Imam Husayn – His Life and Martyrdom at Karbala

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Who is Imam Husayn?

Born	626, Medina
Martyred	10 Muharram 61 / 680, Karbala
Age	54
Father	Imam Ali
Mother	Fatima al-Zahra (Fatıma-tüz Zehra)
Wife	Şehribanu (Shahrbanu)

Imam Hasan and Imam Husayn are the grandsons of our beloved Prophet. They are the very heart of Imam Ali, the Shah of the saints, and of Fatima al-Zahra. Imam Hasan was born in the fourth year after the Hijra, and Imam Husayn in the sixth year after the Hijra. When Imam Husayn, that sun of truths, was born and the glad tidings reached the Prophet Muhammad Mustafa, the master of both worlds, he said: “Here comes the indestructible pillar and the never-setting sun of this religion” – and did not hide his joy at that moment.

When Esma, who had acted as midwife at Husayn’s birth, brought the newborn and placed him in his grandfather’s arms, that divine light, that sun of love, the source of intercession for the worlds, was united with the spring from which the divine Light flows. While the child was still in his arms, at that very moment the angel Gabriel (Cebrail), peace be upon him, came. Conveying God’s greeting, he said: “O Muhammad! Almighty God has given the child the name of Zübeyir, son of the Prophet Aaron (Harun). In Arabic it is Hüseyin. He says that it shall be Hüseyin.” By God’s command he was given the name Husayn.

Sayings of the Prophet Muhammad about Imam Husayn

One day, when the Prophet Muhammad came to the house of his daughter Fatima, he saw that Husayn was crying in his cradle while his daughter was busy with other tasks. Seeing this, the Prophet turned to his daughter and said: “O Fatima, you know that Husayn’s crying wounds me to the heart.” In an authentic (sahih) hadith our Prophet says: “To love Hasan and Husayn is tevhid (affirmation of God’s oneness).” And he declared: “Hüseyin minni ve enne min Hüseyin.” In English: “Husayn is from me, and I am in Husayn. May God Most High love whoever loves Hasan and Husayn.”

In another hadith the Prophet Muhammad said: “Whoever loves Hasan and Husayn has loved me. Whoever bears them a grudge has borne me a grudge. And whoever bears me a grudge has borne God a grudge – and his place is the fire of hell.”

Imam Husayn’s birth and childhood, the story of the festive garments and the meaning of the Ehl-i Beyt (Âl-i Abâ, the People of the Cloak) are described in detail on the page of his elder brother Imam Hasan.

His refusal to pledge allegiance to Yazid

When Imam Hasan ceded the caliphate to Muawiya under a conditional treaty, Imam Husayn did not pledge allegiance. The answer Imam Hasan gave to Muawiya describes his brother’s stance thus: “My younger brother Imam Husayn is more resolute than I am in this matter. Even at the cost of bloodshed he would give his life and still not pledge allegiance to you. He too is determined to make his cause known to the Islamic world in that way.” After Muawiya’s death, the demand for allegiance imposed by his son Yazid ended in the tragedy of Karbala in the year 61 of the Hijra.

Karbala: the tenth of Muharram

On Muharrem! Şafak ağır, ağır ağlayarak açıyor. Gökyüzü kan kırmızı!
Güneş kana boyanmış, ağlayarak doğuyor. Burası Kerbela!
…
Burada diller iki cümle söylüyor. Ya Hüseyin, ya Hüseyin, ya Hüseyin.
Kemter, Şehit düşen şühedalar aşkına, sakahüm ya Hüseyin diye yas tutuyor.

The tenth of Muharram! Dawn breaks heavily, heavily, weeping. The sky is blood-red!
The sun is dyed in blood, it rises weeping. This is Karbala!
…
Here tongues speak two words: Ya Hüseyin, ya Hüseyin, ya Hüseyin.
Kemter mourns for the sake of the fallen martyrs, crying “sakahüm ya Hüseyin”.

In the Erkânname, Seyit Derviş Tur Dede devoted the greater part of the chapter on Imam Husayn to the events of Karbala: the letters of invitation from Kufa, the martyrdom of Müslüm bin Akil (Muslim ibn Aqil), the arrival at Karbala, the cutting off of the water, the change of sides by Hür (al-Hurr), the martyrdom of Abbas and Ali Asgar, Imam Husayn’s last farewell and the taking captive of the women of the Ehl-i Beyt. The full text, together with the lament “This is Karbala!”, is on a separate page:

→ A short summary of the events of Karbala and the names of the martyrs of Karbala

According to the book, exactly 73 martyrs fell at Karbala together with Husayn, and shortly before that 9 people had been martyred in Kufa together with Müslüm bin Akil; the book gives all of their names one by one. What happened after Karbala at Yazid’s palace in Damascus is told on the page on Imam Zayn al-Abidin. For how the Alevis remember this sorrow every year: The month of Muharram and the Muharram fast.

Source: Seyit Derviş Tur, Erkânname – Aleviliğin İslam Yorumu ve Alevi Erkânları (The Alevi Interpretation of Islam and the Alevi Rites), expanded 3rd edition (ISBN 975-6791-52-7).

Translated from the Turkish original by Seyit Derviş Tur.