The Torch of Perpetual Guidance, an Exposé on Ziyarat Ashura of al-Imam al-Husayn b. Ali

Section Twenty Eight

“O’ Allah! Particularly curse the first tyrant, a curse from me, and begin the first curse with him and then send the curse on the second and the third and then the forth (tyrant). O’ Allah curse Yazid, the fifth (tyrant) and curse ‘Ubaydullah b. Ziyad and Ibne Marjanah and ‘‘Umar b. Sa’d and Shimr and the Family of Sufyan and the family of Ziyad and the family of Marwan until the day of Judgement.”

As we draw a close to this Ziyarat, we once again bring to memory those specific tyrants who began the movement against the family of the Prophet and ask Allah to remove His mercy from them. The individuals mentioned here number 11 - who are these people and what did they do – we explain this in detail so as to better understand why we curse all of them. One point should be mentioned that although some people were not present in the event of Karbala’ however if they are ‘gathered’ in this group, then this is due to the fact that they were pleased with what occurred – even though they may not have had a direct hand in the killing.

Also, it should be noted that ‘Ubaydullah b. Ziyad and Ibne Marjanah are one person however he has been mentioned twice since his mother and father were both adulterers and thus, there is no clear record of whose child he was. This shows the despicability of the act of adultery that a child is sometimes left with no lineage and mentioning him twice would also remove the doubt from the people’s minds that ‘Ubaydullah b. Ziyad as being another person who was not guilty of the crimes in Karbala’.

1. The first tyrant – The First Caliph who ruled for 2 years and 3 months:
   a. Stealing the Caliphate from the Commander of the Faithful ‘Ali b. Abi Talib (peace be upon him).
   b. Ordering the Imam (peace be upon him) to be tied and bound and dragged through the streets of Madina to give the Bay’at.
   c. Ordering the daughter of the Prophet, Fatimah az-Zahra (peace be upon her) to be attacked and beat up – thus, causing her to have a miscarriage, losing her son Mohsin and which lead to her death.
   d. Designating the second Caliph through his will.

2. The second tyrant – The Second Caliph who ruled for 10 years and 6 months:
   a. Stealing the Caliphate from the Commander of the Faithful ‘Ali b. Abi Talib (peace be upon him).
   b. Planning the event of attack against Imam ‘Ali b. Abi Talib (peace be upon him) and Fatimah Az-Zahra (peace be upon her) after the death of the Prophet.
   c. Organizing the stealing of the Caliphate and placing the first Caliph in his seat at the Saqifah.
   d. Many innovations in the faith of Islam such as:
   • Prohibiting Mut’ah of the woman and Mut’ah of the Hajj;

• Adding the line, ‘As-Salat is better than sleep’ [الصلاة خير من النوم] to the Adhan of Fajr;

• Bringing upon new rulings in regards to the divorce, and many other acts.

e. Inappropriate distribution of the public treasury.
f. Racial discrimination between Muslims.
g. Making Mua’wiyah the governor of present day Syria.
h. Selectively implementing the Islamic penal code by turning a blind eye to his friends and family members who committed acts contrary to Islamic legislation.
i. Designating the third Caliph through his twisted and perverted “Council” to assign who would succeed him.

3. The third tyrant – The Third Caliph who ruled for approximately 12 years:
   a. Stealing the Caliphate from the Commander of the Faithful ‘Ali b. Abi Talib (peace be upon him).
   b. Many innovations in the faith of Islam.
   c. Putting forth his government without keeping the common people in mind for positions and relating positions to family and friends.
   d. Appointing people to government positions who were not worthy of such positions.
   e. Limiting the Public Treasury to the Bani Umayyah.
   f. Racial discrimination amongst the Muslims.
   g. Physically attacking and assaulting people who were not happy with the situation of the government and their policies.
   h. Showing respect to the prime enemies of Islam and the teachings of the Prophet (blessings of Allah be upon him and his family) such as Marwan b. Hakam.

The acts of aggression of the rest of those cursed in this section are too numerous to mention and thus, we leave this for the readers to investigate and research.