In this supplication...

In this supplication, testimony appears in three parts: Testifying to the message and movement of Husayn (as): “I bear witness that you established the prayer, paid the zakat , enjoined what is good and forbade the bad and obeyed God and His messenger (S) till you died” To establish the prayer is not just to perform it, because the latter is only a personal duty stemming from individual obligation, whereas the former carries a message in the life of the believers.

Establishing the prayer means to firmly establish worship and the relationship with God in people’s lives. It also involves urging the people to keep up prayer for God’s sake by openly declaring this obligation that has been enjoined on them. “You enjoined the good and forbade the bad”: When Husayn (as) revolted against Yazid he was not after kingship, power or position, rather, he sought to establish good deeds and uproot evil i.e. establish loyalty to God and destroy taghut .

On the day of Ashura, Husayn (as) addressed the people saying: “Do you not see that truth is not acted upon and falsehood is not being forbidden? Let the believer desire to meet God. [As for me] I consider death to be nothing but a source of bliss and living with oppressors only a vexation.”[^1] At the station of Al-Baydah, Husayn addressed al-Hurr’s companions in these words: “O you people!

The Messenger of God (S) has said: Whoever watches an unjust ruler who violates what God declares sacrosanct, breaks His covenant, contradicts the tradition of the Messenger of God (S) and rules the people in a way characterized by sin and transgression, and, does not oppose him by word or deed, God has the right to make him share his doom.

Certainly, these people [Yazid and co.] have sworn obedience to Satan, leaving aside obedience to the Merciful; they have engaged in corruption openly and suspended the legal punishments; they have monopolized the treasury and they have permitted what God prohibited and disallowed what He permitted.”[^2] Thus Husayn (as) was not after power and wealth, but he saw that a despot was spreading corruption in the land, wreaking havoc, making permissible what God forbade and transgressing His limits.

So he rose up against Yazid in Karbala, with his faithful group which welcomed his call for bidding the good, forbidding the bad, reinstituting what is right, and extirpating what is wrong. Testifying to the fact that the Imam was immaculate both internally and in his behaviour.