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‘Why is it that the ones who are sacrificing their lives in solidarity with Gaza are all inspired by Imam Husayn?’
by IQBAL SULEMAN
COMMITTED Muslims the world over just recently commemorated the first ten days of Muharram, culminating in the day of Ashura and, at the same time, mourning the ten months of genocide in Gaza.
The followers of the beloved Prophet Muhammad (SAW) and Husayn (RA) are in the solidarity front resisting the Gaza genocide from Iraq, Iran, Yemen and Lebanon. Why is it that the ones who are sacrificing their lives in solidarity with Gaza are all inspired by Imam Husayn?
Husayn, the one who is dearest to Muhammad (SAW). The little one whom the Messenger would enthusiastically seek out and ask ‘Where is the little beauty?’ The little beauty who would jump on the back of the Prophet whilst he was prostrating in prayer and whom the Prophet did not want to inconvenience so much so that he would remain in prostration until Husayn had jumped off his back and would not fall or get hurt. The Messenger could not bear any hurt to come to Husayn.
There is something that Prophet Muhammad says about Husayn which he has not said about any other person: ‘I am of Husayn and Husayn is of me’. Why? Because Husayn has a unique place in history. Muhammad (SAW) was the leader of the Islamic Revolution in Madinah and Husayn was the defender of the Islamic Revolution in Karbala.
Husayn screams a raging and defiant NO! He says no to injustice and hereditary monarchy, no to capitalism, no to tyranny. This at a time when everyone is afraid to rise up and resist because resistance means death; when no one is prepared to speak truth to power because power is brutal and ruthless. Husayn, who is anchored in the presence and the consciousness of Allah, sees what others cannot see. Muhammad (SAW) is reported to have said: ‘Beware of the committed Muslim when he sees with the light of Allah.’ This is the light that guides Husayn to Karbala.
When the great Imam is at the fields of Karbala, he chooses death. Husayn has approximately 72 comrades. The enemy has approximately 6 000 soldiers. There is no chance of a military victory. There is only one outcome, death and martyrdom.
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Earthly logic says run away, build your movement and fight when you are stronger and have a chance of victory. Go underground. Surrender to the genocidal goons or you and the followers of Muhammad will be massacred. Forget about Islamic governance, justice and the equal distribution of wealth. You have no chance, there is no point in resisting. This is what others are thinking. But not Husayn. Husayn sees things differently.
Husayn is the heir to Muhammad (SAW). He cannot surrender to earthly tyrants. He knows that there will not be an immediate military victory but that his martyrdom and resistance is a catalyst for the Islamic revolutionary victory and freedom for all the people. He knows with certainty that his defiance and resistance means death and there is no possibility of coming out alive. Husayn choses death and martyrdom. It is both a historical and eternal choice because Husayn is to inspire revolutionaries throughout history. His blood bears witness and brings to the public mind an awareness of the reality of the injustice. His fearlessness makes others lose their fear of Yazid and the oppressors. His blood inspires resistance and revolt as it exposes the brutality of the oppressor.
Were it not for Husayn’s legacy many battles would not have been fought and many tyrants would not have been toppled. To be sure, Israel would not have been defeated in 2006 were it not for Husayn nor would the Islamic Resistance Movement in Palestine have continued to resist after October 7 and face off with the fourth most powerful military of the world.
Consider the resistance to genocide in Gaza. Israel is described as the fourth most powerful military in the world and is supported by the other most powerful militaries and economies in the world. Gaza is described as the biggest open air prison and concentration camp. This is akin to all of the world’s rich big school bullies coming together to beat up the thin, poor, black kid in the ghetto. There’s no chance for the ghetto kid but the kid refuses to surrender, and fights back. All the other kids hate the bullies and their actions but are scared of the bullies because the bullies will hurt them if they intervene. But then there are these three other kids, an Iraqi, Yemeni and Lebanese kid who cannot tolerate this injustice. They each step in to kick the dirty ass of the bullies.
Husayn’s resistance embarrasses and exposes oppressors and makes their dirty hearts visible to the people of the world. The American Empire brings all its military hardware to the region and provides the weapons for Israel’s genocide but does nothing to save a hair on the head of a Palestinian child. These bombs kills tens of thousands of children and turn Gaza into rubble. The American dirty ass is seen by the whole world when America bombs the followers of Husayn in Yemen and kills many of the Yemenis simply because Ansarallah is acting to stop the genocide. The blood of the Yemeni martyrs expose the barbarism of the American Empire. The one thing that binds every formation of the axis of resistance is Husayn.
Every person who loves Muhammad (SAW) and the family of Muhammad (SAW), during these ten days of Muharram thinks about the spear piercing the throat of Ali Asghar, the baby from the family of Muhammad (SAW) and the fresh blood flowing out of the innocent child. They think about the children in Gaza who are deliberately slaughtered every day by Israeli Zionist Jews. They picture the tears of the noble Fatima (RA), the mother of Husayn and think about the tears of the mothers of the babies killed in Gaza. They think about the bombs blowing the bits of every little child Muhammad in Gaza. They think about the orphaned Zainul-Abideen on the red fields of Karbala and what his eyes witnessed when he saw his father, brothers and uncles slaughtered in front of him. Then they think about the tens of thousands of orphaned children in Gaza who through the innocent eyes of a child see their parents killed in front of them by the merciless Israeli Zionist Jews.
The leader of the resistance in Palestine, Ismail Haniyeh walks in the footsteps of Husayn. Like Imam Husayn, his sons and grandsons are sacrificed in Gaza in one day. Like Husayn, he sees them martyred but is not broken. He keeps on resisting the enemy, keeps on fighting. How is it possible to see your children and grandchildren slaughtered in one day and not lose faith in Allah and keep on fighting? Three of Haniyeh’s sons, Hazem, Amir and Muhammad and four of his grandchildren were all killed on the April 11, 2024, the day of Eid-ul-Fitr. He remembers his hero Husayn who lost two sons, Ali Akbar and Ali Asghar, seven brothers and six nephews at the battle of Karbala but even this pain could not stop the Imam from fighting his oppressors. Like Husayn, he sees his family martyred but is not broken but he keeps on resisting the enemy, keeps on fighting. Haniyeh demonstrates this Muhammadi courage after the loss of his family and says, ‘The blood of my children is not more valuable than the blood of the Palestinian children and of the Palestinian people.’
Isn’t it time for everyone to learn about Husayn, to get to know Husayn?
Gaza is the Karbala of today. On Saturday July 13, 2024, Israeli Zionist Jews slaughtered 71 people from the Mawasi refugee camp in Gaza, a place that they had designated a ‘safe zone’. Coincidentally this is approximately the number of people who were massacred in Karbala.
Gaza is red while the world is deaf and dead. Deaf to the helpless cries of the orphan, deaf to screeching pains of the amputee, deaf to the mourning wails of a mother, deaf to calls of help, deaf to the words of the Allah in the scripture, deaf to the desperate cry of a brother and sister. The blood of Husayn will not stop flowing. Today the world is dark and dead. Gaza is red but Gaza is not dead.
- Iqbal Suleman is a social justice lawyer and former head of the law clinic for Lawyers for Human Rights in Pretoria.
