ʿAshura and the Educational Project
The Imam’s Companions as an Example
Sayed Mahmoud Al-Mosawi
ʿAshura is the summit of the results of the work of the mission. Its contributions are not confined to revolutionary and military work; rather, they encompass the work of the mission in its generality and in all its fields, dimensions and ranges of jihad, whether jihad with wealth, jihad with the word, jihad with one’s life or jihad with iron. The criterion is one and the aim is one: the reform of the community in what pleases Allah the Exalted; so it is not confined to the military or political dimension.
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ʿAshura, then, is not a revolutionary political event cut off from its human, educational and faith contexts. In ʿAshura, faith and innate nature interacted in their clearest forms, and we can discover those manifestations when we study the subject of the helpers of Imam al-Husayn (a) in Karbala. The helpers, as human cadres, formed the solid edifice of faith of the Husayni uprising; they are the ones about whom Imam al-Husayn (a) said his word: “To proceed: I know of no companions better than my companions, nor any household more dutiful and more loyal than my household.”
The mettle of men and their convictions swing with the swinging of circumstances and differ with the difference of hardships from one person to another. A friend may stand by you in a time of minor hardship, but not stand by you in a time of financial hardship; and he may stand by you when your wealth is straitened, yet not stand by you when danger is bearing down upon his possessions or his life. So it is with regard to religion and its affair: people are not equal in bearing responsibilities toward the calls of religion. For this reason Imam al-Husayn (a) expressed this idea in a clear word about the great majority of people—and perhaps they are the people of that time, among whom good had become scarce and from whose lives the concern for religion had receded. He (a) said: “This world has changed and become unrecognizable, and its good has turned its back. Nothing remains of it but dregs like the dregs of a vessel, and a base living like unwholesome pasture. Do you not see that the truth is not acted upon and that falsehood is not refrained from? Let the believer long to meet Allah, being in the right. For I see death as nothing but felicity, and life with the oppressors as nothing but weariness. People are the slaves of this world, and religion is a lick upon their tongues; they keep it around them as long as their livelihoods flow, but when they are sifted by trial, those who practice religion become few.”
It is certain that the number of those accompanying Imam al-Husayn (a) on his journey to Karbala changed from his departure from the city of his grandfather, the Messenger of Allah (s), to Mecca the Honored, and from there heading toward Kufa. There were critical turning points that showed the extent of the imminent danger awaiting Imam al-Husayn (a) and those who would be with him; some dispersed from him out of fear of death and hardships, and there remained with him the choicest of men, who set down the most splendid example of men of faith and of commitment to the Imamate and to the truth.
Al-Mufid says in al-Irshad: “On his way to Kufa, after they informed him—Imam al-Husayn—of the news of the killing of Muslim and Haniʾ, the Imam addressed the people, saying: (In the Name of Allah, the All-beneficent, the All-merciful) To proceed: Terrible news has reached us: the killing of Muslim ibn ʿAqil, Haniʾ ibn ʿUrwa and ʿAbd Allah ibn Yaqtur, and our Shiʿa have forsaken us. So whoever among you would like to leave, let him leave without blame; no bond of obligation is upon him.
So the people dispersed from him and went right and left, until he remained with his companions who had come with him from Medina—and it is said, Mecca—and a small band of those who had joined him. He did that only because he (a) knew that the Bedouins who had followed him had followed him only while thinking that he was coming to a land whose people’s obedience to him had become firm, and he disliked that they should travel with him except knowing what they were advancing toward.”
Those who remained until the day of ʿAshura—the day of the summit of sacrifice and selflessness—were the choicest of men. The historical reports say: “Al-Husayn ibn ʿAli (a) rose in the morning and drew up his companions after the dawn prayer, and with him were thirty-two horsemen and forty foot soldiers.”
Revolution against the Self First
From here we realize that the most successful revolutions and movements are those that set out with a sincere spirit of faith that does not seek transient worldly ambitions; rather, they are those that look to the place of faith and the equation of its presence in life, and so rise up in support of it and demolish the causes of corruption; and that the truest revolutions are those that address the human being in mind and thought, so that he moves within the circle of faith.
In the world of victories there are three cases:
1- Righteousness may be realized without the revolutionaries..
2- And the revolutionaries may be victorious without righteousness..
3- And the righteous revolutionaries may be victorious..
Correspondence is important in this difficult equation, and caution regarding it is a duty. Imam al-Sadiq (a) says: “Allah, Almighty, aids this religion through peoples who have no share, so let a man be wary of Allah, Almighty, and beware lest he be one of them”.
And Imam ʿAli (a) says: “As for me, I know what you want and what would straighten your crookedness, but I will not buy your righteousness at the cost of corrupting my own self”.
Not everyone victorious in the name of religion is upon religion and the truth. Hence came the importance of building the self, so that the equation of faith in change may be harmonious, and hence came the necessity of discovering the Husayni educational method with the companions in the Husayni uprising.
We see that Imam al-Husayn (a) would repeat a Qurʾanic verse whenever one of his companions was killed, and this verse is the saying of Allah the Exalted: “men who fulfill what they have pledged to Allah: there are some among them who have fulfilled their pledge, and some of them who still wait, and they have not changed in the least,” (Qurʾan 33:23). We can set out from this verse to understand the aims that the Imam sought in the companions: joining the truthful who keep the covenants of Allah the Exalted, out of their commitment to the truth and their steadfastness on the path. For whoever strives to reform a corrupt reality must carry righteousness within himself and be a flame of faith, so as to contribute to building the desired society of faith.
Mission Leadership Is a Necessity
There is no doubt that the companions of Imam al-Husayn (a) were not equal in merit, station and knowledge, and the course of jihad at all its levels cannot wait for the minds of all its men to be perfected; but it needs models of faith as pegs. Among the most important elements—indeed, the most important element—is the realization of mission leadership, embodied in the godly scholars and the jurists of the community, whom the Household of Prophethood described as the narrators of their hadiths (a) and those knowledgeable of reality.
In research on the companions of Imam al-Husayn (a) as an educational model, we find this dimension standing out: they accepted the Imam by accepting the truth, and the Imam (a) made known to them his position in relation to the Muhammadan Message and his station with Allah the Exalted, so they knew him as an Imam whose obedience is obligatory, from within whose breast knowledge and guidance burst forth. From here it is possible to close the gap that may exist in the faithful group and in the personality working in the way of Allah the Exalted, as the individual resorts to his rightly guided leadership, which charts the path for him and gives him insight into the reality of matters.
Husayni Education
Imam al-Husayn (a) charted an educational method for the making of men. Those men who became stars in the sky of humanity and set down the most splendid examples of sacrifice and selflessness—the manner of dealing with them ought to be placed under the research microscope, so that we see how the Imam (a) dealt with them and how they dealt with the Imam. From answering these questions we can come away with a set of concepts that form a method of dealing for the sake of building the mission-bearing personality.
Imam al-Husayn (a) attended to the aspect of awareness and of faith together; he preserved the strength of faith and the strength of awareness in his companions and strove to nourish these two dimensions until the last moments of fighting on the battlefield, which gives us an indicator of the extreme importance these two dimensions occupy.
On the side of awareness, the Imam (a) was keen not to leave the companions without guidance in all that the challenges required: awareness in consolidating the creed, awareness in consolidating the truths, political awareness of the circumstances, and awareness of where events would lead. The Imam had numerous statements that accompanied the Husayni journey; these statements took the form of words, dialogues, sermons and the declaration of positions, to give them insight into what they were upon. This is the Qurʾanic way of all the prophets and the truthful, as the Exalted says: “Say, ‘This is my way. I summon to Allah with insight—I and he who follows me. Immaculate is Allah, and I am not one of the polytheists.’” (Qurʾan 12:108)
On the side of faith, the Imam (a) emphasizes that the journey is a journey of truth, and emphasizes the rejection of the oppressors because of their oppression, their corruption and the evil deeds they commit; and he made clear to them that one like Imam al-Husayn (a), who is a meeting place of virtues and faith, does not pledge allegiance to one like Yazid, in whom the vices of the people of the earth were gathered, so that the helpers would know that there are two parties: the party of righteousness, represented by the righteous, and the party of corruption, represented by the corrupt; so “a part [of mankind] will be in paradise and a part will be in the Blaze.” (Qurʾan 42:7) For this reason we find that the night of the tenth bore witness to the faith of the companions, who were occupied with worship, and the sky was filled with their humming of faith; they had a humming like the humming of bees, some bowing, some prostrating and some reciting the Qurʾan. The Imam (a) emphasized the necessity of commitment to worship on the day of the tenth, as he established the prayer even under the volley of arrows from the enemies, and so gave an example of the believing personality as being the one that preserves its faith however great the hardships.
Al-ʿAbbas (a) was an example in whom these two qualities came together. Imam al-Sadiq (a) said of him: “Our uncle al-ʿAbbas ibn ʿAli was of penetrating insight and firm faith; he waged jihad alongside Abu ʿAbd Allah al-Husayn (a), acquitted himself excellently, and passed away a martyr.”
Likewise, if we take the words of the companions on the night of the tenth as an example of the results of that unique Husayni education, we will find that they reached lofty ranks in knowledge and faith. The Imam (a) gave them the choice of staying with him and waging jihad in the way of Allah the Exalted, or withdrawing and fleeing from the battlefield, and their reactions bore witness to their insight and their faith.
The sons of ʿAqil said: No, by Allah, we will not do it! Our souls, our wealth and our families are your ransom; we will fight alongside you until we arrive where you arrive. May Allah make life after you hideous?!
Muslim ibn ʿAwsaja said: By Allah, I will not part from you until I break my spear in their chests and strike them with my sword as long as its hilt stays firm in my hand; and I will not part from you—even if I had no weapon with which to fight them, I would pelt them with stones in your defense until I die with you !
Saʿd ibn ʿAbd Allah al-Hanafi said: By Allah, if I knew that I would be killed, then brought to life, then burned alive, then scattered, and that this would be done to me seventy times, I would not part from you until I met my death in your defense. So how could I not do so, when it is but a single killing, and then it is an honor that has no end, ever !!
Zuhayr ibn al-Qayn said: By Allah, I would love to be killed, then raised up, then killed, until I am killed a thousand times thus, and that Allah would thereby ward off killing from your soul and from the souls of these youths of your household !
Likewise al-Qasim ibn al-Hasan (a), when al-Husayn (a) said to him: My son, how is death to you? He said: O uncle, for your sake it is sweeter than honey.
After those honorable stands before the Imam (a), he said of them: “By Allah, I have tested them, and I found among them none but the fierce and the unyielding; they take comfort in death in my defense as an infant takes comfort in the breasts of its mother”.
The Husayni Aims
The concern of Imam al-Husayn (a) was not only to topple Yazid the person; rather, the greater and real concern was to topple the Yazidi condition. Therefore, as we study the Husayni educational project, we need to emphasize the great aims of the Husayni project that the Imam (a) carried, and consequently so that the companions would resolve themselves upon it in awareness and faith. The aim was the reform of the community: the making of the community, its shaping, and carrying the project of the faithful community is the aim that ought not to be absent from those who work. For this reason martyrdom realized that aim, even if after a while. The Imam (a), although he was not on the seat of government, worked to revive the religion in the community of his grandfather, the Messenger of Allah (s), after it had been forgotten and distorted.
* Published in al-Huda magazine in Safar 1435 AH
