THE STORY OF KERBALA

THE PROPHET (SAW) SAID: Indeed, Hossein is the light of guidance and the saviour ship.

Having come to know of Yazid's scheme to assasinate him while performing the rite of Hajj, Imam Hussein (A.S) decided to leave Mecca before finishing the rites, performing only the Umra.

Prior to his departure, he delivered the following sermon (khutba):
"All praise is due to Allah! Allah's Will be done, and there in neither power or nor might, except in Allah, and the blessings of Allah unto His messenger (SAW)."
"Death surrounds Adam's offspring as a necklace surrounds a girl's neck. My passion to join those who preceded me (in winning the honor of martyrdom) is like Jacob's passion for Joseph; it is better for me to receive death which I shall surely meet. I can see my limbs torn by wild beasts of the desert, between Nawawis and Karbala, so much so that they will thus fill their empty bellies. The decree cannot be avoided. Whatever pleases Allah pleases me."

"We shall bear his trial patiently, and He shall surely reward us with the rewards of those who presevere. The Prophet's progeny shall never stray from the Prophet's path. Rather, they shall be rejoined with him in the Presence of the Most Exalted One. His eyes will thus be cooled, and He will fulfill his promise. Whoever is present among us now and whoever is wholeheartedly determined to meet his Lord, let him depart with us. For, In sha-Allah, I will be departing at the Break of day."

Abdullah ibn az-Zubayr asked Imam Hussein (AS) why he was in such a hurry to leave Mecca. Whereupon he said, "My father told me once that there is a man in Mecca because of which Mecca's sanctity will be violated. I don't wish to be it. If I were to be killed outside Mecca it would surely be dearer for me. By Allah! had I been inside a crack of these land cracks, they would have hunted me out of it and done to me what they would have liked to do. By Allah! they will transgress on my account, just as the Jews transgressed and violated the sanctity of the Sabbath."

Imam Hussein Once said to Abu Harrah al-Azdi: "Banu Umayyah confiscated my wealth, and I took to patience. Then they cursed my honor, and I again took to patience. And when they sought to kill me, I did not take to patience, I fought."

At a place call al-Thalabiyya Imam Hussein (AS) said to a man he met: "By Allah! Had I met you in Medina, I would have shown you the marks of Gabriel's revalation at our house, and his descent upon my Grandfather (SAW). O' brother of the Kufans! The foutainhead of Knowledge is surely with us. Do they have knowledge while we are ignorant? This will never be."

"O' people! The Messenger of Allah (SAW) has said: 'Whoever sees an oppresive ruler who permits what Allah has forbidden, reneging on his oath, violating the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah (SAW), treating the servants of Allah oppresively, and does not try to stop him by deed or by word, it will be incumbent upon Allah to treat him as He treats the first. These people have rubbed shoulders with Satan and abandoned their obedience to the Most Merciful one. They have manifested corruption, transgressed the limits, felt comfortable with their ease, permitting what Allah has forbidden, and forbidding what Allah has permitted."
"I am the best effect a change, and your letters have reached me. So have your envoys, offering your aliegiance to me, promising me that you will never abandon me nor betray me. If you complete you allegiance to me, you will surely have acted wisley, for I am al-Hussein, son of Ali and Fatima, daughter of the Messenger of Allah (SAW). I support you, my family supports yours, and I am an example for you."

"But if you do not do so, and if you renege on your promise and abandon you allegiance, then it will not be unexpected of you, for you have done the same to my father and brother, and to my cousin ibn Aqeel. Vain is one who is deceived by you. Your own sign have you missed, and your own portion of divine rewards have you lost. Whoever reneges, he, indeed, reneges to the detriment of his own soul, and Allah will make me independent of him."

"Wassalmu Alaikum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh."

IMAM HUSSEIN ONCE SAID:

DIGNIFIED DEATH IS BETTER THAN HUMILATING LIFE

Having reached Karbala, Imam Hussein (AS) assemble his children, sisters and kin, he then looked at them and burst into tears. He then supplicated, "O Allah! We are the progeny of Your Messenger Muhamad (SAW), and we have been exiled, turned out of our homes by force, and we have become estranged from the sanctified precincts of our Grandfather. Banu Umayyah (LA) has oppressed us."
"Oh Allah! On our behalf, take from them what rightfully belongs to us, and help us against oppresive people!"

SAYIDA ZEINAB (AS) was duty bound to prevent the truth of the Karbala revolution from being distorted by the deceitful and poisonous propaganda of the ruling system.

SAYING OF IMAM ALI al-RIDA:

For him who weeps on the day of 'Ashura, Allah will provide happiness and joy on the day of Judgement.