Hussain’s final sermon & the great battle begins

On the 10th of the Islamic month of Muharram which is popularly known as Ashur, Imam Hussain arranged the battle plan with soldiers who were 72 in number. Then the Imam mounted his camel and addressed the people i.e. army of Yazid which was 40,000 in total, with a very loud voice, which could be heard by most of them.

“O people of Iraq! Listen to me and do not make haste to kill me so that I may tell you what I must, and appraise you of the reason for my coming to Iraq. If you accept my excuse, believe in what I say, and behave towards me fairly, you will level for yourselves the path of prosperity, and then you will have no reason to kill me. And even if you do not accept my excuse and deviate from the path of justice, you must ponder over the pros and cons of the matter before you kill me, and should not undertake such a delicate task rashly and without deliberation. My supporter is the Almighty Allah Who has revealed the Qur’an. Allah guards His deserving slaves”.

He spoke in more eloquent and expressive words than any orator, who had existed before him, or would come after him, and said to the people of Kufa, “O people! Identify me and see who I am. Then you will come to your senses and reproach yourselves. You should reflect carefully on whether it is permissible for you to kill me and to disregard the reverence due to me.

“Am I not the son of your Prophet’s daughter? Is the wasi (vicegerent) of your Prophet and his cousin and the first person, who expressed belief in Allah and confirmed what was brought by His Prophet, not my father? Is the Doyen of Martyrs Hamza bin Abdul Muttalib not the uncle of my father? Is the martyr Ja’far son of Abu Talib who has two wings and flies with Allah’s angels not my uncle?

Have you not heard that the Holy Prophet has said about me and my brother: “These two sons of mine are the chiefs of the young men of Paradise”. If you think that whatever I am saying is true so much the better. I swear by Allah that I know Allah hates the liars, and I have never told a lie. And even if you do not believe in my words and refute me, there are still some companions of the Holy Prophet amongst you who, when asked, will apprise you of the facts.

Ask Jabir bin Abdullah Ansari, Abu Sa’id Khudari, Nahl bin Sadi, Zayd bin Arqam or Anas bin Malik, so that they may tell you that they have heard these words from the Holy Prophet about me and my brother. Is this tradition itself not sufficient to restrain you from killing me? If you are doubtful about this tradition can you doubt even this that I am the son of your Prophet’s daughter? I swear by Allah that between East and West there is no son of the daughter of a Prophet except me either amongst you or amongst others.

“You should tell honestly whether I have killed anyone from amongst you so that you may take revenge! Is it that I have appropriated your wealth and you are claiming it? Have I injured you for which you have risen to compensate?” None of them, however, came forward to give a reply to what the Imam said.

He was, therefore, obliged to call some of them by their names and addressed them in these words: “O Shabath bin Rabie, Hajjar bin Abjar, Qays bin Ashath, and Yazid bin Harith! Did you yourselves not write letters to me saying: “The fruits have become ripe and the lands are green and fresh and the soldiers of Iraq are ready to sacrifice their lives for you and you should, therefore, proceed to Iraq as early as possible?”

The Imam continued his address till he said: “By Allah, I will not swear allegiance to these people like weak and mean persons and will not flee the battlefield like slaves while fighting against the rascals. I seek refuge in Allah from the mischief of you people and of every arrogant person who does not believe in the Day of Judgment”.

In the meantime, the preliminaries of the battle began to take place gradually. Umar bin Sad drew his bow, shot an arrow towards the companions of Imam Hussain, and said, “You should bear witness before Ibn Ziyad (the governor) that I have started the battle earlier than everyone else”.

Severe fighting continued till about noon. Most of the companions of the Imam were killed. The Imam offered the noon prayers along with his surviving companions in the form of emergency prayer (Salatul Khawf) i.e. he offered two rakats. The fighting continued after the prayers till all the young men of Bani Hashim were killed. They met martyrdom one after the other. Even young children and sucklings had also the honor of being martyred. Gradually the moment arrived which changed the course of the history of Islam and recorded the honor of martyrdom for them in the pages of history. It is definitely so and there is no tragedy like the tragedy of Imam Hussain.

The exact number of persons who were martyred on the day of Ashura is not known. It is usually said that 72 persons were martyred with Imam Hussain.

In fact, it is necessary to study the performance of these 72 persons more minutely so that we may understand how this small group could bring this marvelous and eternal movement into existence. If Imam Hussain and his companions had a worldly motive and had they been killed like ordinary persons in order to achieve a material objective it would not have been possible for them to acquire such greatness in the world.