ভূমিকা

Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books The Hidden Truth about Karbala Part D: Persecuton of the Shia during the Period when a Multitude of Caliphs came to Rule the Muslim World The animosity towards the Prophet’s progeny borne by the Umayyads is understandable for several reasons. Firstly, Islam put a hold on the unbridled life enjoyed by the Arabs in the pre-Islamic days.

Thus, we find that immediately after the death of the Prophet (S), Abu Sufyan managed to get his son Yazid first and then Mu’awiya appointed as governor of Syria where they lost no time in reintroducing the use of alcohol, gambling, and bondwomen, as was the custom in the pre-Islamic days. Whatever they did was out of their old barbaric spirit asserting itself rather than following the restraints imposed by Islam.

While in public, they pretended to follow Islamic tenets, in private they did everything that Islam had forbidden. The Ahlul Bayt (a.s.) were the stumbling block in their wayward life of pagan aristocracy. Secondly, Islam forbade idol worship and polytheism that was so dear to the ancient Arabs. Mu’awiya and his succeeding Umayyads were more interested in the old Arab culture and poetry than in the traditions of the Prophet (S).

For this purpose, they engaged writers at great expense to the state. Thirdly, in the battles that ensued, many ancestors and near relatives of the Umayyads were killed. That is why we find the severed head of Imam Husayn (a.s.) kept in front of Yazid who gloated saying, “ How I am sure that the spirits of my ancestors slain in (the battles of) Badr, al-Khandaq, and Hunain must be happy to see the severed head of the son of Ali ibn Abi Talib lying at my feet!

” Fourthly, the Umayyads always considered the Islamic movement not as a spiritual movement but as a political one leading to an empire. Therefore, when Abu Sufyan saw the huge gathering of devout Muslims, all that he could visualize was a great army powerful enough to create an empire. Fifthly, neither Abu Sufyan nor his sons ever really embraced Islam. They were impelled more by hypocrisy and a ruse to save their skin and to grab whatever they could by joining their powerful enemy.