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Imam Hussein When Khilafat was being replaced by Ignorant Tyranny. |
Every year in the month of Moharrem hundreds of thousands of muslimeen pay tribute to Imam Hussein (AS) with mixed feelings of sadness and anger. Sadly enough, very few and very rarely so, realize the true spirit of this great sacrifice of Imam Hussein (AS).The ideology for which the great Imam, grandson of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), not only let go of his own life but also of his family which included infants to say the least. The purpose of this writing is not to make one feel low of him/herself but to invite everyone to think and ponder over how our actions might be futile compared to our beliefs.
Question is what was this philosophy which was divine enough that even now after centuries the world remembers it? If this sacrifice from Imam Hussein (AS) was not for an ideology but for some worldly factor, then is not it meaningless for the entire world to remember it still? If it was indeed a sacrifice for worldly gains, the great Imam himself would have had no faith in it. Had the Imam valued his life or the lives of those he loved or the rule of a worldly estate more than he valued the divine ideology, how could he sacrifice it and prove to be free of material desires?
The sacrifice I speak of holds within it the greatest proofs of what the Imam (AS) believed in, what he valued the most and how far his learned wisdom could see.
If we continue to neglect the philosophy which the great Imam (AS) held dearer than his life and continue to spend our energies in revising how wicked the Imam’s (AS) opponents were, if we do not learn to work towards his philosophy and keep identifying the oppressed and the oppressor over and over again, if we do not mould the pattern of our lives to match exactly to that of the Imam Hussein then we should stop expecting the great Imam to appreciate our deeds on the Day of Judgment or Allah to value our actions or the fact that we always believed Imam Hussein (AS) was on the right path. Because, on that day what will matter will be how your actions effect you and the society you lived in. Imam Hussein’s (AS) stature and wisdom were unmatched which is why he demonstrated for us what we could never have learned by ourselves because we are materialistic and shallow. Alas, even after his sacrifice what we indulged ourselves in, is paradoxical.
We should ponder and invest our intellect to find, what exactly was the ideology, the philosophy that was so valuable for Imam Hussein that he decided to sacrifice his life instead of stepping back? Did Imam Hussein proclaim rights to be the ruler of Islamic estate of that time? Was this right to rule the reason that he decided to sacrifice his and his entire household’s life? Each and every one of us who has even the tiniest touch of familiarity with the family of Imam Hussein (AS) can never in good senses say that they (the great Imam and his family) sacrificed themselves to earn ruling power, they were material beings like us.
If some one believes this was so, if someone out of unfortunate ignorance insists that it was a political matter, let us look at it once again, let us for the matter of dialogue assume that the great Imam did raise the flag for the worldly estate, even then the history of fifty years from Abu Bakr to Ameer Muavia (Allah be pleased with them) tells us that they were never blood thirsty to earn ruling power and the great Imam (AS) as I mentioned earlier was ingrained with values directly from Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), one of the best rulers in history of Islam Hazrat Ali (AS) and of course his mother Hazrat Fatima (AS) which undeniably implies that his vision and beliefs were of the highest degree. So it becomes very clear that it wasn’t the throne it wasn’t the right to rule that ended in a barbaric crime.
The Imam’s wisdom and vision could see further than anyone else, and he at that time saw the symptoms of corruption in the Islamic society and the very spirit of Islamic estate, a change that had potential power to uproot the essential principals of Islamic society. Indeed he proved that his name and that of his grandfather (PBUH) by standing up against it, by attempting to protect the foundations of Islamic teachings with his life and that of his family.
Let us see what was that change or threat that earned the great Imam’s attention. Indeed it wasn’t a war against the non-believers, every one including the opponents were believers of Allah. Then was it the law of the Islamic estate that had changed? No, the estate was being run according to the rules and regulations that had been followed since the time of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). In fact changes in estate laws were not present in any Islamic estate before the nineteenth century.
Some people put forward personal traits of Yazeed in this context as the reason of this conflict and great loss. What has this notion done to us?What did repeating the actions of this individual named Yazeed result in? People started to believe Imam Hussein’s great sacrifice as an attempt only to rid the Islamic estate of a bad reputed ruler, namely Yazeed, instead of remembering what it was in first place that made the wise Imam stand up against him.
History maintains that even in Yazeed’s rule the system of the Islamic estate was run according to the teachings of Islam, it makes one wonder when the estate’s machinery was working as it was supposed to work why then a person of such deep understanding, a person of knowledge and deepest understanding of the teachings of Allah and Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) stood up against the ruler of the estate? Certainly he did not do that merely to earn the rule, he was well aware of the wonderful crown that awaits him eagerly, that which would be his for eternity, he could not possibly yearn for any material finite gains and that too involving bloodshed.
Obviously this was not the reason or the threat that the Imam realized and stood up against. Studying the history brings forth to our knowledge the facts that the great Imam had realized long before they actually happened. Fact is, nomination of Yazeed as the heir of the Islamic estate and then his crowning as the ruler, opened the doors for immense corruption and decadence. With it began the change of Islamic society’s foundations which kept on breaching the very pillars and purpose of an Islamic estate. This was the change that threatened the existence of Islamic society as it was in the times of the Prophet (PBUH) and the ideology of Islam which the great Imam wanted to protect and sacrificed his and many of his beloved ones lives for. To understand the Imam Hussein’s (AS) sacrifice, we have to seek and know a bit of context which involves studying how Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) and Khulefa-e-Rashideen (the four caliphates of Islam who ruled the Islamic estate after Prophet Muhammad PBUH) had led the Islamic estate for forty years. What were the foundations of the estate’s constitution in their times?
We should study the peculiarities that began to appear in the rulers of the Islamic estate after Yazeed became king by inheriting the rule, and after him the rulers from Bani Ummea and Bani Abbas. We can only understand the Imam Hussein’s (AS) far reaching vision by comparing and finding the differences that existed between the times when the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) and the Khulefa-e-Rashideen ruled and the times that descended upon the estate as the result of Yazeed’s inherited kingship.
Only then we can completely understand that the man who was brought up in the sacred guidance of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), Ali (AS) and Fatima (AS), the man who had the company and guidance of other companions of the Prophet (PBUH) as well since infancy, decided to correct and cure the unseen infections of Islamic estate and did not value his and his family’s lives for that one cause.
The first and the foremost pillar of an Islamic estate is the ingrained belief that Allah is the ultimate King, the people is Allah’s people and the ruler of the estate is and will be held answerable to Allah in regard of the people of the estate. The ruler of the Islamic estate does not own the estate or the people of the estate in any manner. According to Islamic teachings and history of previous rulers after the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) from Abu Bakr (AS) to Ali (AS), it had been evident to the people that the Khalifa (ruler) had surrendered his pride and self to Allah and then strived to protect Allah’s laws through out the estate.
But from Yazeed’s inherited kingship the spirit of this concept was destroyed. From the humanly kingship which started from Yazeed, the belief that Allah is the ultimate king and the owner of the estate became a formality that was confined merely to words. After Yazeed the Islamic estate became what every humanly estate had been before. Islamic rulers started believing that the estate is their and their family’s inherited property and along with it the people, their property, their lives and their future. Allah’s law remained the law enforced within the estate for a long time, but these rulers invented exceptions for themselves, their accomplices, and the rich and influential.
The purpose of Islamic estates was to bring the people to light, to educate them about Allah’s laws that teach them to abstain from what Allah has forbidden and converge to what Allah requires them to do or what earns them Allah’s blessings, as explained by Allah’s message brought to us by the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). But the change that Yazeed’s kingship brought to Islam, Allah’s estate was turned into kingdom of men where the purpose of government was sadly reduced to conquering the weak, enslaving the people, gathering riches and other material gains. Very rarely did the rulers of the Islamic estate truly served Allah’s laws afterwards. Their accomplices and families became the causes of breach of Allah’s laws and propagated vice instead either intentionally or out of sheer ignorance.
Those who actually tried to revive the spirit of the Islamic estate and relive the laws sent by Allah were posed with opposition let alone assistance from the estate. In spite of brave efforts by few, the rulers led Islamic societies to further decadence and corruption. The spirit of Islamic estates had drawn life from kindness, piety, tolerance, equality and abstinence. Each and every member of the government was a picture of all these traits and more which was the reason the whole Islamic society had learned to practice these traits from highest members of the governments to common members of the society.
How terribly unfortunate it is for us that Imam Hussein could not succeed in stopping this vile infection from entering the Islamic estate and society. Since that day, since the day that muslimeen were put on the path of hereditary kingship, they too became imitators of the kings of men who faced Allah’s wrath in return of their atrocities. Savagery instead of justice, lies instead of truth engulfed us. Segregation among the society became common. Luxury instead of abstinence became the norm. Forbidden became the most demanded, and hence the rulers became vessels of characterless materialistic beings. Politics murdered morality and instead of fearing Allah’s wrath themselves, the rulers started oppressing the people. Instead of awakening the truth seeking spirit of Islam in every member of the society, instead of enriching the character of individuals with teachings of utmost honesty and truth, they began buying people and their consciences.
True constitution of Islamic estate implied that the ruler of the estate will be chosen by opinion of people which they freely and willfully provide, no one should even try to earn kingship or build opinions to his favor, instead the people themselves will consult amongst themselves and choose a ruler for the estate. People will be completely free for accepting or rejecting a ruler, and that is why no one was considered a ruler until he had been accepted by the people as their ruler, it was his moral obligation to not claim himself as the ruler if he had failed in earning people’s acceptance.
Each and everyone of the Khulefa-e-Rashideen took the governance of the Islamic estate via this channel until Ameer Muaviyya became the ruler. It was then that the ruler earned doubts of the people about whether Ameer Muaviyya had earned the required acceptance or not, hence the reason history stopped the title of Khulefa-e-Rashideen upon Ali (AS) and did not count Ameer Muaviyya or any ruler after him as one of them. There after, Yazeed’s nomination as the heir to kingship proved to be the mutation point for Islamic history, society and the spirit of the Islamic estate.
Because of that single incident of Yazeed’s nomination and crowning, began the tradition of royalty, the families of kings and since then muslimeen were never again seen following the method of Khulefa-e-rashideen to choose their ruler. Rulers, now were not chosen freely but were enforced upon the people. The acceptance which was once mandatory for a ruler was now imposed upon the people by force. And the barbarism of Yazeed was repeated in the times of Mansoor Abbasi, when Imam Malik (AS) tried to denounce this forced imposition of rule from the king, he was lashed and then tortured savagely for this crime of advocating justice and truth.
The second most important factor of the constitution of the Islamic estate was to bind the ruler to govern with the advice of the people. The ruler was to seek advice from people whose knowledge, abstinence and wisdom was publicly known and accepted. In the times of Khulefa-e-Rashideen, those made members of an advisory committee called the ‘Shoora’, were in fact all nominated as was the tradition. The Khulefa (caliphates) however did not acknowledge their nomination only because they were are very respectful to them, and therefore could not be expected to openly criticize the Khalifa’s (caliphate’s) decisions. Therefore in the process of selecting people for the advisory committee it was very well made sure that the people who become members are straightforward and able to criticize or advice without any hesitations or out of plain respect.
With the advent of royalty, this strong pillar of the Islamic estate was pulverized. The rulers now were not required to seek advice for their decisions, so they did as they pleased, kings, princes, governors, generals and other council members completely neglected the Islamic traits. Truth, knowledge and wisdom bearing individuals appeared as threats to the rulers and were very often dealt with utter injustice.
The third factor of the constitution of the Islamic estate was freedom of speech. People’s conscience and their voices were to be free, so much, so that anyone could speak of truth against even the highest ranking members of the government. Khulefa-e-Rashideen not only kept this right fully intact and alive for everyone, but in fact encouraged people to speak. Each and every member of the society had the right to ask the Khalifa about the matters of the government, and people actually freely and fearlessly practiced this right. This freedom was not a gift or a gesture of kindness of the Khulefa in themselves only, but was the law that Allah sent to the believers through Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) and the Khulefa ensured it’s practice as the right of the people of the Islamic estate.
As with the other two pillars, this pillar was very well shattered by the kingship. Flattery instead took it’s place. Those who did not surrender to the king and practiced their right of freedom of speech were either killed or imprisoned. This savagery gradually started eroding the courage and fearlessness that Islamic societies once had. People with good moral values and intact conscience started parting ways from the kings and flatterers started filling in their places. The people, who were once courageous enough to question the Khalifa himself about his methods of governance, were now more timid than ever so they only played the part of by standers, watching one government handover power to another one.
Fourth factor in the constitution of the Islamic estate is very similar to the third one but has its own significance; it was the belief that the ruler of the Islamic estate is answerable to Allah and the people as well. As far as being answerable to Allah is concerned, history stands witness that the Khulefa-e-Rashideen lost their sleep, became restless and often cried over worries about the well being of the people they will be held responsible for. As for the second part of this constitutional factor, Khulefa-e-Rashideen always allowed anyone and everyone everywhere within the estate to question them and held themselves liable to answer anyone anywhere, not just the advisory committee (shoora) or parliament to better understand in today’s world. They used to face the people in everyday prayers as well, held weekly sessions of information sharing and spent numerous days and nights surveying the people’s living conditions in markets and pathways without causing the people any hindrance in their daily routines, at many times people would not even be aware that the Khalifa of the Islamic estate is among us. In addition to that, anyone was allowed to meet the Khulefa at their houses as well. This wonderful way of governance died with the birth of kingship.
Instead of , now there were kings the royalty who required protocols and who had built standards which denied people’s rights.
Fifth constitutional factor of the Islamic estate required the rulers to agree that the government’s financial assets (Bait Ul Maal) are Allah and people’s property so the ruler is required to provide each and every detail of expenses and earnings, and the people hold the right to inquire about the assets anytime. Khulefa-e-Rashideen kept his constitutional constituent intact as well with utter honesty and diligence. Every earning was but according to the Islamic laws and every expense was scrutinized right to it’s core to ensure its compliance with the laws of Allah. Among the Khulefa-e-Rashideen those who had wealth did not even take out their rightful salaries from the government fund instead contributed to it with their own finances. And because anyone had the right to inquire about the government funds people even pointed at cloths bought for the Khalifa rightfully and were provided answer for.
When khilafat was replaced with kingship, government funds became property of the royals and not that of the people and Allah. Illegitimate channels of earnings and expense were introduced to the system, and those who questioned the kings authority over these finances were not spared. From the highest ranked to the lowest members of the kingship, everyone took from the funds that were previously designated people’s property via Allah’s law.
Sixth factor was that of the estate’s practiced law. It obliged the estate to implement Allah and his Prophet Muhammad’s teachings and laws as official law and no one had authority to modify or ignore it. No one was to be given any exceptions from beggars to kings, justice was indeed made blind and judiciary free of any kind of pressure. As for all the previous factors which we mentioned earlier, this too was implemented and followed as was in the times of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH).
Khulefa-e-Rashideen who had far more power and authority to change or modify the laws did not do so and remained bound to them through out their rules. Neither did their friendship help anyone against the law nor did they use the law to oppress their opponents. They portrayed ideal justice by always knocking the judiciary systems door for even their personal problems where they could have easily used their status as the ruler of the estate to their benefit but they instead chose to comply with the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) that the law should have similar grip on everyone. Not only themselves, Khulefa-e-Rashideen also made sure that every member of government machinery was treated as an ordinary member of the society in the eyes of law and justice.
This was in stark contrast to what became of the estate laws when kingship became the Islamic estates fate. Kingship made sure that people with influence, high or low, had complete freedom from the grip of law. Justice was divided into two standards, one for the weak and the other for the rich, the powerful and the influential. Judiciary system began experiencing sheer pressure from the governments so much that some of Allah’s true people preferred lashes and wrath of the king of men, imprisonment and lashings, instead of defying the Islamic laws and earning Allah’s wrath by becoming a tool of oppression and injustice in the hands of the government.
If you have come this far reading the article, you must have realized that indeed Imam Hussein’s (AS) vision did not bring him the notion to claim the right to rule but to save the entire ummah from an infection that would never be cured from them again. No learned and believing individual can deny the fact that Yazeed’s nomination and crowning was the gate that welcomed this disease into the Islamic society. Neither can anyone deny that it wasn’t long after Yazeed that the society and estate began experiencing the decadence that we discussed earlier in this article.
When the great Imam took this revolutionary step, these corruptions had not manifested themselves in the estate, estate machinery or the society but the wisdom and knowledge that the Imam possessed knew better that this will ultimately result in destruction of the system laid down by the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) himself. It was not the right to command the estate that the blessed Imam desired, it was the basic traits of an Islamic society of honesty, welfare, truth, tolerance, freedom of speech, equality, brotherhood, kindness and justice that he wanted to preserve, the growth of the Islamic estate and people which he held to himself dearer than his life. He could not see the system that his grandfather introduced and his father among other Khulefa-e-Rashideen helped nurture and preserve just fall apart to human greed, he knew he could not wait any longer it was time, he accepted the worst outcome and defied the mutation that had descended into the Islamic estate.
Though he could not succeed in stopping that disease, but he did leave behind an example for all of us, an ideology that remains the essence of the way of Islamic life, estate and society.
Let us pause for a moment and think, what have we done to honor this great Imam’s philosophy? Have we learned to hold on to honesty no matter what? Have we stopped being in-just? Have we imposed on ourselves Allah’s law? Above them all, have we valued these traits as much as this Prince of Paradise did? Have we realized the extent to which he protected, practiced and preserved these traits? He knew of possible consequences and yet he decided to face the danger and loose his beloved ones along with his own life, do we value it that much? How much longer will we not realize that the tribute to this great warrior of Allah is not in dedicating our lives in denouncing his opponents but to follow the reasons which brought Imam Hussein up against Yazeed.
We have instead fallen pray to the divisive infections which he wanted to save us from. The pillars of the society that his eyes could see are no where to be seen. Instead of practicing his ideology we present our tributes in the shape of further decadence.
Will we ever pay real tribute to this great man? Will we ever stop denouncing Yazeed so we could actually start following what Imam Hussein (AS) preached and what Yazeed denied? Allah is all seeing and he is the best of all judges, let Yazeed be dealt with there and let yourself become a true follower of the ideology the great Imam Hussein(AS) marched towards Yazeed with.
I pray for guidance and mercy from Allah for all of us.
From Syed Abul Ala Maudoodi’s Writings.
