From Revolt to Martrydom
We have tried so far to set the martyr of Karbala in his religio‑devotional context. It is hopefully clear from what has been said up to this point, that Husayn, before being a martyr, was a man of special status in the religious and social history of Islam. His death, moreover, was not the death of just any martyr or hero, but the death of one with a special divine mission in the dynamic life of Islam, and Imam whose primary role is not only to be a ruler but a teacher also. Before returning to all these points, it is necessary to sketch the actual historical events of a great tragedy of Karbala to which we now turn.
a. From Madina to Makka: Prelude
In reconstructing the historical events of the revolution of Husayn, one must at least refer to earlier history. This cannot be undertaken here for many obvious reasons. In the first place, the real beginning of the events leading to this episode go back to the first Caliphs, especially the Caliphates of 'Uthman and 'Ali. It Was agreed between Hasan and Mu'awiya that at the death of the latter the Caliphate should go to Hasan or to his brother Husayn. So during the Caliphate of Mu'awiya, Husayn honoured this agreement and did not stir the people to revolt although this would have been quite possible.
Mu'awiya died in the middle of Rajab 60 A.H. He had before his death begun to secure the Caliphate for his son Yazid. This led to many secret schemings and dissensions on many sides. Husayn himself received a large number of letters and emissaries from the people of Kufa asking him to come to them and lead their revolt against the rule of Yazid. He considered this proposition seriously, for from the beginning he refused to give allegiance (Baya) to Yazid in spite of all pressures and threats from Yazid himself and his governor in Madina, al‑Walid B. 'Utbah, and also Marwan B. al‑Hakam who advised the former to imprison Husayn until he consented or to behead him.
As events took such a turn Husayn saw himself justified in rising against this new and unjust rule. He thus left Madina at night and took the main road to Makka. Here the drama of the tragedy begins to unfold itself with all its powers and rechness. Here we begin to have sharp points of contrast between Husayn and every other character in this drama. Ibn az‑Zubayr, for instance who was another claimant to the Caliphate, after pretending sickness and in every other way trying to delay coming before the authorities to give his Ba'yah, escaped during the night taking instead a by‑road.
Before setting out, Husayn went to the graves of his grandfather the Prophet, his father, mother and his brother to bid them all farewell. Like every good drama, the revolution of Husayn had its moral dilemma. The moral problem here was the choice to say yes to an unjust rule, to accept something which would directly violate his basic principles, or oppose it and try, even knowing that he would fail, to destroy it. He, of course, chose the latter and more heroic course, and in the end paid with his life to keep the spirit of revolution and change alive in Islam.
The martyr is often reassured in his resolve in ways which the historian chooses to reject or at least disregard as unscientific evidence. But for those to whom the martyr's death is in the end more significant than his life, to them it is this supernatural aspect of a martyr's death that provides the strength to face life, and the meaning to what is otherwise just an intellectual religious ideology. So Husayn, the martyr of Karbala, while at his grandfather's grave got his reassurances in dreams where the Messenger of God spoke to him in words of affection and great sorrow;
"Oh Husayn my beloved, I see thee soon spattered in thy blood, slain in the spot of Karbala, the spot of karb (sorrow) and bala (calamity) by a wicked gang of my community (ummah), thirsty with no one to give thee water to drink. Will they nonetheless seek my intercession nay, may God not grant them my intercession on the day of judgement."[11]
Weeping bitterly, still in his dream, Husayn cried out:
"Oh my grandfather I have no need of this world. Take me now with thee into thy tomb".
The Prophet answered:
"No my son, there is a high station for thee in Paradise which thou canst not attain except through martyrdom"[12].
Thus Husayn left the city of the Prophet with his wives, children and others of his close relatives and set out for Makka, repeating as he went the verse:
"So he escaped from thence, fearing, vigilant. He said: "My Lord! Deliver me from the wrongdoing folk". (Qur’an XXVIII, 21.)
In his last testament to his brother Muhammad Ibn'al‑Hanafiyya he hears witness that there is no God but God and that Muhammad is the messenger of God. Then he briefly sets forth his own position, that is of abiding by the religion of Islam, not seeking power or wealth or to create discord in the community of his grandfather, but rather of upholding the truth and opposing falsehood.
From that time on he answered those who advised him against rising up in revolt or going to Iraq:
"I saw the messenger of God in a dream, he sent me on a mission and I shall proceed, whether it be for me or against me"
Tabari reports this statement of Husayn in Makka when Ibn Ja'far, his cousin secured a letter of surety for him from the governor of the Holy City. Husayn read the letter and answered with the statement above quoted. To the question of Ibn Ja'far as to what that mission was, he replied:
"I am not telling anyone of that until I meet my Lord.[13]"
Tabari again reports that when Husayn, went to the tomb of the Prophet to pray and where he saw the dream just mentioned, he was leaning on two men one each side. This suggests that he may have been ill. This must be borne in mind against the accounts of heroic fighting attributed to him by most writers, both classical and modern.
Husayn reached Makka in Ramadan 60 A.H. and stayed in it till the Hajj season in Dhul‑Hujjah of the same year. He cut short his pilgrimage however making it instead an 'Umrah, and set out for Iraq. Earlier he had sent his cousin Muslim Ibn Aqil to Kufa in Iraq to take in person the allegiance of those who wrote to Husayn and prepared the grounds for his coming. Muslim was at first received enthusiastically by the people who came to him in large numbers promising complete support to Husayn even with their lives.
Nu'man Ibn Bashir, then governor of the city, did nothing to oppose except threatening strong retaliation in case of any direct confrontation. Soon however the success of Muslim was reported to Yazid who dismissed Nu'man and appointed 'Ubayd Allah Ibn Ziyad in his place. The latter had Muslim arrested after a valiant fight and put to death with his host and partisan Hani b. 'Urwa al‑Muradi. Muslim's heroism and integrity are dramatically portrayed by most writers on the subject. Later sources tend to explain away any illusion to the hesitation of his friend Hani[14], Husayn's hurried departure from Makka before the end of the pilgrimage season may be regarded by historians as an act of clever politics. He left then, one may say, so as not to attract attention when people were busy with the pilgrimage. There are however other arguments for this action, and perhaps ones more fitting the character of the man and the situation. He himself gives this reason for this departure:
"By God if I be killed outside it (the Ka'b ba) even to the length of a palm (that is the palm of the hand), it is preferable to me to being killed inside it to the length of a palm. By God! even if I hide in the hole of a vermin (hama) they would seek me out and execute in me their desire . . . " [15]
A variation of this is quoted by most sources where he leaves the city so that the sanctity of the house of God would be violated by the shedding of human blood in it. Again he met a man on the way to Iraq who asked why Husayn left the proximity and protection of the sacred house. He answered:
"The Umayyads usurped my wealth and I was patient; they insulted me and my family and I said nothing; and now they seek my life so I went away."
All this suggests other aspects of the story of the conflict of Husayn with the Umayyads and his martyrdom which we do not know. From all available sources one must conclude that he had such definite fears and resolutions that cannot be explained as obduracy or love of power when he would not flinch from his resolve to continue to his death, even when that became an increasing certainty at every stage. It is suggested by all sources that Husayn received the news of the death of Ibn Aqil even before he left Makka.[16]'
The great poet al‑Farazdaq met Husayn as the latter was leaving the Ka'bah and advised him against going to Iraq saying I left the hearts of the Kufans with you but their swords with the Umayyads. Husayn answered that things happen according to a divine decree and God's will is not knowable to man. Then he continued with these verses:
"If this world be counted precious, the pleasure of God is more elevated and more knowable.
And if bodies be created for death then the death of man by the sword in God is best.
And if wealth be given according to a divine decree, why should then man cling to wealth.
And if treasures be gathered to be in the end left behind why then should a man be grasping after that which he must abandon.[17]"
It is impossible in this short essay to recapture the deep emotions evoked by narrators of a tragedy of Karbala in their listeners, of Husayn's long hours of solitude and prayer at the tomb of the Prophet, his sorrow, weeping and resignation. The Prophet, and all the family of Husayn are pictured as sharing the same sentiments with Husayn. We read that at the time .of this tragedy a general lamentation was raised in Paradise by all prophets, by the father, mother and brother of Husayn, for the great suffering in store for him, his thirst, complete abandonment by all except for a small group of his friends and relatives. The journey which he made from Makka was indeed the Via Dolorosa with the Mask of the prophet as the guardian of sorrows, intense suffering and heroism.
Suffering and. the agonies of expected death are for the devotees of Husayn not sentiments of cowardice and fear. They are rather sentiments of absolute courage and victorious struggle against the powers of evil and darkness. Husayn wrote a letter, we read,to his relatives of the Hashimite clan calling them to share in his great conquest in these words: "He of you who joins us would be martyred, but he who remains behind shall not attain to conquest". We shall return again to this theme later. But let us now follow our martyr to the final act of his great tragic drama.
