Soon after the ascension of the Seal of the Prophets, His Holiness Mohammad (pbuh&hh), founder of justice and liberty, by wrong doings and deviations of the Omayyads, Islam was on the verge of disappearing within the throat of the tyrants and justice being crushed under the stampede of evildoers. It was at this point that Imam Hussein (a.s.) set out on the great Ashura Uprising.
The cruel rule of Yazid and his men was about to cross the shining face of Islain away by a red line and the agonies and troubles suffered by the great Prophet of Islam (pbuh&hh) and the early-day Muslims as well as the blood of the self-sacrificing martyrs, were about to be forgotten and gone to the winds.
The scums of paganism and (their) calculated programs of nationalism and Arabism were going to eradicate the ideology with slogans like "Nothing happened! No divine revelations descended1 and, in the place of divine
The Omayyads meant to destroy Islam.
The decadent regime of the Omayyad was going to represent Islam as a despotic regime and its founder someone other than what he was. Moawiyya and his cruel son (Yazid) in the name of caliph to the Prophet of God did to Islam that which Chagiz2 did to Iran and subverted the essentials of ideology of revelation into a satanic regime.
His holiness Imam Hussein (a.s.) noticed that Moawiyya and his son Yazid (may God's curse descend upon them) were destroying the ideology, were misrepresenting Islam, the Faith that had come to reform mankind not accumulate power for itself. They - this father and son - like this father and son3 were misrepresenting Islain, were given to the use of wine. They were also leaders of the congregational prayers; their social gathering featured both debauchery and mass prayer. Indeed they were gambling leaders of daily congregational and Friday masses and ascended the pulpits as preachers. As caliphs of God's Messenger acted and spoke against him. Their outcry was: "La elaha ellal-lah" (there is no God but the one God) and yet, they rose against Divinity. Their sacred Ahl-e-Bayt of the Prophet (pbuh&hh) were brought to his court in Sham (former name of Syria), Yazid (may the curse of God descend upon him) began to strike the lips of the severed head of Imam Hussein (a.s) that was placed before him and read the above line of verse.
Their behavior and conduct was satanic but their cry was that of the Messenger of God.
Yazid was powerful and he was a sultan. I say, he had all the things needed for sultanate. He placed next to Moawiyya. Why did His Holiness Imam Hussein (a.s.) oppose the sultan of his time? Why did he rise against the Zellullah (lit. the Shadow of God, a title for the sultans or shahs4) . The sultan may not be touched! Why did this Infallible Imam stand up against the sultan, a sultan who professed his belief in God and His Messenger (pbuh&hh) and claimed he was the Caliph of the Prophet but he wanted to exploit the nation, to swallow the properties of the nation, he and his kins.
Monarchy and succession to the crown is that ominous, false rule which the Master of the Martyrs (a.s.) rose to prevent its establishment and sacrificed his life. He rose up against it because he did not want to be crown prince to Yazid. He rose because he did not want to recognize the monarchy of Yazid and he invited all Muslims to rise. Islam does not have nor does it recognize the system of monarchy.
The usurpation of caliphate by Yazid and Moawiyya did not pose such a danger to Islam as did their attempt to turn Islamic rule into a system of monarchy; they meant to convert morality into the arrogance of despotism. As sham successors to the Messenger of God (pbuh&hh) they meant to convert Islam into tyranny or the rule of Taghouts. This was important. Their predecessors did not harm Islam as much as these two (Moawiyya and his son Yazid) did or wanted to do. They meant to overturn and change the basic principles of Islam. Theirs was the rule of monarchy with wine and gambling as relish in their parties and gatherings.
Imagine that! The caliph of the Messenger of God in meetings with wine and gambling? And, again, the successor to the Messenger of Allah leading congregational prayers in the mosque!? This was the great danger that threatened Islam and this, the Master of Martyrs repelled. The issue was not the mere usurpation of the caliphate. The rise of Imam Hussein (a.s.) was an uprising against the sovereignty of the tyrants, -- that regime of tyrannical monarchy which meant to pollute Islam with such taints as mentioned above. Had they succeeded, Islam would have become something else, something like the dictatorial monarchy regime with a sovereign rule of 2,500 years.5
Islam had come to break the idols and replace them with Allah; destroy the regimes of tyranny and to institute the divine rule of Allah. But they wanted to remove Allah and replace Him with the taghout, with the same problems as in the time of pagan rule. The killing of the Master of Martyrs (a.s.) was no defeat for it was an uprising for God and divine uprising admits no defeat.
They (the Omayyads) meant to remove Islam and create an Arab state but the rise of Imam Hussein (a.s.) made Arab and non-Arab Muslims all realize that the issue was not ethnic, rather, Islam and God were at stake.
Imam Hussein (a.s.) seeing that they (the Omayyads) are polluting the Islamic school of ideology and commit acts of cruelty and oppression while calling themselves the caliphs of Islam, and, realizing that their vicious acts will reverberate in the world as the works of the caliph of Islam, therefore, he deemed it his duty to rise up against it, to go out, get killed and thus wipe out the works of Moawiyya and Yazid.
His Holiness the Master of Martyrs set out with a small number of fellow challengers and stood up against Yazid who had the power of government in his hands; his rule was despotic and yet he professed faith in Islam and he was a relative6 of the Master of Martyrs. Yazid, pretending he was Muslim claimed that his rule was Islamic. He thought he was a successor to the Prophet (pbuh&hh) but, the trouble was that he was a cruel man who had acquired, unjustly, domination over the fate or destiny of a territory. Imam Hussein (a.s.) rose up, with few men, against tyranny because he had reckoned it as his duty to forbid evil.
Seeing that a cruel ruler is over the people, his holiness clearly stated, "One must rise and oppose that and halt the infliction of cruelty alone, if he must, or, with many like- minded men even if it means fighting a multitude, an army." His Holiness Hussein (a.s.) did exactly that, to demonstrate to us that no excuse is admissible for not challenging evil acts of the tyrants. He fought Yazid, who had armies at his command, with a handful of supporters and all were martyred. Hadrat Imam Hussein (a.s.) had preached the cause6 and explained to the people that he had risen against that man (Yazid) because he had breached the covenant of Allah, opposed divine traditions, had behaved ignobly toward saint and sacred objects and the Prophet (pbuh&hh) has said, "Anyone who remains silent and refuses to help change such a condition shall see himself associating with Yazid in Hell."
Now we see what Yazid had done that made Imam Hussein (a.s.) rise against him, presented his sound argument and program. That which the Master of Martyrs has said belongs to all and is for the public. It means that anyone who sees a cruel monarch perform devilish acts and remain silent and motionless, such a person's place (in the Hereafter) is by the side of that cruel Sultan. Yazid was a man ostentatiously Muslim. He considered himself successor to the Prophet (pbuh&hh) and said his prayers and did all of the things we do. However, he was also a sinner, opposed to the prophetic traditions. His conduct towards the people was opposed to that of the Prophet (pbuh&hh). In Islam peoples' blood must be safe and immune, yet Yazid shed Muslims' blood. Muslims properties are immune but he wasted them just the way his father Moawiyya squandered peoples assets which made Ali (a.s.) rise up in opposition. While Hadrat Ali (a.s.) had forces at his disposal, Imam Hussein had just a few men.
The day Islam's reputation was threatened with blots or blemishes, that is the day Islam's grandees sacrifice their lives for it. Moawiyya and his son Yazid did all they could to make Islam appear foul and shameful. As caliphs of Muslims and successor to the Prophet (pbuh&hh), they committed all sorts of crimes, their gatherings, as said above, were given to lewd conduct. It was at this point that duty demanded that authorities of Islam take action and fight against the ugly face Moawiyya and Yazid had presented of Islam. 'Mis was the danger to be warded off by one's life, if necessary.
* Book: The Ashura Uprising. By: Imam Khomeini (May his secret be sacred)
1- A part of poem by Ibn Zabaari which reads: The Bani Hashim played with the monarchy, "no news came, no divine inspiration descended". It is said that when the Islamic rule, build a system of Shahanshahi (imperialism) and isolate Islam and divine revelation. However, all of a sudden, a great personality, nourished by the gist of divine inspiration, trained in homes of the Lord of Messengers, Muhanunad Mustafa and the Master of the Pious Ali Murteda and raised in the laps of Siddiqa Tahera (a title of Her Holiness, Fatima), rose up and by his matchless sacrifice and his divine movement caused a great event to take place.
2- Changiz Khan, commander of the Moguls invaded Iranian flourishing cities voicing his motto: "I am Divine Punishment!" He first massacred the well-populated and thriving cities of Marv, Bukhara, Naishabur, Rey, Qum, Azarbaijan and Khiva, leaving not a single male or female alive. He butchered living creatures, burned the trees and devastated all that was a sign of civilization,- libraries, schools, mosques, buildings, homes, gardens, parks, etc., under the hooves of horses and had the ruins ploughed and made ready for cultivation.
3- The Imam (S.A) means Rida Khan Pahlavi and his son Mohammad Rida.
4- His Holiness the Prophet (pbuh&hh) is qu6ted as saying: "A just and humble sultan is God's shadow and His spear on earth," and "The Shah is God's shadow on earth. The meek take refuge in him and the oppressed become his aides." All Caliphs of tyranny and despotic Shahs and the corrupt leaders of Islamic countries by relying on the ignorance of the public, and their low level of political understanding; have used and still use, these charming interpretation of the noble Prophet of Islam, and notwithstanding the cruelty and corruption that consistently embrace their state organizations, they call themselves "God's Shadow on Earth!
5- On Mehr 24, 1350, the Shah's regime staged the most expensive festival of history, that is, the festival of 2,500 years of Imperial (Shahanshahi) rule. By the end of 1354 a.h.s., on the birthday of Rida Shah, at h joint session of the House and Senate approved that the date of the official calendar of Iran he changed from Hejira solar to the date about 529 B.C., the founding of the Achamenid Monarchy by Cyrus (Koorosh). Thus the Shah's regime at the apex of poverty and deprivation of the majority of Iranians and the ban on any political activity and an overall rule of strangulation, was boasting about a record of 2,500 years of imperialism.
6- Bani Omayyad (Omavian) and Bani Hashim (Hashemian) were both branches of the Abd-e- Manaf division of the Quraish Tribe. As soon as the Prophet of Islam (pbuh&hh) rose from the Hashemian branch of Quraish, the Omavians became angry and challenged God's Messenger until he was impelled to nfigrate. Has him joined the Prophet in Medina and Mecca fell to the hands of Bani Omayyad and all the Quraish came under their banner. 'ne Prophet's triumph and defeat of the Quraish made them all proselyte to Islam. However, the enmity of the Bani Omayyad toward the Bani Hashim continued and Islam suffered severe blows in the course of history as a result of this enrfiity.
* It is narrated that Imam Hussein (a.s.) preached a sermon at a place named "Baiza" for his companions and Horr. He then thanked God and said: "O people, the Prophet of God (pbuh&hh) said: "If a man sees a sultan who is despotic, declares permissible the things God has interdicted, who breaks God's covenant, opposes the tradition of the Prophet (pbuh&hh) and rules among the servants of God with cruelty, and enmity, and does not reject him (that sultan) by deed or word, it is incumbent on God to take that man to the place He has taken that sultan.
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