Karbala Movement: The Stand for Right and Freedom
By Ali Raza
On 1st Muharram, 61 AH of the Islamic calendar (680 AD), the journey of never ending stand against oppression and injustice started. The ultimate sacrifice of Imam Hussain Ibn Ali for Islam and humanity. It is the message of humanity, peace and justice. The message of Islam and of God. It’s the message that galvanized all of humanity with divinity. Imam Hussain’s revolution was geared towards saving the individuals from corruption, humiliation, mortification and cognitive content.
When Muawiyah I died in 680, Imam Hussain, one among the 2 sons of Hazarat Fatima, the daughter of Prophet Muhammad, didn’t offer allegiance to his son, Yazid I. who had been appointed as Omayyad caliph by Muawiyah. Imam Hussain considered Yazid’s took over a breach of the Hassan–Muawiya accord. The individuals of Kufa sent letters to Imam Hussain, asking his facilitations and pledging allegiance to him. Imam Hussain was brought up within the steering, where he received the direct concern of the Prophet Muhammad. The perfect domain where he had fully grown up along with his grandfather, father, mother and elder brother was the best level ever attained. Therefore he acquired knowledge, generosity, bravery, and piety. He occupied outstanding posts throughout his father Imam Ali Ibn Abi Talib`s reign within the Islamic State.
As Imam Husssain traveled towards Kufa. At a close-by place known as karbala, his caravan was intercepted by Yazid I’s army led by Al-Hurr ibn Yazid al Tamimi. He was martyred and beheaded within the Battle of Karbala by Shimr Ibn Thil-Jawshan, along with most of his family and companions, including Imam Husssain’s six month old son, Ali al-Asghar(as), with the women and youngsters taken as prisoners. The battle was followed by later uprisings particularly, Ibn al-Zubair, Tawwabin, and Mukhtar battle that occurred years later. Here it is worth mentioning that incident of karbala has many versions and explanations, like the history of Hussani Barhamins, who follow traditions of moharram. They associate themselves and their ancestors with karbala. As Imam Hussain did not written letter to a specific person but to multiple people. So todays Rajasthan was earlier a part of area called Sindh. When the letter of Imam Hussain reached Samudragupt the king of Rajasthan, he did infact leaved to his help. But before his arrival in karbal Imam Hussain was martyred. So he and some of his troops settled in karbala and afterwards they fought for the revenge of Imam Hussain making alliance with Ameer Mukhtar. His grave is still present in karbala. According to some historians the letter of Imam Hussain, which was written to the king of Rajasthan, is still present in Rajasthan. So after this event the barhamins called them self as Hussani Barhamin.
Ayatollah Sayed Ali Khamenei, describing the outcomes of stand of Karbala said that “The struggle of Imam Hussain (as) has two dimensions, therefor it can have two outcomes, both of which would be good. One outcome was that Imam Hussain (as) would be able to overcome Yazid by taking power out if the hands that suppressed the people and ruined their lives, then putting it back on the right path where it should have been. If this was achieved, the course of history would’ve changed. The other dimension is that if Imam Hussain (as) did not achieve a political and military victory, for any reason, then at this point Imam Hussain (as) would promote his words of truth like a perpetual and non-stop stream throughout history, not through a physical tongue but through the language of sacrificing his blood and being oppressed- the language that the history would never ever forget it, and Imam Hussain (as) did so.”
Imam Husain believed that if Yazid was to rule the society, the school thought of his grandfather, Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), would be distorted and Islam would be mutated and introduced redundant to the followers. Yazid`s state’s structure was built on an un-Islamic and unjust basis. Quraish was born to rule, other Arabs were second-class citizens, and non-Arabs constituted the base of the society’s pyramid. That was the general social picture of the Muslim world under the Umayyad’s dynasty. Freedom of expression was forbidden. Expression of opinion contrary to that of the Umayyad’s, was a crime. One who committed such act was guaranteed prisoned, property was robbed, and even his life was at stake, thus blood of Imam Hussain brought liberty and freedom to the world.
Foreseeing threat posed to Islam by the Yazid’s regime. Imam Hussain took stand against Yazids regime. He was asked to pledge loyalty of Yazid or would be killed. Imam Husain was along with his family and companions who accompanied their Imam in heroic revolution. Imam Hussain accepted the sacrifice of members of his family and devoted men and women, but did not accepted the cruel and unjust regime of Yazid, even Imam was offered with the government. He led the revolution for the rights and dignity of mankind and revitalize the ethical code of conduct, which was waning. He was aware of the fact that if he allied with Yazids regime, he would be condemned by the history and if he denied it, his stand would teach the lesson of humanity, heroism, freedom and liberty to the world. Karbala lives in the heart of history and in the soul of every freedom fighter around the globe, as the message of freedom and bravery. In Karbala, Imam Husain denied to accept the cruel and unjust regime and resorted to sword despite knowing that he would be killed and beheaded, since army of eighty thousand stood against his small convoy of 70, including men, women and children.
Although Yazd won the battel, but he could not won against the vision and mission of Imam Hussain, the sacrifice of Imam Hussain, his family and companions, lives in the hearts of many. Hussain lives in the hearts of humanity, Hussain lives in the philosophy of freedom, Hussain lives in fight against cruelty, and Hussain lives in the chapter of humanity and stand for right, Hussain shines through the darkness of oppressive regimes and corrupt elites. Imam Hussain made sure to teach the world that Ashura is not just a tragic event and that Karbala is not just a geographical location and movement of karbala was no just a battel, it was the battel of good against evil, battel of right against wrong. Karbal is an eternal message from the brave men who gave their lives for the sake of preserving the true Islam and fight for rights and freedom. Hussain is everywhere, Yazid is nowhere.
The battle of Karbala and the ultimate sacrifice of Imam Hussain will never be forgotten. The history written with the holly blood spilled in Karbala will always illuminate the heart of every free man to stand against unjust, cruelty, to accentuate integrity and to prioritize humanity and for the peace.
The contributor is a Research Assistant at the Lab of Information Security and Machine Learning at Hongik University, South Korea. He completed his bachelors from University of Engineering and Technology Taxila, Pakistan. He is a poet, programmer and an aspiring writer.
