Sayyid Muhammad Rizvi

1. When Walid Ibn ‘Utbah Ibn Abi Sufyan, the governor of Madinah, informed Imam Husayn that Yazid demands a pledge of allegiance from him, the Imam politely refused by saving that an allegiance in secret will be of no value, we shall see into this matter tomorrow in public. But then Marwan Ibn Hakam, who was also present in the meeting, told Walid to force the Imam for pledging allegiance to Yazid or to kill him and send his head to Damascus. At that time, the Imam said:

... We are the household of the prophethood, the source of messengership, the descending-place of the angels, through us Allah has begun (showering His favours) and with us He has perfected (His blessings). Whereas Yazid is a sinful man, a drankurd, killer of innocent people, and one who openly indulges in sinful acts. A person like me can never pay allegiance to a person like him... 1

2. Before leaving for Mecca, Imam Husayn wrote a will and gave it to his brother Muhammad al-Hanafiyyah:

In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful. This is a will which Husayn Ibn ‘Ali Ibn Abi Talib makes to his brother Muhammad al-Hanafiyyah: Verily I, Husayn, bear witness that there is no god but Allah who is One and has no partner, and that Muhammad is His servant and His Messenger who came with the truth from the Truth. (I also bear witness that) the Paradise and the Fire are truth, the time (of resurrection) is surely to come, there is no doubt in it; and that Allah is going to raise those who are in graves.

I am not rising (against Yazid) as an insolent, or an arrogant, or a mischief-monger or as a tyrant. I have risen (against Yazid) as I seek to reform the ummah of my grandfather. I wish to bid the good and forbid the evil, and to follow the way of my grandfather and my father, ‘Ali Ibn Abi Talib.2

3. When Imam Husayn was in Mecca the news spread all over the Islamic countries that Husayn has refused to pay allegiance to Yazid and has left Madinah. The people of Kufa wrote many letters requesting him to come to their city. At last, the Imam sent Muslim Ibn ‘Aqil with the following letter:

In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful

From Husayn Ibn ‘Ali to the leaders of the believers and the Muslims.

Hani and Sa‘id have brought me your letters; they are the last two of your messengers who have come to me. I have understood everything which you have described and mentioned. The (main) statement of your great men is: “There is no Imam over us. Therefore come; through you, may God unite us under truth and guidance.” I am sending you my brother, Muslim Ibn ‘Aqil, who is my cousin and a trustworthy member of my family. If he writes to me that the opinion of your leaders and of the man of wisdom and merit among you is united in the same way as the messenger who have come to me have described and as I have read in your letters, I will come to you speedily, insha Allah. For by my life, what is the Imam except one who judges by the Book, one who upholds justice, one who professes the religion of truth, and the one who dedicates himself to the essence of Allah. Was-salam.3

4. In one of his lectures to the army of Hurr, Imam Husayn said: “People are slaves of the world, whereas religion (din) is what they lick with their tongues—as long as their wealth is flowing copiously they protect it; but when they are put to test, the religious people become very few.”4

5. Before reaching Karbala, when Hurr tried to threaten the Imam by saying, “I advise you to think of your life; for I am sure that you will kill if you fight,” Imam Husayn answered that, “Do you think that you can frighten me with death?!” Then he recited the following poem of a companion of the Prophet from the tribe of Aws:

I will die, but there is no shame in death for a young man

If what he pursues is right and he strives as a Muslim

If he supports the righteous men by sacrificing his life

And if he disengages himself from the condemned and opposes the criminal

If I live, I won’t regret and if I die, I won’t suffer

Enough is the humiliation for you to live and be reviled.5

6. In one of his lectures, also delivered before reaching Karbala, the Imam said:-

Verily you see what has befallen upon us. The world has changed and has turned its back to goodness; it opposition is continuous. Nothing is left of goodness except a few remnants like the remnants in a vessel, and vile (remnants) like the unhealthy pasture

Don’t you see that the truth is not being practised, and the falsehood is not being prevented. (The situation is such that) a believer should rightly desire to meet his Lord (by sacrificing his life for establishing goodness)—for I do not see death except a bliss, and life with the tyrants a disgusting (thing).6

7. Facing the army of Yazid, the Imam said:

O Men! Verily the Messenger of Allah has said: “If someone sees a cruel king who permits those things which have been forbidden by Allah, who disregards his duty, who opposes the way of the Messenger of Allah and acts amongst the servants of Allah sinfully and agressively, and that person does not do anything, in action or speech, to change that situation, then it would be right for Allah to place that person (on the day of judgement) alongside the tyrant ruler.”7

8. During the last moments of his life, the Imam was heard saying:

O God! I left the world altogether for Your love

I orphaned my children so as to see You

Even if You cut me into pieces in way of love

My heart would not incline to anyone but You.8

9. While attacking the right flank of the Yazidi army, Imam Husayn was saying:

Death is better than accepting disgrace

And disgrace is better than entering the Fire.9

10. On the day of ‘Ashurah, before the encounter took place, Imam Husayn faced the army of Yazid and tried to advise them for the last time in the following words:

(After praising Allah and praying for the blessings of Allah on His Messenger, the Imam said:)

O Men! Trace my ancestry, see whom am I and then refer to your own hearts and blame yourselves. See if it is right for you to kill me and to commit sacrilege. Am I not the son of the daughter of your Prophet, son of his successor, son of his cousin and son of the first one among the believers who believed in the truth of the message of the Messenger of Allah? Is not Hamzah, the leader of the martyrs, uncle of my father? Is not Ja‘far, the one who is flying in the Paradise with his wings, my uncle?

Haven’t you heard what the Messenger of Allah has said about me and my brother that, “These two are the leaders of the youngsters of Paradise”? So if you testify to the truth of what I have said, then it will be a right thing to do. (And, by Allah, I have never lied because I know that Allah hates those who lie.) And if you think that I am a liar, then there are some companions of the Prophet still alive among you whom you can ask about what I have said. Go and ask Jabir Ibn ‘Abdullah al-Ansari, Abu Sa‘id al-Khudari, Sahl Ibn Sa‘d as-Sa‘idi, Zayd Ibn Arqam and Anas Ibn Malik. They will surely tell you that they have heard these sayings about me and my brother from the Messenger of Allah.

Are not these facts enough to prevent you from shedding my blood?... If you doubt in these words of the Prophet, then do you doubt that I am the son of the daughter of your

Prophet. By Allah, there is no grandson of the Prophet other than me in the East or the West. Woe unto you! Do you want me for a slain person among you whom I have killed? Or for a wealth which I have destroyed? Or for retaliation of an injury I might have caused to someone among you?

...O Men! If you do not like me, then let me to go a secure place on the earth far from you.

In answer to this request, some of the officers of Yazid’s army said that “we do not know anything about what you said; we only want you to pay allegiance to Yazid.” The Imam answered:

No! By Allah, I will not give you my hand in allegiance like a humiliated person nor will I run away from this encounter as a slave.10

• 1. Ibn Ta’us, Maqtal al-Husayn, pp. 10-11.
• 2. al-Khatib al-Khuwarazmi, Maqtal al-Husayn, vol. I, p. 88.
• 3. Shaykh al-Mufid, al-Irshad, (translated by Dr. I. K. Howard), London, p. 305.
• 4. Shaykh ‘Abbas Qummi, Nafasu ’l-Mahmum, Tehran 1368 A.H., p. 126.
• 5. al-Mufid, op. cit., (I have taken the liberty of translating two verses of this poem differently from the translation of Dr. Howard.) p. 338.
• 6. Ibn Ta’us, op. cit., p. 32-33.
• 7. Ibnu ’l-Athir, al-Kamil fi ’t-Tarikh, vol. 4, n.p. 1385 A.H., p. 48.
• 8. ‘Abbas Qummi, Muntaha ’l-‘Amal, Tehran 1371 A.H., p. 285.
• 9. ‘Abbas Qummi, Muntaha ’l-‘Amal, p. 282.
• 10. ‘Abbas Qummi, Nafasu ’l-Mahmum, p. 145-146.