Ashura

The night before the tenth Muharram:

The night following the ninth day of Muharram presented a unique spectacle which has no parallel in the history of the world. A detailed description of the scene of that night in Karbala, requires at least a separate chapter. However, only a few important events of the dreadful night are briefly related here. Since his arrival at Karbala on the 2nd Muharram, the Holy Imam used to gather all those who had accompanied him from Makkah, and address them after every night prayer, advising them to leave him to his own fate and to return to their homes, giving them every assurance that the consequences of his journey would be quite a different one from what had been imagined by them to be.

Sermon of the Holy Imam on the day of Ashura:

Imam Hussain (pbuh) thanked and praised Almighty God first. Then mentioned Holy Prophet (pbuh) and prayed on him and said:

Citizens of Kufa, Remember my image and look who I am, then awaken yourselves. Ask if it is fair for you to kill me and to violate the honor of my women? Am I not the son of your prophet's daughter, the son of his successor, his cousin and the first one who believed in what he attains from God? Isn't Hamzah, Master of martyrs, my father's uncle? Haven't you heard the words that God's Messenger said to me and my brother that we are the masters of the Heaven's youths.

Are you asking me for a dead person I killed, or money I usurped, or by punishment for wounds?

When no one answered, he shouted loud and said: I beseech you by God; do you know me? Yes, you are the Grandson of God's Messenger (pbuh), they replied.

I beseech you by God; do you know that Muhammad is my Grandfather? And do you know that Ali son of Abu Talib is my father? I beseech you by God; do you know that Fatima the daughter of God's Messenger is my mother? I beseech you by God; do you know that Khadija daughter of Khuwayled the first women in Islam is my Grandmother? I beseech you by God; do you know that Hamzah master of martyrs is my father's uncle? I beseech you by God; do you know that this is the prophet's sword? I beseech you by God; isn't the Turban I am wearing Prophet's Turban? I beseech you by God; wasn't Ali the most all-knowing the bravest man in Islam, and the master (Maula) of every faithful Muslim? Yet you are shedding my blood and he is my father.

Yes, we know all that and we will not leave you until you taste death from thirst.

When his daughters and his sisters (Zainab and Kulthoom) heard his speech they cried, wept, slapped their cheeks, and shouted. Imam Hussain (pbuh) sent his brother Abbas and his son Ali to silence them. Then he continued another speech, by saying I swear that they will have to cry a lot later.

Woe, to you: You cried for help and we came running, but you drew your sword of faith against us and tried to burn us with the fire we set for your enemies. You have turned to them and became their allies, without any justice or any hope they have given you.

May your fate be as tragic as your actions. You have left us while we were in the midst of the battle, and you run to the pleasures of life. May God's curse be upon you, for you are the slaves of this nation and the outcast of any party, the deviators of their words, the bandits of evil and the breath of Satan. How could you ally with our enemies against us? But treason is a habit that runs deep into you, in your roots and in your branches as well as the air you breathe and the food you eat. That Swindler son of Swindlers had left me to choose between death and humiliation. But there is no way humiliation could find a route to us. God, His messenger and our pride would neither wish us nor let us obey those vicious mean people. May God bear witness I am going to fight with my family no matter how few our supporters are?

Imam Hussain (pbuh) made this speech so that later no one would be able to say that it was Imam Hussain (pbuh) who started this battle. Umar son of Saad became worried that Imam Hussain (pbuh)'s words might change the minds of some of the troops. Hence ordered his slave Durayd saying: Hay Durayd holds your banner and be me witness in front of the prince that I was the first to fight Hussain. He put an arrow to his bow and shot it towards Imam Hussain (pbuh)'s tent. There followed thousands of arrows towards Imam Hussain (pbuh)'s camp.


al-atash :: pyaas

haaye sakina :: haaye pyaas





zindagi bhar ya hussain ya hussain