Imam al-Husayn b. Ali (a): Difference between revisions

  |beginning of imamate = [[Safar 28]], [[50]]/[[March 30]], 670

  |martyrdom = [[Muharram 10]], [[61]]/[[October 13]], 680

After Mu'awiya died, Imam al-Husayn (a) refused to give [[allegiance]] to [[Yazid]] and considered his rise to [[caliphate]] as illegitimate. When al-Walid b. 'Utba, the governor of Medina, was sent to order Imam al-Husayn (a) to either pledge allegiance to Yazid or be killed, Imam al-Husayn (a) made his way from Medina towards [[Mecca]] on [[Rajab 28]], [[60]]/[[May 7]], 680. In the four months he stayed in Mecca, he received [[Letters of People of Kufa to Imam al-Husayn (a)|many letters]] that urged him to assume the  leadership of ummah. As Imam (a) and his companions approached Kufa, the army of [['Ubayd Allah b. Ziyad]] intercepted Imam's caravan on Yazid's order.  

Imam al-Husayn (a) was born in [[Medina]]. While some have recorded that he (a) was born in 3/625,<ref>Kulaynī, ''al-Kāfī'', vol. 1, p. 463; Ṭūsī, ''Tahḍīb al-aḥkām'', vol. 6, p. 41.</ref> the most preferred account among historians and scholars is that his birth was in [[4]]/626.<ref>Yaʿqūbī, ''Tārīkh al-Yaʿqūbī'', vol. 2, p. 246; Mufīd, ''al-Irshād'', vol. 2, p. 27; Ṭabarī, ''Tārīkh al-umam wa l-mulūk'', vol. 2, p. 555.</ref> There is no consensus regarding the day the Imam (a) was born but it is believed it was most likely on [[Sha'ban 3]].<ref>Ibn Ṭāwūs, ''Iqbāl al-aʿmāl'', p. 689-690; Ṭūsī, ''Miṣbāḥ al-mutahajjid'', p. 826-828.</ref> Al-Mufid mentioned his birth in Sha'ban 5.<ref>Mufīd, ''al-Irshād'', vol. 2, p. 27.</ref>

According to some Sunni sources, al-Hasan (a) and al-Husayn (a) participated in the Battle of Ifriqiyya in 26/646-47<ref>Ibn Khaldūn, ''al-ʿIbar'', vol. 2, p. 573-574.</ref> and in the Battle of Tabaristan in 29/649-50 or 30/650-51.<ref>Ṭabarī, ''Tārīkh al-umam wa l-mulūk'', vol. 4, p. 269.</ref> This report is not affirmed in any Shiite sources. Moreover, it is said that no fight occurred in those battles, and the two sides made peace.<ref>Ibn Qutayba, ''al-Maʿārif'', p. 568.</ref> Scholars disagree as to the authenticity of the reports that indicate the presence of the two Imams (a) in these battles. For instance, considering the weakness of their chains of transmitters and the disagreement of the Imams with the conquests, [[al-Sayyid Ja'far Murtada al-'Amili]] maintains that these reports are inauthentic. He mentions that the fact that Imam Ali (a) did not allow them to fight in the Battle of Siffin is further evidence that those reports are fabricated.<ref>ʿĀmilī, ''al-Ḥayāt al-sīyāsīyya'', p. 158.</ref> However, some other scholars hold that the participation of the two Imams (a) in those battles were for the greater good of the Ummah and in order to provide Imam Ali (a) with accurate information about the circumstances and also to acquaint people with Ahl al-Bayt (a).<ref>Zamānī, ''Ḥaqāʾiq-i pinhān'', p. 118-119.</ref>  

It is reported that when people paid allegiance to Imam Ali (a), al-Husayn (a) delivered a speech.<ref>Majlisī, ''Biḥār al-anwār'', vol. 10, p. 121.</ref> During the [[Battle of Jamal]], he was the commander of the left part of his father's army.<ref>Mufīd, ''al-Jamal'', p. 348; Dhahabī, ''Tārīkh al-Islām'', vol. 3, p. 485.</ref> In the [[Battle of Siffin]], he delivered a speech, encouraging people to jihad,<ref>Naṣr b. Muzāhim, ''Waqʿat al-ṣiffīn'', p. 114-115.</ref> and became the commander of the warriors of the right arm of the army.<ref>Ibn Shahrāshūb, ''Manāqib Āl Abī Ṭālib'', vol. 4, p. 86; Ibn Aʿtham, ''al-Futūḥ'', vol. 3, p. 24.</ref> However [[Al-Hasanayn (a)]]'s role in Siffin was limited, according to sources that allude to Imam Ali (a)'s preference not to involve his sons in the fighting only to protect them, in one occasion, it is reported that in this battle al-Husayn (a) was present in a successful attempt to reclaim the control of water, which Imam Ali (a) later described the act as the first success achieved due to sheer blessing given upon the presence of al-Husayn.<ref>Majlisī, ''Biḥār al-anwār'', vol. 44, p. 266.</ref> Reports that al-Husayn (a) participated in the [[Battle of Nahrawan]] also exist.<ref>Ibn ʿAbd al-Barr, ''al-Istīʿāb'', vol. 3, p. 939.</ref>

The beginning of the imamate of Imam al-Husayn (a) coincided with the tenth year of Mu'awiya's rule. After the peace treaty with Imam al-Hasan (a) in 41/661,<ref>Ibn ʿAsākir, ''Tārīkh madīnat Damascus'', vol. 13, p. 262.</ref> Mu'awiyad became the caliph of the Muslim ummah and established the Umayyad dynasty. According to Sunni sources, he was a clever and patient person<ref>Ibn Kathīr, ''al-Bidāya wa l-nihāya'', vol. 6, p. 230; Suyūṭī, ''Tārīkh al-khulafāʾ'', vol. 1, p. 149.</ref> and apparently a practicing Muslim, though he had gained power through political plots.<ref>Ṭaqūsh, ''Dawlat-i umawīyān'', p. 19.</ref> He pretended to be a righteous person and a defender of religion and its rulings. However, he turned the caliphate into a kingdom<ref>Ibn Ḥajar al-ʿAsqalānī, ''al-Iṣāba'', vol. 1, p. 64; Ibn Kathīr, ''al-Bidāya wa l-nihāya'', vol. 6, p. 220.</ref> and publicly stated that he did not care whether the people practiced their religion or not.<ref>Ibn Kathīr, ''al-Bidāya wa l-nihāya'', vol. 8, p. 131; Mufīd, ''al-Irshād'', vol. 2, p. 14.</ref>  

In 58/677-78, two years before the death of Mu'awiya, Imam al-Husayn (a) gave a protesting speech in [[Mina]].<ref>Ibn Shuʿba Ḥarrānī, ''Tuḥaf al-ʿuqūl'', p. 68.</ref> At this time, Mu'awiya's persecution of the Shi'a had become more than ever.<ref>Pīshwāyī, ''Tārīkh-i qīyām wa maqtal-i jāmiʿ-i Sayyid al-Shuhadāʾ'', vol. 1, p. 392.</ref> In his speech, the Imam (a) mentioned the virtues of Imam Ali (a) and the Ahl al-Bayt (a) and emphasized the importance of [[commanding good and forbidding evil]] and the necessity of scholars' objection to the oppression and corruption of unjust rulers.

Yazid succeeded his father when the latter died in [[Rajab 15]], 60/[[April 24]], 680.<ref>Balādhurī, ''Ansāb al-ashrāf'', vol. 3, p. 155; Mufīd, ''al-Irshād'', vol. 2, p. 32.</ref> He decided to force a number of noble figures, including Imam al-Husayn (a), who had refused to pay allegiance to him to do so.<ref>Ṭabarī, ''Tārīkh al-umam wa l-mulūk'', vol. 5, p. 338.</ref> However, the Imam (a) refused to pay allegiance again<ref>Mufīd, ''al-Irshād'', vol. 2, p. 33.</ref> and left Medina in [[Rajab 28]]th to Mecca. <ref>Balādhurī, ''Ansāb al-ashrāf'', vol. 3, p. 160; Mufīd, ''al-Irshād'', vol. 2, p. 34.</ref>

There are different viewpoints regarding the reasons behind Imam al-Husayn's (a) travel from Medina to Mecca and then to Kufa and the Battle of Karbala. According to one viewpoint, the Imam (a) did not intend to rebel or fight; rather, he only wanted to save his own life.<ref>Ishtihārdī, ''Haft sāla chirā ṣidā dar āward?'', p. 154.</ref> According to another viewpoint the Imam (a) wanted to establish a government. Scholars such as [[al-Sharif al-Murtada]]<ref>Sayyid Murtaḍā, ''Tanzīh al-anbīyāʾ'', p. 227-228.</ref> and [[Salihi Najafabadi]] maintain the latter viewpoint,<ref>Ṣāliḥī Najafābādī, ''Shahīd-i Jāwīd'', p. 157-158.</ref> and others such as [[al-Shaykh al-Mufid]], [[al-Sayyid b. Tawus]], and [[al-Allama al-Majlisi]] reject it.  

There are many reports about foreseeing the martyrdom of Imam al-Husayn (a),<ref>Muḥammadī Riyshahrī, ''Dānishnāma-yi Imām Ḥusayn'', vol. 3, p. 166.</ref> including [[Hadith al-Lawh]], in which the Prophet (s) stated, "God has honored al-Husayn by martyrdom and made him the best of martyrs."<ref>Kulaynī, ''al-Kāfī'', vol. 1, p. 528.</ref> ''Al-Allama al-Majlisi'' has collected several traditions in ''[[Bihar al-anwar]]'' which indicate that God informed some of His prophets, including [[Adam (a)]], [[Noah (a)]], [[Abraham (a)]], [[Zachariah (a)]], and [[Muhammad (s)]], about the martyrdom of al-Husayn (a), and they wept for him.<ref>Majlisī, ''Biḥār al-anwār'', vol. 44, p. 223-249.</ref> It is also reported that when Imam Ali (a) reached Karbala on his way to [[Siffin]], he pointed to a place and said, "This is where their blood will be shed."<ref>Minqarī, ''Waqʿat ṣiffīn'', p. 142.</ref>