Thus, Husain accepted the bonds of religion as fundamental and struggled against those others as someone executing justice, until he attained the rank of martyrdom.

I f  i t  i s  a s k e d : If he was so right and just, why wasn’t he successful? Also, why did divine determining and divine mercy permit them to meet with the tragic end they did?

T h e  A n s w e r :  It was not Husain’s close supporters that harboured feelings of revenge towards the Arab nation, but members of other nations who had joined his community,  out of their  wounded  national  pride.  They caused  harm  to  the  pure, shining creeds of Husain and his supporters, and were the cause of their defeat.

The wisdom in their tragic end from the point of view of divine determining was this:  Hasan  and  Husain  and  their  family  and  descendants  were  destined  to  hold spiritual rule. It is extremely difficult to bring together worldly rule and spiritual rule. Therefore, divine determining made them feel disgust at the world; it showed them its ugly face so that they should cease to feel any attachment to it in their hearts. They lost  a  temporary,  superficial  rule,  but  were  appointed  to  a  splendid,  permanent spiritual rule. They became  the authorities  of the spiritual  poles among  the saints instead of commonplace governors.

YOUR THIRD QUESTION

What was the wisdom in the tragically cruel treatment those blessed persons received?

T h e  A n s w e r : As was explained above, there were three main reasons for the pitiless cruelty Husain’s opponents displayed during Umayyad rule:

One was the heartless principle of politics: “Individuals may be sacrificed for the welfare of the government and preservation of public order.”

The Second was the cruel rule of nationalism: “Everything may be sacrificed for the well-being of the nation.” For his opponents’ rule was based on racialism and nationalism.

The Third: The traditional vein of rivalry between the Umayyads and the Hashimites  was  present  in some  people  like Yazid,  and  he  displayed  a merciless ability to be cruel.

A Fourth Reason: The Umayyads made Arab nationalism the basis of their rule, and they looked on the members of other nations – who were found among Husain’s supporters – as slaves. This had wounded  their  national pride. So, since the other nations had joined Husain’s community with mixed intentions and to take revenge, they felt excessively affronted at the Umayyad’s fanatic nationalism and were the cause of that terrible well-known tragedy.