (Namaz) on earth, resting his wounded forehead on a heap of the burning sand. Thus ultimately the wounded Holy Imam lay in communion with the Lord.

Swords and axes began falling on him and Husain was bying fully wounded from head to foot, and the sacred blood of the Holy Prophet, Ali and Fatema was flowing on the earth.

Several men one after another, were deputed by the Commander of the Devil s forces to cut off the head of the Holy Imam but every one that came near the Holy one lying on the burning sand, found his lips moving and heard to say:- "O' All-Merciful Lord of the Universe, accept the humble sacrifice of thy Husain. Husain has submitted in Thy way all that thou hast given him. If this son of Thy Holy Prophet had anything more, he would have submitted that also to Thee-But O' Lord forgive the sinners among the faithful, O' All-Merciful One."

and at the end of the prayers it was heard:-

"O Lord! Lord O' Lord! being repeated several times.

Hearing these last prayers of Husain, none dared to cut off his holy head, even on an offer ofthousands of gold coins with promises of highly tempting rewards, hut Shimar, the stone-hearted brute committed the heinous crime.

Thus when the head of the Holy Imam was being severed from his body, the helpless ladies and the innocent children in Husain's camp stood at their tents shouting for help and were weeping aloud. And Husain's sister, Lady Zainab ran bare-headed out of her tent towards her brother shouting to Ibna-i-Sa'd for mercy but Ibna-i- Sa'd's heart was devoid of mercy.

The Severed Head of Husain Glorifies God

THE MOMENT THE Holy Imam's head was severed from his body and raised on the point of a lance, the severed head began glorifying God, aloud in clear words saying:-

"Allaho Akbar' (i.e., God the Greatest)."

Thus Husainwon an everlasting victory over the Devil who could not annihilate Truth with the massacre of the Holy Imam, for Husain continued the glorification of the Lord even after his head was severed, from the point of the very lance in the hand of his enemy.

Thus the Holy Imam by his own example has made it openly known how abhorrent is falsehood and godlessness, how far it should be defied, what value to humanity has Truth and godliness. How dear it must he to every faithful one and at what cost it must be defended and upheld. And how death in the cause of Truth, unfailingly earns thc life Rcal of Eternal Bliss.

Bodies of the Martyrs Trampled by the Devil's Cavalry

WITH HUSAIN'S MARTYRDOM, only the wielding of thc sword by the Devil's forces had stopped, but immediately after the massacre of the Holy Imam and his faithful devotees, the brutes of the Devil's forces got busy in the other horrible deeds. Horses were shod afresh and the enemy's cavalry was ordered to ride over the holy dead bodies of the martyrs trampling them under the hoofs of their horses.

Husain's Camp Plundered and Set on Firc

THE NEXT MOVE of the brutes was towards the Holy camp which now contained only the helpless wailing ladies, the crying children, and Ali-az-Zainul-abideen the ailing son of the Holy Imam lying unconscious with high fever. They plundered the camp, setting the tents on fire. The gentle and noble ladies, who were the unique models of chaste and modest womanhood, and the innocent children ran hither and thither between the burning tents of the camp, and some of the poor children are reported to have perished in the fire The brutes took the ladies and the children as captives, and the weak and the sick Ali-az-Zainulabideen, now the Fourth Holy Imam, was bound in heavy thorny chains, fettered and was most heartlessly treated as the sharp, piercing edges were almost choking him.

The Looted Caravan

AFTERR BURNING THEIR dead and leaving the bodies of the Holy Imam and his martyred devotees unburied, lying on the plain of the massacre, the Devil's forces left the plain of Karbala for Kufa with the virtuous ladies and the innocent children of Husain's family as their captives, on bare backs of camels, snatching away their veils, without any purdah with their necks tightly tied in ropes.

The sick Holy Imam Ali-son of Husain, who could not even sit up owing to his illness, was bound in heavy chains and was made to walk barefooted on the thorny plains and on the burning sand of the desert, from Karbala to Kufa and from Kufa to Damascus.

The Tortures of the Journey

THE HISTORY OF the tortures of the journey from Karbala to Kufa and from Kufa to Damascus which the sick Imam Ali, the helpless ladies and the young children were put to, is a very pathetic record ofthe worst brutality ever recorded on earth, the narration of which in detail needs a separate volume. The captives of the family of the Holy Imam were first marched on public roads and through the streets of the town of Kufa, to the open court pf Ibna-i-Ziad the Governor of Kufa, and from there they were marched to Syria to be presented in the open court of the brute Yazid who before an audience of hundreds of his courtiers seated on the throne there, were purchased by his wealth and who had signed the death warrant of the Holy Imam supporting the claims of the Brute to be Deputy of the Holy Prophet.

The Divine Light Shines Out

EVERY SOLDIER WHO was given the severed head of a martyr, to carry it raising it on his lance was made responsible for its safe custody. Khooli a hard-hearted tyrant was put in charge of the holy head of Husain. As the Brute's army marched from Karbala after the great massacre, it halted near Kufa where Khooli lived. Khooli left the camp in the night to visit his wife in the town and carried with him the holy head, and to hide it from his wife, he kept it covered under ashes of the hearth in the kitchen of his house. when Khooli's wife came out of her room in the middle of the night, she found a pillar of light rising out from the hearth in the kitchen. She was stunned and when she saw through a hole in the door, she found some heavenly figures descending from heaven on a severed head in the hearth. She rushed back into her room and waking up Khooli reported the matter to him. Khooli could no more con- ceal the matter and spoke out to her what he had hidden in the hearth. The good lady cried aloud cursing him saying:-

"May the wrath of God be on theeo' cursed One! Thou hast brought the holy bead of Husain the Holy Imam in my house." Crying aloud, shedding tears, the good lady madly rushed out of her house and out of the town, wandered out into the wilderness and never again entered the house, and ultimately gave up her life crying for the Holy Imam.

The Severed Head of Husain Recites the Word of God

THE DEVIL'S ARMY marched with severed heads of the martyrs raised on their lances. Among the heads, were the head of the baby son of Husain, AIi-e-Asghar. It is now left to the tender hearts of gentle women to imagine in their own places, what would have been the feelings of the mothers, the sisters and the children among the captives who were marched along with the army, looking all the time at the severed heads of their dear ones, on the points of the lances raised before their eyes. Historians, reporting the grue- some events of the great tragedy, say that people noticed the lips of the severed head of the Holy Imam moving, and when people applied their ears carefully, they heard the Holy lips uttering clearly the following verse of the Chapter 'Kahf' of the Holy Qur'an:-

aayaa tina Ajabad 18 :9

'Thinkest thou that the Fellows of the Cave and the Inscription were of Our wonderful signs. 18:9

The one who heard the recital of the sacred words, immediately cried out saying:-

"Nay! o' Son of the Holy Prophet! The event of thy wonderful sufferings and patience it more astonishing. Since its severance from its body the holy head of Husain till its burial after about a year of remaining in the custody of the Brute at Damascus, it manifested miracles after miracles proving the Unity of God, the glory of the Lord of the Universe, the bona- fide of the apostleship of his grandfather, the Holy Prophet Muham- mad, and the truthfulness of Islam, as God's prescribed rc1igio for Mankind as a whole.