Total submission and surrender to the Will of Allah is the hallmark of a true religion and its adherents. Karbala is a unique and unprecedented example of supreme sacrifice and absolute surrender to the will and pleasure of the Lord of the Universe in preserving the spirit, the soul and being of the Islamic faith.
Sacrifice for a sacred cause and noble ideals always leaves its impact on human hearts and mind.
Such was the purity of the cause and nobility of the ideal underlying the supreme sacrifice of the grandson of the holy Prophet that it has come to stay for ever as a beacon of light for guidance to the seekers after Truth, Justice and Liberty.
The world, according to Islam, is a place of trial and man is to be judged for reward or punishment on the basis of the life he lives in it: "Surely we shall test you with fear and famine, with loss of life and property and fruits of your toil. Glad tidings to those who when afflicted with adversary say 'To God we belong and to Him is our return'. On such men will be Allah's blessings and mercy and they are rightly guided".
The history of mankind is replete with numerous examples of tragedies, tests, trials and tribulations. But the tragedy that took place on the burning sand of Karbala on the 10th of Moharram, 61 A.H. is a unique and unparalleled example of sublime heights of sacrifice, heroism and absolute submission before the Creator in defence of the Faith enshrined in the holy Quran and Sunnah of the holy Prophet (PBUH).
Evaluated by the judgement of standards of the Quran the purity of the purpose and the nobility of the ideal of Hazrat Imam Husain in his crusade against Yazid at Karbala becomes self-evident.
Hazrat Imam Husain stood for protection and preservation of the sanctity of Islam preached and practised by Prophet Muhammad (PBUH).
He stood for an Islamic way of life from which Yazid had deviated and was giving his own interpretations of Islam and its teachings.
Yazid was neither a rightful nor a just ruler who had risen to the pulpit through usurpation.
He practised and abetted tyranny and like all tyrants he aimed at paralysing the sensibilities of the people and crippling their spirit to speak out the truth.
Thus the social, moral and spiritual ideals of Islam were exposed to the threat of annihilation and replacement by the worst kind of imperialism.
In such a situation it was incumbent on the Muslims particularly their spiritual leaders to raise the voice of dissent and take steps to preserve Islamic values.
Husain Ibn-e-Ali was the custodian of the house of Muhammad (PBUH). He was the bulwark of spiritualism and worship of God.
Throughout his life and right upto his martyrdom he strictly observed the laws of God and humanity.
His famous address to the people of Iraq bears testimony to the strength of his conviction in the noble mission of his life.
He said, "Listen, the Prophet of God (PBUH) has said that he who sees a ruler perpetrate acts of tyranny and transgress the boundaries prescribed by Allah and establish the rule of sin and oppression and yet does nothing to thwart him, either by word or by deed, shall not be blessed by God. Behold, these people (meaning Yazid and his henchmen) have become the disciples of the devil and have forsaken the path of Allah.
Evil is dominating and divine laws are flagrantly violated. My prime duty is to restore truth and justice..... I seek martyrdom since living among tyrants is in itself a sin and a crime".
According to the holy Prophet (PBUH) the purpose of life is nothing else than the service of God and by serving God is meant the actualisation of the high and noble ideals rooted in the attributes of God.
Everything in this world is for man but man himself is for his Lord with his mission in life to surrender himself fully to the Will and for the Pleasure of God who created him as the best of all His creations and exalted him to the noble and dignified position of being His deputy to fulfil His will on earth.
In His infinite kindness and mercy Allah loves His subjects more than parents love their off-springs and supplies them with His bounties and grace.
It is only proper, therefore, that man with His endless bounties and favours bestowed on him right from his cradle to the grave, bases the lofty mission of his life on the worship of God:
"O Mankind! worship your Lord, Who hath created you and those before you, so that you may ward off evil. Who hath appointed the earth a resting place for you, the sky a canopy; and cause the water to pour down from the heavens, thereby producing fruits as food for you". (holy Quran, 11:32-23)
Worship (Ibadah) is a vital duty of man towards his Maker and includes all actions which are performed in obedience to and for the pleasure of Allah.
The concept of Ibadah (worship) in Islam is all too comprehensive and encompasses the whole spectrum of human conduct.
It covers both fulfilling obligations to Allah (Huquq Allah) and obligations towards fellow beings (Huquq al-'Ibad).
Fulfilment of both Huquq Allah and Huqul al- 'Ibad must be integrated to attain success as true adherent of Allah.
Through acts of devotion one fulfils obligations to Allah (Huquq Allah) and through good deeds one fulfils his obligations towards his fellow beings (Huquq al-'Ibad).
By duress and bribe Yazid had succeeded in obtaining the bait from people of lesser breed and now looked upon Husain Ibn-e-Ali as a stumbling stone in the universal recognition of his pretension as spiritual leader of the Muslims.
No wonder that such a holy man as Husain would never submit to a rake like Yazid who was openly disregarding the Islamic teachings and principles.
So when Yazid's governor of Madina, Walid bin Aqbah, approached Hazrat Imam Husain for his oath of allegiance he refused and rejected the demand with a firm conviction in Divine Justice and with his unbending determination, magnanimity and robust faith that the final victory would go to the principles of truth and justice.
The objective before Imam Hussain in rejecting the demand for bait at the hands of Yazid was that truth and righteousness should prevail; that men's sensibilities and their spirit to be frank and plainspoken should be revived.
He wanted to usher in a general awakening among the people by his high-minded firm and continuous desire to render to everyone that which is his due so that right and truth might not come to be looked upon as the attributes of power.
He was of the view that 'whatever Yazid possessed belonged wholly to others and he had no right to appropriate it to his use.
Public opinion once moulded in any particular form does not usually lend itself to easy alteration unless men's minds are jolted out of the rut of generally-accepted ways of thought by some great event which violently disturbs them.
In 60 A.H. the Muslims very frequently witnessed the iniquities and transgressions of the government of Syria, but they had fallen prey to the prevailing mental and spiritual apathy and torpor.
The need of the hour naturally was the occurrence of such an unexpected and unusually important event as would shake men up and rouse their sensibilities. Husain's martyrdom at Karbala accomplished this with eminent success.
There is no religion higher than truth and no man better than the one who gives his life to preserve the truth.
Under the self-styled caliphate of Yazid, the eternal Islamic principles of truth, goodness and justice were at stake.
The supreme sacrifices which Hazrat Imam Husain, with his band of near and dear ones, offered on the 10th of Muharram in 61 A.H., preserved the sanctity of Islam and its eternal principles of truth and justice.
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