II. Imam Hussain and Imam Ali

Hussain and his brother, Hasan, witness the burial of their grandfather, Muhammad, and mother, Fatima, within a matter of weeks. They are now raised in the household of Ali, along with their sister, Zaynab, and stand shoulder to shoulder with their father as he defends the legacy of the Prophet. When Ali becomes Caliph, they are the first to defend him, and when war is imposed on Ali, they are the first on the frontlines of the battles of Jamal and Siffin. They experienced the governance and strategic patience of Ali from up close; it will prove useful in their future challenges.

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II. Imam Hussain and Imam Ali

Ghadir – The Fountainhead of Islam

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Perhaps of the most defining moments in the life of Ali was the Prophet’s farewell sermon, delivered on the journey back from what would be the Prophet’s last pilgrimage. As they journey back from Hajj, the Prophet now undoubtedly aging, the affair is heavy with finality. The caravan stops to set up camp at an oasis of palm trees. A shallow pool reflecting the glaring sun, hundreds of pilgrims stream in and begin setting up camp for the night. They water their camels, unload the caravans. They light fires and begin cooking an evening meal. They are returning to Madinah after performing the Hajj in Mecca, led by their Prophet, Muhammad. 

     As evening creeps in, they are joined by another group of travelers, these armed, on horseback, led by Ali b. Abi Talib. They are victorious, they have just quelled Yemeni opposition in the south, and have obtained their taxes. They join their Muslim brethren in preparing sleeping accommodations under the palm trees. 

      The call to prayer is given, and Muhammad leads. Earlier in the day, he has received revelation: “Deliver what has been revealed to you from your Lord; and if you do it not, then you have not delivered His message at all. God will protect you from the people. Verily Allah does not guide the disbelieving people.”⁵ When they finish bowing and prostrating, he summons some of the men. 

      “Prepare for me a raised platform, so that everyone can hear.” Some caravans had already started back towards their home journeys—the Prophet orders them to come back.      Anticipation hums in the camp like the humming of locusts. The platform is built, and the Prophet ascends. Silence falls upon the congregation. The air is cool and heavy in the presence of the pool, in the shade of the trees. A respite from the dry and intense desert here for those close to the pool of Ghadir. The Prophet looks out at them.

      “The time is drawing near when I shall be called by God, and I will answer that call.”

      Somberness. Silence.

      "I am leaving you with two weighty things, and if you adhere to them, you won’t be led astray. They are the Qur’an, the Book of God, and my family. They shall never separate until we meet by the pool of paradise.”⁶ 

      Muhammad looks out into the crowd, heart fluttering but heavy. He closes his eyes. A brief, silent prayer for his community. Then he opens them and locks eyes with Ali, seated near the front. He beckons him forward. Ali rises slowly, weaves his way to the front. How did he feel as he approached the stage? What thoughts ran through his mind? We can only speculate. The Prophet bends down and grasps his arm, helping him ascend the platform. The two men stand, hands and forearms clasped together and raised above their heads.

“Am I not closer to you, the believers, than you are to your own selves?”

“Yes!”

      “He of whom I am the Mawla of, Ali is their Mawla.”⁷

The two men, brothers, gaze out into the faces before them. The Prophet again receives a message, perhaps he closes his eyes as it enters his heart: “on this day I have perfected for you your religion, and chosen submission as your religion.”⁸

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II. Imam Hussain and Imam Ali

The Portico of Banu Sa’ida

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In the year 11 Hijri, a tall man rushes hurriedly towards the house of Prophet Muhammad. Walking briskly, almost jogging through the criss-crossed alleys of Medina, he scarcely notices the palm trees and aromatic Arabian musk rising from some of the houses along his route. Time is of the essence. The Prophet Muhammad had just passed away and the fate of the incipient Muslim community, the umma, is uncertain. Who will lead the community after the Prophet’s passing? Will the polity the Prophet built collapse? Who will ensure the numerous tribes who had pledged allegiance to him will continue to recognize Medina as their sovereign nascent capital and pay their taxes to the Quraysh accordingly?

     The house is empty of its most important resident, a house whose owner has just passed away and whose body is being washed and buried by his cousin and son-in-law, Ali, along with the Banu Hashim—the closest family clan of the Prophet among the Quraysh. When he reaches the house he orders a message to be sent to Abu Bakr: “come meet me outside.” Abu Bakr replies: “I am preoccupied.” The man responds immediately: “you have to come outside right now in person.” Reluctantly, with a slight air of worry, Abu Bakr exits the building. Outside is standing Umar ibn al-Khattab, his close friend and companion. “What is it that could not wait?” he asks pointedly. 

     “The Ansar have gathered at the portico of Banu Sa’ida,” Umar says in an urgent whisper, careful to not let his words float to the ears of others who may be in the vicinity. Letting the sentence sink in for a prolonged moment, he continues: “they want to install one of their own, Sa’d ibn Ubada, as the successor to the Prophet!” The door behind Abu Bakr creaks against the push of the wind, but Abu Bakr shows no reaction, processing what is happening. 

     Slowly his brows furrow with concern. He paces a few steps away from the house then back again. Umar looks at him, re-adjusting the brown cloak around his shoulders and pushing his turban which had slid downwards back to the top of his head. They deliberate and compare their political logics and strategies with each other: the Ansar, the residents of Medina, while composed of powerful tribes in their own right, do not hail from the Quraysh, the tribe of the Prophet Muhammad. In the tribal society of Arabia where agnatic descent is emphasized, how can the Ansar claim for one from among their ranks to succeed the Prophet? The Qur’an is also clear in emphasizing the importance of the families of the prophets inheriting their message and the successors from among their ranks. Surely, the Quraysh—the larger tribe of the Prophet Muhammad to which Abu Bakr and Umar also belong—could lay claim to the charisma of the Prophet Muhammad. More importantly, the Ansar were alone at Banu Sa’ida. There were no serious Qurayshi representatives there. If Abu Bakr and Umar could go there on behalf of the Quraysh and install one of their own as leader, they could then present a front for unity as well as preserve the standing of Quraysh. The other elites of Quraysh would then be inclined to the new caliph.

     A lull enters the conversation. Without uttering another word, Abu Bakr signals Umar with his eyes, determination in his gait as they set off for the portico of Banu Sa’ida, shoulder to shoulder.

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II. Imam Hussain and Imam Ali

Fatima’s Speech in Masjid al-Nabawi

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Fatima and a cohort of women enter the mosque from its public entrance, where a large crowd of Medinans and Meccans had gathered for the day. A silence spreads over the gathering as they slowly realize the daughter of Muhammad is amidst them. Her presence creates an aura of respect and deference; the crowd is drawn towards her but simultaneously subvert their eyes, shying away from her authoritative demeanor and stature, embarrassed at the palpable tensions between the daughter of the Prophet and the new caliph and leader of the Muslim community.

     When Fatima hears that the new caliph, Abu Bakr, is claiming that the Prophet does not leave an inheritance—and therefore the caliph is appropriating her lands at Fadak which she believed was to be inherited by her from the Prophet Muhammad—she rushes out to address the community in the Mosque of her father. Hasan and Hussain watch inside the home the steely determination of their mother, the daughter of the Prophet, as she prepares to leave. The Prophet would often call Fatima Umm Abiha, the mother of her father, in part due to her strong will and nurturing care she provided for him.

     Fadak was a fertile land situated north of Medina. The income resulting from the sales of the produce would be as high as 70,000 dinars.⁹ The land of Fadak held considerable importance especially for the budding Muslim community. Following the battle of Khaybar, the inhabitants of Fadak negotiated a peace treaty with the Prophet in which half of the properties of Fadak belonged to Prophet Muhammad -- not as public Muslim lands. The Prophet accepted the terms of the treaty, and the land of Fadak became a personal possession of the Prophet.¹⁰ Unlike Khaybar that was won via military conquest, Fadak was gifted to the Prophet as part of the peace treaty with the inhabitants of Fadak.

     The Qur’an clearly states that whatever is gained without a military expedition is the property of the Prophet, not the larger Muslim community to be divided among them: “And whatever Allah restored to His Messenger from them, you did not press forward against it any horse or a riding camel but Allah gives authority to His Messengers over whom He pleases, and Allah has power over all things.”¹¹ As a result, the Prophet had the exclusive right over the property of Fadak, either to gift or divide the land as he saw fit. For Fatima it was clear that the properties of her father would pass to her as the daughter of the Prophet, especially given the absence of male offspring of the Prophet.¹²

     While the caliph denied Fatima any inheritance, he simultaneously took the Prophet’s extensive land holdings after his death and distributed some them to the Prophet’s wives, including Aishah, Abu Bakr’s daughter, who was given prime lands in the Aliya quarters of Medina as well as property on the Eastern Arabian coast.¹³

     Fatima’s cloak is long and drags on the floor; her feet do not touch the ground but rather the ends of her long cloak, almost as if to intentionally not leave a footprint. Reports credit her modesty such that her being and countenance was hidden from unworthy eyes. Even today, her burial site is unknown—a secret just like her life and message itself.

     Fatima is in public, but also concealed. Her words are powerful but fall on divided hearts. Her flowing black garments cover her from the public gaze but her voice is piercing and powerful.  The companions of the Prophet are wearing an array of brown, white, and colored cloaks. They whisper amongst themselves in hushed tones: she reminds them of the Prophet in the way she walks and carries herself.¹⁴ The eloquence of the Prophet has an inheritor: Fatima. The impact of being raised in the holy household is clearly evident in the quality of discourse and belief carried in her voice. 

     A curtain is put up for Fatima. She sits behind the veil and sighs heavily. The heavy breath of Fatima casts an air of grief in the mosque of Medina, and some in attendance begin weeping involuntarily. Perhaps they remembered the words of the Prophet when he said: “Fatima is from me; whoever angers her angers me.”¹⁵ They look tense and bothered. Perhaps they knew the Prophet would be unhappy at the strong-arm tactics and forceful means of the new state.

     But the Prophet is no longer physically present to guide the community. In his absence palpable political tension is felt across the Muslim communal body. Fatima speaks. The crowd is at a standstill, some in the back crane their necks to hear what she has to say, eager to hear the response of the Ahl al-Bayt to the recent political developments in Medina.

     “Praise be to Allah... For His bounties, His benefaction, and that he sent Muhammad as a perfection of religion and a guide to the Sirat al Mustaqeem.” Anyone whose ears pained and yearned to hear the Prophet speak just one more time could hear it here, weeks after his passing. “Oh People! Know that I am Fatima, and my father is Muhammad. You shall realize that he is my father and not the father of any of your women; the brother of my cousin [Ali] rather than any of your men. What an excellent identity he was, may the peace and blessings of Allah be upon him and his descendants…  You were despised outcasts always in fear of abduction from those around you. Yet, Allah rescued you through my father, Muhammad.”

     Fatima was heard clear and well throughout the mosque. “So Allah made belief to be purification for you from poly­theism; He made Prayer an exaltation for you from conceit; alms a purification for the soul and a (cause of) growth in subsistence; fasting an implantation of devotion; pilgrimage a construction of religion; justice a harmony of the hearts; obeying us (Ahl al-Bayt)­ management of the nation; our leadership (Ahl al-Bayt), a safeguard from disunity... Therefore, fear Allah as He should be feared, and die not except in a state of Islam. Obey Allah in that which He has commanded you to do and that which He has forbidden, for surely those truly fear among His servants, who have knowledge.”

     Turning to the issue of inheritance: “Oh Muslims! Will my inheritance be usurped? Oh son of Abu Quhafa [Abu Bakr]! Where is it in the Book of Allah that you inherit your father and I do not inherit mine? Surely you have come up with an unprecedented thing. Do you intentionally abandon the Book of Allah and cast it behind your back? Do you not read where it says: And Sulaiman inherited Dawood?’ (27:16). And when it narrates the story of Zakariya and says: ‘So give me an heir as from thyself (One that) will inherit me, and inherit the posterity of Yaqoob' (19:6) And: `But kindred by hood have prior rights against each other in the Book of Allah’ (8:75).

     Fatima is the daughter of the Prophet. Her knowledge of the Qur’an and her status as a member of the Ahl al-Bayt grant her a special place in the Muslim community. Her opposition is pointed and direct; but she is still cognizant to keep unity among the Muslims. She encourages those around her to rethink their actions if they are misguided. She does not voice worry about her wealth or health—those are overseen and provided by Allah. She does, however, voice worry about the direction the community is headed.

     She is worried that the umma of Muhammad is straying from the path provided by the Messenger of Allah and can run into the same traps as the followers of Moses who engaged in polytheism when Moses had withdrawn from them, or gone into occultation, for just 40 days—even though they had witnessed miracles such as the parting of the Red Sea. Her speech at the Mosque of her father in Medina is a public service—sincere advice to the caliph in the hopes of creating a more inclusive space for the followers of Muhammad to ensure the community makes the right decisions. Fatima would continue this public service, speaking with eloquence to those who would hear, until her death just a short while later.¹⁶ 

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II. Imam Hussain and Imam Ali

The Hidden Grave 

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Just weeks ago, Hasan and Hussain had seen their beloved grandfather, Muhammad, buried in the ground. At that time, Fatima was there to comfort her children, hugging the boys close to her, stroking their heads. While distraught, she hid some of her immense grief so that her family and the true friends of the Prophet would take solace in her strength. For Hasan and Hussain, the warmth and steadfastness of their mother comforted them like no other person could. She was their rock. She represented fearlessness in the face of injustice, leadership in the face of tyranny, truth in the face of falsehood.

     Fatima is buried in secret. This is what she requested of Ali before her passing. She forbade Abu Bakr from attending her funeral. Among those allowed to know where she is buried are those who risked their lives to defend the house of Ali and Fatima: Salma, Abu Dharr, Zubayr, and Miqdad.¹⁷ 

     As the children of Fatima watched their father, Ali, bury their mother, they no longer had access to a mother’s embrace. “Your mother Fatima is with your grandfather, the Prophet Muhammad,” Ali tells his children. Ali looked up at Hasan, Hussain, and Zaynab from the burial site he was digging. Their shining beautiful faces reflect the innocence of the moonlight on the burial site. Their faces remind him of Fatima. His tears mix with the perspiration. He looks at Hussain. Today, Hussain has his father and siblings around him. Yet, Ali knows that one day in the not-too-distant future Hussain will be alone on the desert plains of Iraq, dying from thirst, surrounded by vicious animals with spears, thirsty for his blood and greedy for the monetary reward of killing Hussain. Ali then looks at Zaynab upon whose shoulders the legacy of the Ahl al-Bayt and the message of Prophet Muhammad will in large part rest. On her ability to articulate the tragedy of Islam, the tragedy of Muhammad, the tragedy of the orphans of Islam. 

     Without access to the Imam, the Muslims will all be orphans. The killing of Hussain will make orphans not just of his own immediate children, but of the Muslims all together.

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II. Imam Hussain and Imam Ali

Exile of Abu Dharr - Dissident of the State

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More than two decades have passed since the death of the Prophet and the coming to power of Abu Bakr. After Abu Bakr died, Umar assumed the caliphate -- through direct appointment of Abu Bakr and not a partial Arab elite tribal council like at Saqifa. Umar, in turn, chose a six person council to appoint the caliph after him. The caliph chosen by the majority of the council was the Umayyad Uthman ibn Affan. Uthman was an early companion of the Prophet; two of his daughters were married to the Prophet. Many historians looking back at his reign as caliph divided it into two six-year segments, the first of which was viewed more positively, the second of which was more controversial.

     Many of the criticisms directed at the caliph by the Muslim community were at Uthman’s privileging of power in his own Umayyad clan. He had helped propel or expand the power of his clansmen like Mu’awiya into positions of leadership over the entire Muslim community and also rehabilitated figures who had led the Meccan opposition to the Prophet and had eventually converted but still were often at odds with the other early Muslims. 

     One of Uthman’s most trusted lieutenants, Marwan, who was in turn to be a future Umayyad caliph, was especially criticized by the companions of the Prophet Muhammad. Wealth, power, and positions were centralized in the hands of the Umayyads over Uthman’s twelve year tenure, leading to uneasy feelings by many members of the Muslim community, including A’ishah, a wife of the Prophet Muhammad and daughter of Abu Bakr, who headed the opposition camp in Mecca.

     Among the most vocal critics of Uthman was the companion of the Prophet Muhammad, Abu Dharr. In response to Abu Dharr’s strong criticisms, Uthman exiled him from Medina to a small village, Rabdhah, and he forbade anyone from contacting him or bidding him farewell. However, Ali, his brother Aqil, Ammar ibn Yasir, and Hasan and Hussain defied these orders and accompanied him before his lonely trip of isolation and exile.¹⁸ Ali walked alongside Abu Dharr from his house in Medina to the outskirts of the city. He held Abu Dharr’s hand and hugged him close; Abu Dharr was always on the frontlines with the Prophet and with Ali. He was one of the very first coverts to Islam. Brave. Courageous. Unflinching. Just. 

     Abu Dharr epitomizes Islam in the very manner with which he walks and talks. He walks upright, his shoulder square. The wind whips across the flowing white and gray clothes of Abu Dharr and the Holy Family occasionally, reminiscent of the fluttering of flags. This reminds him of the fluttering of the banner of the Prophet at Khaybar, the day in which the Prophet gave his banner to a man he said who loves Allah, whom Allah and the Messenger love, and will be awarded victory by Allah. This man was Ali; the man always rushing to be the first on the frontlines of battle. 

     Ali and his sons knew it might be the last time they would see him. They walked slowly, pausing every few steps and commending Abu Dharr’s characteristics, giving him courage for the journey ahead. “My words are few and sorrows many,” Hasan says to Abu Dharr. “Remove the [pull of] the world by remembering its emptiness, and the severity of its hardships by hope for what is to come after it. Be patient until the Prophet meets you [in the afterlife] and he is pleased with you!”¹⁹ 

     Abu Dhar’s heart flutters with joy at the promise of Hasan and the prospect of being reunited with Muhammad. The bleak desert before him—seemingly devoid of life—is a reflection of the heart of Abu Dharr and his attitude towards the world. The world is a harsh companion; it bites the hand of all who feed it, leaves them alone with promises unfilled and a bitter recompense. Abu Dharr remembers a saying from the Prophet Muhammad: “The world is a prison for the believer, and a paradise for the disbeliever.”²⁰ He tries hard to stop the tears from flowing. Inside of his heart, he is already in paradise.

     Abu Dharr’s eyes fall on Hussain. “Verily Allah is able to change the situation you are seeing, Abu Dharr,” says Hussain. “For he is [involved] in affairs [of the world] every day.” Hussain reminds Abu Dharr of the Prophet. Abu Dharr saw the Prophet play daily with Hasan and Hussain at the mosque. He saw how the Prophet would prolong his prostration (sujud) if Hussain was playing on his back. He wanted to protect him as long as he was alive; Muhammad knew the difficulties awaiting Hussain after his passing. 

     “You blocked the Umayyads] from their world, their material wants,” continues Hussain. “And they, in turn, blocked you from your world. Are you not free from need from what they blocked you from? And don’t they [Uthman and the Umayyads] need what you blocked them from? So request patience from Allah and seek refuge with Him from avidity and anxiety for patience is a part of religion and greed does not advance sustenance and anxiety does not delay what is to come.”²¹

     Abu Dharr grasps his wooden cane tightly for a moment before raising his hands and countenance towards the heavens. He thanks Allah for the blessings he has bestowed upon him. He thanks him for the love of the Prophet Muhammad he instilled in his heart, and for the love of the Ahl al-Bayt who have confirmed his loyalty.  

     When Marwan sees this unfolding before him. He turns towards Hasan: “don’t you know that the Commander of the Faithful (Amir al-Mu’mineen) has ordered that no one speak to this man? And if you don’t know, now you do!” When Ali hears the speech of Marwan to Hasan and his attempt to embarrass Abu Dharr, Ali swiftly rebukes Marwan: “Allah will send you to the fire! Now leave!” Ali strikes Marwan’s camel between the ears lightly, jolting Marwan back towards the city. 

     Abu Dharr departs Medina and the warm support of the family of the Prophet Muhammad. It is the last time he will see their beloved faces. He dies alone in Rabdhah with his family, separated from the Holy Household, yet remembering Allah with his tongue and heart until his last moments. The Prophet said about Abu Dharr: “The skies have not cast a shadow on anyone, nor has the earth nurtured anyone who is more truthful than Abu Dharr.”²² The Prophet also said to Abu Dharr: “you are one of us, the Ahl al-Bayt” -- the highest compliment one could receive from the Messenger of God. So why was this beloved of Muhammad outcast by the caliph to die alone and cut off from basic rights? Because of his verbal critiques against the state?

**

The third caliph, Uthman, was assassinated towards the end of the year 35 Hijri, or June of 656 in the Common Era. A large group of Muslims protesting him besieged his home in Medina and eventually a group of them entered his house and assassinated him. During the time of the siege of Uthman, his fellow clansman and ruler of Syria, Mu’awiya b. Abi Sufyan, had failed to send the requested military relief to break the siege of Uthman’s home.

     With his house under siege, Uthman called on Ali ibn Abi Talib to help intercede on his behalf. Despite Ali’s protests against some of Uthman’s policies, he nonetheless risks the lives of his own sons, Hasan and Hussain, to defend Uthman’s house against the protestors.²³ Nevertheless, the assassins were able to reach Uthman....

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II. Imam Hussain and Imam Ali

The Caliphate of Ali – From Allegiance in Mosque of the Prophet to Martyrdom in the Mosque of Kufa

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It was in the Mosque of Medina, the Mosque of the Prophet Muhammad (Masjid al-Nabawi), that the allegiance ceremony inaugurating the Caliphate of Imam Ali commenced. This was the mosque that Ali and the other early Muslims had built with their own hands, shoulder to shoulder with the Prophet. Some narrations state that when the other companions were taking one heavy brick at a time to construct the mosque, Ammar was taking two, pushing his body to the limit. 

     Now, the mosque was filled with the Muslim communal body, a group of believers from humble backgrounds now part of a rapidly expanding empire and experiencing waves of military successes and newfound riches. At this pivotal moment after the assassination of Uthman, the people of Medina had rushed to pledge allegiance to Ali. Imam Ali received the first pledges of allegiance of his caliphate in the house of ‘Amr ibn Mihsan on 18 Dhu-l Hijja before hosting a public allegiance in the Mosque of the Prophet.²⁴ This day was in fact the same day as Ghadir, the 18th of Dhu-l Hijja, when exactly 35 years prior the Prophet had addressed the Muslims after the Hajj ceremonies stating: “for whomever I am a guardian (mawla), Ali is his (mawla)...”²⁵

     Now sitting on the same minbar (pulpit) that the Prophet Muhammad spoke from, Imam Ali surveyed the crowd of faces before him: “Ask me before you lose [access] to me,” Ali tells the crowd.²⁶ No one comes forward. Imam Ali then turns to his son Hasan, his successor and heir: “arise and ascend the minbar and speak with words that will illuminate, lest the Quraysh: say Hasan ibn Ali does not speak beautifully.”²⁷ Imam Hasan responds: “father, how can I ascend the pulpit and speak when you are present?”²⁸

     This was the level of the deep knowledge (ma’rifa) of Hasan—he is a humble follower of his father, Imam Ali, to the extent that he does not wish to speak or presume to say anything in front of the crowd when Imam Ali is present. Ali was the same around Muhammad. Ali responds: “I swear by my father and mother I will conceal myself from you… and you will not see me.” The emphasis of Ali was directed at his son Hasan and not the crowd; he knew that Hasan was too reverent of his father and did not wish to even speak beneficial words of insight when Ali was in the same vicinity and even line of sight. 

     Hasan ascends the pulpit. Looking on among the sea of people in Masjid al-Nabawi were a small vanguard of believers, their faces bright and shining. These were the ones who bound a covenant with the House of Muhammad—the Elite Guard of the Holy Household. Among them, the famous companion of the Prophet Muhammad, Abu Ayyub al-Ansari—a hardened veteran of battles of Badr, Uhud, and Khandaq.

     It was Abu Ayyub, in fact, who had purchased the land on which the Mosque of the Prophet had been built and in which Hasan was speaking and Ali was now receiving the allegiance pledges of the people. Abu Ayyub had the unique privilege of hosting the Prophet Muhammad in his house in Medina when the Prophet immigrated there. According to some sources, the Prophet resided there for seven months while the main mosque was being constructed in Medina. 

     Starting his speech, Hasan praises Allah with a nuanced elegance only found in the House of Muhammad and Ali, nurtured by the loving care of Fatima. Hasan performed a short prayer upon the Prophet and said: “Oh people, I heard my grandfather the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him and his family, say: ‘I am the city of knowledge and Ali is its gate.’ And [can] you enter a city except through its gate?” Hasan rhetorically asked. He then descended from the pulpit. Ali quickly arose and moved towards Hasan. Ali grasped Hasan, hugging him affectionately, and carrying him back to where he was sitting—demonstrating his pure love and support for Hasan.

     Imam Ali then addressed Hussain: “my son, ascend the pulpit and speak with words that will not leave in ignorance any of the Quraysh after me so that they [will not] say: Hussain ibn Ali does not have insight [regarding] anything, indeed your words concur with [and strengthen] the words of your brother.” So Hussain ascended the minbar and praised and extolled Allah, and he sent prayers upon the Prophet Muhammad. Hussain then said: “oh assembled people, I heard my grandfather the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him and his family, say: ‘verily Ali is a city of guidance (madina huda); whoever enters [the city] is saved and whoever is left out is doomed.”²⁹

     In the crowd of faces, Hussain sees Malik al-Ashtar and ‘Amr ibn Mihsan. The latter was an early companion of the Prophet, a veteran of Badr, one of the 313 soldiers of Prophet Muhammad in that battle, and it was in his house that Ali first received the pledges of allegiance before the more public loyalty pledges in the Mosque of the Prophet. In ‘Amr’s house, it was Malik al-Ashtar to have first pledged allegiance to Ali. Both of these men’s unrelenting swords fought under the banner of Amir al-Mu’mineen Ali at the pivotal battle of Siffin. Amr, who survived the early battles under the Prophet Muhammad, would be killed at Siffin.³⁰ Malik, Ali’s stalwart lieutenant, poisoned by agents of Mu’awiya. 

     When Hussain comes down from the pulpit, Imam Ali grasps him close—the same way he lovingly embraced Hasan. Perhaps this embrace is a second longer. Perhaps he remembered his son’s tragic end, as foretold by Gabriel to the Prophet, years earlier, and lingered in the closeness for just an imperceptible moment before releasing.

     Hasan and Hussain were more than the grandsons of Muhammad—they were the generals of Ali. During Imam Ali’s caliphate, they spearheaded the front lines in the battles of Jamal, Nahrawan, and Siffin alongside their half-brother, the son of Ali, Muhammad ibn al-Hanafiyya.³¹ During the Battle of Jamal, it was Hussain—the commander of the left flank—leading sorties to split the enemy lines and strike at the heart of the opposing army. 

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II. Imam Hussain and Imam Ali

The Battle of Siffin

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In his short tenure as caliph, Imam Ali would go on to fight in three different battles, all within the Muslim community. In a famous speech Ali called these different factions the oath-breakers (nakithin), the unjust evil ones (qasitin), and the defectors (mariqin). These were, respectively, the opponents of Ali at Jamal, the Umayyads and their allies at Siffin, and the Kharijis at Nahrawan.  Imams Hasan and Hussain were at the frontlines of these battles, following the lead of their father Ali. It was Ali on whose shoulders the Muslim armies relied countless times during the lifetime of the Prophet. Now, he was battling the manifest strife showing itself between the Muslims. 

Despite his advanced age at the time, with some reports narrating he was over 90 years old, Ammar ibn Yasir was among the fiercest on the battlefield fighting for Ali and giving speeches to the Muslims explaining how Ali was the leader of righteousness and the opposing Umayyad army one of misguidance and corruption. Ammar was one of the very first Muslims and closest companions to the Prophet Muhammad. His father, Yasir, and mother, Sumayya, were the first martyrs of Islam. He participated in all the major battles alongside the Prophet including Badr, Uhud, and Khandaq, and now at Siffin. It was Ammar, moreover, according to some traditions, about whom the Prophet said: “Paradise desires three [people]: Ali [ibn Abi Talib], Ammar [ibn Yasir], and Salman [al-Farsi].”³² Before his martyrdom he would rally those around him, urging them to follow him deep into enemy lines: “death is beneath the spears, and paradise under the flashing [swords]”!³³ 

A famous hadith from the Prophet Muhammad well known at the time of the battle of Siffin was that Ammar would be slain by the “usurping” party (fi’a baghiya).³⁴ And indeed, after Mu’awiya’s army killed Ammar during the battle, Mu’awiya attempted to put the blame of Ammar’s death on Ali—it was Ali who caused Ammar’s death by bringing him to battle the Umayyad argued. When Ali heard this, he responded: so was Hamza ibn Abd al-Muttalib’s death the fault of Prophet Muhammad who brought him to the battle of Uhud?³⁵ This response must have especially stung for Mu’awiya whose mother, Hind, was reported to have hired Hamza’s killer afterwards she desecrated the slain body of Hamza and ate his internal organs.³⁶

At the battle of Siffin, a strategic victory was within arm’s reach for the forces of Imam Ali over those of the Umayyad army of Mu’awiyah. Reports narrate that Mu’awiyah’s camp, where the leader of the sedition sat and comfortably watched the battle without participating directly, was in the striking distance of Ali’s general Malik al-Ashtar and the entire costly battle would have been won decisively by Imam Ali’s army. At this critical moment when even the rebel leader Mu’awiyah himself could have been killed—Malik al-Ashtar was called back from the headquarters by Imam Ali, who was under extreme pressure from his own army, and told to hold off the attack.³⁷ It was at this moment that the face of hypocrisy and ignorance among many of the followers of Ali reared its ugly head. 

There were serious opposition forces in Imam Ali’s camp. Those who said they were soldiers of Ali but who were following their own personal interests. Some joined the Imam’s army so they could get a higher price for selling themselves to Mu’awiyah. Some of these men made secret backroom deals with Mu’awiyah while outwardly fighting under the flag of Ali—they were Mu’awiyah’s sleeper cells preserving their strength for the most opportune moment to strike. Some joined the Imam’s army out of loyalty to their tribe and their belief that there would be material gains if they were on the winning side. The number of true believers was small. 

‍Laylat al-Harir was a night during the battle of Siffin where Malik al-Ashtar proved his strategic genius and marshaled the army of Ali to the brink of battlefield victory. Named after the cries of battle, breaking of spears, and clashing of swords in the dark, “night of howling.”³⁸ The mission given to the army was to “put the battlefield behind him,” or to push the army of Mu’awiyah off the battlefield and back to their own encampments. 

Throughout the night, Ali commanded the army from the center, moving between the right and left wings of his army, coordinating the pace of the attack. On the right-hand side (maymana) Malik al-Ashtar dismounted from his horse and lightly struck it on the head, forcing it back running towards home base—showing his men he had no means to escape the battle, he was with them until the end no matter the outcome. 

Malik al-Ashtar looked at his men piercingly, swiftly pacing through his battalions (kata’ib) the white cloth of his shirt fluttering fiercely in the wind under his leather studded metal armor. He asks his men: “who will buy his soul from Allah, the powerful and majestic, and fight alongside al-Ashtar until he is either victorious or meets Allah [through martyrdom]”? The men surge forward around al-Ashtar, forming concentric rings around him. Their hearts are lifted by the strong will of their commander and the determination in his eyes. “Strengthen your ranks! Form up behind me!” al-Ashtar urges. He hands the banner to a lieutenant before tightening the belt holding his sword around his waist: “When I attack, attack!” 

The white clad army of Amir al-Mu’mineen advances rank by rank, fortified by the bravery of Ali, Hasan, Hussain, Muhammad ibn al-Hanifiyya,³⁹ Ibn Abbas,⁴⁰ Abu Ayyub al-Ansari, Hashim ibn Utbah al-Mirqal,⁴¹ ‘Amr ibn Mihsan, and the committed legions of the Elite Guard (Shurtat al-Khamis)—the devoted corps who pledged profound loyalty and love to Ali and would fight with him until the end.⁴² When the morning sun arose, the army of Ali realized the entire battlefield was behind them; they gained the strategic ground and the battle was practically won.⁴³ 

It was at this moment that the opposition factions within Imam Ali’s camp mobilized their utmost strength at the most opportune moment to prevent Mu’awiyah from being killed by Malik al-Ashtar’s strike force. This faction, as the sources emphasize, was led by Ashath ibn Qays. This leader, however, did not have enough soldiers on his own to confront Ali. Instead, he had to rely on convincing the larger body of soldiers that Imam Ali was making the wrong choices; that Imam Ali had to let the Qur’an judge between him and Mu’awiyah; that Imam Ali was responsible for bloodshed; that it was Imam Ali’s rash decision making threatening the Muslim umma; that it was Imam Ali should stop the battle that was being won in favor of diplomacy and negotiations. 

Many of these men who were convinced by Ash’ath were to become the Kharijis. They threatened to kill Ali and withdraw from the war front if he did not call back Malik. In response, Imam Ali presciently saw the dark clouds of ignorance approaching, stating: “the sedition has arrived.”⁴⁴ What was more properly, more genuinely, the Qur’an? That which was written on parchment, or that which was embodied, lived? 

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II. Imam Hussain and Imam Ali

Martyrdom

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A little over three years later, Ali is sitting in the house of Umm Kulthum, his youngest daughter from Fatima. It is the 19th of Ramadan. Umm Kulthum, brings Ali the iftar meal: two loaves of barley bread and some milk and salt. This is the simplicity with which Ali raised his children. But even this humble and simple offering is too luxurious for Ali. He turns to his daughter and says: “my dear daughter, when have you seen your father have more than one type of food for iftar? Take the milk, I will break my fast with this bread and salt.” He eats only three bites. Umm Kulthum, who wished to take extra care of her father ever since the passing of their mother Fatima asks: “oh father, were you not fasting? Why are you eating so little?” Ali answers: “I wish to meet my Lord on an empty stomach.”⁴⁵

     A little while later, Ali makes his way to the mosque of Kufa for the Fajr prayer. In the crisp early morning hours when the streets of Kufa are still in slumber the migratory geese in southern Iraq line the alleys, slightly flapping their wings and rubbing their necks across their sides. As Ali walks, narrations state the geese begin to get uneasy, squawking excitedly, as if they can foresee the violence to come. Entering the mosque, he wakes those sleeping before the prayers. Among those he awakens to make sure they attend their prayers, is his future murderer, Ibn Muljam—a Khariji who once fought in Imam Ali’s army. Even though Ali is reported to have known there would be an attack on him that day, he will not judge someone before an act is carried out. The call to prayer is read out and the worshippers line up in neat rows. Beads of sweat begin to form on Ibn Muljim’s forehead and his hand shakes slightly as his nerves begin to get the best of him. But he believes Imam Ali is an infidel and that he knows better than the Prophet’s successor.

     Imam Ali is prostrated to the earth in prayer (sujud) when he is struck on the head by the sword of Ibn Muljam. At this moment, some traditions narrate that a disembodied voice from the heavens was heard in Kufa: “the pillars of guidance have fallen! (tahaddamat wa-Allah arkan al-huda)... the cousin of the Prophet (Ibn ‘Am al-Mustafa) has been killed! The chosen inheritor (al-Wasi al-Mujtaba) has been killed!... The worst of creation has killed him.” After receiving the blow, Ali said: “By the Lord of the Ka’ba, I am victorious! This is surely what was promised to us by Allah and his Messenger.”⁴⁶ 

     On his deathbed, Ali is thinking about the treatment of his assassin – if Ali is to die from the sword of the Khariji, he instructs his son Hasan to carry out no more than one sword strike in fair retribution against him. Even though the sword of Ibn Muljam had been soaked in the deadly poisons for days, it took another two days for death to come to Ali. 

     The Imam, the Caliph, the “Father of the Orphans,”⁴⁷ the cousin of Muhammad, the closest of friends and supporters to God’s messenger was dead. Or so it appeared. For God promises in the Qu’ran: “Never think of those martyred in the way of Allah are dead; verily, they are alive with their Lord, sustained.”⁴⁸ Ali’s physical body may have passed from the earth; but the light of his sovereignty and the blessings of his existence could never be cut off from humanity. A heavy weight now passes to Hasan, the Imam of the Mu’imineen after Ali who must now face a growing cloud of hypocrisy and darkness…

~~

A short while before the martyrdom of Ali, Asha’th ibn Qays closes the backdoor entrance to a non-descript house in Kufa. Hurried inside is a special guest. Asha’th, the influential general of Imam Ali who was crucial in imposing negotiations on Ali at Siffin—when the battle had all but been won—is meeting with one of the former soldiers of Ali. This was a man convinced by Asha’th’s logic at Siffin to force Imam Ali into negotiations with Mu’awiya but once the general framework of the negotiations was announced, then turned on Ali and called him an infidel. These were the Kharijis, and in Asha’th’s house was Ibn Muljam. 

     The same man who lobbied for diplomacy at Siffin now furnished Ibn Muljam with the weapons and safehouse base from which the assassination could take place. As historians such as Abu Faraj al-Isfahani and Ibn Abi-l Hadid have noted: “Ash’ath b. Qays had a hand in Ali’s assassination. He is said to have met secretly with Ibn Muljam the night before in order to finalize the fateful plot. During a sharp confrontation between Ali and Ash’ath shortly before Imam Ali’s assassination, Ash’ath warned Ali of his impending death.” Ali responded: “is it with death that you threaten me? By God, I do not care whether I fall upon death or death falls upon me.”⁴⁹

     At the eve of his martyrdom, Ali was preparing for a large campaign which posed a serious threat to Mu’awiya’s forces. It seemed to be a threat to Ash’ath as well. Some have speculated about the two men’s correspondences with one another and their collusion. The impending campaign of Ali was all the more dangerous for the elites opposed to Ali given the army’s leadership. 10,000 men were assigned to Abu Ayyub al-Ansari, the leading companion in whose house the Prophet stayed when he first immigrated to Medina; 10,000 men were assigned to Qays ibn Sa’d, an important and influential tribal commander, and—most importantly—10,000 men assigned to the command of Imam Hussain.⁵⁰ The banner of Ali carried by Hussain was an intimidating sight for the Umayyads and their overlapping interests with elites in Ali’s orbit such as Ash’ath. To stop the banner of Hussain, the threat of Hussain’s father and the Caliph of the Muslim lands, Ali, had to silenced.

Chapter Endnotes:

5. Qur’an, 5: 67.

6. Sahih Muslim, Book 44, Hadith 55.

7. Mohammad Sagha, “Al-Ghadir: The Fountainhead of Shi’ism,” 20 August 2019, Visions: A Leading Source on Global Shi’a Affairs at Harvard University.

8. Qur’an, 5: 3.

9. Ibn Tawus, Kashf al-Mahajjah, 94.

10. Yaqut Al-Hamawi, Mu'jam al-Buldan; Ibn Abi-l Hadid, Sharh Nahj al-Balaghah, 16: 210. Also see al-Tabari, Tarikh; and Ibn al-Athir, Tarikh al-Kamil. Guillaume, Life of Muhammad, 523.

11. Qur'an, 59: 6.

12. Qur’an, 4: 10-14. As Madelung writes with regard to these inheritance rules in the Qur’an in the context of Fatima: these verses “gave unconditional precedence to direct descendants, awarding sons double the share of daughters. In the absence of a son, a daughter or daughters were sole primary heirs and could not be excluded by any rights of male kin. These Qurʾanic rules of succession were valid in either testate or intestate succession.” Wilferd Madelung, “Introduction,” in Farhad Daftary and Gurdofarid Miskinzoda (Eds), The Study of Shi’i Islam: History, Theology and Law (London: I.B. Tauris, 2014), 4.

13. Ibn Sa’d, Tabaqat, 3: 138.

14. See Ibn Abi Tayfur, Balaghat al-Nisa, pg. 8.

15. “Fatima bid’atun minni, fa-man aghdabaha aghdabani.”

16. All translations of the Fadakiyya sermon from here: “Her speech after Fadak was seized,” Duas.org.

17. See: Mawsua’ al-Kubra Fatima al-Zahra.

18. Al-‘Atari, Musnad al-Imam al-Mujtaba, 395. Also see Ibn Abi-l Hadid, Sharh Nahj al-Balagha which in turn took from a book of al-Jawhari called Kitab al-Saqifa.

19. حياة الإمام الحسين(ع)، القرشي ،ج‏1،ص:374

20. “الدنيا سجن المؤمن، وجنة الكافر”

21. حياة الإمام الحسين(ع)، القرشي ،ج‏1،ص:374

22. مجلسی، بحارالانوار، ۱۴۰۳ق، ج۲۲، ص۴۰۴

23. Madelung, Succession, 133-4.

24. Muhammad ibn Jarir al-Tabari, Tarikh al-Rusul wa-l Muluk (Leiden: Brill, 1866), I: 3068.

25. Sagha, “Al-Ghadir: The Fountainhead of Shi’ism.”

26. For the full hadith, see: al-Shaykh al-Saduq, al-Tawhid, ed. al-Sayyid Hashim al-Husayni al-Tahrani (Qom: Jami’a al-Mudarrisin, n.d.), 1: 307.

27. In the Arabic original, this phrase carries a double meaning since the name “Hasan” and the verb used for “beautify” or to “improve” (yahsun) have the same root (h-s-n).

28. Al-Shaykh al-Saduq, al-Tawhid, 1: 307.

29. Al-Shaykh al-Saduq, al-Tawhid, 1: 307.

30. Wilferd Madelung, The Succession to Muhammad: A Study of the Early Caliphate (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997), 143.

31. Ibn Abd al-Barr, al-Isti'ab fi Ma'rifa al-Ashab, ed.Ali Muhammad Bijawi (Beirut: Dar al-Jil, 1992), 3: 939.

32. Al-Hakim al-Nisaburi, al-Mustadrak ‘ala-l Sahihayn,3:137.

33. Al-Tabari, Tarikh, I: 3318.

34. See: Sahih Muslim, Book 54, Hadith 86.

35. Hamza was the famous uncle of the Prophet known for his bravery and epithet “Lion of Allah;” he was killed by an assassin hired by Mu’awiya’s mother, Hind, during the battle of Uhud.

36. Al-Shaykh al-Mufid, Kitab al-Irshad, translated by IKA Howard (Qum: Ansariyan Publications, 1981), 55-56.

37. Nasr ibn Muzahim, Waq’at Siffin, ed. ‘Abd al-Salam Muhammad Harun (Cairo: al-Mua’ssisah al-Arabiyya al-Hadithiyya, 1382), 490; al-Tabari, Tarikh, I: 3331.

38. Al-Tabari, Tarikh, I: 3327. The name harir can also imply “the looking of courageous men, one at another,” Lane’s Lexicon, I: 2888.

39. A son of Imam Ali from a wife other than Fatima.

40. The half-cousin of the Prophet Muhammad and Imam Ali.

41. A companion of the Prophet Muhammad and a holder of Ali’s banner during Siffin. He was called Mirqal because he used to speed into battle.

42. On the Shurtat al-Khamis, see: al-Shaykh al-Mufid, al-Ikhtisas, edited by Ali Akbar Ghaffari and al-Sayyid Mahmud al-Zarandi (n.p.: 1992), 2-4.

43. Al-Tabari, Tarikh, I: 3328.

44. Nasr ibn Muzahim, Waq’at Siffin, 490.

45. Sayyid Mohammad Hussain Hussaini, “Guzarishat-i Lahzihbih Lahzih az Shahadat-i Imam Ali alayhi al-Salam,” Mubalighan, 71, Mihr va Aban (1384SH).

46. Hussaini, “Shahadat-i Imam Ali alayhi al-Salam.”

47. Referring to his kind care for the orphans and those who needed protection. The title can also refer to Imam Ali’s status as the spiritual father of his followers, who without the Imam are misguided orphans.

48. Surah Al Imran (3: 169): وَلَاتَحْسَبَنَّ ٱلَّذِينَ قُتِلُوا۟ فِى سَبِيلِ ٱللَّهِ أَمْوَٰتًۢا ۚ بَلْأَحْيَآءٌ عِندَ رَبِّهِمْ يُرْزَقُونَ

49. Mahmoud Ayoub, The Crisis of Muslim History: Religion and Politics in Early Islam (Oxford: Oneworld Publications, 2005), 143. For more on Ash’ath ibn Qays’ role in the assassination of Imam Ali, see: Ali Nazimiyanfar and Akram Jahandidih, “Naqsh-i Ash’ath ibn Qays dar Majira-ye Qatl-i Imam Ali,” Sirih-ye Pazhuhishi-ye Ahl-i Bayt, vol. 2, no. 3, 1395SH.

50. Ibn Shahrashub, Manaqib Aal Abi Talib (Najaf:al-Maktaba al-Haydariyya, n.d.), 2: 374.

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