We have Muharram ahead of us. One of the aspects that Muharram is concerned with, is the commemoration of a peerless memory of history, [but] not unique in anguish and sorrow - which it is, of course - but unique in the epic and the emergence of human prominences, and the prominences of the people of truth. If you look into the situation and circumstances of Imam Hussein- Peace Be Upon Him-, you will well notice that that the movement, that the uprising, with those characteristics, was unique in essence. We have had many uprisings, but this advent with those characteristics is unique. The situation has been like this: False domination is increasing day by day with complete cruelty and obscenity. “Amr bil-Maruf wa'l-Nahy an al-Munkar (inviting to good and forbidding what is wrong) was not possible. There is so much atmosphere of fear that those who invite to good and forbid what is evil, try not to be exposed to “Amr bil-Maruf wa'l-Nahy an al-Munkar”; Even bold and courageous people. That is, for instance, Abdullah Ibn Zubair; a daring and defiant man. But he tries not to face the caliphate. The situation is so difficult. Someone like Abdullah Ibn Ja'far, who is the nephew of Amir al-Mu'minin and the son-in-law of Amir al-Mu'minin and the husband of Mr.Her Eminence Zeinab, tries not to even come close to the caliphate, because there is nothing imaginable otherwise.
A person like Abdullah Ibn Abbas finds a state of isolation from the society; as if, he withdraws; he sits in a corner; That is to say, those who were the men of eloquence and admirable orators with prominent personalities and great nobles of Bani Hashem and Quraysh and the famous youth of the beginning of Islam, each of whom has a history of honors behind them, do not dare to come to the scene, let alone ordinary people; not only in the Levant (Shaam), but also in Medina itself. Now you compare the situation of Medina with other places that did not have that centrality. Those are the circumstances of that extravagant oppression and strangulation. Then the uprising of Imam Hussein-PBUH- is there to break this domination; Imam Hussein's move is to break this over lordship; but not with the intention of seeking power (I did not go out wicked, not wrong, neither unjust, nor corrupting); It was not like others who rise up, go out, beat and kill to seize power, but he revolts for “Amr bil-Maruf wa'l-Nahy an al-Munkar (inviting to good and forbidding what is wrong).
There may be two consequences for him: one is to win, and the other is to be killed; with the catastrophic situation that was conceivable for him, even without the knowledge of the Imamate. Well, it was clear that the arrogant enemy was heedless with no considerations. In such circumstances, Imam Hussein-PBUH- does the same thing that the Holy Prophet-PBUH- did with the Christians; referring to the Mubahila verse of the Holy Qur'an, since it was also days, approaching the days of Mubahila; That is, he brought his children, his wife, his soul to the field; That is, he took his dearest assets and all his possessions to defend the truth and to rise up for Allah.
And then waited; and, this patience of Imam Hussein-PBUH- is very important. I once spoke in detail about Imam Hussein's patience, but now it is not enough time to raise it again. We do not comprehend what patience means. Patience unfolds its meaning where it befalls. So many people from amongst the elders, from the narrators, from the prominent personalities, from the justified people, from the wise, from the compassionates, from the half- compassionates, constantly come to Imam Hussein and kept saying, "O our lord, by doing this, you are doing something that is useless; you are harming yourself and the family of the Holy Prophet; you are humiliating the people of truth; They were talking the sort of these things. From the first instance that Imam Hussein-PBUH- intended to leave Mecca, and some individuals were informed, these various moral obstacles started against Imam Hussein, until the night of Ashura. It is very difficult to patience against these events. At that time, in the same discourse that I mentioned, I said that the Imam Khomeini (may God bless him and grant him peace) practiced patience and forbearance in the same way. So much was kept to be said to the Late Imam: O imam, the lives of these young people are being destroyed; they are being killed in this way, the country is being ruined. During the movement, he was told that “you are sending our best young people to death field”. It was a great job to keep patience in the face of those clumsy benevolence and it required a lot of strength. All patience is not against physical pressures and sufferings; These pressures that are exerted as expediency, [to say] "Oimam, you are working against expediency". To be patient in the face of these and not to leave the path of clarity and growth, is the great patience and the beautiful forbearance that Imam Hussein-PBUH-practiced.
Then, in that horrible situation, his friends, one by one, were killed; as if someone whose body is, little by little, torn to pieces; Imam Hussein-PBUH- was like this on the day of Ashura. It was not like today, that a bomb falls and kills a number of people; every one of his companions who left, every one of these Ahl al-Bayt who left, it was as if they were cutting off a part of the blessed Imam’s body. And the Imam was patient with each and every one of his beloved ones. He drank these sips of patience, one by one. It was a movement of this magnitude. The result was clear. The result was that the values that Imam Hussein-PBUH- wanted to remain in the world, remained: the Qur'an remained, the name of Islam remained, the values of Islam remained, the Hadith of the Prophet-PBUH- remained and in a more limited and more important circle, Shiism remained the school of Ahl al-Bayt. If Imam Hussein had not done so, as during the fifty or sixty years after the demise of the Holy Prophet, that kind of Islam had changed to the point where they dared to kill the dearest ones to the Holy Prophet, the situation would have been, then, very different. I have explained this in detail once; In the world of Islam, when one witnesses at a point where they openly kill or capture Imam Hussein, Zainab al-Kubra, the children of the Prophet, the beloved progeny of the Holy Prophet openly, the situation must have been changed drastically. It could have changed much worse than that; and then, Islam was completely destroyed. In fact, Imam Hussein became like a huge column and nail that held the tent which could have been taken away by storm, with his own blood. Well, this is the greatest epic in the history of Islam, and yet the greatest epic in history. This must be preserved; this must be kept alive; this must be used as a knot-opener in the eternal affairs of Muslim history.
translated by: Asghar Sadrkhah
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