Hussein the Saiviour of Islam

Consolidated View of the Account As a Whole and the Co-relation of the Events

WE HAVE GONE through a few of the various events of the life of the Holy lmam and the Great Wholesale Slaughter at Karbala. Now let us take a consolidated view of the accounts as a whole and co-relate the events and find out what is the mean or the norm and where the arc or co-relation ends.

If we take the isolated parts of a monotype printing machine separated from each other and study each one of the parts for ages together we wiIl never be able to know the maker or the deviser's mind or wisdom in it. Nor we will ever be able to know the purpose it serves nor the enormous use of the implement to the human life unless all the parts are duly put together and see how they work together and what result they produce.

Similarly, if we take the words of a heavenly scripture separ- ated from the sentences and isolated from each other, spend ages together on the various meanings each word gives we will never know those individual words work together in a sentence to give a sensible meaning and unless the sentences are duly arranged none can ever know the heavenly guidance endowed in their proper combinations.

Unless we put together all the events of the life of the Holy ones of the Ahlul-Bait, particularly Husain, the personality of our concern in this brief treatise on him we will never be able to have a proper view of the divine purpose of the Almerciful AIwise Creator Lord in the creation of this holy soul and sending him on the earth and the fulfilment of the purpose for the benefit of man in this world.

Let us recapitulate in brief the whole matter of this brief work into a consolidated compact whole to have the overall view of it from God's given heights of intelligence to realise the glorious grandeur of the heavenly sight of the Great Event in a harmonious whole, with the data at our disposal vouched by history and illustrat- ed by the words of the holy scriptures.

  1. It is a fact known to one and all of the educated ones in the world that man is a created being by the Creator who is ack- nowledgly EverLiving, Alwise and Omnipotent Absolutely Supreme Authority.

  2. Man in the primitive stages of the life of his specie, led a wild life in the jungles without any morals to control or law to bind his thought or action with Might as the Right to survive.

  3. The Almerciful Lord Creator of the Universe with His gracious will to educate man and train him for the higher object of his creation and to qualify him for the glorious heights of the heavenly bliss sent apostle after apostle from Him.

  4. Apostles of God were sent in every part of the earth to the people jnhabiting it. Some were sent as mere preachers and some with scriptures, some were for a limited zone and some for a wider area-some superior to the others. Some as law givers as Moses and some as the rerewers of the already given law, like Jesus. Most of them prophesying the advent of the Last or the Final of God's Apostles and prophets.

  5. Of the children of Adam God had chosen a particular lineage, and the Lineage was particularly blessed to be progenitors of the selected apostles of His Abraham was given the Imamat to be perpetuated in his seed but teaching only those free from iniquity.

  6. The Divine device was to present a pathetic sight of sacrifice in the way of the Lord, depicting the sublime submission to the Divine Will, which is the only source or the only Royal Road to the heavenly bliss in store for man who earns it.

  7. A rehearsal of the divinely destined drama of the sacrifice was made employing Abraham and his son Ishmael for the trial.

  8. Abraham and Ishmael proved true the selection but the event was not to be as it was temporarily enacted only as a trial The aim behind its proper enactment was too high, too great and too grave. There was yet no demand for them to be presented on a mount unseen by any man and it was not unknown to the human world. Just to make Abraham pass the knife that a living body was placed under it.

  9. Abraham was told by the Lord that the divinely designed event was a Great Sacrifice.

  10. Abraham was promised that God's Covenant will be estab- lisbed with him and his seed. Abraham had two Sons Ishmael (through Lady Hagar) and Isaac (through Lady Sarah) but the pro- mise to Abraham even according to the Bible of the Christian Church does not mention the name of any of the two sons, but only it was said that the Covenant will be with Abraham and his seed.

"And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and in thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant." OT. Gen. 16:7

  1. The divinity of the purity, physical as well as spiritual endowed in Abraham flew in both the channels of his seed, Ishmael and Isaac and Twelve Princes (Imams) were promised in the seed of Ishmael (OT. Gen. 18 :20).

  2. The race that sprang of Isaac called the Israelites got corrupt and rebellious and violated the Covenant of God-the prophets that were raised among them either they killed them (.....)or they deified them and worshipped them as the Sons of God and those of the apostles they did not follow, they blackmailed them with horrible charges to create hatred against them (.....) The Israelites who hated Jesus charged the Holy Virgin Mary of adultery for having given birth to Jesus, without a male partner to her. At last the Kingdom of God was taken away from the seed of Isaac and given to another nation (the seed of Ishmael). Jesus informed them of it:

"Therefore say I unto you, the kingdom of God shall be taken front you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits threreof." Math. 21:43

  1. The higher truth about the life divine of the process of the complete submission to the Absolute to attain the glorious heights of eternal bliss could not be given in its fulness to man in his mental evolutionary stages. It has to be administered gradually. Jesus clearly announced that he could give out to the people many things for they could not bear it then (.......) and prophesied about the advent of the Spirit of Truth who would fill the world with righteousness and truth (........)

  2. Moses was told by the Lord about the Prophet to come in whose mouth will the Lord put His words whom every one would hearken (.........)

  3. The great sage of India Buddha had prophesied of the ad- vent of the Last Buddha called 'Maetrea' in the Pali language which in Arabic means 'Rahmat' the title with which the Holy Prophet Muhammad has been addressed in the words of God (. . . . .).

  4. At last came the Last of the apostles of God-the Prophet prophesied to Moses- The Spirit of Truth, the Holy Ghost pro- phesied by Jesus and the Maetrea prophesied by Buddha the Holy Prophet Muhammad in the seed of Abraham through his son Ishmael to give out the truth in its fulness about the Kingdom of God-preaching the truthfulness and the purity physical and spiritual of the personalities of all the preceding prophets who had been blackmailed by the Israelites-Preaching the Absolute Unity of God and brotherhood of man and the commitment of man to his Lord-with a final code in the Last Revealed Word of God the Holy Qur'an as the final code of discipline for human life on earth-Since all the previous scriptures were either made extinct or corrupted this Final Word of God came with a challenge that it will be preserved by God Himself for it had to remain current for ever for there was no prophet had to come after the Holy Prophet.

  5. To preserve the purity of the Final Word ftom God to man and to maintain the originality of its teachings and its practice, the institution of the Imamat was started to succeed the Last Apostle of God for the guidance of man against his getting astray after being guided aright. The Imams had to be brought forth from the family of the Holy Prophet himself hence the holy family was sent into this world duly purified by God Himself (33:33).

  6. The Holy Prophet had taken all possible steps to introduce the position of his Ahlul-Bait, particularly of Ali identified with the Holy Prophet in his punty, physical and spiritual, At the. very outset of the apostolic mission and also at the conclusion of it Ali was declared in clear cut words as the Kalif Vicegerent, Brother, and the Master or the Maula, or the Amir, inthe place of the Holy Prophet.

  7. On the very first day of his advent into this world,Husain's mission m this world and the fate in store for himwas declared out by the Holy Prophet.

  8. As misfortune would have it, immediately as the Holy Prophet departed from this world, the Ahlul-Bait were alienated from their position preached by the Holy Prophet, and the people forgot all that was said about Ali and Ali’s appointment in the place of the Holy Prophet.

  9. The final word of the Holy Prophet to the people was that he had left Two important things behind him; the Book of God the Holy Quٌr'n and his Ahlul-Bait and the people would be attached to these Two.

  10. With alienation of the Holy Ahlul Bait, the religion got gradually corrupted and by the time of Yazid son of Ma’aviah son of Abu Sofyan, the disbelief in the Holy Qur’an being the revealed word of God and the Holy Prophet Muhammad being the Apostle of God was openly pronounced from the throne and people had become irreligious and the teachings of Islam were ooenly defied, the Religion of Islam was on the verge of being annihilated for ever, and the Holy Qur’an had practically lost its original value as thcWord of God. The question or rescuing the Holy qur‘an and its faith, Islam, arose demandtd the one like the Holy Prophet to defy the falsehood and even to offer the greatest sacrifices it may need. None but one from the family of the Holy Prophet, the one purified by God Himself (33:33) could do it and from among the divinely purified ones only Husain was now left in the world, to face the situation. The sacrifice the task needed was the Greatest One, i.e., the ‘Zibhe Azeem'.

**Conclusion ** The historic bean-rending event of Karabia has been presented in the light of its historic background and the guidance of the holy scriptures. It is for the learned readers to say that if it was or was not that the devilish forces with the strength at their command

had not done the maximum possible for them to undo what all had been donc for the guidance of man, and if it was or was not that divinity pure and maximum had not gone into action to have succcssfully resisted the satanic moves to re-establish the truth and godliness with the maximum amount of the sacrifices the Humanity could afford to offer in the way of the Lord.

It is now left for the historians of the world who never believe in any effects with their causes and thus always related events with their causativc factors to trace out and declare to the world, what were the causcs of the effects of the tragic events suffered by the godly members of the House of the Holy Probhet Muhammad. If there is truth in it or not, if it be said that if the Holy ones of the Ahlul-Bait, particularly Ali had not been alienated fixed by God and preachcd to man through His Apostle the Holy Prophet, and if the Omayyid family of Abu-Sofyan, with the knowledge of its attitude towards the Holy Prophet and Islam, bad been brought into power, as it was done, would the calamities that befell the Holy House, have been ever imaginable?

Could by any stroke of imagination, be ever deemed the object of Husaiu the Holy Imam be any thing other than to demonstrate to man to what extent falsehood should be resisted and at what cost the truth, the obedience to God and to none else, should be established. Husain' s object was to educate man with the absolute submission to God and to yield only to God and to none else and to establish godliness on earth. To yield only to right, however much it might have been neglected and despised and defied by the world, facing might of whatever intensity and strength it might be, and in doing at no sacrtficc on the part of man is too great. It is for the civilised world to pronounce its verdict if any act of extra gravity of the devotion to God consisting of superb sacrifices and ideal surrender and submission to the Lord, would be remembered or forgotten, and if any remembrance of any such act in a fitting way be righteous or sinful, commendable or condcmnable, and at the same time forgetting it will be gratitude or ingratitude to God and godliness.

Hurting one's self for any wordly gain is undoubtedly condemnable and also a sin in Islam but the same act if it be in the way of thc Lord is called martyrdom and if it be in the love of any apostle of God has been commended viz., Owais who broke his teeth with.

his own hands in his sympathy for thc Holy Prophet’s losing his in a battle in the way of the Lord, was highly commended by the Holy Prophet and is cited by all scholars of the Islamic law as an action of devotion. If a father dies, one of his sons might mourn the loss quietly, the other might cry aloud and the third might not control his love and attachment to his departed father and might in the excessivc emotion of his, tear his clothes and strike his head with his own hands. The sympathisers with the bereaved family will only control the emotional conduct and not condemn or punish him. If any devotee of the Holy Imam unable to control his emotion and acts similarly, the godly world will do its best to control the overactive individual and not punish him, or condemn him as irreligious. On the other hand, while commending control, will only admire the individual's uncontrollable devotion to God and godliness. There is one thing which irresistably comes out a natural and a logical inference from the events that Omar could have invited the public to the position of the AhIuI-Bait in relation to the life of the people and had averted all the miseries they suffered. Omar was a man of fiery temperament, a fact acknowledged by history and even by Shibli No'mani in his well-known work 'Alfarooq' , and he was the brain that controlled the affairs at the 'Saqeefa.' It was Omar's word that was carried there and it was at Omar's command that Abu-Bakr extended his hand to receive the fealty to him as the Kalif. It is an undeniable fact Omar was a man of his will. Whatever he willed, he did it and none could resist it.It was he who overruled the system or the method of any kind of election in the matter of his succession and handed over the affair to a committee of his own choice. If Omar had done one thing, which however was not done, that after controlling the affairs at the 'Saqeefa ' as he effectively did, and when matters had settled, after the last services to the Holy Prophet, he could have called for a general assembly of the people of Madina and had addressed them as follows:-

" O' ye brethren of mine, O' ye muslims!

"It is our misfortune that we have been deprived of the presence of the Apostle of Cod from our midst. We have suffered the greatest loss. But at the same time let us be thankful to God that when He withdrew His Apostle front our midst he has spared amongst us Ali ibne Abi Taleb who is of the same Light of which Was the Holy! Prophet. You have heard the Holy Prophet saying: 'I and Ali are of one and the same Light.' You know the Holy Prophet at the very outset of his ministry had shown Ali to the world and said: 'This is my Brother, my Vicegerent and my Kaljf and you know the historic event conducted by the Holy Prophet at Ghadeer-e-Khum when he declared 'Of whosoever I am the Maula the Master this Ali is his Master' and took allegiance to him and the first to pay allegiance to Ali was my own self Besides all the qualities that we need in the one to rule over us are undoubtedly there in Ali. "We need the most learned to rule over us. Who else can be a greater scholar than the one about whom the Holy Prophet has declared : 'I am the City of knowledge and Ali is its Gate.'

"We need the just to manage our affairs. Who else could be more eqwtous than the one about whom the Apostle of God has declared : 'The most just among you is Ali ibne Abi Taleb .'

"We need the bravest to lead us. It is Ali and none else who has earned the exclusive distinction of being called by the Holy Prophet 'Asadullah' (the Lion of God) and the "Tarraran ghare Farrarin' (The repeated attacker and the one who knows not running away leaving the field to the enemy). You know that at was Ali who stood with the Holy Prophet when every one of us being unable to stay any longer ran away from the field.

" Besides, you have all heard the Holy Prophet addressing Ali : 'Thou art to me as Aaron was to Moses save that there is no a apostle to come after me.' Thou art to me as the head is to the body.' 'Thou art to me as the soul is to the body.' You all know that Ali is the self of the Holy Prophet which was shown to us on the day of the historic 'Mubahila.'

" O' muslims ! the Holy Prophet has left behind Two things the Holy Qur'an and his Ahlul-Bait and we have been asked to hold these Two fast for these will not be separated from each other and the Holy Prophet has declared: 'Qur' aanun Ma'al Ali wa Aliywun Ma'al Qur'an' i.e., The Qur'an will be with Ali and Ali will always be with the Qur'an. "Brethren you know that the Holy Prophet had not even breathed his last people had assembled in the 'Saqeefa' with the problem about the succession. You know myself and Abu-Bakr had also been there. It was just to avoid any wrong step being against the verdict of the Holy Prophet for you know that going against the decision of the Holy Prophet is losing the faith and become infidels for the Lord has clearly declared in the Holy Qur'an:-

" But no! thy Lord! they believe not until they make thee a judge of what is in dispute, between them, then find not any straitness in their hearts as to that which thou decidest and submit with full submission. 4:65

"Now brethren let us not go against the declared will and the decision of the Holy Prophet which he declared at the very outset of his ministry in the 'Dawate Asheera' and again reiterated it at the conclusion of it at Ghadeer- e-Khum,for by doing so we, under the above verdict of the Holy Qur'an, be of those who have not believed at all.

"You know brethren what happened at the Saqeefa and my getting Abu Bakr declared as the Kalif but be it known that it was only an interim arrangement to avoid the calamity to any violation of the will of the Holy Prophet and I and Abu Bakr did it at the cost of our absence even from the last services to the Holy Prophet and his funeral. And now that matters have been settled let us all request Ali to come forward and bless us by his lead."

At the end of such a speech from Omar, if Abu Bakr had got up and said:-

"Brethren! Think not I accepted the Kaljfate to own any power or authority not bestowed on me by the Holy Prophet. I accepted omar's suggestion just as an inerim arrangement to avert the disturbance which I and Omar apprehended immediately at the departure of the Holy Prophet. Omar and myself had rushed to the Saqeefa not minding even the last services to the Holy Prophet and his funeral to that the decision of the Holy Prophet about his declared Vicegerent Ali. And now I would request you to join me and Omar in requesting Ali to come forward and take up the reigns to rule our destiny as the one nearest to the Holy Prophet both in his relation to him and also in his personal purity and excellence declared about the Ahlul-Bait by the Lord in the verse of 'Tatheer' (33:33).

How readily the muslim public would have accepted such a proposal how best would have been the result, is given out in the opinion of even a non-muslim historian which has been quoted by Justice Amir Ali in his famous work 'The Spirit of Islam':-

"Had" says Sedillot: "The principles of hereditary succession in favour of Ali been recognised at the outset, it would have prevented the rise of those disastrous pretentions which engulfed Islam tn the blood of muslims. The husband of Fatema united in his person the right of succession as the lawful heir of the Prophet as well as the right by election. It might have been thought that ALL WOULD SUBMIT THEMr SELVES BEFOR HIS GLORY: SO PURE AND SO GRAND." (The Spirit of Islam by Amir Ali).

Had Omar and Abu Bakr acted as above none could have doubted the bonaflde of their intentions in their activity at the Saqeefa and today their act would have been held as a golden deed and their praise would certainly have decorated the pages of the Islamic History. Neither the Omayyids had come to power nor any one of the members of the House of the Holy Prophet had suffered any of the miseries and the calamities, and the wholeale heart-rending massacre of Karbala would never at all have taken place, the world today, under the godly rule of the Ahlul- Bait had enjoyed the heavenly bliss on earth.