An upright Imam Husain told humanity how to hold on to cherished values in front of tyrants; Bibi Zainab showed how to deal with them

In the history of mankind, there have been virtuous people with great missions who maintained righteousness in this world. Imam Husain, the grandson of Prophet Mohammad was a man par excellence who maintained the highest standards set by the heroes and martyrs of all times.

After 50 years of Prophet Mohammad's death, in 680 AD, a hardcore terrorist Yazid son of Muawiya hijacked the temporal and administrative seat of the Islamic Caliphate through the might of a sword and compelled the gullible Muslims to acknowledge him as the Caliph and leader of the faithful.

Yazid then compelled Hazrat Imam Husain to subscribe to him as Caliph and Commander of the faithful. Husain straightway refused to acknowledge him as leader of the faithful knowing well that a hardened criminal, a great drunkard, libertine, and a mass murderer, the barest mention of whose objectionable character is taboo in this civilized society cannot be acknowledged as Caliph of Islam.

 On the contrary, Husain was known throughout the Arab world for his wisdom, compassion, and piety. Husain refused Yazid's allegiance. He as the Prophet's grandson had to do his duty to save Islamic values against transgression and terrorism as Yazid was committed to defacing and disfiguring the true faith and then a pseudo-religion would emerge under the guise of Islam.

Husain preferred death with honour to living with humiliation, moral slavery, and shame. On October 10, 680 A.D., in the sandy desert of Karbala after keeping thirsty and hungry for three days, Yazid brutally assassinated Imam Husain and 71 of his family members and near ones including the six months old son of Husain, the buoyancy of whose innocent blood, refloated the sinking ship of Islamic tenets.

After the massacre of 72, the bodies of the martyrs were trampled by horses, their heads were severed and mounted on spheres including that of six-month-old Ali Asghar, the innocent infant son of Husain. The tents of Husain's family were torched. The innocent children, ladies, and the only surviving ailing son of Husain, Zain-ul-Abideen, hungry and thirsty for three days were made prisoners.

Yazid played another trick by not disclosing the real identity of the victims and falsely propagated that they were some outsiders who have been killed during the course of action against their oppression. People would have believed Yazid's false propaganda, had Bibi Zainab, Imam Husain's sister not exposed the black deeds of Yazid. Through her sermons, she introduced Husain and his mission to the masses.

Bibi Zainab's balance of mind, tolerance, patience, fearlessness, determination, and spiritual stamina under heavily burdened adverse circumstances, is beyond imagination, and deserves full credit for the exemplary courage and aplomb with which she handled the ugly and the most difficult situation.

During a short pause of the caravan, in the bazaar of Kufa's main cross-road, which was fully conglomerated, illuminated, and reverberated with the sounds of Yazid's Army bands and marching contingents, Zainab through her bold and eloquent sermons in that very state of captivity, bound in chains, with the heart-rending spectacle of the severed heads of her brothers and children, Zainab points her finger from the tightened hands at the thronging spectators and delivered a brief but revolutionary speech. Within minutes, her sermons changed the tide and people came to know that the innocent prisoners being humiliated and tortured are no aggressors but the Holy family of the Prophet Mohammad. An extract of her sermon in the bazaar of Kufa.

"All praise for Allah and peace be upon (Prophet) Mohammad, the pure and the pious, Oh Kufians, the practitioners of destruction and deceit! Now, you are shedding crocodile tears on our most pitiable condition. Your tears may never dry, may always repent and regret your misdeeds. Oh, the transgressors, liars, and evil-doers, how brutally  you have committed the ghastly crime of killing innocent children of the Holy Prophet for no fault of theirs? Oh, cowards! What a big blunder you have committed by assassinating the most innocent souls for no fault of theirs, just to please the most tyrant ruler Yazid. You have satisfied the vanity and ego of a maniac transgressor but have earned the displeasure and wrath of the Almighty, the Lord of retribution. Oh the destructors of truth, await the painful chastisement you deserve for."

When this persecuted caravan was brought to the court of Yazid, again Zainab delivered a sermon addressing Yazid, "O Yazid! By closing down all exits, imprisoning, chaining, and parading us without food and water from place to place, have you thought that you lowered our image and considered yourself to be a respectful person? Or you are under the wrong impression that the tragedy we met at your hands has elevated your status and therefore you are acting most arrogantly! Oh the son of our freed slaves, is this the justice?  Time will teach you a bitter lesson."

(The writer is a legal journalist and author. The views expressed are personal.)