Ra's al-Husayn - Ibn Taimiya - (200)

Ra's al-HusaynIbn Taimiya

—namely, that he should not go to them. His brother al-Ḥasan (1) had already advised him the same, and they were unanimous that no benefit lay in the journey, that those people would lie to him and abandon him—for they were the quickest to ignite turmoil and the weakest once it flared—and that his father had been better than he and more readily obeyed, with the majority of the people at his side. Yet even he had faced from them such opposition and betrayal as only Allah knows, until he came to sue for peace after having called them to war. He did not die until he loathed them with a hatred great in the sight of Allah; he had supplicated against them and grown utterly weary of them.

When al-Ḥusayn, may Allah be pleased with him, set out and dispatched his cousin ʿAqil (2) to them, a number of people supported him. But when ʿUbayd Allāh ibn Ziyād arrived in Kūfa they sided with Ibn Ziyād, and ʿAqil and others were killed. News of this reached al-Ḥusayn, so he resolved to turn back; a detachment under ʿUmar ibn Saʿd intercepted him and demanded that he surrender himself, but he refused. He asked them either to take him to his cousin Yazīd so that he could place his hand in his, or to let him return to where he had come from, or to allow him to withdraw to one of the frontier posts. They rejected every one of these requests out of sheer rebellion, injustice, and aggression. Among the most zealous in inciting against him was Shimr ibn al-Jawshan (3).

Still, a group of them joined al-Ḥusayn, and fighting erupted until Allah honoured al-Ḥusayn and those of his household whom He wished with martyrdom—may Allah be pleased with them. As for those who debased themselves through tyranny, wrongdoing, and aggression, desecrating their sanctity and shedding their blood, Allah disgraced them, for “whomsoever Allah humiliates, none can honour; indeed, Allah does whatever He wills” (4).

This was part of Allah’s favour to al-Ḥusayn and His honouring of him, allowing him to attain the ranks of the martyrs, since he had not endured, from the earliest days of Islam, the trials that befell the rest of his family—his grandfather (peace and blessings be upon him), his father, his uncle, and his great-uncle, may Allah be pleased with them.

For the Banū Hāshim are the best of Quraysh, Quraysh the best of the Arabs, and the Arabs the best of the children of Adam, as has been authentically reported from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) in the sound ḥadīth: “Indeed, Allah chose…"

(1) As it is in the original version and in its primary source (al-Hasan). (2) Muslim ibn Aqil: he was al-Husayn’s envoy to Ubayd Allah ibn Ziyad, and he was killed by Ibn Ziyad; he is regarded as the first dispatched messenger to be slain in Islam. (3) Washamar ibn Dhi al-Jawshan was leprous—may God disfigure and curse him—and was notorious for his intense enmity and cruelty toward the Ahl al-Bayt. (4) al-Hajj (22/18) (*)

بأن لا يذهب إليهم. وبذلك كان قد وصاه أخوه الحسين (١) : واتفقت كلمتهم على أن هذا لا مصلحة فيه، وأن هؤلاء يكذبونه ويخذلونه، إذ هم أسرع الناس إلى فتنة، وأعجزهم فيها، وأن أباه كان أفضل منه وأطوع في الناس، وجمهور الناس معه. ومع هذا فكان فيهم من الخلاف عليه والخذلان له ما الله به عليم. حتى صار يطلب السلم بعد أن كان يدعو إلى الحرب. وما مات إلا وقد كرهم كراهة الله بها عظيم. وقد دعا عليهم وتبرم بهم. * فلما ذهب الحسين ﵁، وأرسل ابن عمه عقيل (٢) إليهم، وتابعه طائفة. ثم لما قدم عبيد الله بن زياد الكوفة، قاموا مع ابن زياد، وقتل عقيل وغير هما. فبلغ الحسين ذلك، فأراد الرجوع، فوافه سرية عمر بن سعد، وطلبوا منه أن يستأسر لهم، فأبى، وطلب أن يردوه إلى يزيد بن عمه، حتى يضع يده في يده، أو يرجع من حيث جاء، أو يلحق ببعض الثغور، فامتنعوا من إجابته إلى ذلك، بغيا وظلما وعدوانا. وكان من أشدهم تحريضا عليه: شمر بن الجوشن (٣) . ولحق بالحسين طائفة منهم، ووقع القتل حتى أكرم الله الحسين ومن أكرمه من أهل بيته بالشهادة، ﵃ وأرضاهم. وأهان بالبغي والظلم والعدوان من أهانه بما انتهكه من حرمتهم، واستحله من دمائهم * (ومن يهن الله فما له من مكرم، إن الله يفعل ما يشاء) * (٤) وكان ذلك من نعمة الله على الحسين، وكرامته له، لينال منازل الشهداء، حيث لم يحصل له من أول الأسلام من الابتلاء والامتحان ما حصل لسائر أهل بيته، كجده (ص) ، وأبيه وعمه، وعم أبيه ﵃. فإن بني هاشم أفضل القريش، وقريشا أفضل العرب والعرب أفضل بني آدم، كما صح ذلك عن النبي (ص) ، قوله في الحديث الصحيح: (إن الله اصطفى

(١) كذا بالأصل والأصل (الحسن) (٢) مسلم بن عقيل: وهو رسول الحسين إلى عبيد الله بن زياد وقتله ابن زياد وكان أول رسول مبعوث يقتل في الإسلام. (٣) وشمر بن ذي الجوشن كان أبرص قبحه الله ولعنه، وكان معروفا بشدة عدائه وسخيمته على أهل البيت. (٤) الحج (٢٢ / ١٨) (*)