"The Battle of Karbala": Introduction

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Introduction

by
The martyr of Islam and the great thinker
imam sayid Hasan Al-Shirazi (MMAUH)

The Goal and The Result of The Revolution of Abi-`Abdilláh Al-Husayn (PUH)

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The fight between goodness and evil is around in every society, as long as the society is a grouping of humans, among which the fight between the goodness nature and the evil nature goes on. The fight condensate inside the humans, and may be apparent on the theatre of the society in the form of a public struggle, and if the its stages and types were different according to the circumstances and the needs, however the factors and the causes that do not accept the truce and the tepidity do not change, as long as the nature of the human beings do not change, that nature which goodness and evil are clashing within it.

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And since Allah made this life a place for testing and adversity, the victory was not made only for the good side over the side of evil, but the material victory was distributed evenly over the two sides, according to the level of the material capabilities and according to the merits that are derived from the material capabilities as well, even though the victory of the merits is on the side of goodness alone, always.

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The ignorant society [society before Islam] was -like any society- a theatre for the fight betwen good and evil, with an exception: in the ignorant society, two main elements have grown up on each side until they mastered them, and they are the hashimite [from bani Hashim, the tribe of the prophet (PUH)] element, and the umayyad element, so was the hashimite element mastering the good side while the umayyad element was mastering the evil side, so the fight between them was natural and eternal.
Since the power of goodness was smybolized in an element until it became a secondary nature for it, and the power of evil was symbolized in another element until it became a secondary nature for it, the struggle between them was a true expression about the clash between the powers of goodness and evil. -4- And when the message of heaven was revealed on earth, by the appearance of Mohammed ben `Abdilláh who was in the core of the hashimite element, the merits of the hashimite element jumped to higher levels, which made it undefeatable in front of the umayyad element, or any other element of evil.
The umayyad element had no merits in its continuous fight with the hashimite element except of the internal envy of the evil elements over the elements of goodness. So, when the level of importance of the hashimite element got raised up by the message of heaven, the occasional envy joined the internal envy, and raised the merits of the umayyad, after it was fighting with the power of envy only before the revelation of the heavenly message, and after the revelation it began to fight by the power of envy and anger together.

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Thus, the umayyad element was shocked by the message (of heaven), like the fighter that goes surprised by his opponent for what he never met before. The ignorant magnanimity blocked the umayyad element from holding off the silly racist fights and being humble to study the message objectively, to evaluate it and evaluate its high spirits, to know that its (the message) nature is against the defeat so it might spare itself many losses in the wars that it bore for 13 years, and not becoming a block in the arabian peninsula on the way of the wide spread of the message and be the damnation of history forever, and so it may gain the benefits of the faith, and thus the rule in this life and happiness in the Hereafter. But its nerves that got concentrated by ego, were not able to bear any logical thinking about the reality of the message or even believe in it and being under its rule. So, it (umayyad element) considered it (the message) since the time when the Messanger raised his great voice with it and forever, as the hypothesis of Mohammad ben `Abdilláh for his tribe just to gain victory for one element over the other. The repetitive calls of Quran that assures that this message is revealed from Allah to all the people equally and the Messanger was sent from Allah to be a mercy for all the people, all of that did not block its way of ego.
That was the idea of this message for the umayyad element, and by this wrong idea it decided to fight against the message, and to turn off the light of Allah on earth however that takes.

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And as long as the stages that the message passed through to stabilize itself, were all resulted from each other and different from each other, according to the difference of its reasons and its material capabilities and the number of the believers that believed in it, although its core is unique, thus, the umayyad element couldn't fight it by one style only, because the style that is useful for one stage of the war is not useful for another stage of it, especially if the other side is advancing. Thus, the umayyad element changed its own ways according to the needs of each stage, but it didn't change its mentality about the message and about evaluating it, thus it continued to run the activity against the message in one mentality and by one wrong idea all over the stages.

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Since the message passed through three stages to stabilize itself, the umayyad element planned for three ways to fight it, and the details of these three stages are as the following:
The first stage: the stage of the beginning of the message.. when the message was establishing its reality and its ideas that were flowing from heaven like rain drops were forming, to be connected all together and form a crawling current of a complete message, at the time that those of the conscious used to go in person or in groups to the court of the messanger near the holy Mosque (Mecca) just to see the lips of the prophet wet with inspiration and hear the phrases of Quran when it was just revealed on its way down to earth and their heart got enlightened with a light that they awaited for long time, so they believed in it one after the other. At that time when the believers were few in numbers ruled by the hand of the disbelievers, and the disbelievers were great in number and against the believers.
The style of the umayyad element in fighting the message through this stage depended on the psychological war which stood on 2 cases:
The first case: spread the rumors against the message and claim that it is a type of magic and poetry and the result of priests and crazy people's talk, and against the messanger claiming that he is a magician and a poet and also a priest and a crazy man. Also against the believers claiming that they are low down in status and got swayed away by a spell.
The second case: fighting the believers and making some of them immigrate from Mecca to Abyssinia, and making the others flee Mecca to the lands of Abu-Tálib and also making the plots against the message and the Messanger and the believers, such plots that were usually made for earthly powers like magic and poetry, and the magician and the poet and those that gets swayed away.
This style of fighting resulted in the annoyance of the prophet from Mecca and made him leave to Medina.
The second stage: The concentration of the message, when the message showed its reality and its ideas were connected and expressed a unqiue crawling message.
Since people began to get into Islam in groups and since the believers formed a strong side in front of the disbelievers, the message got concentrated by itself and based on a strong base in Medina. The messanger when left to Medina he was received by Ansár [people of Medina] with great happiness, who joined Al-Mohájireen [Arabic: the immigrants. People who immigrated from Mecca], and swore fealty to him for no conditions, thus the message gained a strategic base and that is, Medina. And a solid public base and that is Ansár and Al-Mohájireen, and an independent side which can protect its own back against any aggression and that is able to attack any side that plots against it. The prophet proved his strength in the first year after immigration (to Medina), when he blocked the way between Mecca and Shám [Syria and the surroundings], and gained control over a caravan of Qoraysh [the main tribe of Mecca] that was on the way, as soon as he acknowledged that the disbelievers are controlling the fortunes of the believers that were left in Mecca at the time of the immigration.
Here, the umayyad element found out that the psychological war which was used by them against the message in Mecca is not useless. This failure is supposed to enlighten the minds of the umayyads to look back at their previous measures which lead them to such a failure and study the message according to the lights of the previous experiments objectively away from ego and racism to measure its real powers in reality, but they never benefited from these experiments and kept fighting it with the same values that lead them to the failure, but in a different style that didn't change in the core from the experiments in Mecca, only by the amount of the difference in the situation of the message in Mecca and Medina.
Thus, in this stage, the umayyad element depended on the systematic war, so it lead wars against the message and involved in wars and encouraged other sides to fight against the message, and the umayyad element got severe losses in souls and fortunes and lost all its merits and its ego.
The third stage: the stage of the outgoing of the message... these wars and the break of the treaties that were held between the prophet and the leaders of the umayyad side, all lead to the opening of Mecca, which gave the chance to the believers to take over the bases of the disbelievers and the ratio (of power) was reversed from that which was before the immigration. Thus, the disbelievers turned out to be a minority in the hands of the disbelievers, and the believers turned to be a majority which was able to decide the destiny of the disbelievers, although the believers did meet the bad with goodness, and although the disbelievers fought the believers before the immigration, the believers had the passion over the disbelievers after the opening of Mecca, and they released all of them and treated them by the spirit of Islam which showed the message in practice in its real meanings: for all people and a mercy for the worlds, and not a hypothesis for one man to his tribe to enforce one element over another.
Here, the umayyad element knew that it can't destroy the message by weapons, but didn't realize the mistake of its general mental base in evaluating the message and measuring its real powers, so it remained measuring it by its own old measures which lead to failure twice, so now it prepared to plot for the message in a third style that was not different much from the previous two styles in the core, except the apparent difference in the situation of the message before and after the opening of Mecca.
Thus, the umayyad style in this stage depended on intrigues.
In order to achieve this style, the umayyads went under the flag of this message, as an introduction to get into the leadership, to intrigue from the inside and to falsify the message from its reality and then destroy it completely, and return it back to their rule during the age of ignorance. The prophet foretold their black intends when they entered into Islam, and foretold again about what shall be the situation of the caliphate after him, when the family of Al-`Ás [one of the umayyads] reaches 30 men, and also he assigned the duties of the believers if ever they saw Mo`áwiyah [the first umayyad ruler in the umayyad dynasty] on his pulpit.

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The umayyad element went on achieving this way since the day of the opening (of Mecca), when Abu-Sufyán asked the prophet for some desires, one of these were to marry his daughter (of Abu-Sufyán) and to accept his son Mo`áwiyah as to be one of the writers of the inspiration, and so the umayyad element went on working on this for the rest of the days of the prophet, until the death of the prine of the believers (imam `Ali ben Abi-Tálib) (PUH), but the complete control for the umayyad element was not available like when it was available when Yazeed [Yazid I, second umayyad ruler] took control over the neck of muslims by the name of the caliphate, so he started establishing a wide plan to destroy the message from its heads.
The umayyad element expressed the take up of such plan in the acts and sayings of its leaders. Once `Umar [second caliph] got killed and umayyads got the chance to slip into the leadership, Abu-Sufyán announced his famous saying: catch it O umayyads like how kids catch a ball, surely I swear by whatever Abu-Sufyán swears by, there is no paradise nor hell. Mo`áwiyah also found the trust that he needs in Al-Waleed and delivered to him what was going on in his mind when he said after a long speech ... "and this is Ibn Abi Kabshah (the prophet), was not satisfied until he joined his name to the name of Allah so it is shouted with for 5 times a day on the minarets, no by Allah destroyed it shall be, no by Allah buried it shall be. And Yazeed didn't find an apparent reason to hit the basic pillar for the message and destroy its original elements unless he killed the good remain of the prophet's Household in the battle of Karbala, and then he targeted the good remains of the prophet's companion in the battle of Al-Harrah especially those who were involved in the battle of Badr [the first battle between the believers and the disbelievers after one year of immigration], and didn't spare any of them, and also spread the chaos in Medina for 3 days and it was the city of the prophet and the main base for the message by hands of his general Muslim ben `Uqbah... then when the circumstances were better for the umayyad element and no one was left to defend the message, he turned around towards Ka`bah [the holy House in Mecca] and Quran, and the holy Ka`bah was hit by catapults by `Abdul-Malik ben Marwán by the hands of his viceroy Al-Hajjáj ben Yousef Al-Thaqafi, and Al-Waleed ben `Abdul-Malik threw Quran with arrows until it was torn down.
This plan showed up in lot of statements and acts of the umayyad element.

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Quran emphasized on one matter that there is no other way for it, and that is to follow the Sunna of the prophet which includes his sayings and his acts and the things that he liked, because Quran did not include all the details of the teachings that would cover the needs of all of the believers. Thus, the matters that were not covered by the Quran clearly were explained by the prophet's Sunna, thus Quran said (And whatsoever the messenger giveth you, take it. And whatsoever he forbiddeth, abstain (from it), 59:7) and this reference was explained by that the prophet doesn't decide by himself but express about Allah by the way of the inspiration, so it (the Quran) said (Nor doth he speak of (his own) desire, It is naught save an inspiration that is inspired, 53:3,4). The prophet also assured this when it came to his true successors who he gave their names. The prophet had to assure this thing about his sucessors, since not all muslims were expert in all of the laws (teachings) of the message, because of the short life of the prophet relative to the new muslims who converted into Islam in the last years of the prophet's life while people who were expert in the laws were not abundant and most of them turned to some problems that are not so much important, or never important at all. Thus, the prophet moved his wisdom to his successors who he assigned by their names and their properties and assured that people must get back to them for everything that a faithful man would not see in the reported acts (Sunna) and Quran clearly, and he explained this by that his successors do not decide by themselves but express it by the way of a direct inspiration.
Thus, the believers followed the Quran in returning back to the prophet himself and follow his Sunna as long as the Sunna is parallel to Quran in expressing (the will of) Allah. They also followed the will of the prophet about returning to his successors and following their Sunna considering it a parallel line to the original Sunna. Thus, it was natural -or more even it is a must according to the islamic order- to take every saying and every act and every satisfaction expressed by one of the prophet's successor, and be as a third source beside Quran and Sunna and explain the Quran and Sunna and enter Islam to be fixed forever beside what is fixed in Quran and Sunna.
The crowds of the belivers followed their line, and didn't recognize between whoever the prophet assigned by name and between whoever assigned himself for the caliphate.
Thus, the crowds of the believers went on with this wrong basic idea following everyone who sits on the chair of the caliphate neglecting his identity and neglecting whether the prophet named that person to be a caliph or not, and the crowds went along that way which lead to follow the ways of Mo`áwiyah and Yazeed, who lead the umayyad element, to destroy the message completely.

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Imam Al-Husayn was the real successor who was assigned by the prophet (PUH) and the main person who was responsible -at his time- to protect the message, and derlivering completely to the one who follows him as he received it completely from the one who was before him. He knew this plan clearly, and he saw with his eyes plainly how the crowds were going on following the ways of Mo`áwiyah and Yazeed and claiming that by following them they are following the orders of the prophet (PUH) which suggests following his successors, and he (Al-Husayn) felt his responsibility to put down this plan and return the crowds from following the path in that way which will destroy the message and get back to the age of ignorance after Islam. So, imam Al-Husayn had to revolt not to announce that there is a mistake in the idea of the crowds about the caliph, because announcement alone is not enough in this field, but also to knock out from the feelings of the crowds of the believers the roots of the blind imitation for the ways of anyone who sits on the chair of the caliphate -either by terror and seduction or not- and to plant in the feelings of the crowds of the believers that the caliph is the one who was assigned by a command from the prophet (PUH) to follow his ways only.
The revolution had to be severe, to take over all the caliphs that took over the place of the prophet (PUH) without any rights for doing so, those caliphs that did not think about the benefits of the nation and the message but rather they thought about their own benefits, thus they applied all the capabilities of the caliphate to excuse their presence first of all, and then enforce their position. Thus, imam Al-Husayn was working to make his revolution on the level of the great goal that he was trying to achieve, so he gathered all the capabilities that can be gathered for a revolution, to make it slip through the feelings of the crowds of the believers by their minds and their emotions, and thus it would take over the ideas and the souls, and assign in the life of every single person a similar revolution that would take control of his will and change whatever of his own directions.
For this, imam Al-Husayn did not start the revolution in Medina, when Al-Waleed ben `Utbah [viceroy of Medina at that time] asked him to swear fealty, but it was enough for him to move from Medina to Mecca and remained to watch the perfect time.

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Some similar feelings went through the real believers, those whose religious measures were not confused in for the confusion in the leadership, though the sacred sword and lash were the watchers over the lips for every single word that comes out against the astraying leadership.
But the weakness of Al-Nu`mán ben Basheer, the viceroy of Yazeed over Kufa, gave the chance for kufans to express their ideas away from the sacred sword and the lash, so they sent the messages to imam Al-Husayn to arrive and be their leader on the way of Allah, and take Kufa -and it is the second base of caliphate, and the destination of his father and where his father's tomb is- as a base to defame the astraying leadership.
Imam Al-Husayn knew kufans the best, since he lived many years with them and lived the experiments of his father and his brother with them, and he knew that they will betray him like how they did with his father and his brother and he knew that he would be killed if he met their request, but he answered their request because he insisted on the revolution before the kufans' invitation, he was only looking for a base for the revolution and he found it in the invitation of the kufans.

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The invitation of the kufans provided a golden chance for imam Al-Husayn and it was a beneficial one for him as it was a bad one for them and imam Al-Husayn benefited from it in the following way:
1. Providing a base for the revolution. Imam Al-Husayn insisted on the revolution however it takes from him, and he announced it -by the line of events- in Medina when he refused to swear fealty to Yazeed once, and then moving from Medina to Mecca the other time. But his revolution was without a base that would make other revolutions follow it and give repetitive strikes on one target until victory is gained. Thus, the kufans invitation for imam Al-Husayn provided such a base for his revolution for it is normal that the murder of imam Al-Husayn by the hands of the kufans will spark the spirit of regret in them and make them feel their responsibility about his blood and make people blame them, thus their natural reaction would be working on clearing this bad reputation by killing his killers and spark the revolution against those who drove them to make them kill him. Such reaction indeed happened in the revolution of Al-Tawwábeen in the revolution of Al-Mokhtár and the other revolutions that made Kufa a volcano that carries the fire in its core, which whenever its top is turned down from one side, another fire would appear in another side, in another place. The fire that remained in the hearts of the kufans is the fire of regret, over murdering imam Al-Husayn.
2. Finding the dimensions of the revolution. If imam Al-Husayn was to revolt in Medina and get killed there, his revolution would have only one dimension and that is the mental dimension which is supposed to stay but only in the minds of the thinkers and it is a narrow thing even though it can affect history after such a long time but it cannot change the way of history in a wide form.
The emotional dimension was not easy to be provided in Medina, for if imam Al-Husayn was to revolt in Medina, he would be killed with his companions only and then the rumors will try to defame and misfigure this revolution until it is out of its original contents into some badly figured contents that almost have no effects in history. But the killing of innocent children or their death of thirst.. but the imprisoning of women of inspiration and those who were grown under the imamate [C], but the killing of Al-Husayn and his companions while he was supposed to be a guest who was invited and fealty was sworn for him, but killing him and his companions out of thirst beside the river, all of that was to be occuring by nature if kufans did not invite him, and these characteristics that made the revolution of Al-Husayn unique. That is, the emotional rivers that feeded his revolution to be in eternity.
Imam Al-Husayn tried to emphasize this side in his revolution by sending Muslim ben `Aqeel [Al-Husayn's cousin] before him to Kufa, to take the swear of fealty from kufans before his arrival to them.
3. Explaining the secrets of the treaty of Al-Hasan [Al-Husayn's elder brother who made a treaty with Mo`áwiyah]. Imam Al-Husayn by accepting the invitation of kufans and their treachery in that cowardly way, exposed to history some factors that were behind the treaty of Al-Hasan and his accept of the treaty instead of fighting. The treachery of kufans with imam Al-Husayn showed that if imam Al-Hasan refused the treaty he would get killed by his own companions, and that makes his murder without any further effects.

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Imam Al-Husayn refused to swear the fealty to Yazeed and immigrated from Medina to Mecca and by that he announced the revolution for two times, and in Mecca he received 12 thousands invitations from kufans, and that proves that imam Al-Husayn did not refuse to swear fealty and did not immigrate to Mecca asking for the leadership and he was not swayed away by kufans, but he did what he did for his duty as a responsible for protecting the message, but he wanted to emphasize these two facts at the day when he announced in Mecca and before his travel to Kufa his knowledge about what are the developments and his intention to revolt which will end up in his martyrdom and also announced the place of his martyrdom as if he was reading a book, when he said (like I see my joints amputated by the wolves of the deserts between Al-Nawáwees and Karbala...) [Al-Nawáwees: an old village in Iraq was inhabited by christians].

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Imam Al-Husayn went out giving his soul on the way of Allah, and planting patience in himself, so he got killed -like he said- and succeeded in achieving his goal, because he was able to separate the false caliphate from Islam and showed the reality of the umayyad leadership which was an ignorant leadership connecting itself to Islam as to work on turning off the light of Allah on earth, which was started at the battle of Badr.
Thus, people realized the nature of the umayyad government, as a false rule not related to Islam by any way, and has nothing to do with Islam. Thus, he saved the reality of Islam from being polluted by the crimes of the umayyad element which was considered according to the public something from Islam and should be counted by Islam.
He proved, forever, that the caliph of Allah and His prophet is not everyone who takes the throne of ruling, but it is him who was named by the prophet of Allah and assiged by him, whether he was on the throne or in the dark jails.
Under the light of the revolution of imam Al-Husayn, the reality of everyone who came after imam Al-Husayn or even before him was exposed, thus no single king from umayyads or abbasids or even ottomans could claim that his actions or statements which were illegal were part of Islam, and the islamic public did not recognize it as something from Islam and was not even claimed to be an innovation, but was considered merely like the rest of actions of kings who had no relation to religions.

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The summary is: Islam has an obvious view about the caliph and that is: the caliph is whoever the prophet assigned by himself. After the prophet this measure which was emitted from the soul of Islam got confused, so everyone who took over the throne was named the caliph of Allah and His prophet. This confusion was in its extreme when Yazeed ben Mo`áwiyah became a ruler, when he became the enemy of Islam and called the caliph of Islam, thus imam Al-Husayn focused the lights of his revolution on this confusion until he destroyed it completely, and turned back the islamic public to the right measure about the islamic leadership which was expressed by the name of: the caliphate. He proved also that the sucessor of the prophet is the one who is assigned by the prophet, and whoever rules the muslims is a ruler but not a caliph, and there is a great difference between the ruler of muslims and the caliph of muslims.

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Thus, the effects of the revolution of imam Al-Husayn on abbasids and ottomans were not any lesser than it was on umayyads, because it showed how false they are all together. Thus, all of them were fighting against him. Even abbasids who took the throne from the umayyads by the name of Al-Husayn started to fight Al-Husayn once they were on the throne, and if they missed him in person, they didn't miss his grave and the visitors of his grave and his descendants and his followers, and whenever a building raises up on his grave they would knock it down, and whenever a flag for the visitors of his grave would raise up they would chase them around and whenever the mention of his descendants raises up they would finish them, and whenever a voice for his followers raises up they would choke it by the sword and the lash.

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The complete revolution of imam Al-Husayn is composed of two parts:
First part: his revolution itself, which exploded on the day of Ashurah and was ended by his martyrdom with all of his Household and his companions.
Second part: the capture of his women and children, and touring them in the lands, from Karbala to Kufa and from Kufa to Shám [Syria and the surroundings] and then their turn back from Shám to Karbala after 40 days, then finally going back to Medina.
The core of the revolution of imam Al-Husayn was in the first part which was took care of by the imam himself, but the second part was not controled by him but he prepared for that when he took the women and children with him over the deserts to Karbala.
The second part is considered a completion for the revolution of imam Al-Husayn from one side, and an explanation for the revolution of imam Al-Husayn on the other side.
So it was a completion for the revolution of imam Al-Husayn, because the capture of the women and the children and touring them from one land to another deepened the emotional side in the revolution, and exposed the reality of the umayyad element clearly, and made it appear like an ignorant element that steps on all the holies of Islam which it was supposed to rule by its name, and spreaded the killings and the capture of women among the descendants of the prophet of Allah which are supposed to be the true caliphs, for taking revenge for what they did to its ancestors in Badr and Hunayn.
It was also an explanation for the revolution of imam Al-Husayn, because the revolution at that time was covered with thick veils rumors that was spread by the umayyad trumpet to get it down and misfigure its reputation.
Thus, the hashimite element had to fear over its revolution and save it from the hands of the speech-falsifiers. This great part was done by imam Al-Sajjád [the only survivor son of Al-Husayn and the 4th imam for shiites. His name was "`Ali"] and his sisters and his aunts while they were captured in chains, so they announced the goal of the revolution of imam Al-Husayn and showed its features to the islamic public in a clear way away from the bad reputation and the falsification.

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This book which is now between your hands -O reader- show you -in brief- the events of the revolution of imam Al-Husayn with its two parts, and it was read by the great preacher, the pious pilgrim, sheik `Abdul-Zahrá' Faláh Al-Ka`bee, in two sets that he joined in Iraq. He read the first part in a public set which was held beside the radius of imam Al-Husayn's tomb [called Al-Sahan] at the day of Ashurah in every year. He also read the second part in a public set that was held beside Al-Sahan too on Al-Arba`een [that is, the passage of 40 days after the martyrdom of Al-Husayn (PUH)] in the year 1379 A.H.
The first part is the one which is broadcasted by the radio of Baghdad on the morning of Ashurah every year since 1379 A.H. and in the same year it was broadcasted twice, once at daytime and once at night and that is because 14 thousands requests by telegrams and by phone reached the minister of culture and the station's headquarter asking to broadcast it again. It is also broadcasted in a complete form for years from the arabic radio station of Ahwáz [a town on border between Iran and Iraq] in every year at the day of Ashurah, and some parts of it are broadcasted -for two years ago- from the station of Kuwait.
The second part -which tells what happened after the death of imam Al-Husayn until his Household turned back to Medina- was broadcasted from the station of Baghdad on the morning of Al-Arba`een in the years 1379 A.H. and 1380 A.H.
The two parts are completely taken from the tapes into the papers -and the poetry that was in the local dialect was ommited because it was in the iraqi dialect, which can be hard to understand for non-iraqis- and now here it is all between your hand within this book.

Hasan Mahdi Al-Shirazi

Holy Karbala

7/2/1388 A.H. [7th of Safar]

Next: The First Part