The Three-Year-Old of Husayn: The Exposer of Umayyad Ideology

In a note, al-Naba al-Azim examined the way political observers of the time assessed the possibility that the Kufans would break their pledge, and discussed the mission of Lady Ruqayyah, peace be upon her, in the event of Karbala.

God Most High created the world of existence on the basis of trial and testing. The necessary condition of trial is that every person has the ability to choose between two or more paths. Every human being reveals his worth through his choice. In this wise order of God, the Truth is not made completely manifest, but God places signs for the Truth so that those who seek it may find it. Likewise, falsehood is not erased and exposed entirely, but signs are placed for falsehood so that seekers of the Truth do not take the wrong path.

This is the tradition of the Wise God in the world. Therefore, the oppression and tyranny of the people of falsehood, and their holding the field, is not evidence of their truthfulness, nor does it mean that God's hand is tied in erasing and destroying them. Rather, it is a respite that God has given Iblis and the followers of Iblis until the appointed time. In the Noble Qur'an, God says: "He said: Indeed, you are among those granted respite until the day of the appointed time." (1)

Thus the camp of falsehood has been granted respite until the appointed time, and until that appointed time truth and falsehood will be in conflict and war. This conflict began with Iblis and Adam, and with Abel and Cain; it continued until Karbala and will end with the final confrontation between the camp of truth and the camp of falsehood through Baqiyyat Allah, may God hasten his noble relief. The confrontation between truth and falsehood is the hardest of all conflicts, and both sides must pay the highest cost in this battle. But God's will in this battle between truth and falsehood is that the signs of truth and falsehood are never erased. Although the people of falsehood try to paint their falsehood in the color of truth, they can never destroy the signs for the seekers of truth.

The movement of Aba Abdillah, peace be upon him, must be seen in this framework. God Most High named Sayyid al-Shuhada "Husayn" so that he would share the name of the son of Aaron, the successor of Moses, peace be upon him. Aaron, peace be upon him, was the sign of guidance during the absence of God's prophet. He was the one whose opponents became calf-worshippers. Imam Husayn, peace be upon him, has the same role. The current of the calf-worshippers of history and the current of the Aaron-like people of history faced one another in Karbala.

The movement of Sayyid al-Shuhada, peace be upon him, was completely conscious. The actions of Aba Abdillah, peace be upon him, in one respect exposed the current of the Umayyad Samiris. It cannot be accepted that Sayyid al-Shuhada, peace be upon him, moved toward Kufa out of desire for caliphate. This analysis has no support in the narrations and words of Sayyid al-Shuhada; moreover, rising for caliphate and rule has its own requirements, while he knew that he would be martyred.

In every age, political analysts can predict the future by considering conditions, reports, and circumstances. At the time of Sayyid al-Shuhada's movement, many people who were aware of the political issues and currents of that time explicitly told Aba Abdillah al-Husayn, peace be upon him, that his journey to Kufa would not end well. Abdullah ibn al-Zubayr, who claimed the caliphate and did not pledge allegiance to Yazid, also reminded Sayyid al-Shuhada of this. Even Muhammad ibn al-Hanafiyyah, the brother of Imam Husayn, peace be upon him, saw clearly with his political view that Kufa was not a secure place upon which one could rely for forming a government and caliphate.

Did Imam Husayn, peace be upon him, not know as much as the political analysts of his time? Was he unaware of Kufa's history? Had he forgotten the short caliphate of Amir al-Mu'minin and the Kufans' failure to stand firm during his brother's caliphate? The answer to all these questions is negative. The important point is that knowing that Sayyid al-Shuhada would be martyred in Kufa was obvious to politically alert people, and for Imam Husayn, peace be upon him, it was certain.

Sayyid al-Shuhada did not need the knowledge of Imamate to know this, because the political atmosphere itself indicated it. Of course, he was also aware of the events through his special knowledge. Before and during his movement toward Kufa, Sayyid al-Shuhada repeatedly said that those inviting him would kill him. Along the road to Karbala, he continually reminded people: "Those who wrote letters to me will themselves kill me." He said: "No letter was written to me except as a plot against me and as a means of drawing near to the son of Mu'awiyah," meaning Yazid. (2)

On the night when he left Mecca for Kufa, Sayyid al-Shuhada asked for pen and paper and wrote: "In the name of God, the All-Merciful, the Compassionate. From al-Husayn ibn Ali, peace be upon them both, to Banu Hashim. To proceed: whoever joins me from among you will be martyred, and whoever stays behind from me will not attain the victory. Peace." (3)

All of this, along with many narrations, shows that Imam Husayn, peace be upon him, knew where he was going; Sayyid al-Shuhada did not encounter the people of Kufa by surprise. The question is: if he knew, why did he go toward Karbala? And more importantly, why did he take women and children with him on this dangerous journey? In answer to these questions, aside from the fact that Banu Umayyah had blocked all paths for Imam Husayn, peace be upon him, one must note that the movement of Sayyid al-Shuhada, peace be upon him, was a mission from God. It was a mission in which Sayyid al-Shuhada was not only commanded to go to Karbala himself, but was also commanded to take the women and children with him. Thus, when his brother asked why he was taking the women and children, he said: "God has willed to see them as captives." (4)

Because the camp of falsehood had gained dominance and the darkness of ignorance had encompassed the entire Islamic society, Sayyid al-Shuhada received a mission from God to go to Karbala with the women and children. His martyrdom, the carrying of his severed head through cities, and the captivity of the women and children of the family of the Messenger of God became signs through which God's servants could recognize the camp of falsehood, the calf-worshippers of history. "He gave his heart's blood for You so that he might rescue Your servants from misguidance, ignorance, blindness, doubt, and uncertainty, and bring them to the gate of guidance." (5)

Sayyid al-Shuhada did this through his blessed blood and through the captivity of his children. Lady Ruqayyah, a three-year-old child from among the children of Sayyid al-Shuhada, also helped her father in this mission. She was a small child, a child whom no religion or creed would deem guilty. Even the unbelievers of the Age of Ignorance considered the blood of women and children forbidden to themselves in war.

Mercy is not a teaching that any school needs to command, because there is no need for such a command. Mercy is part of human nature and is woven into it; not only humans, but even animals sometimes show mercy toward their young. Yet a group that considered itself from the community of the Prophet, a prophet of mercy and compassion, committed the most merciless acts against the three-year-old child of Sayyid al-Shuhada.

Lady Ruqayyah continually raises the cry exposing Banu Umayyah. Her address to the wise people of the world is this: what sound intellect would consider a school that takes pride in killing children worthy of following? The remembrance of the tragedy of the three-year-old of Imam Husayn, peace be upon him, compels rational people to reflect that the school of Saqifah, in order to preserve itself, has no choice but to trample upon human nature.

When Yazid raised his drunken cry of victory, "No report came and no revelation descended," it was Ruqayyah of Imam Husayn, peace be upon him, who, through her oppressed martyrdom, ruined Yazid's gathering forever. Yazid truly took his wish, the denial of revelation and the Qur'an, with him to the grave. Banu Umayyah was so intoxicated with power that Yazid openly mocked revelation and struck with a cane the lips and teeth of a head that recited the Qur'an, unaware that Ruqayyah's oppression in Syria would, like the birds of Ababil, break his power and grandeur in history, and that Ruqayyah would become the oppressed one of the history of Syria.

Whenever a three-year-old girl is oppressed, the question that always follows her oppression is: who is the oppressor? And this question must be answered: what school, ideology, and theory gives legitimacy to the rule of an oppressor? What intellectual apparatus came to power after the Prophet and led to the caliphate of an oppressor like Yazid? Therefore Ruqayyah remained oppressed in Syria, the center of Umayyad power, so that she might make all of history understand that the school of Saqifah is a school contrary to human nature. Ruqayyah and the small children of Aba Abdillah who were martyred in Karbala and on the road from Karbala to Syria in truth kept the banner of Ghadir raised, so that whoever seeks truth and loves truth would not be misled by the darkness of Saqifah. The scene of Karbala is the greatest confrontation between truth and falsehood in the realm of creation, and Lady Ruqayyah was a soldier from the soldiers of the camp of truth in this confrontation.

1- Surah Sad, verses 80-81
2- Ansab al-Ashraf, vol. 3, p. 185
3- al-Luhuf ala Qatla al-Tufuf, Persian translation by Fihri, text, p. 66
4- al-Luhuf ala Qatla al-Tufuf, Persian translation by Fihri, text, p. 65
5- Kamil al-Ziyarat, text, p. 228; another ziyarat, p. 222