Martyrdom of IMAM HUSSAIN (RA)

 

IMAM HUSSAIN'S MARTYRDOM

Imam Hussain was martyred on the 10^th of Muharram 61 Hijri. He was the younger grandson of our beloved Prophet (pbuh). This incident occurred after 50 years of the death of the prophet. To understand the reasons and background of this sad tale, we must know the difference between a dynastic rule and the system of caliphate.

Under the dynastic rule, a king considers himself the sovereign and owner of the land and subjects under his control. A king becomes the ruler of a land either through winning a war, or he inherits it from his dynasty. The income from all sources in the empire including the taxes goes to the state treasury which becomes the personal property of the emperor and he spends from it as he wishes for his lavish life style, to wage wars with a greed of expanding his empire.

In the Islamic caliphate, sovereignty belongs to Allah and the caliph is a mere vicegerent of Allah. The caliph is entrusted with a responsibility to run the governance of the empire according to the WILL of God and not as per his own wishes. Neither the land nor subjects are his personal property nor the state treasury.  A caliph can draw a salary for his sustenance from the treasury but he shall not spend it as he wishes. A caliph neither inherits his position from his parents nor acquires it through armed struggle, but is chosen by the people of the land based on his merits and piety.

Allah says in the Quran, chapter 2 verse number 30,

 

"I am going to appoint a vicegerent on the Earth."

 

A vicegerent (KHALIFA) is a person exercising a delegated power on behalf of a sovereign or ruler. He thus is not the master, but deputy of the Master. He has, therefore, no right to have his own will but he is there to fulfil the will of the delegating Authority. It would be dishonesty and treason, if he assumed sovereign powers, or used them according to his own whim, or if he acknowledged another as his sovereign and submitted to his will.

 

Thus the purpose of the human being’s life on earth is to establish the will of Allah on the earth. Every individual shall live a life as per the will of Allah, and collectively all the people shall establish a socio politico economic system as per the will of Allah.

 

The last and final prophet of humanity Muhammad (pbuh) started his mission from Makkah but was opposed aggressively by the people of Makkah. He then had to migrate to Medina to establish a “complete Deen” (A Religious and socio politico economic system). When prophet Muhammed (pbuh) passed away in 11^th Hijri, the prophet’s companions chose four caliphs one after the other and these four caliphs carried out this complete system of life for a period of 30 years. Their rule is known as “khilafat e rashida”. After the fourth caliph Syedna Ali bin Abi Talib was martyred, the companions chose Syedna Hasan bin Ali (The elder grandson of the Prophet) as their caliph after consultations. But Muawiyah bin Sufiyan (RA) who was the governor of Sham (Syria) did not accept this and demanded the post of caliph for himself. An armed conflict was about to take but Imam Hassan (RA) accepted a peace treaty and gave away the post of caliph on the basis of certain conditions.

 

The main conditions on the basis of which Imam Hasan (RA) had surrendered the reign to Muawiyah (RA), are 1. Muawiyah (RA) will rule in accordance with the Book of Allah, the Sunnah of Prophet, and conduct of the righteous caliphs. 2. Muawiyah (RA) will not appoint his successor but he will leave it on Ummah, to select the caliph through electoral council (shura). 3.  No retaliatory action will be taken against those people of the group of Syeda Ali bin Abi Talib who had surrendered after the peace treaty. Thus, Muawiyah (RA) became the caliph (through demand and force) and ruled for 20 years.  But none of the above conditions were fulfilled and Imam Hasan (RA) was poisoned after some time of the peace treaty though it is not known, who has poisoned him. Finally Muawiyah (RA) named his son Yazid as his successor for the caliphate.

 

The Sahaba and Tabayeen were opposed to this and many of them did not take baith (oath of Allegiance) to the caliphate of Yazid. Prominent personalities like Abdullah bin umar, Abdullah bin zubair, Abdullah bin abbas, Hussain bin Ali (The younger grandson of the prophet) among them. Yazid needed the acceptance of these prominent people to make his caliphate legitimate and started pressurising these people to accept him as the caliph. But Imam Hussain (RA) did not succumb to these pressures, as a result he was killed along with his family members at a place called Karbala by the army of Yazid.  It was not a war of two armies but Imam Hussain was going to Kufa along with his family members and close aides numbering to 72 people.

 

This was such a blow on the Muslims and eventually resulted in a division of Shia and Sunni groups later. To this day Muslim ummat is tasting the negative effects of such a division. I would like to reiterate here, that the struggle of caliphate by Imam Hasan (RA) and Imam Hussain (RA) was not a power struggle. As I have mentioned in the beginning, that Caliphate is not kingship but a responsibility to establish Allah’s Will in the collective lives of people as a socio politico economic system. Thus, both Imam Hasan and Imam Husain gave their lives for this cause, to bring back the “Khilafat-e-Rashida”. Firstly Imam Hasan gave away the caliphate in the hope that things will be set right and to avoid a conflict between two groups of Muslims. Secondly Imam Hussain respected the peace treaty signed by his elder brother, for 20 long years and tried his best to set things right. But when Yazid was nominated as a successor, the deviation from the true path was gross. A precedent similar to dynastic regimes, was drawn. Raising voice against an oppressive ruler is the bravest act. And Imam Hussain rightly protested against the oppressive forces and gave away his life.

 

The main lesson to be learnt from this historic event is, that every human being should establish the will of Allah in their lives both as an individual and collectively as an ummat. The guidance for this should be taken from Quran and the example of our Prophet. (I.e. Sunnah of prophet). For this we must read Quran with meaning, and implement the teachings of Quran in our lives. May Allah guide all of us and unite us as a single ummat. Aameen.

SYED SAJID 

27 SEP 2020