The First Speech of Imam Husayn's (as) Uprising

In Mecca, on the night before he left, Imam Husayn (as) addressed a gathering of Muslims where he informed them that he was about to die. He also appealed for their support and invited them to join him in his revolt against the Umayyad government. We are relating here what Sayyid ibn Tawus recorded in his Al-Luhuf. In this speech Imam Husayn (as) informed the Muslims that his death was near at hand. He said:

"Death has been destined for the children of Adam the way a necklace is destined [to hang from]on a girl's neck … A [kind of] death which I am [surely] going to meet has been chosen for me. It is as if I am seeing my joints being cut up, between al-Nawawis and Karbala by desert foxes which will fill their empty stomachs and starved bellies with my remains. There is no escape from a day that has been decreed. God's pleasure is our pleasure, we the Ahl al-Bayt. We shall patiently bear His trial and He will give us in full the reward meant for the patient. None of the flesh of the Messenger of God (S) will ever be separated [from him]; it will all be gathered for him in paradise. By them [i.e. the Ahl al-Bayt] he will be delighted and what he has been promised will be fulfilled for him"

Then he said: "Listen! Anyone who will sacrifice his life for our sake, having made up his mind to meet God, should come with us, for I am setting out tomorrow morning, God willing.”1

We shall only explain the last statement of the Imam (as) from which nine points can be derived: “Listen! Anyone who will lay down his life for our sake, having made up his mind to meet God should come with us, for I am setting out tomorrow morning, God willing.”