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Al-Hussain
(as) in the
Eyes
of Humanity
Charles
Dickens
- (1812-1870) English novelists of the Victorian period
If
Hussain fought to quench his worldly desires, then I do not understand
why his sisters, wives and children accompanied him. It stands to
reason therefore that he sacrificed purely for Islam.
Thomas
Carlyle
(1795-1881) Famous British historian
The
best lesson which we get from the tragedy of Karbala is that Hussain
and his companions were the rigid believers of God. They illustrated
that numerical superiority does not count when it comes to truth and
falsehood. The victory of Hussain despite his minority marvels me!
Muhammad
Iqbal
(1873-1938) philosopher, poet, and political thinker
Imam
Hussain uprooted despotism forever till the Day of Resurrection. He
watered the dry garden of freedom with the surging wave of his blood,
and indeed he awakened the sleeping Muslim nation. If Imam Hussain had
aimed at acquiring a worldly empire, he would not have travelled the
way he did (from Medina to Karbala). Hussain weltered in blood and
dust for the sake of truth. Verily he, therefore, became the bed-rock
(foundation) of the Muslim creed; La
ilaha illa Allah (There is no god but Allah).
Mahatma
Gandhi - (1869
1948) lawyer, leader of the uprising in India
In
a statement published in 'Young India,'1924:
I
wanted to know the best of the life of one who holds today an
undisputed sway over the hearts of millions of mankind.... I became
more than ever convinced that it was not the sword that won a place
for Islam in those days in the scheme of life. It was the rigid
simplicity, the utter self-effacement of Hussain the scrupulous regard
for pledges, his intense devotion to his friends and followers, his
intrepidity, his fearlessness, his absolute trust in God and in his
own mission to save Islam. These and not the sword carried everything
before them and surmounted every obstacle.
He
also said: I learned from Hussain how to be wronged and be a
winner.
Robert
Durey Osborn -
(1835-1889) Major of the Bengal Staff Corps.
"Hussain had a child named Abdallah, only a year old. He had
accompanied his father in this terrible march. Touched by its cries,
he took the infant in his arms and wept. At that instant, a shaft from
the hostile ranks pierced the child's ear, and it expired in his
father's arms. Hussain placed the little corpse upon the ground. 'We
come from God, and we return to Him!' he cried; 'O Lord, give me
strength to bear these misfortunes!'
Faint with thirst, and
exhausted with wounds, he fought with desperate courage, slaying
several of his antagonists. At last he was cut down from behind; at
the same instance a lance was thrust through his back and bore him to
the ground; as the dealer of this last blow withdrew his weapon, the
ill-fated son of Ali rolled over a corpse. The head was severed from
the trunk; the trunk was trampled under the hoofs of the victors'
horses; and the next morning the women and a surviving infant son were
carried away to Kufa. The bodies of Hussain and his followers were
left unburied on the spot where they fell. For three days they
remained exposed to the sun and the night dews, the vultures and the
prowling animals of the waste; but then the inhabitants of a
neighbouring village, struck with horror that the body of a grandson
of the Prophet should be thus shamefully abandoned to the unclean
beasts of the field, dared the anger of Obaidallah, and interred the
body of the martyr and those of his heroic friends."
[Islam Under the Arabs, Delaware, 1976, pp. 126-7]
Peter
J. Chelkowski
- Professor of Middle Eastern Studies, New York University.
"Hussain accepted and set out from Mecca with his family and an
entourage of about seventy followers. But on the plain of Karbala they
were caught in an ambush set by the
caliph, Yazid. Though defeat
was certain, Hussain refused to pay homage to him. Surrounded by a
great enemy force, Hussain and his company existed without water for
ten days in the burning desert of Karbala. Finally Hussain, the adults
and some male children of his family and his companions were cut to
bits by the arrows and swords of Yazid's army; his women and remaining
children were taken as captives to Yazid in Damascus. The renowned
historian Abu Reyhan al-Biruni states; "
then fire was set to
their camp and the bodies were trampled by the hoofs of the horses;
nobody in the history of the human kind has seen such
atrocities."
[Ta'ziyeh:
Ritual and Drama in Iran, New York, 1979, p. 2]
Simon
Ockley
- (1678-1720) Professor of Arabic at the University of Cambridge.
"Then Hussain mounted his horse, and took the Koran and laid it
before him, and, coming up to the people, invited them to the
performances of their duty: adding, 'O God, thou art my confidence in
every trouble, and my hope in all adversity!'
He next reminded them
of his excellency, the nobility of his birth, the greatness of his
power, and his high descent, and said, 'Consider with yourselves
whether or not such a man as I am is not better than you; I who am the
son of your prophet's daughter, besides whom there is no other upon
the face of the earth. Ali was my father; Jaafar and Hamza, the chief
of the martyrs, were both my uncles; and the apostle of God, upon whom
be peace, said both of me and my brother, that we were the chief of
the youth of paradise. If you will believe me, what I say is true, for
by God, I never told a lie in earnest since I had my understanding;
for God hates a lie. If you do not believe me, ask the companions of
the apostle of God [here he named them], and they will tell you the
same. Let me go back to what I have.' They asked, 'What hindered him
from being ruled by the rest of his relations.' He answered, 'God
forbid that I should set my hand to the resignation of my right after
a slavish manner. I have recourse to God from every tyrant that doth
not believe in the day of account.'"
[The History of the Saracens, London, 1894, pp. 404-5]
Ignaz Goldziher - (1850-1921) Famous
Hungarian orientalist scholar.
"Ever since the black day of Karbala, the history of this family
has been a continuous series of sufferings and persecutions. These
are narrated in poetry and prose, in a richly cultivated literature of
martyrologies - a Shi'i speciality - and form the theme of Shi'i
gatherings in the first third of the month of Muharram, whose tenth
day (ashura) is kept as the anniversary of the tragedy at Karbala.
Scenes of that tragedy are also presented on this day of commemoration
in dramatic form (ta'ziya). 'Our feast days are our assemblies of
mourning.' So concludes a poem by a prince of Shi'i disposition
recalling the many mihan of the Prophet's family. Weeping and
lamentation over the evils and persecutions suffered by the 'Alid
family, and mourning for its martyrs: these are things from which
loyal supporters of the cause cannot cease. 'More touching than the
tears of the Shi'is' has even become an Arabic proverb."
[Introduction to Islamic Theology and Law, Princeton, 1981, p. 179]
Sir
William Muir
- (1819-1905) Scottish scholar and statesman.
(Held
the post of Foreign Secretary to the Indian government as well as
Lieutenant Governor of the North-western Provinces.)
"The tragedy of Karbala decided not only the fate of the
caliphate, but of the Mohammedan kingdoms long after the Caliphate had
waned and disappeared."
[Annals of the Early Caliphate, London, 1883, pp. 441-2]
Edward
Gibbon - (1737-1794) considered the greatest British historian of his
time.
"In a distant age and climate the tragic scene of the death of
Hussain will awaken the sympathy of the coldest reader."
[The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, London, 1911, volume 5, pp.
391-2]
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