The seeds of the Tragedy of Karbala were sown at the end of
the famous Conquest of Makkah. The Noble Messenger of Islam (s.a.w.a.s.)
entered triumphantly into Makkah without practically any blood-shed.
Previously, he had to leave Makkah to avoid his own murder by the Quraysh. They
had siege his house at night by joining hands with all tribes to kill the Noble
Messenger (s.a.w.a.s.) so that Banu Hashim may not be able to avenge his murder
facing all tribes. But Allah (s.w.t.) informed His Messenger about the plot of
the infidels and directed him to let Imam Ali (a.s.) sleep in his bed. The
Messenger (s.a.w.a.s.) migrated to Madina and later Imam Ali (a.s.) joined him
after returning the properties of the Quraish to the owners who had deposited it
as trust with the Messenger!
Abu Sufiyan had fought many battles with the Noble Messenger
(s.a.w.a.s) but failed to dislodge and destroy Islam and the Muslims. After the Conquest of Makkah, he and other
polytheists decided to change the tactics of war; instead of facing the Muslims
as enemy, they decided to join the adversaries as Muslims. Hence they accepted
Islam outwardly but in their hearts they were bitter enemies of Islam; the
hypocrites. They waited in the wings for opportunities to attack Islam. Muawiyah, son of Abu Sufiyan
also accepted Islam. He used false promises, lavishly spent the trusted wealth
of the Muslims to purchase the loyalties of the corrupt and mercilessly killed
those who could not be bought out. He played his role to topple the government
of caliph Usman and explode the situation culminating to the Battle of Jamal.
He rebelled against the popularly elected Imam Ali (a.s.) and also attacked the
Muslim army of Imam Ali (a.s.) in Siffin and when his defeat was imminent,
raised the Glorious Qur’ans on the spears calling for decision by Qur’an. After
the martyrdom of Imam Ali (a.s.), attacked the Muslim forces under the
Infallible Imam Hasan (a.s.), spread chaos in his army, bought out the army
leaders, entered into a peace agreement sending Imam Hasan (a.s.) a blank sheet
of paper soliciting to write any terms of agreement (because in his heart he did
not want to fulfill the terms).
According to that agreement, it was expressly agreed that after
Muawiya’s death, the khilafah will be returned to Imam Husayn (a.s.). Further,
that Muawiyah will not appoint his son Yazid as his successor. But as expected of a hypocrite, Muawiyah
appointed Yazid as the khalifa and spent Muslim wealth to influence people to
pay allegiance to Yazid.
As soon as Muawiyah died, Yazid sent instructions to his governors
to ask the different leaders to pay allegiance or to kill them. Governor of
Madinah sent for Imam Husayn (a.s.). Sayyidah Zaynab (s.a.), who dearly loved
her brother Imam Husayn (a.s.), asked 18 brave youth of Banu Hashim, to
accompany the Imam (a.s.) to the governor. Al-Waleed, the governor, met Imam
Husayn (a.s.) respectfully and showed him Yazid’s letter. The Imam (a.s.) asked
Al-Waleed to arrange a public gathering in the morning and ascertain their
views about Yazid’s sovereignty. The cunning Marwan intervened and advised the
governor to either obtain Imam (a.s.)’s allegiance or kill him. The Imam (a.s.)
got angry at the audacity of Marwan and raised his voice in protest, and the
Banu Hashim who were waiting outside immediately rushed in.
After a couple of days,
Imam Husayn (a.s.) left Madinah along with his family including young and
infant children and went to Makkah. Yazid had sent killers in guise of Hajjis
to assassinate Imam Husayn (a.s.). Imam Husayn (a.s.) in order to preserve the
sanctity of House of Allah, changed the ihram of Hajj to Umrah and left Makkah
towards Kufa. On the way, he met Hur with a force of 1,000 men, thirsty and
desperately in need of water. Imam Husayn (a.s.) asked his brother and the
commander of his small band of warriors, Hazrat Abbas (a.s.) to let the enemy
and their horses quench the thirst. In
the desert, water is an invaluable commodity, but the son of Saqi-e-Kusar, Imam
Ali (a.s.), sacrificed this rare commodity for the enemy! Hur tried to stop the
Imam (a.s.) from proceeding further but later agreed to march with the Imam
(a.s.) till they reached Karbala in Iraq on the Muharram 2nd.of 61
A.H.
Note: Please also read other two articles on this blog;
Muawiyah ibn Abu Sufiyan and Yazid ibn Muawiyah
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