Karbala Was the First Fruit of Mu'awiya's Scholarly Crime

The Noble Qur'an has warned about many trials: trials that befell previous communities, and those communities were unable to pass through them safely. Some of these trials led to calf-worship, and in others communities killed prophets who had been chosen by God and had come to guide the community.

It is as though the Qur'an's greatest message for humanity is warning against trials. It seems that God's cry of objection against earlier communities is loud because they lacked insight. Throughout history, those who could not gain insight during trials fell into misguidance and followed the chiefs of Satan. The Noble Qur'an regards this trial as continuing in this community as well. In this community too, those who cannot gain insight regarding these trials will inevitably fall into Satan.

The most important trial of this community is Muslims following the devils of Banu Umayya, at whose head stand Mu'awiya and his followers. In Shi'i ziyarat texts and supplications, the opponents of the Prophet and those who harbor hatred and rancor toward the Prophet's Ahl al-Bayt are cursed, but Banu Umayya are cursed in a particular way.

They are not merely cursed by name; rather, the entire clan of Banu Umayya is cursed. In narrations and supplications we often encounter the phrase, 'May God curse Banu Umayya altogether.' It is possible that what is meant by this curse, which includes the whole Umayyad group from beginning to the Day of Resurrection, is not merely the Umayyad family. It is not unlikely that what is meant is the Umayyad current, the current that Mu'awiya and those before Mu'awiya set in motion.

Mu'awiya's effort was to demolish religion, as was made clear and demonstrated in previous writings by citing examples from his conduct. But the peak of his betrayal was reviling and cursing the Imam from the pulpits. Although reviling and cursing the Commander of the Faithful is extremely ugly, improper, and even painful to recount, the magnitude of this crime becomes clear when we pay attention to its consequences in Muslim society.

The policy of reviling and cursing, which must be called the policy of hatred toward the Ahl al-Bayt, was turned by Mu'awiya into a current. In its own time, it left terrifying results in Muslim society, and because this current will continue until the uprising of the Promised One, its effects will also remain. This current is the same trial of Banu Umayya about which the Qur'an has warned; therefore one must always be alert to this trial.

Certainly Mu'awiya's goal was something beyond what has been achieved today. He sought to distort and destroy religion from its foundation, and he made his method the spread of hatred toward Ali, peace be upon him, in the hearts of the people.

A group from Banu Umayya said to Mu'awiya: You have reached your desire, so leave this man alone, meaning stop cursing and reviling him. Mu'awiya replied: 'No, by God, until the young grow up upon it, the old grow old upon it, and no one remembers any virtue for him (1).' That is: no, by God, until children grow up on hatred of Ali, peace be upon him, and elders grow old on hatred of Ali, peace be upon him, to the point that no one mentions the virtues of Ali, peace be upon him.

This was the final goal of Banu Umayya and Mu'awiya, but he never succeeded in reaching this goal, because he faced resistance from some people, and the Ahl al-Bayt, peace be upon them, prevented this vile policy from reaching its ultimate goal by sacrificing their own lives.

As part of popular resistance against Mu'awiya's policy, some major cities such as Sistan and Qazvin, with different motivations, refused to curse and revile Ali, peace be upon him. Rafi'i writes in Al-Tadwin fi Akhbar Qazwin: 'The officials of Khalid ibn Abdullah al-Qasri and the other officials of Banu Umayya used to curse Ali, may God be pleased with him, in this mosque, the mosque of Qazvin, until a man from the clients of Banu al-Jund rose up and killed the preacher, and from that day the curse was cut off there (2).'

Although Mu'awiya did not reach his final goal, the Umayyad current and Umayyad Islam were not cut off in the Muslim world, and their effects have remained in the Muslim world until today. Mu'awiya turned the political and cultural atmosphere of society against the Ahl al-Bayt, deprived the community of the original culture of Islam, caused the killing of the Ahl al-Bayt throughout history, and exiled and displaced many great personalities. This policy ruled the Muslim world for many years.

Minhal, one of the companions of Imam al-Sajjad, peace be upon him, asked about the Imam's condition. Imam al-Sajjad, peace be upon him, replied: 'Do you not know our condition? Among our own people and in the community of my grandfather, the Messenger of God, we live like Banu Israel who were taken captive by the family of Pharaoh. Our children are slaughtered, our women are taken captive, the best creature of God after the Messenger of God is cursed from the pulpits, our enemy becomes a person of honor and dignity, while the one who loves us is prevented from his own right...' (3).

Mu'awiya's excuse for reviling and cursing the Imam and killing Banu Hashim was the killing of Uthman, and wherever he could he constantly raised the cry of Uthman's victimhood. He continued this so much that a sect known as Uthmani emerged in the Muslim world, and even today some existing currents in the Muslim world formally hold the beliefs of the Uthmani school. Refusing to accept the outward caliphate of the Commander of the Faithful as the fourth caliph, and harboring hatred toward him, are among the important features of this deviant current.

The first effect of this deviant current in the Muslim world was the event of Karbala. In Karbala, one of the most important criteria for separating the two ranks of soldiers from each other was the religion of Uthman. By the religion of Uthman, what is meant is not the common belief of the general Sunnis; rather, hatred of the Ahl al-Bayt, especially Ali, peace be upon him, and denial of his outward caliphate are among the characteristics of the Uthmanis.

When Aba Abdillah al-Husayn, peace be upon him, argued with the Kufan army by the Book of God and this argument had no effect on the enemies, he asked the soldiers of Kufa: For what reason do you consider my blood lawful? Perhaps this was an allusion to the question: what sin have I committed such that you do not consider any sanctity for my blood and the blood of my children? Their answer to Imam Husayn's logical question showed the deep effect of Umayyad policy in their hearts, for they replied: 'Out of hatred for your father' (4); because of the hatred and rancor we have toward your father Ali, peace be upon him, we consider your blood lawful. Is this matter not among the effects of the Umayyad current, and can it not be the result of Mu'awiya's policies?

It was as though hatred of the Ahl al-Bayt and the Commander of the Faithful, peace be upon him, had become mixed with the flesh and blood of these people. Therefore one can say with certainty that Mu'awiya's policy caused people to consider the blood of the only son of their Prophet lawful. Although these very people knew many narrations about the Imam's virtues, being raised on hatred of Imam Ali, peace be upon him, together with worldly promises, had made those hadiths ineffective in them.

Truly, Karbala was the first fruit of Mu'awiya's scholarly crime, and the arguments of the Umayyads who stood against Imam Husayn, peace be upon him, are astonishing. In another report, the Master of Martyrs, peace be upon him, says: For what reason do you consider my blood lawful, while my father is the one who will be at the Pool of Kawthar on the Day of Resurrection, giving men drink from the Pool of Kawthar and preventing some men from it, and the Banner of Praise on the Day of Resurrection will be in my father's hand?

The answer given to his question is very strange. The Umayyads who had lined up against Imam Husayn, peace be upon him, in Karbala answered: 'We know all of that.' It is astonishing that they knew all these things and yet still insisted on killing Imam Husayn, peace be upon him. They did not deny even a single word of the Imam, peace be upon him, nor even cast doubt on his words; rather, they acknowledged the truth of his words and already had knowledge of these matters.

The continuation of their answer to the Imam, peace be upon him, is even stranger and more worthy of reflection. They continued: 'We will not leave you until you taste death in thirst' (5).

There are several points in this historical report that deserve thought and reflection. In Imam Husayn's argument, he does not rely only on his own virtues. Although Imam Husayn, peace be upon him, was one of the Companions of the Messenger of God, and independently transmitted hadiths about his rank from the Prophet have reached our time in mutawatir form, and certainly these narrations were also definite for those people, the Imam, peace be upon him, did not argue by those narrations. Rather, in answering opponents who were caught in the whirlpool of the Umayyad current and were promising the oppressed Imam death in thirst, he argued by narrations concerning Ali, peace be upon him.

When we consider the atmosphere of prohibiting the narration of Ali's virtues, peace be upon him, and add it to the motive of the Umayyad-struck Kufans in preventing water, Imam Husayn's argument gains greater depth. The reason for preventing water was the false belief that Uthman had been killed thirsty at the hand of Ali, peace be upon him, and this great historical lie had been fed to society by Mu'awiya through fabrication and distortion.

One must note that this answer of the followers of Banu Umayya is given in response to the virtues of Ali, peace be upon him. Therefore, if we say that Mu'awiya, because of his cultural policies, was one of the killers of Imam Husayn, peace be upon him, in Karbala, we have spoken truly. In addition to the evidence above, which is a strong proof of the impact of Banu Umayya's policies in Karbala, many other proofs exist that Banu Umayya and their policies have directed Karbala and other crimes throughout history down to today.

One of these proofs is the presence of Uthmanis in Karbala. By raising Uthman's shirt and insisting falsely that Uthman had been killed unjustly, Mu'awiya caused the Uthmani sect to form. This was while Mu'awiya himself was among the main accused in Uthman's killing, and it has been discussed in detail previously that the most innocent person regarding Uthman's killing was Ali, peace be upon him. Therefore, we regard this sect and their crimes in Karbala as effects of Mu'awiya's policies, and in the future other proofs will be presented for the Uthmani and Umayyad identity of the killers of Imam Husayn, peace be upon him.

1- Al-Arba'in fi Hubb Amir al-Mu'minin Ali ibn Abi Talib (peace be upon him), Ali Abu Ma'ash, vol. 4, pp. 304-306
2- Al-Tadwin fi Akhbar Qazwin, vol. 1, p. 20
3- Majma' al-Bayan, vol. 6, p. 266
4- Minhaj al-Bara'a fi Sharh Nahj al-Balagha (Khu'i), vol. 18, p. 175
5- Al-Luhuf ala Qatla al-Tufuf, Fahri translation, text 87, the second path in describing the state of battle and what is close to it