Day of Ashura and its tragedy

Day of Ashura; the tenth of Muharram, was unique in its tragedies, misfortunes, and

disasters. On that day, the Ahlul Bayt had to suffer the ever most horrible adversity of this

world. Hence, it is certainly the day of grief.

From early morning, the Imam left his tent and saw in front of him innumerable warriors

and horses fill up the desert and unsheathe their swords for shedding his blood. Thus, the

Imam asked for a copy of the holy Qur’an to put it on the head and raise his hands upward

for supplicating to his Lord for seeking His refuge.

He then decided to deliver a speech before those troops so that they would be fully

acquainted with the reality of the situation. Hence, he rode on, went towards them, and

raised his voice with the finest words of wisdom so that most of them, at least, would hear

him.

As his harem could hear some of his words, they wept and cried, but the Imam asked his

brother al-’Abbas and his son ‘Ali to go to them and order them to stop it. He then

continued with such bright words that should have led every deviant to the right path.

However, the Umayyad army could not understand the Imam’s words because they were

too ignorant to understand anything other than criminality. In addition, they could not say a

single word as an answer.

The Imam then addressed some of them and reminded them of the missives they had sent

to him, but those individuals denied the whole matter! Qays ibn al-Ashaath then asked the Imam to submit to the Umayyads, but the Imam refused declaring his unchangeable situation:

“No by Allah, I will never submit to them like the humble and will not flee like slaves.”

The Imam’s companions, then, spoke similar words before the Umayyad army, but without

any use.

Finally, the Imam decided to advise them again so that none of them would excuse he had

not known the matter clearly. He opened a copy of the holy Qur’an on the head, wore the

turban of Prophet Muhammad (S), proceeded towards them, and said:

“So then, fie and grief be on you, O group. When you appealed for our help grievously and

we hurried for your help exhaustingly, you unsheathed against us a sword that had been in

our right hands and ignited against us the fire that we had struck against your and our

enemy.

You therefore formed groups surrounding your allies and became the support of your

enemies although they did not spread justice among you and you lost any hope in them. In

addition, you noticed no heresy or new opinion that came out of us. Why did you -woe to

you!- not leave us when swords were sheathed, malice was hidden, and the decision was

not taken. But you hurried to the sedition like locusts and fell on it like the falling of

butterflies (in fire).

Damn and away with the idols of the Ummah, irregulars of the parties, deserters of the

Book, expectorants of the Shaitan, distorters of the meanings, extinguishers of the

traditions, avowers of the bastards, and the mockers who divided the Qur’an believing in

some parts and rejecting others.

By God I swear, your disloyalty is expected because it is entwined with your arteries and it

recurred in your origins. You therefore are the bitterest fruit that causes its caretaker to

choke and gives good taste for its usurper. God curse the disloyal ones who disregard their

firm oaths after they have already appointed God as their Guarantor.

The bastard, son of the bastard, has forced me to choose one of two things - either fighting

or ignominy. Ignominy is impossible for us. Allah, His Apostle, the (faithful) believers, chaste

laps, jealous noses (individuals), and noble souls (personalities) refuse for us to prefer

obedience to the mean to the death of the honorable.

I am advancing to them with this family despite the alliance of the enemies, their great

numbers, and the betrayal of the supporters. They will soon ride their horses, war will flare

up, and the necks will be lapped. My father (peace be upon him) foretold me about so. So,

plan against me without delay. I trust God who is my Lord as well as yours. It is God who

controls the destiny of all living creatures. It is my Lord who knows the right path.

O Allah, prevent them from the drops of the heavens and impose upon them years of

draught like these which you imposed on the people in the time of Prophet Joseph, and set

up upon them the man of Thaqif as absolute master so that he will treat them unjustly and

make them drink from bitter water, for they have belied and disappointed us. You are

certainly our Lord. On You we rely, in You we trust, and to You everything returns.”

At these moments, the conscience of al-Hurr ibn Yazid woke up. He began to think of his

destiny if he would fight against Imam al-Husayn who represented the right party and the

true religion of God. Finally, he decided to join the Imam. He went to Omar ibn Saad and

said:

“Do you really want to fight against this man?” “Yes I do,” answered Omar, “I want to fight against him as intensely as possible.” “Why do you not respond to his calls and accept one of the options he had offered?” asked al-Hurr. “I would do if it is my right to choose. But the matter is not mine. It is your Emir’s,” answered Omar. Only then al-Hurr realized that Omar ibn Saad was fully ready to fight Imam al-Husayn (a); therefore, he changed direction towards the Imam and proceeded as he felt sorry for his past deeds against the Imam. When the Imam conferred upon him with pardon, al-Hurr turned the face towards the troops of Omar ibn Saad and went on addressing to them words of reproach and blame for disappointing the Imam. Anyhow, al-Hurr’s words did not find any place in the hearts of those troops.

The War

As Omar ibn Saad anticipated that other commanders would copy al-Hurr, he hurried

towards the Imam’s camp and threw an arrow towards him shouting, “Be the witnesses. I

am the first to throw al-Husayn!” This was the opening to hundreds of arrows which were shot towards the Imam. Seeing the situation, the Imam turned to his companions and said, “Stand up, generous people.

These arrows are your enemies’ messengers to you.” Hence, thirty-two horsemen and forty warriors had to encounter tens of thousands. However, this little party would not stop against those huge well-equipped numbers and showed unprecedented scenes of courage and bravery.

Then Omar ibn Saad gave the orders of waging a wide campaign during which all the detachments of the Umayyad army fought against the Imam’s companions.

Although half of the Imam’s companions were killed during that campaign, they combated extremely courageously and caused great losses to the Umayyad army. After this general campaign, the other companions of Imam al-Husayn began to wage individual campaigns against the other party.

In fact, their unparalleled heroism frightened the whole camp of the Umayyad army and caused it great losses; therefore, Amr ibn al-Hajjaj cried at them, “Do you know against whom you are fighting?

You are fighting against the most courageous horsemen of this country. They will keep killing anyone of you who intends to face them. By God I swear, if you only throw stones at them, you will kill them.”

Omar ibn Saad agreed on Amr’s opinion and ordered his forces to leave facing those

heroes. He then gave the orders of waging a general attack against the companions of

Imam al- Husayn. Nevertheless, the companions caused great losses to the attacking forces

to the degree that Urwa ibn Qays asked the general commander of the army to supply him

with more men and weapons.

Omar ibn Saad then had to call al-Hussayn ibn Numair and supply him with five hundred

bowmen who could wound the riding animals of the Imam’s companions. Thus, all the

companions, including al-Hurr ibn Yazid, had to fight against their enemies on feet. This

fighting was described by historians as the fieriest battle all over history; it continued until

midday.

In the midst of that horrible scene of fighting, Abu-Thumama as-Saidi, one of Imam al-

Husayn’s companions, raised his head to the sky then turned his face towards the Imam

and told about the time of the Dhuhr prayer. As a result, the Imam asked his companions to

demand with cease fighting so as they would offer the prayer. They responded to this

demand, but as soon as the Imam and his companions stood erect for the prayer, the

Umayyad army began throwing darts at them.

Saeed al-Hanafi made his body as the armor that protected the Imam, while he was

praying, from these darts. When the Imam finished his prayer, Saeed was heavily wounded

that he fell dead. The other companions continued fighting for sake of their Imam courageously until they all were killed.

It is worth mentioning that al-’Abbas ibn ‘Ali participated in these campaigns and fought

bravely and was given the missions of saving the companions when they were encircled by

the Umayyad army.

After the companions, it was the turn of the youth from the Prophet’s household. The first

one to advance was the young man who was the most similar to Prophet Muhammad (S) in

creation, morals, and personality. That youth was ‘Ali al-Akbar son of Imam al-Husayn.

The Imam felt very sad when he knew for certain that his son would be proceeding to fight.

He therefore raised his beard towards the heavens and complained to the Lord against the

gang who had fought against him and would be ready to kill his dearest one.

The Imam as well as the harem of the Prophet’s household saw off ‘Ali al-Akbar with tears,

cries, and moaning. The youth proceeded declaring the principles for which he was fighting

and his tremendous determination to protect the religion of God even if this would cost him

his life. He then encountered the enemies and showed indescribable courage and heroism

to the degree that historians have described his fighting by saying, “‘Ali’s fighting reminded

the enemies of the attacks of his grandfather Amir ul-Muminin.”

In the midst of the fighting, ‘Ali was seriously thirsty because the enemies had deprived

them of water. He therefore returned to his father and asked for some water. But the father

had nothing to do. He did not have a single drop of water to give to his son. Painfully he

apologized from his son and promised that the Prophet would very soon give him a drink of

water that would save him from thirst forever.

The young ‘Ali Akbar then went to the battlefield again and fought courageously despite

many wounds that he had on his body. The whole camp of the Umayyad army complained

about the great losses that the young son of Imam al-Husayn caused to them; therefore,

Murra ibn Munqith decided to kill him. So, he stabbed him with the spear from the back and

struck him with his sword heavily on his head.

‘Ali held fast on his horse’s neck since he thought that the horse would take him towards

his father’s camp. Unfortunately, the horse took him towards the enemies’ camp, who

encircled him and cut his body into pieces. The air carried the son’s cries to his father who

hurried to him and found him in the last sparks of life. He put his cheek on his son’s body

which had been cut to pieces and shed tears for him.

In this horrible situation, al-’Abbas was with his brother and felt the same painful feelings

for the great catastrophe that inflicted their camp by the martyrdom of ‘Ali. Zaynab, the

mistress of the Prophet’s harem, moaned for the martyrdom of her nephew and the Imam

was touched by that painful situation.

After that, the young descendants of ‘Aqil ibn Abi-Talib rushed for jihad so as to sacrifice

their souls for their leader. Like their forefathers, they fought courageously and caused

great losses to the Umayyad army. However, they were all martyred. These were nine

young men.

Then, it was the turn of descendants of Imam al-Hasan. They also pushed themselves for

protecting their uncle and defending their religion. Among them was al-Qasim whom is

described as the moon in brightness. Before he fought against the enemies, he had

declared, “My uncle al-Husayn will not be killed while I am alive.”

The Imam however did not permit al-Qasim to fight, but the young man insisted

importunately and went on kissing his uncle’s hands and feet; and begged him to let

him fight. Hence, the Imam had to permit him with weeping eyes and a burning heart.

Like the other heroes of the Hashemites, al-Qasim fought bravely and killed a number of

the Umayyad army. In the midst of the fighting, his sandal thong was cut. As he bent down

to repair it, one of the criminals of the Umayyad army, out of his disdain seized that

opportunity and struck al-Qasim on the head. He fell down and called for his uncle who

hurried towards him and killed that criminal.

The Imam then carried the dead body of his nephew and placed it beside the dead bodies

of his son and the other martyrs.

Then sons of Zaynab, daughter of Imam ‘Ali went for fighting. They also were killed. Then

none remained except the brothers of Imam al-Husayn.

Al-’Abbas was watching all these crises and misfortunes patiently and was waiting for the

proper opportunity to begin fighting against the enemies and take revenge upon them.

After the martyrdom of the youth of the Prophet’s household, al-’Abbas turned towards his

full brothers and said to them: “Brothers, proceed for fighting so that I will be sure that you

have done sincerely for sake of Allah and His Messenger and I will surely avenge your

blood. You have no children.”

He then turned his face towards his full brother Abdullah and said: “Proceed for fighting

until I will see your martyrdom and offer you as sacrifice for Allah.” All his brethren

welcomed his call and went for fighting against the enemies courageously. One by one,

they all were killed before their elder brother al-’Abbas who stood near their dead bodies

and shed tears for these bright faces.