At the Battlefield [Electronic resources] نسخه متنی

Part 3 - Meeting the Enemy

When the two belligerent sides confronted each other and the fire was raging in the
trench, Shimr shouted, "Oh Hussain! you are in a hurry to go to hell fire before the
day of judgement!" Hussain enquired: Isn't this Shimr bin Thil al-Jawshan; he was
told that it was him. Hussain then retorted "Oh son of goatherdess! You are more
deserving to burn in it".

When Imam Hussain (A) saw their gathering, which was like a torrent he raised both his
hands to the sky and prayed, "Oh My Lord! You are my haven in every mishap, my hope
in every predicament my refuge and defender in every ordeal. How many a distress that
weakens the heart, makes the enemy rejoices at the misfortune when I entrusted it to You
and resorted to You out of preference over others, you did not let me down and had driven
away and eliminated all these distressing things. You are the Giver of every boon and the
ultimate source of every wish to be granted."

Qaiyim bin Haseen Al-Fizari shouted, "Oh Hussain and followers of Hussain! Can't
you see the water of the Euphrates the currents of which twist like the bellies of snakes?
I swear by the Almighty you are not going to drink a drop of it until you taste death in
doses". It is worth noting that Imam Hussain and his followers were denied access to
the water the days earlier at the orders of Ibn Ziyed through Ibn Sa'ad. This was achieved
by stationing 500 horsemen between Imam Hussain's camp and the River Euphrates. Imam
Hussain was forced to ask his brother Al-Abbas to bring them water on two occasions before
the 10th of Muharram. The enemy troops made it exceptionally difficult for Imam Hussain
and his band to get water supplies on the night and day of 10th Muharram.

Imam Hussain, convinced of the enemy's determination to fight him, asked for his horse
and mounted it; he then addressed them in a high voice saying, "Oh people!, heed my
speech and do not get restless until I preach you as I see it my duty towards you and
until I explain why I came to you. If you accepted my reasoning, believed in my speech,
and were fair to your selves and mine, you would because of that be happier, then you
would have no reason to attack me. If you do neither, resolve upon your affair and
(gather) your associates, let not your affair be in darkness to you, then have it executed
against me and do not reflect (any further). Allah is my helper and He is the Guardian of
the righteous."

When the women heard him say this, they raised their voices screaming and crying. He
sent his brother Al-Abbas and his son Ali Al-Akbar to the women to calm them down and
remarked, "Alas! they will be crying a lot". When the crying came to an end,
Imam Hussain (A) resumed his talk and said, "Oh people!, Allah created this world and
made it an abode of destruction and transience, taking its inhabitants from one phase to
another. It deceives the conceited and seduces the wretched. Let not this world deceive
you for it is capable of dashing the hopes of those who put their trust in it and let down
those who are greedy for its riches. I can see that you agreed on an affair capable of
bringing the wrath of Allah upon you, causing Him to turn His face away from you, spread
amongst you His revenge. Glory be to our Lord, and woe to you. You pledged allegiance (to
Allah) and believed in the Messenger Mohammad (S), then ganged up against his progeny
intent on killing them. Satan has taken hold over you, precipitating you to forget the
remembrance of the Almighty. May evil befall you and may your aspiration come to
nothing."

"From Allah we come and unto Him we return. Those are people who disbelieved after
they had believed; so away with the unjust people."

Hussain was coaxed to change his heart

Induced, to play that heathen's part

Adamant to surrender, though he remained

Aggression he shunned, conflict abstained.

Hussain, explicitly, did explain:

"Vain, 0' Yazid, is temporal gain.

Through calumnious and dissolute ways

Your prevaricate what the Prophet says.

Your evanescent, sordid, slippery boon

will vanish, like a mirage; too soon.

The morbid manoeuvers; you deploy

Islam will ruin, the faith destroy.

Through muddled thinking and notions dark

On a feckless mission do not embark

Potentially hazardous whims dispel.

This mood of bleak despair expel.

This sense of spiritual emptiness

By rational thinking do suppress.

Sanity do not in this bog sink

And push Islam to disaster's brink

Decay of the faith, I do perceive

The Prophet's mission I will retrieve.

Like a looming disc, on the horizon

Poised is the religion's setting sun.

To bury the hatchet, and heal the breach

I show an olive-branch; peace I preach.

A vain strife do not provoke

Save your necks from a hellish yoke.

Listen to me for goodness' sake

(Do not just acquiesce - advice take)