THE UPRISING OF IMAM HUSAYN (AS) AND THE ACCUSATION OF DISUNITY

[Taqavi]

What was the objective of Imam Husayn's (AS) uprising, and did such a movement possess a divisive nature among the Islamic community?

 

A meticulous examination of historical texts reveals that the attribution of "causing division and discord" to the uprising of Imam Husayn (AS) stems directly from the propaganda machinery of the Umayyad government. In autocratic political systems, the principle of "preserving unity and avoiding division" has consistently been exploited as an effective tool to suppress dissidents and ensure the survival of illegitimate regimes.

As a documented example of this approach, when Marwan ibn al-Hakam (the governor of Medina) reported to Mu'awiyah in a letter that communications had been established between the people of Kufa and Imam Husayn (AS), and that these developments could lay the groundwork for anti-government protests, Mu'awiyah’s reaction aligned entirely with this justificatory discourse. In a cautionary letter to Imam Husayn (AS), he urged the Imam to refrain from disrupting the unity of the Islamic community and causing sedition (fitnah)—an approach whose primary objective was to legitimize the existing power structure and suppress any reformist movement under the guise of preserving public order.[1]

This line of thought and tactical framework of the Umayyad government did not end in early Islamic history; its echoes have persisted among writers and researchers aligned with this school of thought up to the present day. Accordingly, some analysts and writers belonging to this intellectual current, in attempting to justify the tragedy of Ashura, have claimed that the troops confronting Imam Husayn (AS) took up swords not out of oppression and hostility, but based on ijtihad (independent legal reasoning) and with the intention of preserving societal unity.

For instance, within the works of this intellectual current, it is argued that those who acted against the Imam (AS) did so in reliance upon traditions attributed to the Prophet Muhammad (SAW)—including warnings regarding those who seek to break the unity of the community or create discord within a united ummah—such as the tradition: "There will be tribulations and events in the future; so whoever intends to cause division in the affairs of this ummah while it is united, strike him with the sword, whoever he may be." Consequently, defenders of this perspective claim that opposing and fighting Imam Husayn (AS) was not driven by animosity toward him, but rather by the goal of preserving the unity of the Islamic community. [2]

Such historical justifications are put forward while the fundamental cause and primary driver of Sayyid al-Shuhada’s (AS) movement was nothing other than a reaction to the imposition of a coercive oath of allegiance and the deprivation of his safety. Had the ruling apparatus not initiated such actions, the sacred presence of the Imam would never have left Medina, and the subsequent chain of events would not have unfolded.

Therefore, the claim of "division" raised by proponents of this view is a deliberate disregard of the clear reality that the Imam’s departure was not an attempt to instigate sedition and division, but an unavoidable reaction against prevailing tyranny to safeguard the authentic essence of religion against the blatant threats of the caliphate. [3] In truth, it was this explicit threat to assassinate the Prophet’s (SAW) son and the insistence on forced allegiance that placed the ruling apparatus itself at the center of crisis and tension.

Thus, accusing Imam Husayn (AS) of divisiveness is a clear projection of blame; for the primary source of the crisis was the tyrannical conduct of the rulers of the time and their threat to the life of the community’s leader, which inevitably provoked the Imam’s defensive and reformative response. [4]

Historical documentation clearly demonstrates that tension-building and the creation of schisms within Islamic society originated from the tyrannical conduct of the government itself. Yazid ibn Mu'awiyah issued a decisive and explicit directive in a letter to al-Walid ibn 'Utbah, the governor of Medina: "When my letter reaches you, summon Husayn (AS) and Ibn al-Zubayr and take their allegiance for me; and if they refuse, strike off their heads and send them to me." The repetition of this threatening command and the insistence on forced allegiance constituted the primary factor behind insecurity and the crisis within Islamic society. [5]

On the other hand, how could reason and religious law justify remaining silent in the face of such a ruler? Historians and researchers, in describing the nature of Yazid’s governance and character, have explicitly noted that his open consumption of wine, commission of prohibited acts (munkarat), and indecent behaviors were so flagrant that they alienated the general public and provoked widespread public outrage—to the extent that many rose up against him in revolt, and God placed no blessing in his life. [6]

Every morning, he would wake up intoxicated, place a monkey on a saddled horse to ride around, and dress that animal and his servants in golden caps—so much so that when the monkey died, he grieved deeply over its death. Rising up against such a corrupt and destructive individual who endangered the very foundation of religion and the identity of the ummah was not an instigation of sedition, but the sole path to safeguarding the entity of Islamic society. [7]

In addition to what has been stated, the principles and prophetic tradition (Sunnah) likewise reject any form of silence before such a corrupt ruler. It is narrated in an authentic tradition from the Prophet Muhammad (SAW) that he said: "Whoever sees a tyrannical ruler who permits what God has prohibited, violates God’s covenant, opposes the Sunnah of the Messenger of God, and treats the servants of God with sinfulness and aggression, yet does not stand up against him with action or speech, it is incumbent upon God to place him in the [degraded and punishing] station of that tyrant." [8]

Beyond these considerations, a crucial point demands careful attention: What has been Islam’s criterion for avoiding discord and fragmentation within the Islamic community, and what does the pure religion recognize as the criterion and measure of unity? Islam never recognizes a unity born of silence in the face of oppression and compromise with corruption; rather, it defines true unity in light of adherence to divine principles.

It is stated in a recurrent (mutawatir) narration from the Prophet Muhammad (SAW): "I am leaving among you two weighty and precious things: the Book of God, which is a cord stretched from heaven to earth, and my Progeny ('Itrah), my Ahl al-Bayt; these two will never separate from one another until they return to me at the Pool [of Kawthar]." [9]

Accordingly, the axis of unity for the Islamic community is the Holy Quran and the Pure Progeny ('Itrah) (AS). The movement initiated by Sayyid al-Shuhada (AS) to revive the traditions of these two weighty treasures and rescue the ummah from the clutches of Umayyad tyranny was not divisive in the least; rather, it was a foundational endeavor to return society to the straight path of true unity anchored upon truth and justice.

In light of this established principle, the Ahl al-Bayt (AS) are recognized as standing in parity with the Holy Quran and are never separated from it, just as the Prophet (SAW) introduced them as the counterpart (‘adl) of the Quran. Consequently, when Almighty God declares in the Holy Quran, (And hold firmly to the rope of Allah all together and do not become divided) [10], the true intended meaning of this divine rope is the Quran and the Ahl al-Bayt (AS).

Just as many prominent Sunni exegetes have interpreted the "rope" (habl) as the Holy Quran when explaining this noble verse[11], so too, given the recurrent tradition of the Two Weighties (Thaqalayn) and the inseparable bond between the Quran and the Progeny, adherence to the Ahl al-Bayt (AS) and support for the reformative movement of Sayyid al-Shuhada (AS) for the preservation of religion is identical to holding fast to the Quran and the firm divine rope.

Therefore, resorting to this divine principle and rising up against the deviations of the ruling establishment is by no means an instance of division; rather, it is a genuine effort to realize the unity of the ummah in light of the Word of God and the Sunnah of the Progeny. Given the noble Hadith al-Thaqalayn and the inseparable connection of the Progeny with the Quran, the Ahl al-Bayt (AS) have always stood alongside the Quran as the supreme manifestation of God's firm rope (al-Habl al-Matin).

Based on this, Imam Husayn (AS) himself constituted the very axis of unity for the ummah, and failing to accompany him while remaining silent before an unjust government amounted in reality to abandoning the firm divine rope and causing genuine division and fracture within the body of the Islamic community.

Furthermore, Sayyid al-Shuhada (AS) himself, in explicitly outlining the objectives of his movement in a letter to his brother Muhammad ibn al- Hanafiyyah, described the nature of his uprising as follows: "I have not left [Medina] out of insolence, vanity, corruption, or oppression; rather, I have set out solely to seek reform in the ummah of my grandfather. I intend to enjoin what is good and forbid what is evil, and to act in accordance with the conduct of my grandfather, the Messenger of God, and my father, Ali ibn Abi Talib." [12]

Accordingly, the uprising of Sayyid al-Shuhada (AS) possesses by no means a divisive nature; rather, its inner reality and core essence consist of the revival of religion, the safeguarding of the prophetic tradition, the reform of the Islamic ummah, and the return of society to the straight path of genuine unity founded upon truth and justice.

 

 

 

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[1] . Ansab al-Ashraf, al-Baladhuri, vol. 3, p. 152.

[2] . Al-'Awasim min al-Qawasim (Saudi Awqaf edition), Ibn al-'Arabi, p. 232.

[3] . Al-Bidayah wa al-Nihayah, Ibn Kathir, vol. 8, p. 162.

[4] . Al-Futuh li-Ibn A'tham, Ibn A'tham, vol. 5, p. 18.

[5] . Tarikh al-Ya'qubi, Ahmad ibn Abi Ya'qub, vol. 2, p. 241.

[6] . Tarikh al-Islam (Bashar edition), al-Dhahabi, Shams al-Din, vol. 2, p. 585.

[7] . Al-Bidayah wa al-Nihayah, Ibn Kathir, vol. 8, p. 235.

[8] . Al-Kamil fi al-Tarikh, Ibn al-Athir, Abu al-Hasan, vol. 3, p. 159.

[9] . Siyar A'lam al-Nubala, al-Dhahabi, Shams al-Din, vol. 8, p. 101.

[10] . Ali 'Imran: 103.

[11] . Tafsir al-Qurtubi, al-Qurtubi, Shams al-Din, vol. 4, p. 159.

[12] . Bihar al-Anwar, Allama al-Majlisi, vol. 44, p. 329.