The spiritual lessons of Kerbalas Tragedy People are drinking - TopicsExpress



          

The spiritual lessons of Kerbalas Tragedy People are drinking from the hand of Haydar at the Fount of Kawthar, while the dust of Kerbala has sealed forever the parched lips of Husayn, son of Haydar. Every Muslim, nay, every human being with a conscience, would hang his head in shame over what transpired in the land of Kerbala some centuries ago. The beloved grandson of our Noble Prophet Muhammad s.w was martyred by the accursed Yazid and his army. There is a lesson to be learnt from this episode of history, a lesson as meaningful today as it was years ago at the time of its occurrence. Imam Husayns sacrifice and martyrdom is the most exalted example of preserving Truth, Righteousness and Justice. This sacrifice is a testament to the greatness of the human station that the angels were made to acknowledge by God at the time of Adams creation. Imam Husayn proved in the desert of Karbala that the value of this world and its life is not even that of a mote of dust compared to the kingdom of Heaven. He proved that to submit to Divine decree is a greater joy than even seeing your children and your family safe and healthy. The patience, steadfastness, sincerity, uprightness, moral virtue and nobility of the Imam and his household is beyond comparison and matchless. In Sufism, the four degrees of knowledge are defined as Shariat, Tariqat, Haqeeqat and Maarifat. They correspond to the stations of being at the level of Nasut, Malakut, Jabarut and Lahut. Nasut is the world that we live in and it is governed by the Sharaa or principles of religion. A step further is the level of Tariqat which signifies a particular way, the spiritual wayfaring. This has its correlation with the Angelic realm or Malakut. It symbolizes purity and innocence. The stage of Haqeeqat is where man comes to know the Real Being and so has accessed the realm of Jabarut or Divine Majesty. Maarifat, however, is that advanced level where man thinks of nothing but the Real Being, and so enters the station of Lahut, the world of the Real Being Itself. Mystically speaking this can be further expounded as the ahle-shariat being guided by the principle of killing the enemy before his giving injury, the ahle-tariqat holding onto the principle of killing the enemy after his giving injury, the ahl-e-haqeeqat affirming pardoning the enemy after his giving injury, and the ahle-maarifat maintaining, Doing good to the enemy after his giving injury. Allah AlMighty says in the Quran: Verily, you {Muhammad} are upon a noble character. It has been explained that God described him as being upon a noble character because he sacrificed the world and the hereafter, being content with God most High alone. Al. Husayn bin Mansur explained, The meaning of noble character is that the harshness of men does not affect you once you become attentive to God. Such is the excellence of Imam Husayns character and morality, the sublimity of his spirituality that the Prophet s.w said, Husayno minni wa ana min Husayn. Husayn is from me and I am from Husayn. This conveys the extreme depth and intimacy of the bond that our beloved Prophet Muhammad shared with his grandson. It means that Husayn was of the same noble blood, moral excellence and spiritual exaltedness as the Prophet s.w. Husayn is from the Prophets bloodline and the Prophets spiritual legacy is alive through Husayns sacrifice at Kerbala. The event of Kerbala is a unique tragedy through which we witness the incomparable chivalry, courage and spiritual strength that could be the sole inheritance of the Prophets noble household. The lessons of striving for the hereafter in the face of loss in this world, remaining steadfast and patient before the Divine Decree, placing absolute and unswerving trust in Allah above all else, guarding ones faith at all costs, fulfilling ones word to the last, sacrificing ones all in the name of the One, and forgiving all in the view of His Compassion are the noble lessons that the great Imam bequeathed to his grandfathers Ummah. When Imam Husayn was born, the Prophet s.w blessed his mouth by giving his saliva, recited the call to prayer in his ear, prayed for him and gave him the exalted name Husayn. The Messenger dearly loved this grandson. As a child Imam Husayn was prone to sit in the Prophets lap and lovingly comb his beard with his fingers. The Prophet would then kiss him and say, O my Lord, I love this child. May you also love my Husayn and those who love him. Abdullah bin Umar said of Imam Husayn once on seeing him approaching, Here comes one who is most dear to those in Heaven of all the people on earth. According to Imam Suyuti in the year 60 A.H the people of Syria paid homage to Yezid son of Muawiya. Yezid was a morally corrupt and irreligious man, absolutely not fit to be the leader of Muhammads s.w Ummah. In addition this was a clear violation of the pact that his father Muawiya had made with Imam Hasan upon his resignation, that of making Imam Husayn his heir to the caliphate. Yezid sent men to Medina to invite the people to pay homage to him. Ibn Umar and Abdullah ibn Zubayr, the two men of authority in Medina apart from Imam Husayn, both refused allegiance to Yezid in view of his poor eligibility to head the Muslim community. Imam Husayn in the meantime had been contacted by the people of Kufa to come and reclaim his authority as leader from Yezid and they promised him their support. The Kufans kept writing letters urging the Imam to come to their rescue. As homage had been paid to Yezid, now Imam Husayn was faced with the decision either to stay as he was or respond to the Kufans invitation. Ibn Abbas and Abdullah bin Umar advised Imam Husayn against leaving Medina and warned him of the Kufans proverbial betrayal, already suffered by Imam Ali and Imam Hassan. Finally Imam Husayn was overcome by his sense of duty to his grandfathers Ummah and he resolved not to abandon Muhammads community to a depraved ruler. On the 10th of Zilhaj he set out for Iraq with his small band of household members and family. The Kufans, who had invited Imam Husayn, had already sold their loyalty to Yezids temporal power and ended up siding with Yezid in his military action against the Imam. Yezid ordered Ubaidullah Ibn Ziyad to intercept Imam Husayns party and to either bring him to submit to Yezids authority or eliminate him. The Kufans gave no help or support to the Imam they themselves had summoned. When the Imam was surrounded by four thousand armed soldiers, he offered to be allowed to return to Arabia in order to save his people from being cursed because of his murder. But when his offer was turned down, he knew that he had no other way out except engage in battle. The Divine Decree had to be fulfilled. The beloved grandson of the Sultan of the two worlds was slayed and martyred, his head cut off and brought on a tray before the accursed Ibn Ziyad. His martyrdom occurred on the tenth of Muharram in Kerbala. Martyred along with him were twenty three other members of the Prophets family, among whom were the Prophets close cousins, the children of Imam Hassan and Imam Husayn, except for his son Zayn al Abideen. The tears of the ladies of the Prophets household knew no end and their sighs shook the Divine Throne. The soul of Fatima, the Prophets daughter, wept and the Prophets blessed soul was in distress. The angels and the Jinn wailed in mourning. The sun, moon and stars were distraught. Zaynab screamed at the sight of her brothers desecrated body, Tyrants! Do you know what you have done? How will you answer the glorious Prophet on the day of Qiyamah when he will ask what did you do to the people of my household and my children after I was gone? Some you enslaved and some you steeped in crimson blood! How will you look him in the face or hope for his intercession? Will you not be shamed if he says: Would you dare to drink from the fount of the Messenger, when you deprived my household of even a single drop of water, and you let Husayn and his children perish in thirst. Did your hearts not tremble at this? In the middle of the day of the tragedy, Ibn Abbas in Medina dreamt that the Prophet s.w was holding a bottle full of blood. He asked about the blood and the Prophet sw answered that it was the blood and tears of his beloved Husayn and the people of his household that he had collected. Later it was discovered that this vision occurred at the exact time of the martyrdom. The universe feared for the wrath of Allah. When Shimr was about to strike Imam Husayn in the battlefield, the Imam said, You made me and my children wander thirsty in these desert wastes. You gave me no water and I know better than to expect any from you. But at least give my children a drop to drink so that I may forgive you for the great wrong you have done to us. The accursed Shimr replied, If earth and sky were full of water, I would not give one drop to you or your children. Imam Husayn responded, You have denied me and my children even a drop of water. But at the place of Resurrection we will not sink to your level by letting you go thirsty, for the owner of Kawthar is my noble grandfather and the waterbearer of that fountain is my father, the chivalrous Ali. Imam Husayn then kicked the ground from where sprung up crystal clear water. Pointing to that water he said, Now you see the quality of our patience. We have only suffered like this in order to teach the community and make them understand that they must be prepared to sacrifice everything in their struggle against tyranny and corruption. Otherwise water was at our command, had we willed we could have had streams flowing to quench our thirst. We refrained in order to set an example of self-sacrifice for the community of Muhammad sw and to provide for you the opportunity to repent by giving us water. At this moment the mantle of martyrdom covered the ennobled Husayn. Imam Ali has said, The Day when the victim has the oppressor at his mercy will be more dreadful and violent than the day the oppressor wronged the victim.
Posted on: Thu, 14 Nov 2013 05:17:02 +0000

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