Article translated by SM Ayub Bukhari Advocate Supreme Court from The Al-Hilal dated 1st Muharram ul Haram, 1332 AH (i.e. Dec 10, 1913) I request English speaking friends, ladies and gentlemen, to critically look into the linguistic standard of this translations and be generous enough to advise me according to their views about it, because this is a subject of paramount importance for the Muslim today. Whosoever of the esteemed readers wants to make any comments, the same will be welcomed and awaited for a week from today, because I have decided to get published this translation of the original article. The comments and suggestions as provided, will be included in the article. Tuesday, 10th of Muharram, 1436 A.H./November 4th, 2014. Introduction: The hero of Battle of Karbala in-spite of his physical defeat has become eternally invincible and his triumph remains, without parallel in human annals. Billions of pages have been written by hundreds of thousands of writers domiciled in different climates, believing in different religions, speaking different languages and hailing from different countries yet the charm of the Personality has not been reduced to the least, nor has his message lost its charm. He is certainly an immortal and whosoever wrote or spoke, sang or lamented, for him has also attained a life which was never expected by the speaker, the writer, the lamenter or the poet. However, there is a debate, in these days, about Hussain and his mission and the powers who venture to rule the world, take Muslim unity as an obstacle in their way, thus, they resort to exploiting Muslims on the basis of their historical differences and exploit sectarian feuds among them by their own agents available in the Ummah and issues of the controversy get heightened. Tonight I have before me an article of Imam-ul-Hind-Abul-Kalam-Azad appearing in weekly Al-Hilal issue, with dateline1st Muharram ul Haram, 1332 AH (i.e. Dec 10, 1918). The authenticity of the author and his objectivity and his courage to say all that he believes to be truth, is acknowledged by all those who knew him, in-spite of their political differences with him. In-sha Allah, I will venture to render this article into English and post it to all my friends and place it on wall for public - to carry the message of the author to those who have interest in knowing the reality. The style of the author is so beautiful that it can be described only as poetic-prose. However, he is precise and always to the point. He enriches his discourses and writings with verses from the poets of highest caliber in both Persian and Arabic. It is our scheme to put into brackets the sense of the poetry embedded by the learned author. The author during the period he contributed the subject Article had been at pain wrenching his heart, because he was the champion of Khilafat cause and Muslim unity, while the Khilafat was victim of the world powers of the day viz. the Great Britain, Italy and France. Within its own folds it was being eaten by its own termites like Aale Saud and Faisal of Hijaz. This chaotic period was the harbinger of what we are experiencing today in form of terrorism; sectarian strives and blood shedding of Muslims by Muslims. It is in this background that writings and discourses of the author in that period are full of painful references to events of his time. Although a few sentences as a prelude to this article may seem out of place, yet I could not dare to bypass the same. To start with in this article the author makes reference to the painful events of his own days in context of Muslim society’s collapse and fall of its Republic. The valor, the dignity and the self-respect which were hallmarks of Muslim rule had almost diminished and Muslim world had been rendered into theatre of conspiracy and internecine strives. To briskly come to the text of the article:- “I have taken candles with sincerity to the graves of the martyrs, It is for this that they have blessed me with a heart and soul shedding tears.” Let us, first of all, recollect a mourning ceremony which we have forgotten, how many days have passed that we have become ignorant of culture of mourning and lamentation. We do not hear a cry of wail nor a mourning gathering, nor shedding of tears. The charm of worries is forgotten and the Bazar of anguish is deserted. No recent injury irritates nor does an old wound erupt. Oh Allah, give me a throbbing heart I don’t want the life-less one in my bosom. We have forgotten the desert of Tripoli; the people have brushed away from their memory, the painful stories of holy Mashhad, Macedonia and Albania which are very recent tragedies. Nothing to worry if same are forgotten, but there is a tragedy which has been dominating pages of history and shall continue to do so, and even if some people try to forget it, there remain multitude to commemorate it for refreshing their injury. It is a grave tragedy which took place one thousand, two hundred and fifty years ago. This time so happened that issue of Al Hilal was to be out exactly during Ashra-E-Moharram. I mean that great tragedy i.e. martyrdom of the Prince of martyrs, Hussain A.S. may Allah bless him, his ancestors and give us a share of His bounty as a seeker from among those who seek salvation through him!” “This is the time, when in zigzag of lamentation, the soul of the lamenter burns with the fire of his lament. This is time, when the parda observers on whose threshold, angels would prostrate; they are rushing out of their tents to avoid being rendered into ashes. As their shelters have been torched and it is the smoke of the flames which would serve as their veils. Along with the souls having threats of incarceration; all the hearts became blood with the pessimistic gloom about their release.” It is only Hussain son of Ali, who while confronting thousands of hoard of mercenaries of enemy, calling (Akbar where art thou. Abbas where to find thee).The fact is the dead hearts, who are in want of life, and seek pains and fire of anguish and the souls who find solace, in beating their breasts and those tongues whom wail and cry is choicest charm and whose eyes are fond of shedding blood for the perpetuation and ornament of their mourning sessions, this subject alone suffices. If huge floods of blood assume current of an ocean, and the earth starts trembling with the shivering of those buried in graves, even then the shocks and noise (so produced) will not equal the one produced by a single phrase gushing out from lamentations sung in honor of Hussain. But Alas! How many hearts are there who have appreciated this tragedy, its lessons and implications? How many eyes are there who while shedding their tears and crying their wails? Do realize the par-excellence role performed by Hussain, which remains hidden in this great tragedy. What was needed was contributing a comprehensive introductory article captioned ‘Role of Prince of the martyrs’. This article would have covered many an issue with complete details of this frightful tragedy and it would have served as a review. First of all its historical importance would have been highlighted and thereafter all the lessons and the resultant effects, of the same would have been described one by one, which remain hidden in this great sacrifice. These lessons are still loud in human parlance in the same manner as on the banks of Euphrates the sands were pronouncing lesson from the blood of the martyrs and it was, “the Truth, the Reality.” In this world everything is perishable but the blood of martyrdom which has divine life therein never dies. “Those slain with daggers for their fidelity always find from divine a new life.” But Alas! At this moment I have not the necessary preparedness to do so. The precise hints may be felt as sufficient. “Thou thyself read the detail version as spelt out from this précis.” The first model which this great tragedy presents is “for call to Truth and Reality and Liberty one should sacrifice oneself.” The government of Umayyad was an ultravires Sharia government. It was based on oppression and personality cult. Therefore it could never be an Islamic government. They robbed Islam of its spirit of Liberty and Freedom and did away with consultancy and consensus of the Ummah and founded an autocratic government based on oppression, fraud and deception. Their system of government was not divine Shariah. It was rather personal greed, lust and political dishonesty. In these circumstances it was essential that a precedent of resistance be set by Truth and Liberty against rule of Oppression and Tyranny. This was a Jihad. The Prince of martyrs set an example by his own sacrifice against the tyranny of Umayyad’s by waging a pious Jihad against the government which was based on injustice and oppression. He refused to obey it or express fealty, to it. Hence this model instructs us that every tyrannical and oppressive government must be openly opposed and such government must not be obeyed nor fidelity be expressed to it, the government which is robber of human liberty and human rights granted by Allah almighty and which is based one rule of oppression and injustice instead of Truthfulness and Justice. For confronting such a government no amount of manpower and no material strength nor military equipment which is possessed by the government is necessary, because Hussain son of Ali had a few down trodden weaklings with him and nothing more. For defense of Truth and Reality, he did not care for the consequences. To set results is not your duty, it is the job of the Almighty Allah Who makes triumphant the Truth despite its weakness and paucity of devotees and defeats the multitude and the material massive power. On such occasions those fond of conciliation remain worried as their wisdom suggests that defeat will be the consequence. Wisdom which is a divine bounty sometimes assumes the role of devil and provides excuses to the cowards, who say it is suicidal to confront such a might possessed of guns and fire power. And they say, “Who has opposed the crown and the government that we should do.” The last question can be answered by me: there are hundreds of such instances in human history irrespective of the divine nature of a Jihad when the oppressed rose against the oppressor. Here is an instance of the oppressed of Karbala. You say “when had only a few men rose against the might and material of a government that it should be done?” My reply is Hussain son of Ali with seventy two or sixty two hungry and thirsty people confronted the mighty, powerful and tyrannical government whose frontiers extended from Multan to the borders of France, yet, the truth is that he saw his beloved writhing because of thirst and hunger and later on each one of those pious souls sacrificed himself in dust and blood for the sake of Truth. This is also a fact that he never begged the enemy for water nor for food to live. There is no doubt to this fact also that soaked in blood from top to toe and in this position he adorned himself with the cloak of martyrdom and reached the proximity of the Creator. He lets his friends writhe in blood and dust and also gives time to his enemies to reform themselves. Despite this, victory was for him and the crown of success and excellence was on his head which was replete with injuries. He staggered and writhed in dust and blood, but each drop of his blood which he shed from his injuries on pebble and dust invented floods of flames of revolution and renaissance which could not be suppressed by the blood thirsty Muslim bin Akba nor licentious barbarism of Hajaj and Abdul Malik. These flames magnified and remained dynamic and the soldiers of oppression and tyranny served as petrol to them. The pride of government and oppression was put to air and each spark from this flood became a burning pyre for them. So much so the end came of all that was done in Karbala when in year 132 Hijri, when Damascus and all the zones of the government were demolished and those wearing the crowns and assuming the thrones squirmed in dust and their own blood. Their deads were trampled by horses. The graves of the erstwhile conquerors were demolished. The deads were exhumed and even their bones were not spared of insult and hatred and thus the revenge of Allah almighty on the tyrants was affected. Was this all result of only Ibrahim Abbasi’s efforts or conspiracies of Muslim Khurasani? Was it not the miracle of the blood which was shed on the banks of Euphrates? This is the material expression of the victory and it took only a century to accomplish it. Otherwise the fact is when the first drop of blood of the oppressed fell on the ground contemporaneously with it started the victory of Reality. Be that as it may, the fact remains that the sacrifices made for the sake of Justice and Truth do not remain hidden. But the role of Prince of martyrs tells us not to worry about the consequences. If there is cruelty and oppression, then it is inevitable that Truth should not hesitate to make sacrifice and that must be, irrespective of the abundance or scarcity of numbers or the means and materials. The oppressors being possessed of might and multitude is not a certificate of his legitimacy from Allah so that he should be obeyed. Oppression, whether weak or strong in all events must be put to test and Truth and Justice in all circumstances are consistent and resolute. The tests which come in association with Truth and Justice are exacting and test patience. And at each and every step self-defense, honor, the love of family and sons become thorny obstacles. But this role model teaches the believers and the reformers, that prior to adopting this course "test your demands and the power of your resistance, so that, it may not happen, that just after a few steps retreat becomes the course." “In this realm, the default is to be punished and no room for repentance.” In this deadly course of Truth and Justice whatever was all around, need not be repeated, because everyone knows it. Allah Almighty has described tests of numerous degrees. He says, "Allah Almighty will put you to tests, the test to be in form of horror, hunger and thirst, loss of person and property, the assassination of progeny and nears ones, He will test your patience and resolve and then there will be a tiding from Allah for those whose resolve and steadfastness were such that when they were put to test they handed over all their affairs to Allah saying from Allah we came and to Allah we will return." Fear and horror, hunger and thirst, loss of valuables and property, assassination of kith and kin, these are the afflictions which affect men worse in this world. It is for this reason, the same are counted as trials and ordeals. But for the oppressed of Karbala, all these stages came one by one. He could within a second avoid all this and could have comfort, peace, grandeur and dignity, if he could offer allegiance to the government and became obedient to it. If he could promise fidelity and obedience to the government and for disobeying Truth and Justice, he could claim excuses of reconciliation, yet to win God's pleasure, he preferred Divine Will to his own life. Obsession with Truth overpowered life and its charms. He sacrificed his head for Truth and it is the last of belongings one has. He did not give handoff obedience and fidelity which could only be offered to Justice and Truth. These were the people who purchased God's will with the medium of their lives and Allah is most compassionate to His slaves. The greatest moral lesson from this great tragedy which is audible in reverberation even today is in course of trial and jihad for the Truth, patience, resolve, courage and steadfastness are required. The Quran says those who say Allah is our Lord and then stand fast and at another place it says stand fast as commanded “The cheeks be vulnerable and the forehead be sans frowns for sustaining sallies of divine hand.” In fact in this greatest of martyrdom the charm and specialty is that he was stranded along with his near and dear ones, his families and his progeny and friends in the wilderness of desert and amidst anguish; He saw his dear ones suffering and crying from severity of thirst, hunger and all of them one by one were being slaughtered and he had to lift their dead so much so that he had witnessed his own suckling son hit by arrow of barbarism and cruelty, yet in spite of this all in the course of Love and Fidelity for the covenant made with patience and resolve he did not tremble for a moment or a nanosecond. Rather all those miseries, pains and anguish that he had to experience he bore them with grace and gratitude. He was happy with his fate as determined by Allah and became patient to the hardships he had to bear. “I am purchaser of thy arrow in consideration of my life. I do not beg healing from the stranger.” A cup full of poison from the hands of a friend for thirsty of water, they prefer to a cup of honey and sweets from the hands of the rival. If the ears fond of hearing the Reality are open they will hear from each atom of the desert of Karbala, the behest of patience and resolve. “We have been turned to dust but from our grave, the fragrance issues. You can identify that seeds of chivalry, emerge from here.” Alas! It is not intended to go into details of the significance and the time and capacity requires brevity and precision. If you want to see the role model of patience and resolve then ramble in the storylands of history and for me suffice it to narrate a single event which will bring to the notice of claimants of love with the family of Prophet so that they consider that claim of love without obedience is of no use. Imam Ali bin Hussain famous for his epithet Zain-ul-Abideensays the one who claims to be lover he must be the one who offers obedience. After quoting in entirety a passage from one of his long discourses the author sums up the passage as under: “The night preceding the morning wherein theatre of war was to assume its heat an incident happened I was lying sick in bed, my aunt Zainab was busy attending me when Imam Hussain entered our tent. He was reciting some verses, listening to them, I could realize what his intentions are. Tears frankly flew out of my eyes and I was convinced that divine trial is to devolve on us and we would not escape from it. Zainab could not resist because ladies are naturally of tender heart. She got up wailing and crying. ‘wa hasrata wa museebata’. Today, Fatima, Ali and Hassan bin Ali all are no more. But when Imam Hussain saw this all he reverted to Zainab and said ‘O my sister why this impatience and how this face beating and crying. Beware of God death is certainly to come and there is no escape from it.’ However she was in deep anguish and pains, therefore, impatient. She was visualizing that the next morning the day will dawn with gory events. In deep pains she started beating her face, tore off her shirt and started crying ‘O bad fate, O misfortune’ She fell senseless in the arms of her brother, seeing this Imam Hussain sprinkled water on her face and when she regained sense he said ‘O my sister what type of remorse and anguish is being expressed. You must adopt the manner of expression of grief and sorrow as prescribed by Allah and His Prophets because the Prophet’s example for every Muslim is the best course to follow.' Allah O Akbar! Look to the high degree and great standard of family of Prophet who follow his glorious examples even in grief and anguish because the best model to follow for the believers is that of the Prophet of Allah and to his command they make even their wishes and emotions subservient. In these times of anguish and grief they did not like to adopt that course of lamentation which was not consistent with the command of the Prophet. Yet today how many claimants of love with the family of the Holy Prophet are there who could prove by their deeds that they follow this sublime role model.

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