Karbala: Ultimate Sacrifice To Stay On The Path

What is the significance of the martyrdom of Imam Hussain at Karbala almost fourteen hundred years ago? What is the relevance in the present times of the unthinkable tragedy that befell upon the family of Allah’s Last and most Beloved Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) ? How come this tragedy 1400 years later is both recalled and in places re-enacted to some degree? What do the Muslims, the followers of the Prophet Muhammad and in places even non-Muslims gain from this clearly powerful remembrance…as they recall the martyrdom by the Muslims of the Prophet’s beloved grandson Hussain who refused to accept the illegitimate, tyrannical and ruthless Yazid ibn Muawiyah as the Caliph of Islam , how do they translate the resistance of the Imam at the cost of all that was dear for him in his life including virtually his entire beloved family and genuine life-long supporters, into resistance in their lives today…do they ?

After all at Karbala the historic battle was between Yazid’s commander Umar Ibn Saad numerically stronger and lethally equipped army and the stellar characters of Imam Hussain’s seventy-two member strong army which was more a group of several dozens companions and family including a six month old son and several women too.

At Karbala those who vanquished physically are destined to live into eternity while those who were ostensibly victorious are destined to be remembered forever for the evil and the very antithesis of humanity, of decency, of Islamic teachings and values that they represented. Hussain and his exceptional group of 72 represented the best of humanity and of Allah’s Creation and are destined to be the iconic lives of those who seek to stay on the Path and not waver in the face of all adversity.

The overpowering significance of the tragedy of Karbala perhaps lies in the story of the human struggle that the Holy Quran recalls with reference to satan, to the allowance that shaytan requests from Allah and is granted to entice and to betray Allah’s Prized creation, Ashraful Makhloqaat…away from the Path, the divinely-ordained Path and towards evil, towards a lower state of being…manifested in greed, hate, intolerance, exploitation of the weak etc.

So what’s a cursory scorecard of the human race today?

As human civilization travels on in time progressing technologically at the speed of sound, enhancing human capacity to comprehend the obvious material world around it and indeed to explore the secrets of Nature by landing on the moon and exploring the depths of the sea and indeed venturing into the physiological and mental human dimensions, amidst this ‘scientific and technological progress , paradoxically there is a nightmare confronting those who care to think and dare to reflect… a crumbling collapsing Mother earth, mounting diseases of the body and of the soul, abundance of wastage , obesity and decadence staring down the marginalized, starving and the deprived in an increasing uncivilized world…while the story of ‘progress’ maybe ascendant and widespread across global digital waves, the story of squalor, pain, exploitation, deprivation, hate, violence, intolerance tells the more lived story of the Earth’s multitudes.

The question of what went wrong , why are we what we are , what propels us away from what is more in harmony with peace and sensitivity, with collective human joy and spiritual calmness and coherence...are questions as old as human existence.

We abandon , we abdicate the Path…that’s the easier, the simpler way to be. And in the Holy Quran Allah warns us of this eventuality…that fewer that will stay the Path, the greater will find abandoning the Path easier.

Equally woven in great detail is the Path that Allah Laid out of how the human race could prosper as His Prized Creation. Ashraful Makhloqaat. The requisites in terms of values and character traits, the rules of human interaction, the significance of patience, of humility, of Tehzeeb , of sensitivity ..towards not only fellow being but towards Mother Nature, in the minutest of ways….and no less what the cost of straying away from the Path laid out in the Quran and how easily we could fall prey to temptation on endless fronts.

In the unfolding tragedy at Karbala , the Prophet (PBUH)’s illustrious family led by the Beloved Imam, unfurls that best of all aspects of Allah’s Creation…in the face of acuter, unparallel adversity Islam’s First family demonstrated the noblest of values.

At Kabala the human race and the Muslims especially were shown that in their journey through life the cost of being the best of Allah’s Creation and living in the way of Islam and in the way of best of humanity, the Path ‘s calling was indeed the calling of Karbala… of sacrifice, of resistance and of rising to become the best specimen of a human being when faced with adversity.

In the contrast between scientific and technological ‘progress’ and between the deteriorating human values lies the indifference towards the compulsion of living by values.

Imam Hussain’s sacrifice at Karbala will always be the inspiration for those seeking to remain on the Path that leads us to our Master, our Creator …in the journey towards the the Ultimate Reality.