Al-Huda
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Newsletter for April 2011
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Imams
of Ahlul Bayt their Clear and Coherent Policy
by S.J Hussain
A question has
puzzled some believers a great deal, namely why did al-Husayn
fight with the sword, while his successors refrained from doing
so, especially as all the Imams subscribed to a single and
coherent ideology. For, if al-Husayn, in spite of the small
number of his followers rose up against injustice, demanding his
usurped rights, why did Imam al-Sadiq, for example, not rise up
when the numbers of his partisans had increased.
This question necessitates knowledge of the circumstances faced
by al-Husayn, compared to those which faced the other Imams, so
that we can recognize our task today.
It is, naturally, well-known that the Prophet started his
mission peace- fully and secretly, and that this continued for
more than ten years. During these years he succeeded in forming
a group of followers, who firmly believed in the new message and
rejected everything which was connected with the time of the
jahiliyya. Eventually the Prophet felt that this group was
capable of confronting the power of the jahiliyya, and so raised
the jihad with the sword, and, after a bitter military struggle,
succeeded in founding the Islamic state in Medina. This hard
task which led to the Prophet's establishment of a new society,
was left, in its entirety, to Imam Ali, so that he could
complete what the Prophet had initiated, as regards the complete
elimination of the beliefs of the Jahiliyya, and then establish
a society which would base its relationships upon the prescribed
rule of God's law.
However Imam Ali did not come to power immediately after the
death of the Prophet. On the contrary he was prevented from
achieving power, and had but a few loyal supporters, having
discovered that many of those who had been converted to Islam
had only embraced it externally, without true belief in their
hearts, and acted according to the customs of the Jahiliyya,
while covering it with a superficial belief in Islam. Such a
situation confirmed the predictions of the Qur'anic verse which
says, "If he dies or is killed you shall turn your backs" (Imran,
144), that is you shall return to your old beliefs. The Imam
found that he could not rise to recover his rights, so he did
net rebel. but strove throughout his life, to organise a group
of sincere believers from among the Community, attentive to the
objectives of the new religion, believing in the legitimacy of
Ali's claims to the Imamate, and applying the Sunna of the
Prophet in their daily lives. When he finally came to power,
after the death of Uthmans Imam Ali did not demand silence as
regards economic and political corruption, but rather encouraged
the Community to purify their hearts and their actions, and
fought those Muslims who sought to exploit the Islamic expansion
to their own ends, or inter- preted the laws of Islam according
to their own desires and interests, at the expense of those of
society at large.
Al-Hasan followed in the footsteps of his father in the fight
against the power of the Jahiliyya, and against some of the
Muslims, whose souls had not been purified by the fear of God,
and who were exploiting the economic and political advantages of
the Islamic expansion into Syria. For this reason he continued
to fight and encourage his followers in their struggle, but some
of his followers refused to obey his commands, and one even
tried to assassinate him in al-Mada'in, which resulted in al-Hasan's
receiving a serious leg injury, which contributed to his later
agreement to a truce.
The splits amongst the followers of al-Hasan, and the spread of
the disturbances amongst his army on, one hand, and the unity of
the opposition and their insistence on continued hostilities on
the other, forced al-Hasan to sign the truce with Mu'awiya. Some
of the most important stipulations of this truce was that
Mu'awiya would not endanger the life or the properties of al-Hasan's
followers, or curse the People of the House, in the mosques, and
that al-Husayn should succeed Mu'awiya on the death of the
latter.
Imam al-Husayn committed himself to acting according to the
stipulations of this agreement, whereas the opposition, during
the twenty years of Mu'awiya's rule, systematically broke the
points of agreement one after another. In the last years of his
rule Mu'awiya designated Yazid as his successor, thus breaking
his promise to al-Hasan, that al-Husayn would succeed him.
Al-Husayn had been keeping a careful watch on the activities of
Mu'awiya during his rule, and had, accordingly, prepared his
followers for any eventuality. In the light of what reached him
from Iraq al-Husayn believed that the people were ripe for
rebellion on one hand, while, on the other hand, he noticed that
the Community as a whole had become stagnant and needed somebody
to bring it back to life Therefore he advanced towards Kufa and,
in spite of the fact that the Kufans who had previously premised
to help him, had withdrawn their support and listened to the
overtures of the authorities, he determined to fight despite the
fewness of his followers, until all of theme perished at the
Battle of Kerbala.
From this it is clear that al-Husayn's decision to fight was by
no means an innovations but rather a continuation of the policy
of his brother, father and grandfather, as regards opposition to
the power of the Jahiliyya whenever possible. The assassination
of al-Husayn led al-Sajjad and the other Imams to adopt their
quiescent policy towards the authorizes who had seized power,
because he realized that:
i. (Firstly) In spite of their numbers, the followers of al-Husayn
did not possess sufficient loyalty to surrender themselves and
their possessions in the path of God, according to the
instructions of the Imam;
ii) (and secondly) Many of the Community were unaware that al-Husayn
was the rightful Imam and the leader of the Islamic community,
by the Prophet's designation, just as they were unaware that the
existing authorities were illegal.
For this reason we find al-Sajjad following a policy of silence
towards the authority of the Umayyads, however this silence did
not indicate recognition of their authority, but rather that his
own followers were few. Similarly his isolation from society was
by no means an escape from reality, but was in fact tacit
opposition to the corruption and tyranny which had brought about
the assassination of al-Husayn, the burning of the Ka'ba, and
the attacking and plundering of the Ciy of the Prophet, which
had lasted for three days.
Al-Sajjad, during the time of his Imamate, concentrated his
efforts on purifying the souls of his people and encouraging
fear of God in their acts and in their statements, giving
priority to the purification of the soul by applying the rules
of God firstly upon the individual, discourag- ing him from the
self-interest which had contributed to al-Husayn's death. Al-Sajjad's
intentions were to bring together a group of sincere Muslims,
who adhered to the objectives of Islam and performed its rules,
called people to obey God in their actions before their tongues,
and followed the Imam in all things. Furthermore, al-Sajjad
insisted that his followers understand that any war with the
sword could only be a jihad, if the one who proclaimed it
possessed the necessary quality of calling people to God through
his acts rather than his statements. It is stated that he
mentioned the following Qur'anic verse, "They are the ones who
turn to God in repentance, who worship him, who praise him, who
go about in the land serving him who bow down to God, who
prostrate themselves in prayer, who enjoin good and forbid evil,
and who watch the limits set by Allah And give glad tidings to
those who believe." (113, Tawba). Thereafter he stated, "When we
find those who possess these attributes, jihad with them is
better than the Pilgrimage." (Kafi, 5/22).
Imam al-Baqir followed his father's policy and did not rebel
against the Umayyads, and advised his brother, Zayd, not to rise
in arms against the illegal authority of the Umayyads, because
the Community was not sufficiently politically aware to rebel
against the government. So al-Baqir began to disseminate
political awareness in the Comrnunity, by means of Prophetical
traditionst just as he commanded sorne of his followers to
remind the people of al-Husayn's struggle and his martyr- dom
during rthe Hajj each year, thereby hoping to kindle the
feelings of the Community, to move their hearts and to inflame
their emotions so that they could sympathise with the ideology
of revolution for upright causes. For, the time of the Hajj is
one of gathering for Muslims from all countries, and the
dissemination of the objects of the struggle and martyrdom of
al-Husayn, and the illustration of his close relationship to the
Prophet, encouraged both complaint and doubt concerning the
legitimacy of the authorities, which in turn created a fertile
environment for a movement towards bring about their downfall.
Despite the fact that the cultural activities of al-Sajjad and
al-Baqir drew a large number of followers to them, al-Baqir did
not consider them suitable for rebellion, because they lacked
the necessary loyalty and organization. Al-Kulayni reports that
'Abd Allah b. al-'Ata once said to al-Baqir, "Indeed your party
is large in Iraq. By God, there is nobody amongst your people
like you. So why do you not rise in arms?" So he replied, "O 'Abd
Allah b. al-'Ata, you have taken to listening to the masses."
While it is also related that al-Sadiq himself did not count the
large number of his followers as an integral part of his plans
for revolt. On the contrary, he gave precedence to their faith,
their fear of God, their courage in standing by the truth, and
their loyalty and obedience to the Imam.
The resolute policies of the Imams al-Baqir and al-Sadiq, were
not unplanned, but were in fact based on bitter experience. Many
reports state that the plans of the Imams involved a rebellion
in 70 A.H., but the martyrdom of al-Husayn delayed these plans.
There is also evidence in these plans of a revolt to be staged
in 140 A.H. But due to the lack of organization amongst the
Imam's followers, and their inability to keep the date of the
revolution secret, their plans became known to their enemies,
and so, the later Imams did not inform their followers of any
subsequent intended uprising.
From this survey, it is clear that the Imams actually possessed
a clear and coherent policy. For example Imam Ali made a truce
with the contemporary rulers when he had only a few followers,
but, when the numbers of his followers increased, he took arms
openly, and similarly al-Hasan fought when he and his party were
strong, but made a truce in the time of weakness. Al-Husayn did
likewise, and rebelled in the way of God, depending upon the
loyalty of the Kufans, while the other Imams refrained from
doing so, until they had established a strong body of loyal
followers, capable of transforming the ideology of the Community
in favor of God's law.
The main task of the faithful at the present time, is to cleanse
themselves of any act related to the era of the Jahiliyya, and
this can be achieved by following the orders of God, as
illustrated by the behavior and daily life of the Prophet and
his Household. Every believer who claims allegiance to the
present Imam should present his allegiance and his loyalty to
the Imam by performing the obligatory commands and rules, such
as the prayers, fasting, the zakat, the Hajj, and by showing
obedience to the legal 'Ulema of Ahl al-Bayt, following their
instructions and calling people to good and forbidding evil
acts.
Similarly they should perform actions which strengthen the
social ties of society and establish it firmly and safely, such
as obedience to parents and relations, respect towards
neighbors, trustworthiness in agreements and contracts, loyalty
in their occupations and in their dealings with people and to
the country in which they live.
courtesy: al-Sirat Magazine, Vol V No. 3 & 4 , 1400
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