A question has puzzled some believers a great deal, namely why did al-Husayn
fight with the sword, while his successors refrained from doing so, especially
as all the Imams subscribed to a single and coherent ideology. For, if al-Husayn,
in spite of the small number of his followers rose up against injustice,
demanding his usurped rights, why did Imam al-Sadiq, for example, not rise up
when the numbers of his partisans had increased.
This question necessitates knowledge of the circumstances faced by al-Husayn,
compared to those which faced the other Imams, so that we can recognise our task
today.
It is, naturally, well-known that the Prophet started his mission peace- fully
and secretly, and that this continued for more than ten years. During these
years he succeeded in forming a group of followers, who firmly believed in the
new message and rejected everything which was connected with the time of the
jahiliyya. Eventually the Prophet felt that this group was capable of
confronting the power of the jahiliyya, and so raised the jihad with the sword,
and, after a bitter military struggle, succeeded in founding the Islamic state
in Medina. This hard task which led to the Prophet's establishment of a new
society, was left, in its entirety, to Imam Ali, so that he could complete what
the Prophet had initiated, as regards the complete elimination of the beliefs of
the Jahiliyya, and then establish a society which would base its relationships
upon the prescribed rule of God's law.
However Imam Ali did not come to power immediately after the death of the
Prophet. On the contrary he was prevented from achieving power, and had but a
few loyal supporters, having discovered that many of those who had been
converted to Islam had only embraced it externally, without true belief in their
hearts, and acted according to the customs of the Jahiliyya, while covering it
with a superficial belief in Islam. Such a situation confirmed the predictions
of the Quranic verse which says, "If he dies or is killed you shall turn your
backs" (Imran, 144), that is you shall return to your old beliefs. The Imam
found that he could not rise to recover his rights, so he did net rebel. but
strove throughout his life, to organise a group of sincere believers from among
the Community, attentive to the objectives of the new religion, believing in the
legitimacy of Ali's claims to the Imamate, and applying the Sunna of the Prophet
in their daily lives. When he finally came to power, after the death of Uthmans
Imam Ali did not demand silence as regards economic and political corruption,
but rather encouraged the Community to purify their hearts and their actions,
and fought those Muslims who sought to exploit the Islamic expansion to their
own ends, or inter- preted the laws of Islam according to their own desires and
interests, at the expense of those of society at large.
Al-Hasan followed in the footsteps of his father in the fight against the power
of the Jahiliyya, and against some of the Muslims, whose souls had not been
purified by the fear of God, and who were exploiting the economic and political
advantages of the Islamic expansion into Syria. For this reason he continued to
fight and encourage his followers in their struggle, but some of his followers
refused to obey his com- mands, and one even tried to assassinate him in al-Mada'in,
which resulted in al-Hasan's receiving a serious leg injury, which contributed
to his later agreement to a truce.
The splits amongst the followers of al-Hasan, and the spread of the disturbances
amongst his army on, one hand, and the unity of the opposition and their
insistence on continued hostilities on the other, forced al-Hasan to sign the
truce with Mu'awiya. Some of the most important stipulations of this truce was
that Mu'awiya would not endanger the life or the properties of al-Hasan's
followers, or curse the People of the House, in the mosques, and that al-Husayn
should succeed Mu'awiya on the death of the latter.
Imam al-Husayn committed himself to acting according to the stipula- tions of
this agreement, whereas the opposition, during the twenty years of Mu'awiya's
rule, systematically broke the points of agreement one after another. In the
last years of his rule Mu'awiya designated Yazid as his successor, thus breaking
his promise to al-Hasan, that al-Husayn would succeed him.
Al-Husayn had been keeping a careful watch on the activities of Mu'awiya during
his rule, and had, accordingly, prepared his followers for any eventuality. In
the light of what reached him from Iraq al-Husayn believed that the people were
ripe for rebellion on one hand, while, on the other hand, he noticed that the
Community as a whole had become stagnant and needed somebody to bring it back to
life Therefore he advanced towards Kufa and, in spite of the fact that the
Kufans who had previously premised to help him, had withdrawn their support and
listened to the overtures of the authorities, he determined to fight despite the
fewness of his followers, until all of theme perished at the Battle of Kerbala.
From this it is clear that al-Husayn's decision to fight was by no means an
innovations but rather a continuation of the policy of his brother, father and
grandfather, as regards opposition to the power of the Jahiliyya whenever
possible. The assassination of al-Husayn led al-Sajjad and the other Imams to
adopt their quiescent policy towards the auth- itories who had seized power,
because he realised that:
i. (Firstly) In spite of their numbers, the followers of al-Husayn did not
possess sufficient loyalty to surrender themselves and their possessions in the
path of God, according to the instructions of the Imam;
ii) (and secondly) Many of the Community were unaware that al-Husayn was the
rightful Imam and the leader of the Islamic community, by the Prophet's
designation, just as they were unaware that the existing authorities were
illegal.
For this reason we find al-Sajjad following a policy of silence towards the
authority of the Umayyads, however this silence did not indicate recognition of
their authority, but rather that his own followers were few. Similarly his
isolation from society was by no means an escape from reality, but was in fact
tacit oppesition to the corruption and tyranny which had brought about the
assassination of al-Husayn, the burning of the Ka'ba, and the attacking and
plundering of the Ciy of the Prophet, which had lasted for three days.
Al-Sajjad, during the time of his Imamate, concentrated his efforts on purifying
the souls of his people and encouraging fear of God in their acts and in their
statements, giving priority to the purification of the soul by applying the
rules of God firstly upon the individual, discourag- ing him from the
self-interest which had contributed to al-Husayn's death. Al-Sajjad's intentions
were to bring together a group of sincere Muslims, who adhered to the objectives
of Islam and performed its rules, called people to obey God in their actions
before their tongues, and followed the Imam in all things. Furthermore, al-Sajjad
insisted that his followers understand that any war with the sword could only be
a jihad, if the one who proclaimed it possessed the necessary quality of calling
people to God through his acts rather than his statements. It is stated that he
mentioned the following Qur'anic verse, "They are the ones who turn to God in
repentance, who worship him, who praise him, who go about in the land serving
him who bow down to God, who prostrate themselves in prayer, who enjoin good and
forbid evil, and who watch the limits set by Allah And give glad tidings to
those who believe." (113, Tawba). Thereafter he stated, "When we find those who
possess these attributes, jihad with them is better than the Pilgrimage." (Kafi,
5/22).
Imam al-Baqir followed his father's policy and did not rebel against the
Umayyads, and advised his brother, Zayd, not to rise in arms against the illegal
authority of the Umayyads, because the Community was not sufficiently
politically aware to rebel against the government. So al-Baqir began to
disseminate political awareness in the Comrnunity, by means of Prophetical
traditionst just as he commanded sorne of his followers to remind the people of
al-Husayn's struggle and his martyr- dom during rthe Hajj each year, thereby
hoping to kindle the feelings of the Community, to move their hearts and to
inflame their emotions so that they could sympathise with the ideology of
revolution for upright causes. For, the time of the Hajj is one of gathering for
Muslims from all countries, and the dissemination of the objects of the struggle
and martyrdom of al-Husayn, and the illustration of his close relationship to
the Prophet, encouraged both complaint and doubt concerning the legitimacy of
the authorities, which in turn created a fertile environment for a movement
towards bring about their downfall.
Despite the fact that the cultural activities of al-Sajjad and al-Baqir drew a
large number of followers to them, al-Baqir did not consider them suitable for
rebellion, because they lacked the necessary loyalty and organisation. Al-Kulayni
reports that 'Abd Allah b. al-'Ata once said to al-Baqir, "Indeed your party is
large in Iraq. By God, there is nobody amongst your people like you. So why do
you not rise in arms?" So he replied, "O 'Abd Allah b. al-'Ata, you have taken
to listening to the masses." While it is also related that al-Sadiq himself did
not count the large number of his followers as an integral part of his plans for
revolt. On the contrary, he gave precedence to their faith, their fear of God,
their courage in standing by the truth, and their loyalty and obedience to the
Imam.
The resolute policies of the Imams al-Baqir and al-Sadiq, were not unplanned,
but were in fact based on bitter experience. Many reports state that the plans
of the Imams involved a rebellion in 70 A.H., but the martyrdom of al-Husayn
delayed these plans. There is also evidence in these plans of a revolt to be
staged in 140 A.H. But due to the lack of organisation amongst the Imam's
followers, and their inability to keep the date of the revolution secret, their
plans became known to their enemies, and so, the later Imams did not inform
their followers of any subsequent intended uprising.
From this survey, it is clear that the Imams actually possessed a clear and
coherent policy. For example Imam Ali made a truce with the contemporary rulers
when he had only a few followers, but, when the numbers of his followers
increased, he took arms openly, and similarly al-Hasan fought when he and his
party were strong, but made a truce in the time of weakness. Al-Husayn did
likewise, and rebelled in the way of God, depending upon the loyalty of the
Kufans, while the other Imams refrained from doing so, until they had
established a strong body of loyal followers, capable of transforming the
ideology of the Commu- nity in favour of God's law.
The main task of the faithful at the present time, is to cleanse themselves of
any act related to the era of the Jahiliyya, and this can be achieved by
following the orders of God, as illustrated by the behaviour and daily life of
the Prophet and his Household. Every believer who claims alleg- iance to the
present Imam should present his allegiance and his loyalty to the Imam by
performing the obligatory commands and rules, such as the prayers, fasting, the
zakat, the Hajj, and by showing obedience to the legal 'Ulema of Ahl al-Bayt,
following their instructions and calling people to good and forbidding evil
acts.
Similarly they should perform actions which strengthen the social ties of
society and establish it firmly and safely, such as obedience to parents and
relations, respect towards neighbours, trustworthiness in agreements and
contracts, loyalty in their occupations and in their dealings with people and to
the country in which they live.
The one who is loyal to Ahl al-Bayt and the Imam of the Age, is the person who
refrains from bad deeds, such as polytheism, disobedience to their parents,
slandering women as adultresses, killing innocent people, lying, theft, the
drinking of alcohol and any act which separates one from God.
If the faithful perform the obligatory deeds, refrain from what is for- bidden
and obey God loyally, this will lead to the establishment of a society free from
complexity and corruption, in which the faithful can be sincerely loyal to the
commands of the Imam of the Age.
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