Re: What is your opinion about Hussain
Reply #3 - September 12, 2009, 10:57 AM
As a Shia myself who later left all this, 2) is obvious, although it wasnt supposed to happen that way.
He was apparently invited by the people of Kufa to leave Makkah and come there in order to help the civil unrest against the Umayyad governor Ubaydullah Ibn Ziyad and the Umayyad caliph Yazid ibn Muawiyah.
Hussain's cousin, Muslim Ibn Aqeel and sons, travelled to Kufa and asked him over on the insistence of the people there. When he had left Makkah to Kufa with family and supporters in the middle of the Hajj citing a dream he had in which Yazid had sent assassins disguised as Hujjaj to find and assassinate Hussain for refusal to give Bayah (Pledge of Allegiance) to the Caliph.
During the way he received news that Muslim and both his sons Aun and Muhammad had been captured and executed by Ibn Ziyad loyalists, but still kept on going. It was during his encounter with a patrol party near Karbala which was led by a certain Hur Ibn Yazid Riyahi (who later joined Hussain and died for him alongside his own son when the battle commenced) that he had to stop at Karbala surrounded by the forces of Amr ibn Saad bin Abi Waqqas who was ordered by Yazid and Ibn Ziyad to either get Hussain's Bayyah or bring his head to the palace.
Hussain refused to surrender, and so the forces cut off all routes for water to his camp for 3 days from the 7th of Muharram. The story goes that on the eve of 10th Muharram, he asked those who wanted to leave his side were allowed to. Many say a lot of his followers abandoned ship, many say none left, many were too scared of Allah to leave.
When the final battle raged on 10th Muharram each of the Hussaini loyalists and male family members except his son Ali Zayn al-Abideen ibn Hussain (who fell ill and was bed ridden) were easily slaughtered by the forces. It was said Hussain knew about their fates but still thought it was a just duty to die anyway. They say that Hussain requested the forces to exile him and his family to Hind/Sind and he wont bother them again, but they did not budge on orders.
When all was said and done, Hussain, his relatives and his 72 'martyrs' lay dead on the sands with their heads severed and stuck on spears as trophies, the women and children of the camp had their chadors snatched (Shias cry over this abuse of their honour) and chained and led first to Kufa and then to Damascus where they were imprisoned and tortured (many died)on orders of Yazid before being released when news spread of Hussain's death and shouts of revenge started circulating mainly under the leadership of a certain Mukhtar al-Saqafi who had organised a rebellion against the Umayyads.
The Story of Karbala and what exactly happened is not known. But what is known that the most important story teller of this event was none other than Hussain's sister Zaynub bint Ali who acted like a companion to Hussain, was there at the battle and apparently witnessed the carnage whilst standing on a sand dune away from enemy lines. She was the de-facto leader of the widows and their children when they were led to Damascus and portrayed as rebels by Yazid and then imprisoned.
Zaynab bint Ali defied Yazid in his court on being shown by delivering quite an eloquent speech it is claimed. On release she helped organise the first Muharram majalis to spread the word of what happened as per her claims to incite rebellion against the Umayyads, and essentially give Shias the excuse of shedding tears 24/7. This set the standard of what things happened and how and what was said and how and who was involved etc, based primarily on Zaynab's own admissions and claims.
I will say Hussain's suicidal defiance of Yazid could be seen as brave for some, and idiotic for others. But he did what he thought was needed to be done. Everyone rates him highly since that incident.
Pakistan Zindabad? ya Pakistan sey Zinda bhaag?
Long Live Pakistan? Or run with your lives from Pakistan?
Topic: What is your opinion about Hussain