'For Our Sake'

This is the third issue in Husayn's mission. Firstly, he wanted the people to sacrifice their lives. Secondly, he requested that this sacrifice should be voluntary, it should be consciously made and as an offering. Thirdly, he requested that effort and sacrifice should be ‘for our sake’. This last one pertains to association and allegiance: it should not be done for any other purpose for which the people usually give their allegiance.

This issue is of paramount importance because the value of an action does not lie in its size, type or form only, but also in the agent’s affiliation which influences the way they act. Many groups revolted against the Umayyads; they hated them, publicized their crimes and fought them; they also bore sufferings, persecution and aggression; and they sacrificed themselves for that cause. However, all this took place in political contexts other than that of allegiance, that politico-ideological line of loyalty which God has made a duty in His word: "Your guardian is only God, His apostle and the faithful who maintain the prayer and give the zakat while bowing down."4

Abdullah ibn al-Zubayr, Abu Muslim al-Khurasani, the Kharijites, and other groups of people revolted against the Umayyads. We cannot belittle their efforts and sacrifice but they lacked the allegiance which the Imam (as) described as being 'for our sake'. An action loses its value when its source lacks the appropriate affiliation, relation and allegiance along the lines defined by God and His Messenger (S). The prerequisites of a righteous deed are:-

(i)- Righteousness of act

(ii)- Sincerity to God in the act

(iii)- Affiliation i.e. allegiance of the agent

The issue of affiliation is a fundamental principle, just as the righteousness of the action and sincerity to God the Most High. The meaning of affiliation is that the action should fall within the nexus of allegiance to God, His Messenger (S), the Holders of authority among the Muslims and the nation, which, in fact, is united by its loyalty to God, His Messenger (S) and those charged with authority.

The series of allegiance and association make up the political and ideological system of the believing nation, and a good deed is one which is done within this system, along the line of affiliation which must be an extension of that affiliation which is done for the sake of God and His Messenger (S) and also by their permission and command, and in the absence of this, no authentic loyalty or affiliation is possible.

This teaching is peculiar to this religion. Other political and ideological systems do not consider action to be so much associated with affiliation; it is judged according to its kind and amount only. In Islam, work attains real worth if it is a righteous deed done with sincerity, in the right ideological connection for the sake of God alone (i.e. loyalty).

Without these two features work will be of no value. Husayn (as) represents a link in that series and a part of that nexus of loyalty, and because of this he lays down the condition that service and sacrifice should take place as part of that system: ‘for our sake.’

4 - Qur'an ch: 5 vs: 55