Imam Husayn (A.S.): The Savior of Mankind

"Hussaynun Minni wa Ana Min-al-Hussayn" (Hussayn is from me and I am from Hussayn)-Prophet Muhammad (SAWA).

The words, coming from a Prophet cannot be anything but prophetic. Hussayn (AS) was his grandson, the son of his daughter Fatima (SA) and his beloved cousin Ali (AS). In other words, Hussayn (AS) was a blue-blooded scion of the noble Hashemite clan. So it is understandable that Hussayn (AS) was from the Prophet.

But the second part of the saying seemed somewhat unclear, especially to the Prophet's companions or at least to some of them. How can a grandfather be from his own grandson?

The martyrdom anniversary of Imam Hussayn (AS)--the immortal Day of Ashura (Muharram 10)--should afford us the chance to ponder more seriously on the Prophet's famous saying that both Sunni and Shi'ite authorities have diligently recorded in their books.

Hussayn (AS), the younger son of Ali (AS) and Fatima (SA) was born in Medina on 3rd of Sha`ban in the year 4 AH. He and his elder brother Hassan (AS) were the basils (rayhan) of the Prophet. The grandfather used to refer to his two grandsons as "Leaders of the Youth of Paradise" (Sayyiday Shabab Ahl-il-Janna). He was in the habit of making them ride on his shoulders, and once when Abu Bakr who witnessed the scene remarked 'what an excellent mount', the Prophet reprimanded his companion by saying: "Say what excellent riders too!"

The two grandsons were with him that day under the cloak along with their father and mother when the Almighty revealed the Verse of Purity: "Allah desires to remove uncleanness from you Ahl-ul-Bayt and keep you pure as pure can be." (Holy Qur'an 33:33).

They and their parents also accompanied the Prophet to the parley of Mubahila with the Christians of Najran as commanded by God in verse 61 of Sura Al-i `Imran which refers to the two boys as Abna'una (our sons).

There were numerous other occasions during the Prophet's life when he showed special affection to his two grandsons in public gatherings. For instance he would often kiss the young Hussayn's (AS) throat and tears would swell in his eyes. "Hussayn is from me and I am from Hussayn" he would repeat.

But to the skeptics, the last part of the Prophet's wordings was still not clear. Perhaps, it appeared that way to some of the companions of the Prophet, although they had seen the grandfather interrupt his sermon and descend the pulpit to gently lift his grandson who while entering the crowded mosque, once tripped and fell.

They had also seen the Prophet prolong his prostration during the congregational prayer in the Mosque of Medina the day when the toddler Hussayn (AS) made his way through the ranks of prostrating Muslims to sit on the back of his beloved grandfather, the prayer leader. And the grandfather, and consequently the whole congregation, did not lift their heads until Hussayn (AS) himself had climbed down. It is said the Prophet repeated Subhana Rabbi-yal-A`la (Glory to God, the Most Hight) seventy times during prostration that day. Was it the mere doting of a middle-aged grandfather?

It would be blasphemy to entertain such thoughts about the expressions of a man whose veracity the Almighty God vouches in the Holy Qur'an by saying: "Errs not your companion [Prophet Muhammad] nor is he led astray; And neither he speaks of [his own] inclination; It is not but a revelation revealed." (53:2-4).

It was many seditious decades later, after much harm had been done to Islam and the life and honor of Muslims, that the doubting minds of Arabia, began to realize what the Prophet had meant when he said: "I am from Hussayn".

In the second half of 60 AH, Imam Hussayn (AS) was forced to leave Medina and the blessed shrine of his grandfather because of his refusal to pay allegiance to the libertine Yazid, who had been made caliph or head of the Muslim state by Mu`awiyya against the explicit terms of the treaty that had been signed 20 years ago with the Prophet's elder grandson Imam Hassan (AS).

How could the Prophet's heir pledge allegiance to the heir of the avowed enemies of Muhammad (SAWA) and Islam, even though the Umayyad hypocrites were styling themselves as caliphs?
Imam Hussayn (AS) arrived in Mecca but was not allowed to stay long in that holy city by assassins disguised in the garb of Hajj pilgrims with swords hidden underneath their Ihram. He changed his Hajj into Umra (lesser pilgrimage) and on the Dhilhijja made his way to Iraq in order to prevent the spilling of innocent blood in the vicinity of the Holy Ka`ba, that most inviolable place. On the way, coming from the opposite direction, he met the famous Arabic poet Farazdaq who told him: "O [Grand]son of the Prophet the hearts of the people of Iraq are with you but their swords are with your enemies."

On the second of Muharram, 61 AH, he reached the rendezvous of martyrs, the plain of Karbala besides the River Euphrates. He had risen to nurture the mission of his grandfather which was being threatened by innovations, disbelief and all other sordid practices in the name of Islam.

My intention is not to recount the tragedy of the Day of Ashura (Muharram 10), a day when except for the conscientious Hurr, no person from among the Umayyad hordes felt Muslim enough to differentiate between right and wrong and rally to the side of the Prophet's grandson. That means the reciters of the Holy Qur'an, the worshippers whose foreheads bore the mark of long prostrations and the Hajj pilgrims who formed part of Yazid's army in Karbala, were nothing more than a hypocritical pack of infidels bent upon destroying the eternal values of Islam.

Imam Hussayn (AS) drank the elixir of life and thereby nourished the sapling of Islam planted by his grandfather. It was a novel of confirming the Prophet's words: I am from Hussayn. If Islam is flourishing today, it is because of Hussayn's sacrifice. It was for no reason the Prophet used to kiss the throat of his younger grandson so often.

As a further confirmation of the Prophet's saying, when the severed head of Imam Hussayn (AS) was taken to Damascus and placed before the self-styled caliph of Islam, Yazid the grandson of Abu Sufyan that archenemy of Islam, exultingly shouted that he had avenged the defeats of Badr and Uhud.

Who were defeated at Badr and Ohud and by whom? The answers are obvious. Abu Sufyan and other hardcore Meccan infidels like Abu Jahl had suffered defeats at Badr and Ohud at the hands of Prophet Muhammad (SAWA) and Imam Ali (AS). Can we still call Yazid and the system that brought him to power as Islamic?

As-Salamu Alayka Ya Waritha Muhammadin Rasoulullah, Ya Aba Abdallah il-Hussayn, you proved that it is through you that the message of Prophet Muhammad (SAWA) could be properly understood.