People always noticed such attributes in his conduct and...

People always noticed such attributes in his conduct and behaviour as perseverance, forbearance, and magnanimity. He was the most pious and God-fearing of all people of his time.

In his book Master of the People of Paradise Dr Ahmad Ashur says: “If you browse through the pages of the Sihaah books you could not fail to come across many tens of hadith about the merit and superiority of Imam Husayn alayhis-salam and the love of the Messenger of Allah salla-llahualayhi- wa-aalih for him.” In his book al-Fusul al-Muhimmah Ibn al-Sabbagh al-Maliki, quotes Anas ibn Malik who said, “I was with al-Husayn alayhis-salam when a servant entered and in her hand a bouquet of basil.

She saluted al-Husayn and gave him the bouquet. Al-Husayn alayhis-salam said to her ‘You are free for the sake of Allah.’ I said to al-Husayn ‘She gives you a bouquet of basil and salute you and you set her free?’ He said ‘This is how Allah has taught us!

Almighty He says: “If you are saluted, salute back in a better way or return the same salute” and the better way is to set her free.”10 10 At the time of the prophet salla-llahu-alayhi-wa-aalih and the Imams alayhum-as-salam slavery was common in the society. One of the most important values in Islam is freedom and therefore it always aimed to gradually eliminate slavery from society.

Therefore Islam encouraged people to set their slaves free, and many rewards are prescribed for setting a slave free. The Prophet and the Imams lead the way in this process in two ways. One was to setexamples for the Muslims by buying salves and setting them free at the first possible opportunity. The second policy of the Imams was to buy as many salves as they could, educate them and then free them into society as free, well mannered, and responsible adults.

In this way, this policy gave a good chance to a slave to attain his/her freedom, set an example for other Muslims to practice, and give less chance to those who wanted to see slavery ripe in society. In his Chronicles, Ibn Asaakir reports that Imam Husayn alayhis-salam used to receive money (Khums and Zakat) from Basra and other destinations and he used to distribute the money between the poor and the needy there and then.

Imam Husayn alayhis-salam is best known for his revolt against the status quo. By that time the socio-political situation had deteriorated to an extreme and intolerable state, fundamental measures needed to be taken.