Rise of Hussain: The holy head on the Spear
The entire army of loyal devotees of Imam Hussain have laid their lives to glorify the essence and purity of the family of the holy Prophet (PBUH) and negated the ideology and tyranny of Yazid. The battlefield is silent now and the bodies of companions of Imam Hussain can be seen scattered everywhere.
Baby Ali Asghar comes into battlefield
When the helpless Imam stood all alone in the field surrounded by the enemies, he was summoned by a call from his sister Zainab in his camp. When he went into the tent, he found his baby son ALI ASGHAR, dying of thirst in his cradle and the poor mother RABAB, whose milk had dried up by the continuous thirst and hunger for the three consecutive days, could not help the baby with even a drop of her milk. Telling the mother that he would show the baby to the enemy and get some water for it if they give it, Hussain took the baby to the field and getting on a camel and raising it up in his arms to enable everyone in the enemy’s forces to see it said:
“O people! If, in your opinion, HUSSAIN is guilty of any sin or crime, this innocent baby has done nothing to hurt any one of you. It does not even speak, and has not even uttered anything against you or your Amir at Damascus. He is dying of thirst. He had neither mild nor water for the last three days. Would you quench his thirst by a few drops of water. If you suspect that i demand water for myself in the name of the baby, then I will leave him here, if you want, and go away and you may return him with his thirst quenched”.
It is reported that the address of the holy Imam and scene, with the thirsty innocent baby in his hands, was so touching and heart-rending that even the men in the Devil’s army could not help weeping and cursing the devil and his deputy Ibne Ziad, Governor of Kufa, who had gathered them there against such holy and helpless ones. Ibn-I-SA’D, fearing a revolt of his forces in sympathy for the holy Imam, at once ordered a stonehearted brute named Harmala to answer Hussain. The tyrant, shot a three-pronged arrow from his bow which after piercing through the Imam’s arm got stuck into the tiny neck of the innocent baby. Blood flowed from the neck and the baby looking at its father’s face smiled and stopped breathing forever. Hussain collected the little blood that came out of the tiny neck of his baby son in his hand, and it is reported that when he wanted to drop it on the earth, from the earth the holy Imam heard a voice saying:
“O holy Imam! I cannot bear this innocent blood”. And when HUSSAIN wanted to throw the blood towards heaven, he heard a voice saying: “O holy Imam! Throw not the innocent blood towards me for I cannot bear it”.
The final separation
The details of the final separation of the holy Imam from the helpless ladies and children and other inmates of his camp, particularly form his sisters ZAINAB and UMME KULTHOOM, are very heart-rending and it is impossible for anyone to describe the whole sorrowful scene in a paragraph or two of a brief work like this. The holy Imam at last bade goodbye to all the helpless inmates of his camp foretelling the calamities that were awaiting them following his martyrdom, and preaching patience to one and all. To ZAINAB, his sister, he exhorted in particular to bear every hardship and torture with extreme patience and never to curse the enemy for her curse would surely invoke the wrath of God upon the people and what he had done with so much of patience and fortitude would be undone.
Hussain hands over charge of Imamat
Ali, the eldest son of HUSSAIN called ZAINULABIDEEN (i.e., Grace of the pious), was lying unconscious on his sick bed. HUSSAIN went to him and handed over the charge of the sacred office of Imamate to him. He enumerated the difficulties and the tortures that would befall him immediately following his martyrdom and advised him (who was to succeed as the Fourth holy Imam) to observe the highest degree of patience and fortitude against every aggression and oppression that would be inflicted on him and his dear ones, and never to get angry or curse the people.
Imam HUSSAIN IN THE BATTLEFIELD
HUSSAIN first preached to his enemies, the love of God, the obedience to the holy Prophet and abstinence from vice and wickedness, and at last asked the people: “Why do ye kill me?” “Did I commit any sin or crime?” “Did I interfere with any one’s affairs?” All stood dumb and none answered. Then the holy Imam continued: “Then why do ye kill me? What answer have you to give to God, and to the holy Prophet on the Day of Judgment?” When no answers form the Devil’s forces, the holy Imam said:
“You have killed all my companions, my children, my brothers and even my little baby; now I tell you leave me, I will migrate to Yeman, to Iran or even to the far of Hind (India), stain not your hands with my blood, which is the blood of the holy Prophet himself, you will not have salvation. It is for you, I tell you, shed not my blood and save yourselves”. This last offer of the holy Imam was superb and matchless and yet the devils did not avail of it. It was in fact the fulfillment of the ‘HUJJAT’ or the argument to give the last chance to the greedy devils to save themselves from the wrath of God.
Last call of Imam Hussain
Lest later anyone in the surroundings should that he was neither called nor given any opportunity to serve the cause of defending the Truth by helping the holy Imam who was fighting for it, Hussain now standing all alone, bleeding form innumerable wounds from head to foot, having lost one and all of his godly comrades, having offered the last and the greatest of his offering in the way of the Lord, the six months baby ALI-E-ASHGAR, gave his last call to humanity around him, inviting them to join him in the way of the Lord, saying: “HAL MIN NASIRIN YANSORONA” “Is there any helper to help us?”
“HAL MIN ZABBIN YAZUBBO AN HARAME RASOOLILLAH?” “Is there any defender to repulse the enemy form approaching the tents of the family of the holy Prophet?” When there was no response from any one of the thousands standing around him, he then said aloud: ‘Do ye hear me not? Is there not even a single Muslim among you?’ Yet there was no response.
When Hussain gave his final call to the world around inviting the people in the way of the Lord, HUSSAIN’S son ALI-E-ZAINULABIDEEN who was confined to bed with high fever, and who had just a little before received the charge of the Imamate form his father, got up and leaning on a staff, dragged himself out on his tent with his feeble sickly voice, walking towards the holy Imam saying: “LABBAIK YA ABATA, LABBAIK!”
‘Yes, Here I am O Father dear, here I am” Hussain seeing his ailing Ali coming out tottering in the high fever, bade him saying: “Get thee back O’ son! My progeny is to spring form thee”.
It is reported that in response to the call from the holy Imam, some mysterious voices of ‘LABBAIK! LABBAIK! (Yes we are here O’ son of the holy Prophet) were heard from the spiritual world above, to which the holy Imam replied ‘Thanks to you all, but my concern here today is only with the living in the physical world. Saying this, the Great Godly soul the holy Imam himself to be martyred by the Devil’s forces surrounding him
After a fierce battle, it is reported that the lonely Hussain killed hundreds of Yazid’s soldiers and suffered severe wounds on his entire body. His condition was such that Hussain now could not of his own efforts get down from the horse. Hussain hinted to his horse saying:
“Wilt thou my dear Zuljinah (Murtajiz was name of Hussain’s horse) kneel down a little to enable me to roll myself to the ground? I know thou hast also been hungry and thirsty along with me. Pardon me my dear Zuljinah for Hussain is helpless. May the Lord bless thee”. The faithful animal which was itself hungry, thirsty and wounded, spread its legs in such a way that the godly soul, one of the most brilliant stars of the heaven of divinity, slid himself down.
Now lying with his bleeding wounds on the flaming sand of the burning desert, Hussain, desirous of offering his prayers gathered the sand in front of him and himself engaged in his last prayer on earth, resting his wounded forehead on a heap of the burning sand. Thus ultimately the wounded holy Imam lay in communion with the Lord. Swords and axes began falling on him and Hussain being fully wounded from head to foot, and the sacred blood of the holy Prophet, Ali and FATEMA was flowing on the earth.
Several men one after another, were deputed by the Commander of the Devil’s forces to cut off the head of the holy Imam, but every one that came near the holy one lying on the burning sand, found his lips moving and heard to say: “O All-Merciful Lord of the Universe, accept the humble sacrifice of thy HUSSAIN. HUSSAIN has submitted in Thy was all that thou hast given him. If this son of Thy holy Prophet had anything more, he would have submitted that also to Thee-But O’ Lord forgive the sinners among the faithful, O’ All Merciful One”.
And at the end of the prayers it was heard: “O’ Lord! Lord O’ Lord”. Being repeated several times.
Hearing these last prayers of Hussain, none dared to cut off his holy head, even on an offer of thousands of gold coins with promises of highly tempting rewards, but SHIMR, the stone-hearted brute committed the heinous crime. Thus when the head of the holy Imam was being several from his body, the helpless ladies and the innocent children in Hussain’s camp stood at their tents shouting for help and were weeping aloud. And HUSSAIN’S sister, Lady Zainab ran bare-headed out of her tent towards her brother shouting to IBN-I-SA’D for mercy but IBN-I-SA’D heart was devoid of mercy.
The Head of Hussain glorifies God
The moment the holy Imam’s head was severed from his body and raised on the point of a lance, the severed head began glorifying God, aloud in clear words saying:
“ALLAHU AKBAR’ (i.e. God the Greatest)” Thus Hussain won an everlasting victory over the Devil who could not annihilate Truth with the massacre of the holy Imam, for HUSSAIN continued the glorification of the Lord even after his head was severed, from the point of the very lance in the hand of his enemy. Thus the holy Imam by his own example has made it openly known how abhorrent is falsehood and godlessness, how far it should be defied, what value to humanity has Truth and godliness. How dear it must be to every faithful one and at what cost it must be defended and upheld. And how death in the cause of Truth, unfailingly earns the life Real of Eternal Bliss.
Bodies of the martyrs trampled by the devil’s cavalry
With Hussain’s martyrdom, only the wielding of the sword by the Devil’s forces has stopped, but immediately after the massacre of the holy Imam and his faithful devotees, the brutes of the Devil’s forces got busy in the other horrible deeds. Horses were shod afresh and the enemy’s cavalry was ordered to tide over the holy dead bodies of the martyrs trampling them under the hoofs of their horses.
Hussain’s camp plundered and set on fire
The next move of the brutes was towards the holy Camp which now contained only the helpless wailing ladies, the crying children and ALI Zain ul abideen, the ailing son of the holy Imam lying unconscious with high fever. They plundered the camp, setting the tents on fire. The gentle and noble ladies, who were the unique models of chaste and modest womanhood, and the innocent children ran hither and thither between the burning tents of the camp, and some of the poor children are reported to have perished in the fire. The brutes took the ladies and the children as captives, and the weak and the sick Ali Zain ul Abideen, now the fourth holy Imam, was bound in heavy thorny chains, fettered and was most heartlessly treated as the sharp, piercing edges were almost choking him. The looted caravan leaves for Syria the throne of Yazid with heads of the martyrs raised upon spears. (This isn’t the end of tragedy as the episodes of Kufa and Syria are far more tragic and full of tyranny committed by the army of Yazid which lead to the Battle of Harrah which is the darkest battle in the history.)