Yazid: The Fifth-Ranked Accused

After the event of Saqifah, the usurpation of the caliphate, and the forgetting of Ghadir, very harsh conditions arose for the Ahl al-Bayt. They were deprived of opportunities for scholarly and social presence in society, because their presence and words would have destroyed the usurping government. It is plainly evident that those intent on consolidating the foundations of their fabricated rule would use all their power to prevent the Ahl al-Bayt from being among the people.

On the other hand, the Ahl al-Bayt are charged with guiding people and preventing the distortion of religion, and they cannot remain indifferent to deviations in society. Therefore, in confronting this great sedition, the Ahl al-Bayt began a particular form of struggle containing many tactics. One of those tactics was taqiyyah.

By employing this method, the Ahl al-Bayt were able to organize a form of struggle so that truth would not be forgotten and reality would be made manifest to seekers of truth. Through this highly important tactic, they did not allow the Prophet’s revealed teachings to be distorted. Taqiyyah has very broad dimensions and various forms, and perhaps one of the most difficult duties incumbent upon Shi'a until the appearance of Imam al-Mahdi is taqiyyah.

One important dimension of taqiyyah is the transmission of important religious and political knowledge and teachings through supplications and visitations, at a time when speaking openly would undoubtedly result in death.

Through supplications and visitations, they conveyed many important matters indirectly to the Shi'a. One of these visitation texts is Ziyarat Ashura, in which very important points are concealed; yet this visitation has two features that distinguish it from other visitations and supplications.

Although Ziyarat Ashura concerns the event of Ashura and the foremost figure of Ashura is the Master of the Martyrs, this visitation directs attention to the opposing camp. This is a point perhaps not found in any of the famous and well-known visitations.

In all visitations, such as the Jami'ah visitations or particular visitations, most of the subject matter and content is dedicated to the Master of the Martyrs, while only a small portion concerns his killers and enemies. The noble Ziyarat Ashura, however, is completely the reverse. Thus, the very clear and important point about Ziyarat Ashura is that its first and most important lesson is recognition of the enemy.

When this visitation turns to the opponents and killers, it does not limit itself to the criminals present in Karbala, nor does it regard their role in this greatest tragedy as the primary one. By indication and at times by allusion, it makes the reader understand that the roots of Ashura should not be sought in the year 61 AH, and that the perpetrators of that painful event should not be pursued in Kufa or Damascus.

In the world of the accursed that Ziyarat Ashura portrays for us, the one who issued the order to kill Imam Husayn, peace be upon him, in the year 61—namely the accursed Yazid—stands in the fifth rank.

Despite all his wickedness, Yazid is not introduced as the first-ranked accused. Therefore, although he is subject to God’s wrath and curse, he does not play the fundamental role in the event of Ashura. It is as though this visitation seeks to make us understand that we must look for the thought and current that drove Yazid to kill Imam Husayn.

One must see what corruption the first-ranked accused created in the religion of the Messenger of Allah such that Abu Abd Allah, to reform his grandfather’s religion, had to take up the sword and sacrifice his own blood and the blood of the purest people on earth in God’s path to reform that religion. One important message of this sacred visitation is: do not look only at Yazid and Shimr; one must see who stood behind these two accursed men.

God’s curse be upon the community that founded and laid the basis of oppression and injustice against you, O Ahl al-Bayt. A person who steals in society does not bear the primary guilt—though he is a criminal. The real thief who normalized theft in society must be found; one must see who the great thief is.

More plainly, the principal culprit is the person who, for whatever reason, causes society to move toward theft, or causes someone to be compelled to steal in order to live. The street thief, although a criminal, is not considered the first-ranked accused. Theft is only an example; every corruption and offense in society should be viewed in this way. If fornication becomes widespread, if drinking wine becomes widespread, or if addiction to narcotics or any other social abnormality becomes prevalent, perhaps the very institutions protesting these crimes should be considered the first-ranked accused.

In any case, in Ziyarat Ashura, which concerns the tragedy of Karbala—the greatest calamity of the Shi'a—the point of attack is directed toward the principal founders, and perhaps those behind the scenes, of this crime. In Ashura, a great ظلم was inflicted upon the Ahl al-Bayt; yet the first person who laid the foundation of oppression against the Ahl al-Bayt is cursed as the first-ranked accused. That is, Karbala and Ashura are an offshoot of that first oppression, and the martyrdom of Imam Husayn, peace be upon him, is the continuation of that same oppression.

The visitor’s nearness to God, the Messenger of God, the Commander of the Faithful, Imam Hasan, and Imam Husayn, peace be upon them, comes when he disavows this group that laid the foundation of oppression. This passage explicitly says that those who martyred Imam Husayn in Karbala followed those who established oppression. Thus, unless the visitor has knowledge and recognition of the roots of Karbala and of the community that laid the foundation of oppression, he will have no nearness to God. Perhaps it may be said that the many rewards narrated for weeping over the Master of the Martyrs are conditional upon recognizing the principal tyrants whom Karbala imitated.

It must not be overlooked that in this noble visitation Yazid is cursed only once, and that as the fifth-ranked accused. Although he issued the order for the martyrdom of Imam Husayn, peace be upon him, most of the curses are directed at the founders of this oppression, expressed in different phrases, such as: “O Allah, curse the first oppressor; O Allah, single out the first oppressor for curse from me,” and the other expressions already mentioned.

Perhaps Ziyarat Ashura can be called the visitation of enemy recognition, one of whose important lessons is to avoid superficiality and to reflect upon the roots and intellectual currents that led to the shedding of the blood of the Master of the Martyrs.

It should be noted that the characteristics of these currents are referred to in this very visitation, but this brief piece affords no room to discuss them.