Islam Guidance

After hatching the conspiracy and achieving ultimate martyrdom of Imam Hassan (A.S), Muawiya started campaigning openly for the succession of his son Yazid to the office of Caliphate. Until that time he had always planned in secret about this intention. To materialize his plans, he started his campaign among his most trusted people in Syria where he had established his headquarters. Later on, his missionaries took the message to other parts of the Islamic world and with the help of lot of money and bribery he got support for the caliphate of Yazid from a number of important Islamic cities.
After his death in Shabaan of the 60th Hijrah, Yazid sat on his throne and started the campaign of getting Baiyat of all Muslims so that they would accept him as the Caliph. The materialistic personalities of that time came forward and accepted his caliphate. Among them were mostly the people who were known for their enmity towards the Ahlul-Bayt (A.S) of our Prophet Muhammad (P.B.U.H&H.P). The other group was of the people who were either coerced by force or treachery or their loyalties were bought through material offers.
When the campaign crossed the borders of Syria, instructions were sent to the Governor of Medina – Walid ibn-e-Aqba ibn-e-Abu Sufyan – as well to get the baiyat of Imam Hussein (A.S). According to some historians, Yazid also mentioned that if Imam Hussein (A.S) declines his baiyat then Walid should kill him and send his head to Syria. Walid invited the Imam (A.S) to his court and gave him the orders of Yazid and demanded his baiyat. Imam (A.S) replied “A person like me would never accept the baiyat of a person like Yazid”. In this statement, Imam (A.S) gave a clear guideline for all the future time to come.
One of the advisors of Walid named Marwan bin Hakm incited Walid on getting Imam (A.S) killed right there but Imam (A.S) was joined by a few of his followers from Bani Hashim under the leadership of Hazrat Abbas (A.S) and returned safely from the court.
Within a few days time, the political developments made it very clear that Yazid is going all out to either obtain the baiyat of Imam Hussein (A.S) or to get him killed. Imam (A.S) had the sanctity of Medina as well as the salvation of the religion of Islam in his mind, therefore, he decided to leave Medina and go towards Iraq. He asked for the preparation of a Caravan of his selected family members and his trusted friends and set off for this long journey on the 28th of Rajab.
When Imam (A.S) had made his decision to leave Madina, he went to the grave of his brother Imam Hassan (A.S) with a very heavy heart. There he stayed for some time talking to his brother saying "O brother now your killers are after my blood. It looks like time for my martyrdom is near and I am leaving you now.". I imagine that Imam Hassan (A.S) would have replied from his grave – O my brother I bid you farewell and give you my son Qasim to become your sacrifice in Karbala.
After that Imam (A.S) went to the grave of his grandfather, the Holy Prophet Muhammad (P.B.U.H&H.P). He stayed there for a long time and wept a lot until he went to sleep. He saw the Prophet (P.B.U.H&H.P) in his dream and said to him "O my grandfather, my salutations to you. The land of Medina has become small for me. Tyrants among your ummah are after my blood and I am leaving Medina with a heavy heart".
Finally Imam Hussein (A.S) came to the grave of his mother Hazrat Fatima Zahra (S.A). Historians write that Imam (A.S) ran towards her grave just like a child runs toward his mother and he fell on her grave just like a child falls in the lap of the mother. Imam (A.S) said "O my mother accept my last salam. I am leaving the land of Medina and would not come back. The prophecy of my grandfather is about to come true". I imagine that Hazrat Zahra (S.A) would have said from her grave "O my beloved son, O the one whom I have raised by keeping awake in the night, I would not let you go alone. From this day I would not rest in my grave but I would accompany you throughout your journey."
Historians write that throughout the journey various people reported to Imam (A.S) that when everyone goes asleep during the night, we hear feminine voices of weeping and Bibi’s voice crying "Ya Hussein, Ya Hussein". Imam (A.S) told them "O my trusted companions this is my mother Zahra (S.A) who is with me ever since I have left Medina".

Derived from: Imam Reza.Network

Crying is a natural act
Islam is a religion based on nature. Wailing or weeping is the innate instinct of a human being. A newborn child starts his life crying. Weeping is not prohibited in any religion or creed of the world. Tears are automatically shed when a man is confronted by any physical, mental or spiritual mishap, and tears are not only the sign of grief but also a kind of reimbursement for that grief. Now in whose grief does a newborn child weep? That’s the question, which can be answered by the one who remembers his own weeping when he was born. It is said, that when Adam (A.S) was sent to this earth from heaven, he wept on that migration and hence every child of Adam (A.S), weeps when he opens his eyes in this world. If this is true, then this reason for wailing certainly supports our point of view that in the grief of a departure, wailing is a natural habit. Wailing or weeping is a natural instinct hence Allah (S.W.T) has also praised this act and has said in the Holy Qur’an:

We read in Surah Maryam 19.58:
Those were some of the prophets on whom Allah did bestow His Grace, – of the posterity of Adam, and of those who we carried (in the Ark) with Noah, and of the posterity of Abraham and Israel of those whom we guided and chose. Whenever the Signs of (Allah) Most Gracious were rehearsed to them, they would fall down in prostrate adoration and in tears.

Surah An-Nahl verse 53:
And ye have no good thing but is from Allah. And moreover, when ye are touched by distress, unto Him ye cry with groans.
It is quite clear from these words of Allah (S.W.T) that He praises this act and dislikes mocking the concept of weeping. Therefore, during mortification or humility before Allah (S.W.T) and during the situations of calamity and catastrophe, wailing is the act of the praised ones and since ‘wailing’ is a composite act of mourning it serves as evidence for mourning.

Taken From: Shia Pen

[Ep.5] The Blood Venture (The Season of the Last Companion)

In brief, these acts are narrated by Sheikh Abdullah S. Farsy, on pages 29 to 41, and they are as follows:
1. He ordered his Governor of Medina, Khalid bin Hakam, to extract oath of allegiance from Hussein bin Ali bin Abi Talib, Abdullah bin Umar bin Al Khattab, Abdullah bin Al Abbas and Abdullah bin Zubair. (By then Abdur Rahman bin Abu Bakr was dead). The order was “He should make it absolutely sure that they accepted Yazid as the Caliph of all Muslims. If they refused to do so, then their properties should be confiscated, their marriages nullified, and their slaves be declared free.”

2. When the governor wanted to impose Yazid’s terms on Imam Hussein and Abdullah bin Zubair, they asked him to wait till the following day. Sheikh Abdullah Saleh Farsy reports (page 30) that “On reaching their homes, they bade farewell to their kith and kin and went secretly to Mecca, which was the haven of safety for them…” When Yazid came to know about this, he was outraged and “revoked his governorship.”

3. Sheikh Abdullah writes on page 35, Yazid ordered Ubaidullah bin Ziyad to “kill Muslim bin Aqil, those who accompanied him, those who received him, and those who supported him; and imprison their neighbors and their kith and kin, showing them no mercy at all.” Indeed, these instructions were fully executed. “He did exactly what Yazid had instructed him to do. He killed all those he was instructed to kill, and he imprisoned all those he was ordered to imprison…”
In his book Sheikh Abdullah S. Farsy does not write how Muslim bin Aqil was martyred. However, other historians have recorded in their books, stating that he was taken to the top of the royal castle, he was then beheaded and both his severed head and body were thrown from the castle. Later his severed head was dispatched to Yazid!

4. As was described in Chapter One, Sheikh Abdullah S. Farsy narrates on page 40 that after Imam Hussein(A.S) and his followers had been beheaded brutally and their heads presented to Yazid, “he (Yazid) began to strike the teeth of Hussein, and singing aloud, he said: ‘Today, I squared up with Muhammad. The way he killed my ancestors on the Day of Badr, I killed his grandchildren. And now onwards this is going to be our policy: Whoever opposes us, we shall kill them, even if they happen to be our relatives…’”

5. Sheikh Abdullah S. Farsi says, on page 41, that one year after the invasion of Medina, Mecca, too, was invaded. “Yazid’s army massacred many people and demolished Al Kaaba...” Here, too, Sheikh Abdullah’s narration is understated, though others have been more forthright. For instance, the same Ibn Kathir, on page 225, says that Yazid’s army “pelted Al Kaaba with stones through the use of catapults and attacked it even with fire balls till its walls were set ablaze.” In Shadharaatudh Dhahab, Chapter Three, page 72, Ibnul Imaad Al Hanbali says that so much fire was used that “the entire building (Al Kaba) collapsed.”
This is what was meted out to “The House of Allah” which, according to the Holy Quran (Ch. 3: v 97), is a place where security is guaranteed to anyone entering there, seeking refuge. This security was eliminated by Yazid. And this Yazid is the Amirul Mu’minin of the Wahhabis who advocate that all Muslims, too, must view him as such!
In a nutshell, these are the evil deeds of Yazid. Let alone Amirul Mu’minin, would even a common Muslim dare commit such actions? Certainly not; then how come Yazid did so?

Ref: Al-Islam.org