By Yusuf Abdullahi
Envy and Hatred Against the Prophet’s Progeny
As certified earlier, the superiority of the prophet’s progeny is very obvious. Out of envy some developed hatred and hostility against them. As such they fabricated hundreds of lies which they related to the great Messenger to promote their loved and downgrade the honorable progeny. After his prominent book, Khasa’isu Ameerul mu’mineen, on the virtues of Imam Ali, al-Nisa’i on a visit to Damascus was asked to produce any such virtues in respect of who they described as Amirul Mumineen Mu’awiya.
As he insisted on none, they killed him at the spot! Despite the fact that the prophet has described Imam Ali as the gates of knowledge and wisdom, they concocted lies making others to occupy such exalted positions including late comers that lived only few years to the demise of the prophet (S). It was out of such fabrication that Imam’s parents were thrown to hell. Although they loved the prophet and gave him utmost protection for which the messenger described the year of Abu Talib’s death which coincided with that of his wife Sayyidah Khadija as that of sorrow.
His wife Fatima was martyred before his eyes at the age of eighteen in Medina. Mu’awiya son of Abu Sufyan, above all the enemies of the Imam used usurped political power to blackmail him and instructed his stooges to do the same across the Muslim world to the extent that the Imam who was the greatest companion of the Noble Messenger was rumored to be an atheist Allah forbid! After a very long persecution, the Imam was finally assassinated in Ramadan, forty years after hijra while leading the Morning Prayer. The abuse against him that was made to be part of all public speeches especially on Fridays and Eid continued for many decades after his martydom.
His children were mercilessly martyred one after the other by the Umayyad as well! Imam Hasan was the first to suffer the persecution of Mu’awiya who fought his father and plotted for his assassination. Mu’awiya poisoned Imam Hasan to martyrdom despite the fact that he ran a secluded life and allowed him to take the mantle of affairs. No one was in ignorant of the atrocities against the progeny of the prophet under the leadership of Imam Husain (AS). The Imam, alongside women, innocent children and babies from the prophet’s family were besieged and mercilessly tortured of thirst and hunger to martyrdom. This culminated on the tenth of Muharram, 61 years after hijra when the army of Umayyad caliph Yazid under the command of Umar son of Sa’ad son of Abi Waqas advanced to the defenseless group with final reinforcement making the army of about thirty thousand against the Imam and his unarmed handful followers of less than a hundred!
At this point, the Imam addressed his followers thus “Allah has this day permitted us to be engaged in a holy war and he shall reward us for our martyrdom. So prepare yourselves to fight against the enemies of Islam with patience and resistance. O sons of the self-respecting persons be patient, death is nothing but a bridge which you must cross after facing trials and tribulations so as to reach heaven and its toys. Which of you do not like to go from this prison (world) to the lofty palaces (paradise)? By this, his companions were overwhelmed with Imam’s address who cried out “o our master! We are all ready to defend you and your Ahlul-bait, and to sacrifice our lives for the cause of Islam”. At that time, the enemies have come closer to fight them. The Imam therefore sent out his followers one after the other, where they demonstrated great sacrifice, bravery and patience until they attained martyrdom!
The Imam then, brought his six-month old baby, Ali al-Asghar in his hand asking the enemy to give him water dying of thirst! In contrast however, the merciless army quenched the baby’s thirst with a deadly poisoned arrow killing him in the hand of the helpless father at the spot. The Imam thus prayed “O Allah! Thy Husain has offered thy way whatever though hath blessed him with. Bless thy Husain O lord! With the acceptance of this sacrifice, everything Husain could do till now was through thy help and thy grace”. Lastly, the Imam came out to the field and the enemies besieged him using all sorts of weapons against him. At last they killed him, mutilated his body and beheaded him before the ladies and the children who were finally brutalized and driven to Yazid’s palace as captives!
The tragedy revealed the deep hatred, hostility and arrogance of Banu Umayyah to the noble Prophet and Islam. They therefore created special cerebrations on what they termed as great victory of the caliph over his enemies. Not as widely circulated, Ashura, tenth day of Muharram, – the first month of the new Islamic calendar- ought to be generally marked as the day of sorrow, looking at its historical relevance and unprecedented tragedy that befell the pure household of the noble Prophet Muhammad in then plain of Karbala, Iraq, 61 AH. After the massacre, the family of the noble prophet were paraded in chains as prisoners through villages and cities with the head of the Imam mounted on an arrow in front to Yazid’s palace! The massacre was meant to serve as deterrent to any other person that might oppose his authority. However with the help of Allah the Omnipotent, Imam Zainul Abideen, the only son of the Imam that survived the massacre and his aunty Sayyida Zainab, used the ordeals to awaken the Muslim community from its deep slumber against the tyrant. And that awakening no doubt is what continues today as martyr Motahhari, the prominent Iranian philosopher and thinker put it “Imam Hussein conquered hearts and feelings of hundreds of millions of people, because of his great personality and heroic martyrdom. If different religious leaders could make use of this giant moral source to shape and harmonize the souls and make them all soul mates of giant soul of Hussein, all the affairs and issues of the world will be improved and corrected”.
SIDING WITH THE BITTER TRUTH
What is important at this juncture is the obvious truth, because many Muslims chose to deceive themselves by equating the oppressor with the oppressed, right with wrong and tyranny and justice. This is absolutely impossible and unacceptable before Allah the Most High. Allah states “Shall We treat those who believe and work deeds of righteousness the same as those who do mischief on earth? Shall we treat those who guard against evil, the same as those who turn aside from the right?" Q38:28
The Qur’an and other revelations were meant to serve as criteria for life and establishment of justice on earth. Allah states "Verily, We sent Our Messengers with manifest signs and sent down with them the Book and the Balance that people may act with justice ……" Q2:247. Not to talk of Imam Husain (AS) and his followers who were brutally and mercilessly murdered by those claiming to be the ambassadors of the religion of his grandfather, how can a sensible person equate Imam Ali and Mu’awiya? Whoever does that, he is completely ignorant of Allah’s justice and revelations of all times. Because justice is the whole idea behind all the revelations as the above verse strictly portrays.
ACCUSATION ON THE ABUSE OF THE COMPANIONS
Most prevalent of incessant lies against Shi’a is that they abuse the companions of the prophet (S). This is what was concocted and spread to blackmail the followers of Ahlul-bait (AS). The very people that took it upon themselves produced lots of misleading publications in addition to other deliberate concoctions. The abuse is simple historical analysis of actions of predecessors for lessons, which is the rationale behind all historical accounts of the holy Qur’an. How could such documented historical accounts be abuse when narrated or analysed today? If the narrator of such accounts is accused of abusing predecessors, why not the authors? To cut all short, that is not abuse. It is an educational approach for the right lessons based on the historical circumstances. Yes, some cite example of what the leader of Islamic revolution in Iran called "the London Shi’a" to certify the allegations. However, that could never satisfy any sensible mind, because, the Shi’a authorities have attested to the fact that those groups were deliberately created and funded by the enemies of Islam and Muslims as their action are clearly contrary to that of Shi’a scholars and educationists across the world. Their programmes were also meant to create disunity and misunderstanding within the Muslim-Ummah.
To be continued.