The Truth of Karbala

 By: Shahryar Naqvi

Shahryar Naqvi attend Mass Bay Community College and he is twenty years old.  He lives in Medway.

With the grace of Allah, we participate in these days of Muharaam again this year as we did in prior years and let us pray that we be blessed to continue to mourn this occasion with all due respect for the rest of our lives.  Our parents took it from their parents and let us pray to Allah (SWT) to give it to us, the younger generation the intelligence and opportunity to carry on this mission of light and guidance and to really understand the reasoning behind remembering these days.  To learn as much as possible and pass on this noble cause to generations to come.

Praise is to Allah (SWT) for raising us in families of Momeneen whom taught us the importance of Muharaam and brought us to majalis even when at times we thought there were more interesting things to do.  Obviously as we grow up, we realize the importance of Islam in our lives.  May Allah (SWT) reward our parents and our elders who tried and will continue to guide our younger generations to the path of the Masumeen.  Some have arranged majalis and some assist in other ways and it is only our Imam e Ghaeb (AS) who can and will request the best of the best reward for all of us on the right path from Allah (SWT).

 Tonight is the last night of our Imam (AS) with his companions whom all knew that tomorrow they will reach shahadaat.  Imam (AS) has been given the best of the best companions that have been given to no else before or after him.  How sad is it that so called Muslims tried to eliminate them instead of taking advantage of their pureness and knowledge.  Today Muslims wonder why we are powerless.  I would say because Muslims did not follow the path although it was clearly defined by our Holy Prophet (SAW) on many occasions.  If we still see Islam alive, it is because of the stand taken by Imam Husayn (AS).

 But our Hadi (AS) is still alive and therefore our hope should be alive.  The path of the Masumeen will prevail.  It is the promise of Allah (SWT).  Even though these are sad days for us, we the younger generation must remember that it is very important for us to know that we will only be able assist Islam by studying, learning, and understanding because it will be our duty to take the responsibilities of the continuation of Islam in yet a more challenging time to come. 

                I would most humbly request our elders to guide us to be able to learn and participate in programming, planning, organizing, and in other matters that we can handle.  We need to learn and get trained now in order to be able to serve Islam in the future.

                We may see anti-Muslims and non-Shias increasing, but please lets not forget that Shia-e-Imam is also increasing.  One true Mo'meen is better that all the non-Muslims and non-Shias.  We need to learn about them to be able to confront them with our organizations and power of reasoning and knowledge.

                 Hundreds of thousands of them could not keep the message of Imam Husayn (AS) from reaching us and we shall continue until our Waris (AS) arrives.  Inshallah.  We need to be able to learn to defend our Sharia, our goals, and our Imam (AS) when he comes and have the same aspirations that our Imam-e-Ghaeb (AS) has.  Let us keep in mind that we have many to support us and especially our Imam-e-Ghaeb (AS).  In Karbala, Imam (AS) was faced with many adversities, yet he welcomed them knowing that he would overcome them all and he did.  Our gathering here today is the proof that Imam Husayn (AS) triumphed and truly won in Karbala. 

For a few moments, let us try to put ourselves in Karbala.  To try to envision the difficulty and pain of our Imam (AS) tonight and tomorrow.  Obviously, it did not go in vain as his enemies thought.  Lets be proof of it.  Let us make ourselves ready to respond to the call of our Imam e Ghaeb (AS) by being good Muslims, good citizen’s, best students, and best professionals as if we had to go to our Imam (AS) right now.  We need to prove to the world that a Shia Muslim is the best in every aspect of life in every way and that is the only way to defeat the enemy.  That is how Imam Husayn (AS) defeated the enemy in Karbala.

                When we come to our masjid, we see many people come and it makes us happy.  I pray to Allah (SWT) to give us the opportunity to continue these gatherings and the learning process and to be able to put into practice what we learn. 

                The whole army of Yazeed was not only disagreeing with our Imam (AS), but he was disgracing and disrespecting the Prophet’s (SAW) pure family.  Imam (AS) did not retaliate and he never said anything disrespectful against his enemies.  He did not lower himself to their level despite the harsh cruelties they were committing against him.  We all know how painful it is to lose a family member.  My Imam (AS) had to witness the shahaadat of all his male family members and he had to see his six month old  Hazrat Ali Asghar (AS) with an arrow in his throat in his own hands.  Despite witnessing all this Imam Husayn (AS) remained strong and steadfast.  It was family whom he grew up with and some that he had raised himself, but not once did he hesitate when it came to saving the true Islam. 

                Most of us have parents, spouses, brothers, sisters, cousins, good friends, and children.  All of these relationships were tried in Karbala and were lost in front of Imam Husayn (AS).  Imam Husayn (AS) was a human being and that is one thing we must remember.  As a human being, he had feelings, yet he did not let them come in between his mission and Allah (SWT).  Imam (AS) was faced with an army of 120,00 that would gladly murder him and his whole family.  Yet, he was against any fighting to the extent that he did not even let his brother Hazrat Abbas (AS) fight, but to only bring water for the young children.  If Hazrat Abbas (AS) and Imam Husayn (AS) had the freedom to us their strength from Imam Ali (AS) they would have destroyed the whole army.  But that was not the purpose.  That was not the mission.  The mission was much greater.  Even with his last breath he wanted the enemy to know who he was fighting by letting Hazrat Ali Akbar (AS) do Azaan in order to prevent fighting and warfare.  Oh how tiring it is to fight one man, my Ali Akbar (AS) had to fight 120,000 strong and well-fed men.  The significance of their fight was to protect Islam and the enemies was to destroy Islam.

They had no water for three days.  We all know how difficult it is to keep roza during long summer days, but what about three consecutive days of no water.  A man can barely keep a roza then how thirsty would a seven year old girl Sakina (AS) and a six month old baby Ali Asghar (AS) be after three long days without water.  We should remember our Imam and his family when we drink water and we keep our rozas during Ramadan.  Can you imagine not having water and then fighting a whole army.  All this was done to please Allah (AS) and to preserve his message.  Oh how high is the price of our Islam.  How incredibly valuable is our Islam.  How we would cherish our Islam if we only knew how much it was truly worth.

                Imams brothers arms were cut off, his sister was going to be paraded in sham, little children would fall off camels and die, one son would be trampled by horses, his own little baby would be shot with an arrow and his little grave would be dug up, his daughter was to be hit and her earrings ripped out of her little ears, his friends murdered, and his family disgraced.  Yet despite all these hardships and tribulations Imam Husayn (AS) did not complain, but instead he triumphed.  This is what a true Muslim should be.  He should not let anything get in the way of Allah (SWT) and his message.  A true Muslim should triumph over all hardships. 

                Imam Husayn (AS) was saving Islam for all Muslims to come in the future.  He was preserving the purity of Islam.  He was protecting Islam for us because if it was not for Imam Husayn (AS) there would not be one Muslim in the whole world today.  Imam Husayn (AS) died for Islam because he wanted to protect a message, which we should follow to the highest extent possible.  Imam Husayn let his whole family be martyrs for Islam and that itself should teach us on what lengths we must go in order to follow and protect our Islam that is given by Allah (SWT), transmitted through our Holy Prophet (SAW), kept strong by our great Imam Ali (AS), and finally saved by our passionate Imam Husayn (AS). 

                Our mission today cannot be that challenging if we set our differences aside and provide the torch and the sword of knowledge to the generations to come.  Otherwise we will go astray and that is what Yazeed wanted and that is what Shaitan wants.

                My Imam (AS) seemed to welcome Karbala and in doing so death, as if he knew that he would never die and he would be remembered for all time as the greatest savior and martyr for Islam and that he truly was the one who saved and preserved Islam.

                Imam Husayn’s (AS) shahaadat served a higher purpose.  He was saving Islam and humanity for generations to come.  It is only a matter of understanding and then practicing.  We should pray namaz, keep roza, keep hijab, become economically strong to be able to pay khums, got to hajj, and all other aspects of being a true Muslim because our Imam (AS) gave up everything he had in this world so that we could

have a chance to be true Muslims.

May Allah (SWT) forgive our sins and help us to enlighten our minds and help take us towards the righteous path of Prophet Muhammad (SAW) and all the Imams (AS), especially Imam Husayn  (AS)