THE STORY OF KARBALA - PART 4/03

THE MORNING OF ASHOORA, THE DEFECTION OF HURR

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Husayn had shown that he did not want to fight. He wanted people to understand why he was doing what he was doing. He, in fact, had expressed the wish to leave the Arab lands and emigrate to India if he was allowed to do so.

NOTE: Two 20th century writers have questioned this entire line of reporting. Muqarram in his maqtal (Arabic text) and IKA Howard of Edinurgh in his English writings have argued that once Husayn had arrived at Karbala, he knew exactly what he was standing for. There was no weakness in his stance. This is mere propaganda by the Umayyad writers to show that Husayn was talking about this kind of compromise, because they wanted to show him weaker than
actually he was.

Husayn wanted to leave a perfect legacy of martyrdom and sacrifice for one's princip-les, for all mankind and for all generations to come. But when it came to dying for his prin-ciples, he was going to fight bravely and then die, while Yazeed and his military commanders were adamant that Husayn should accept Yazeed as the legitimate Khaleefa. Husayn had seen that if he did that, he would be undoing all the hard work done by his grandfather the Prophet, his father Ali Ibn Abi Talib, his mother Fatima and his brother Hasan.

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