By: Seyyed Ali Shahbaz
"This day, Allah has permitted us to engage in jihad and He shall reward us for our martyrdom. So prepare yourself to fight against the enemies of Islam with patience and resistance. O sons of the noble and self-respected persons! Be patient, for death is nothing but the bridge which you must cross after facing trials and tribulations so as to reach heaven and its joys. Which of you do not like to go from this prison (of the world) to the lofty palaces (of paradise)?"
With these famous words, Imam Husain (AS) and his steadfast group readied for the glories of immortal martyrdom on the plain of Karbala in order to save Islam and all humanitarian values from a satanic regime bent upon distorting the Message of Prophet Muhammad (SAWA), as was the fate of the missions of the previous Messengers of God.
The word ‘satanic’ for Yazid and his Omayyad ilk is not out of any blind spite, but perfectly fits him and the system that brought him to power, in view of the disastrous turn of events that had occurred since the passing away of the Seal of Prophets half a century ago.
It is an undisputable fact of history that Yazid’s father Mua’wiyah, his uncle Yazid, his grandfather Abu Sufyan, and his grandmother Hind (all of whom were sworn enemies of the Prophet), had never embraced Islam out of conviction but had merely paid lip service to Islam in 8 AH at the surrender of Mecca to Muslims in order to save their life, by availing themselves of the amnesty offered by the Mercy unto creation.
Their subsequent role and statements are irrefutable proofs in this regard.
Irrespective of who, and for what reason, had appointed Abu Sufyan’s sons to the governorship of the newly conquered Province of Shaam (made up of modern day Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Palestine – the illegal Zionist entity included – and the southwestern parts of Turkey), both Sunnis and Shi’ites have recorded in their works that when the caliphate was given to Osman ibn Affan, he held an exclusive gathering of his Omayyad kinsmen in which Abu Sufyan said: “The ball of caliphate is now with you; so make sure it remains amongst you, for there was neither any prophet, nor a scripture, or for that matter there is no resurrection, no judgement day, no heaven and no hell.”
We are not concerned here as to why the 3rd caliph (political head of the Islamic state) chose to ignore the Islamic law of executing an apostate, and why he annulled the Prophet’s decree of banishment by recalling to Medina the Godless father-and-son pair of Hakam bin Aas and Marwan bin Hakam (Marwan and his brood were to become caliphs after Yazid).
Next we read in the pages of history how irritated Mu’awiyah would get whenever the Muezzin called for prayer, especially at the phrase: “Ash-hado anna Muhammadan Rasoul-Allah (I bear witness Muhammad is the Messenger of God.” His crafty comrade-in-crimes, Amr ibn Aas, advised him to keep this deep hatred confined to his heart in order to fool Muslims and rule over them.
The libertine Yazid who dispensed with all the outward pretensions to Islam of his sires, was the product of such a despicable progeny.
Born out of wedlock to a Bedouin woman and proudly wearing the crucifix around his neck despite his claim to be the caliph of Muslims, he thought that by forcing the Prophet’s grandson to swear allegiance to his illegal rule, or killing him on his refusal, he would not just obliterate Islam and the name of Muhammad (SAWA) forever, but would weed out all morals and humanitarian values.
Here we are not concerned with Yazid’s pillage of Medina, slaughter of at least 700 companions of the Prophet among the 10,000 massacred in Harrah, desecration of the Prophet’s Mosque and Holy Shrine, mass rape of the women of the city for three days, and the blasphemous assault on the Symbolic House of the Unseen but Omnipresent Creator – the Holy Ka’ba in Mecca.
As further proof of his ungodly nature, I wish to point out at what the chroniclers of Islam have written when the head of Imam Husain (AS) was placed before this drunkard in a tray in Damascus.
Yazid proudly repeated the words of Abu Sufyan that the Hashemites had played the game of kingdom, and there was neither any prophet nor a book. He then burst out saying he had avenged the blood of his heathen kinsmen killed by Muslims in the Battles of Badr and Ohad when they launched armed attacks on the Prophet.
Now we understand why Imam Husain (AS) decided to drink the elixir of martyrdom and why the Holy Qur’an refers to him as Zibh Azim or the Great Sacrifice that ransomed Abraham’s offering of his firstborn son, Ishmael.
In Karbala on the Day of Ashura, he saw his Ishmaels (sons, brothers, nephews, kinsmen, and companions) slaughtered in front of him, before he was mercilessly decapitated while still alive and in the state of thirst.
This is the reason we salute him as the Legatee of the Prophets Adam (AS), Noah (AS), Abraham (AS), Moses (AS), Jesus (AS), and Muhammad (SAWA) as well as of Imam Ali (AS) and Imam Hasan (AS).
If not for his immortal stand that has continued to inspire reforms, resistance, and revolutionary movements against tyranny and immorality in every age and era, humanity would have long been turned into a devilish creed.
