Sayed Mahmoud Al-Mosawi
It is very clear that the banner of Imam al-Husayn (a) will never be lowered, and it will remain fluttering until Allah inherits the earth and whoever is on it, and until Allah gathers the people together on a day when this banner will lead them to the wide gates of Paradise.
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This banner, which is embodied in our lesson (ʿibra) and our tear (ʿabra)—with the Husayni values it holds within its folds of dignity, freedom, defiance and all kinds of virtue, and with the resounding slogan and the rites that shake the conscience and the heart that it holds—will remain, because there is the hand of the Unseen that has intervened and blessed everything connected with Imam al-Husayn (a).
This shining truth was mentioned by the Noble Messenger (s) in his saying: “Indeed, the killing of al-Husayn has a heat in the hearts of the believers that will never cool.” And Lady Zaynab (a) affirmed it in her words to Imam Zayn al-ʿAbidin (a) about those whom Allah appoints for this banner: “..and they will set up at this Taff a landmark for the grave of your father, the Master of Martyrs, whose trace will not be effaced and whose mark will not be erased with the passing of nights and days; and the leaders of unbelief and the adherents of misguidance will strive hard to obliterate and efface it, yet its trace will only increase in manifestness and its cause only in loftiness.” That is why she challenged the tyrant, saying: “So plot your plot, strive your striving, and exert your utmost effort; for by Allah, you will not erase our remembrance, nor will you cause our revelation to die.”
Likewise, all the narrations that spoke of the merit of Imam al-Husayn (a), the merit of visiting him, and the special properties of his noble grave all indicate that the hand of the Unseen reinforces this truth. Lady Zaynab (a), who carried this banner after the killing of Imam al-Husayn (a), was completely confident that this banner had been raised to remain raised by divine will.
Therefore, everyone who strives his utmost to bend this banner or weaken it must examine closely and verify these lofty contents of the Unseen and the perfect divine purposes, and not squander his efforts in operations of confusion, weakening or casting doubt—whether this person is from outside the circle of wilaʾi belonging to the Ahl al-Bayt (a) or from within it, among those to whom the matter has become confused, so that they began to meddle with their ignorance and weakness of faith, having abandoned their priorities and busied themselves with attempts to abolish the rites or to belittle them..
I do not know why they exert themselves in these attempts at weakening.. but I am confident that whenever this banner’s standing rises and people extend their gaze toward it, it:
- exposes everyone who tries to deceive people in the arena of politics.
- and embarrasses everyone who makes concessions to the Nawasib of the age.
- and confounds everyone who makes people doubt the effects of the creed.
So every year, the Arbaʿin of Imam al-Husayn (a) is a cry from the Unseen in the face of all the deceivers, the backsliders and the doubt-mongers.
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Published in the Afaq Risaliyya bulletin of the Islamic Risala Society
