Everything here is going to be destroyed.

Everything here is going to be destroyed. If a sacrifice is made for these things that also shall be transient and not eternal. Its remembrance would be finished in a few days. Contrary to this, the Creator of the world is eternal. He is from eternity and He shall be there forever. Therefore whatever sacrifice is presented on His path, that too shall don the raiments of eternality and its remembrance would also endure forever. Its remembrance shall also remain fresh in the minds of all.

That is why the Almighty Allah says: And do not speak of those who are slain in Allah’s way as dead; nay, (they are) alive, but you do not perceive.[^3] That is why the sacrifice of Imam Husayn (a.s) is always fresh. Husayn (a.s) made Allah as the aim of his life and presented incomparable sacrifices in the path of Allah. In recompense, the Almighty Allah also crowned the remembrance of Husayn with the crown of eternality. Why had Husayn (a.s) presented this sacrifice?

Let us see what Husayn (a.s) himself says about it. At the time when he was departing from Medina, he wrote a bequest to his brother, Muhammad Hanafiyyah. Some of the sentences of this testament were as follows: “…I am not taking up arms in order to make merry, or be ecstatic over what I possess. I am not making mischief, nor exercising oppression. But I am ready to fight for the sole goal of seeking reform of the Ummah of my grandfather, the Apostle of Allah (s.a.w).

I want to enjoin good and forbid evil and guide the affairs of the people as my grandfather and father were doing.” This event began in the year 60 A.H. when Yazid ascended to the throne. The enthroning of Yazid was a terrible calamity for humanity and Islam. Historians are unanimous that no aspect of Yazid’s character conformed to humanity or Islam. He neither believed in Allah nor had faith in the Messenger of Allah (s.a.w). He also denied faith in the Day of Judgment and Hereafter.

He used to ridicule Prayer and those who recited Prayer. Wine was served openly in his court. Chess and gambling were obligatory acts in his view. Stepmothers and sisters were sexually legitimate for him. He remained on the throne for three or three and a half years. During this brief rule, in the first year he wreaked havoc on the family of the Holy Prophet (s.a.w) and slaughtered them with utter mercilessness. He wrought a carnage for which we are mourning these days.

It was such a terrible carnage that human history had never witnessed.