Karbala (Chain Of Events)
The events of Karbala reflect the collision of the good versus the evil, the virtuous versus the wicked, and the collision of Imam Husayn (the head of virtue) versus Yazid (the head of impiety). Al-Husayn was a revolutionary person, a righteous man, the religious authority, the Imam of Muslim Ummah.
As the representative of his grandfather Prophet Muhammad (S), Imam Husayn’s main concern was to safeguard and protect Islam and guide fellow Muslims. On the other hand, the staying power of the rulers (Mu’awiya and his son Yazid) depended solely on the might of the sword. They used brute force to rule over the Muslim empire even by all possible illicit means.
Imam Husayn as head of Ahlul Bayt (a.s.) never recognized Mu’awiya nor his followers. Before him Imam ‘Ali (a.s.) had fought battles against Mu’awiya because Mu’awiya continuously violated the Islamic principles. Imam Al-Hasan (a.s.) had to swallow the bitter pill of making a peace agreement with Mu’awiya, in order to safeguard the security of the Ummah which was at stake.
When Yazid son of Mu’awiya declared himself as a ruler over the Ummah, he demanded Imam Al-Husayn’s (a.s.) allegiance of loyalty. Imam Husayn on his part flatly rejected Yazid’s rule and behavior, for there was no way Yazid could represent Islam, it would be blasphemy. But Yazid, the tyrant ruler over the Ummah, was adamant in his demand, and tension between the two parties increased day by day.
Imam Husayn was quick to realize that giving allegiance of loyalty to Yazid would serve no purpose but to jeopardize the survival of Islam. To safeguard and protect Islam, therefore, the Imam had no choice but to confront and collide with Yazid’s rulership irrespective of consequences. Since Yazid had ordered his commanders to seize the Imam’s allegiance of loyalty at any cost, even by brutal force, the commanders had to assemble a relatively large army, surrounding Imam Husayn’s camp in a desert called Karbala.
Then they cut off the basic necessities to the camp, including access to water. The camp consisted of Imam Husayn, his family, friends, and companions, all of whom stood fast and firmly with him. These braves would rather face death for the noble cause of Islam, than submit to the outrageous tyranny and the un-Islamic ways of Yazid.
Thus, Karbala proved to be a clash involving Islamic truths versus falsehood, right versus wrong, belief versus disbelief, and the oppressed versus the oppressor, faith against brute force. Karbala was about standing in the face of oppression, regardless no matter the cost. Thus, in Karbala, Al-Husayn the 57 year old grandson of Prophet Muhammad (S), sacrificed his totality and all he had, for one goal.
This goal was to letthe truth triumph over falsehood eventually, and he did that brilliantly.
His goal was to foil the plan that Mu’awiya had expertly developed for his son, Yazid, which was to establish a permanent Bani Umayya rulership over the Muslim Ummah (even by sacrificing the Islamic principles), but doing it in the name of Islam. Brilliantly, Imam Husayn succeeded in foiling this plan and he exposed the disreputable nature of Bani Umayya though this was at the expense of his life.
Husayn ibn Ali
Al-Husayn ibn Ali ibn Abi Talib (Arabic: ٱلْحُسَيْن ابْن عَلِي ابْن أَبِي طَالِب, romanized: al-Ḥusayn ʾibn ʿAlī ʾibn ʾAbī Ṭālib; 10 January 626 – 10 October 680) was a grandson of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and a son of Ali ibn Abi Talib (the first Shia Imam and the fourth Rightly Guided Caliph of Sunni Islam) and Muhammad’s daughter Fatimah. He is an important figure in Islam as he was a member of the Household of Muhammad (Ahl al-Bayt) and the People of the Cloak (Ahl al-Kisā’), as well as the third Shia Imam.
Prior to his death, the Umayyad ruler Mu’awiya appointed his son Yazid as his successor, contrary to the Hasan-Muawiya treaty.[8] When Muawiya died in 680 CE, Yazid demanded that Husayn pledge allegiance to him. Husayn refused to pledge allegiance to Yazid, even though it meant sacrificing his life. As a consequence, he left Medina, his hometown, to take refuge in Mecca in AH 60.[8][9] There, the people of Kufa sent letters to him, asking his help and pledging their allegiance to him. So he traveled towards Kufa,[8] but near Karbala his caravan was intercepted by Yazid’s army. He was killed and beheaded in the Battle of Karbala on 10 October 680 (10 Muharram 61 AH) by Yazid, along with most of his family and companions, including Husayn’s six month old son, Ali al-Asghar, with the women and children taken as prisoners.[8][10] Anger at Husayn’s death was turned into a rallying cry that helped undermine the Umayyad caliphate‘s legitimacy, and ultimately its overthrow by the Abbasid Revolution
Musa: The Passover
About 500 years have now passed since the Prophet Ibrahim (PBUH) and it is about 1500 BC. After Ibrahim died, his descendants through his son Isaac, now called Israelites, have become a vast number of people but also have become slaves in Egypt. This happened because Joseph, great-grandson of Ibrahim (PBUH) was sold as a slave to Egypt and then, years later, his family followed. This is all explained in Genesis 45-46 – the First Book of Musa in the Taurat.
So we now come to the Signs of another great Prophet – Musa (PBUH) – which is told in the second Book of the Taurat , called Exodus because it is the account of how the prophet Musa (PBUH) leads the Israelites out of Egypt. Musa (PBUH) had been commanded by the LORD to meet Pharaoh of Egypt and it resulted in a contest between Musa (PBUH) and the sorcerers of Pharaoh. This contest has produced the famous nine plagues or disasters against Pharaoh which were signs for him. But Pharaoh has not submitted himself to the LORD’s will and is disobeying these signs.