Imam Hussein Sought to Promote A More Beautiful View of Religion in Society
Whether we consider the Ashura event an active move, that is an uprising against the Umayyad rule, or a reaction and a refusal to go along with the rulers, what is certain is that Imam Hussein (AS) has no intention of accepting the rulers and did not consider their rule to be legitimate.
Imam Hussein (AS) told his companions on the day of Ashura, “Be aware! The bastard, the son of a bastard, has forced me between two things: death and humiliation. But unlikely be it for us to accept humiliation. God has not allowed us, the Prophet, and the believers to accept humiliation, and our pure and noble families and families with great effort and our self-respect will never allow us to prefer obedience to the humble to an honorable death.”
The question is why Imam Hussein (AS) refused to pledge allegiance (to Yazid) and why there was an uprising. What did Imam (AS) want to do?
In his first reaction to the new rule (Yazid coming to power) was when they called him to pledge allegiance to Yazid. In that meeting with Walid ibn Attaba, Imam (AS) first offers information about himself and the Prophet’s (PBUH) household and then calls Yazid a criterion for corrupt government. He then says the like of him never pledges allegiance to the like of Yazid. After that, Imam (AS) says that time will pass and the future generations will judge who deserved to be the caliph.
The next day, when Marwan asks him to compromise to Yazid, Imam (AS) says that one should lose hope in Islam when someone like Yazid is the ruler of the Muslim world.
Seeing that the government is presenting the religion in a distorted way and offering a wrong reading of the religion, Imam Hussein (AS) decides to present the correct reading of the religion. Through this uprising, Imam (AS) wants to say what the government says is not the religion and the people must not accept it as the religion.
Imam (AS) plays his role as a learned scholar and an elite and refuses to remain silent in those conditions.
In a sermon, Imam Hussein (AS) first introduces the scholars and says you have become known as the people of knowledge and people speak well of you. You have earned people’s respect. Now shouldn’t you move forward and defend God’s right, ensure the implementation of divine law and defend the rights of the oppressed?
Imam Hussein (AS) knew that in that society, they introduced discriminations and injustices as religion, portraying the religion as something inhumane. Imam Hussein (AS), however, wanted to show another outlook to the religion.
