Political Aftermath of the Tragedy of Karbala

It looks very strange that being a close companion of the Prophet Muhammad(peace and blessing be upon him), why Amir Muawiya, violating a clear verdict of Islam, pioneered the hereditary kingship in the history of Islam. He, on an unwise advice from some of his loyal supporters, nominated his son Yazid as his successor. It is said that the distinguished Arab statesman, Al-Mughira gave the  said advice. The disputed decision was opposed from different quarters on various grounds.

The main cause behind the intolerance was Yazid’s character and conduct, which didn’t correspond to high profile of the commander of the Faithful . He was son of a Bedouin lady of the Kelbi tribe. She was a good poetess and though living in palace, she pined for the openness of the deserts. She disparaged “the obese and bearded men” around her..

 Amir Muawiya who had become pot-bellied in later –life, resented the open taunts of his self-chosen wife and packed her off to her parental desert home .The little child Yazid was with her, who was raised in the open air and free life of the desert .He acquired the Bedouin tastes and habits, such as love of pleasure, hounds and hunting and indifference to the religion. Wine and music was also part of his life.

The people of Madina and Makka were opposing Muawiya’s choice strongly as there were not less in number who had seen the days of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and the four Caliphs and they were foreseeing the picture of the days to come. Imam Hussein bin Ali (RA), Abdur-Rehman bin Abu Bakr (RA), Abdullah bin Umar (RA) and Abdullah bin Zubayr (RA) were leading the opposition. Basra and Kufa had already acknowledged Yazid’s nomination. So to settle the affairs at the spiritual headquarters, Amir Muawiya traveled to the Holy cities of Makka  and  Madina with one thousand Syrian troops.Abdullah bin Zubayr advised him not to change the established tradition of nominating the leader of the Faithful.He asked him to follow either the precedent of the Apostle of Allah( peace and blessings be upon him) and leave the matter of the succession on the choice of the people themselves or to take the example of  Abu Bakr(RA) and name some able man other than his relatives from among the Qurashites,or like Umar appoint a board of elders to choose his successor. But, Amir Muawiya rejected all three proposals. He, however, showed political wisdom and didn’t press them to surrender at that moment. Being a political wizard, he was full alive to the significance of the opposition from the elders of Madina. He warned his crown prince to be aware of the intentions of the Madinite opposers, particularly Hussein bin Ali (RA) and Abdullah bin Zubayr (RA).”As for Hussein”, he said,”if you get upper hand over him, deal with him gently as the blood of the Apostle of Allah runs through his veins .It is Abdullah bin Zubayr that you must be vigilant at and destroy his root and branch.”

As Yazid ascended the throne after the death of his father, he immediately wrote to the governor of Madina to take the oath of fealty from the four elders to the new ruler. Abdullah bin Umar accepted it in order to avoid the confrontation, but Hussein (RA) and Abdullah bin Zubayr went to Makka to take leave of the situation.

The Kufans invite Hussein:

As Yazid ascended the throne, an uprising started to take roots in different parts of the Empire. The people of Kufa were strongly opposing Yazid’s rule. They wrote letters inviting Hussein to come and lead the uprising. They assured him that the whole Iraq was ready to support him for the Caliphate. Hussein sent his cousin Muslim bin Aqeel to go and report back the true picture of the scene at Kufa.His response was prompt and positive. He wrote that the things were in his favour and he should leave for Kufa as soon as possible. Meanwhile almost 40 thousand Kufans took oath of allegiance to Hussein, which ensured his departure The news of his journey spread and many of his friends and well wishers tried to dissuade him from proceeding and warned him of the vacillating nature of the Kufans but he decided to leave. As he set out from Madina, there in Kufa the situation had changed entirely. Ubaiduulah bin Ziyad launched a crack-down in Kufa and arrested a number of leading figures from among the opposers and sentenced to death many of them including Muslim bin Aqeel.His brutal retort sent a wave of terror all around and the entire dust of rebellion settled as if it had been never there.

Imam Hussein learned of Muslim’s death while on way from Makka to Kufa and at that moment some of his devotees were of the opinion to return to Madina and wait for a favourable weather. Muslim’s brothers, who were compelled by the Arab tradition of vengeance, rejected the proposal and Imam Hussein continued to proceed and encamped at last near the western bank of the Euphrates, several miles to the north of Kufa, near a place called Karbala.It was end of September, 680 A.D.Imam Hussein ‘s band consisted of about 80 ill-equipped persons. Included among them were his sons, nephews, other relatives and his loyal supporters. Ubaidullah bin Ziyad sent 4000 troops to restrain the movement of the guests of Kufans under the command of his trusted commander Amr bin Sa’d bin Abi Waqqas.He surrounded Hussein’s little band. Hussein in an effort to prevent the bloodshed of his innocent supporters put three conditions before the enemy but they insisted on unconditional surrender, which Hussein declined. He had asked to either let him return to Madina, or his meeting with Yazid be arranged to settle the affairs themselves.

He also proposed to let him fight at the battlefront against the enemies of Allah. When he was convinced that his enemies were bent to eliminate him, he, giving a chance of flight to his devotees, spoke to them at night and told that the death was imminent and they were free to desert him taking benefit of darkness. But none of them was prepared to leave him.

Battle of Karbala:

On 10^th day of Muharram, 61 A.H./October10, when all of his sons and nephews had been slain, the helpless Imam came out to fight the last combat. The great Imam refreshed the traditions of his father and forefathers .He fought fearlessly and died a hero’s death. The head of the Prophet’s grandson was cut off along with his other relatives and sent to Yazid in Damascus.Yazid showed a prima facie displeasure over the woeful incident but the oppressors were never punished at all.

 The female survivors of Hussein’s family were taken to the capital of Umayyads, wherefrom they were allowed to return to Madina.The grief-stricken inmates of the City of Prophet received the afflicted survivors with a great outburst of lamentation.

This was the second time that the family of the Prophet had to suffer at the hands of the Sufianids.At the battle of Uhud what Hind, the grand mother of Yazid had done with Prophet’s uncle Hamza almost the same was to Hussein. The English historian Gibbon is moved to write,”In a distant age and climate the tragic scene of the death of Husayn will awaken the sympathy of the coldest reader.”

Thus fell one of the noblest souls of the age and with him gone all the male members of the Prophet’s family, with solitary exception of an ailing child, Ali, who, in the later years received the noble designation of Zayn-ul-Abidin (the Ornament of the Pious) and in him was perpetuated the house of the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him).

 The consequences of the Tragedy:

The Tragedy sent a wave of hate and horror throughout the Muslim world. The Syrian troops didn’t let their opponents live in peace wherever they were. They sacked Madina brutally to punish them for not being subjugated and drove them and their children in to exile. The city which was so dear to the Prophet (pbuh) and whose every inch was sanctified by his blessed presence was desecrated. The Prophet’s (pbuh) Helpers and Companions were subjected to un-narratable atrocities.

The Syrian army, consisting of 12000 well equipped strong men, also contained a considerable number of Christians. They inflicted all sorts of atrocious acts upon women, men and the children of the chosen persons of Islam and the respected companions of the Prophet.

After subjugating Madina, Muslim bin Uqba, the Syrian commander proceeded to Makka, where some of the rebels of the ungodly rule of Yazid, including Abdullah bin Zubayr, had taken refuge. Muslim died on the way and Hussein bin Numayr As-Sakuni took the command. He laid siege to the inviolable soil of Makka. The Syrian Catapults rained stones on the most sacred place of worship on the face of earth, the House of Allah, which caught fire and a part of it was badly damaged. Also the Black Stone assumed to be brought from Paradise was broken in to pieces. Meanwhile Yazid died in Damascus and the Syrian army returned to their capital, leaving the city on its own.

At that moment, unfortunately, a political imprudence on the part of Abdullah bin Zubayr missed a golden chance of unification of the Madinite and the Damascus domains. The Syrian commander had offered him to go along with them to Damascus, with a promise of electing him caliph. But, he, probably seeing the fate of Hussein (RA) declined the offer.

It can be said that provided he accepted the invitation, he would have turned the torrents. At that moment whole of Hejaz, Basra, Egypt and even Kufa were ready to converge upon his Caliphate

Abdullah bin Zubayr remained de-facto caliph of Makka for nine years (683-692). When Abdal Malik bin Merwan ascended the throne, the Muslim world was split among the caliphates of Makka, the Khawarijites, Iraq and Persia, the Shia factions and leaders like Al-Mukhtar in Kufa.

Truly the victory in Karbala, which had added a black chapter in the history of the Muslims, sowed the seeds of political catastrophe for the Islamic State and for the Umayyad Caliphate itself.

“The tragedy of Karbala”, writes Sir William Muir,”decided not only the fate of the Caliphate, but of Mohammedan kingdoms long after the Caliphate had waned and disappeared.”

Another fatal initiation

The Tragedy gave birth to Shi’ism, which rent Islam in to two. The reputed Arab-American historian Philip K. Hitti writes,”The blood of Al-Husayn, even more than his father, proved to be seed of Shi’te“church”. Shi’ism was born on the tenth of Muharram. Yowm (the day of) Karbala gave the Shi’ah a battle cry summed up in the formula “vengeance for Al-Husayn” which ultimately proved one of the factors that undermined the Umayyad dynasty. The great schism made in Islam and the breach has never since been filled.” (History of Arabs, 10th edition, pg.191)

   The yearly mourning of the Shi’tes and its rejection from the Sunnites deeming it un-Islamic have rent the political and religious unity of the Muslims and tore the very fiber that was to unite the Muslim of all races and colours.

Re-awakening of Persian Nationalism

The battle of Karbala took a political colour with the passage of time and it assumed a struggle between two races and two nations of Arabia and Persia.” The butchery of Karbala,”writes Sayyed Amir Ali, the distinguished Muslim writer,”caused a thrill of horror throughout Islam and gave birth in Persia to a national sentiment, which afterwards helped the descendants of Arabs to destroy the Umayyads.”

The state of affairs gave way to the subjugated Persians to rise against their Arab masters. They found men to lead and the cause of Ahl-al-Bayt to wage war against the Umayyad rule. The rising of Mukhtar Sakfi and later Abu Muslim Khurassani are the bitter fruit of the cultivation of the tragedy of Karbala. In the rise of the Abbassid caliphate and after a long interval, of Shi’te Persia of the middle ages, is quite visible the passions of the persianism. Thus the Shi’te battle-cry,”vengeance for Husayn” reverberated throughout the Umayyad Empire rallying the Persian Mawali to liberate themselves from the yoke of the Arabs.

Thus the situation deteriorated gradually until the torrents of time began to flow against the Umayyads that led to their absolute fall. Truly they were architects of the largest empire on the earth, a trio-continental empire; Islam was to know ever. Thus the legendary Caliphate that literally had arisen from the blood-bath of the thousands of the orthodox Muslims in 661 sank in to the ashes of Karbala, in just the span of 90 years in 750A.D.

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