لطفا منتظر باشید ...
INTRODUCTION
The recounting of the events of Karbala, the story of the martyrdom of Imam Hussain (A.S.) reminds us of that ultimate suffering of the grandson of Prophet (PBUH). It reminds us a
history of heroic resistance to illegitimate authority. It reminds us of those ten days of A.H. 61 (680 A.D) when the descendents of the Prophet (SAW) surrounded by an Ummayad army Virtually defenseless and dying from thirst and hunger in
the blistering heat of Karbala. Imam Hussain (A.S.) and his supporters were slain with swords and pierced with arrows. The tragedy of Karbala started when Imam Hussain (A.S.) and his entourage reached the plain of Karbala on the 2nd of
Moharram A.H.61. His party of seventy two men along with women and children, were surrounded by the army, and on the tenth of Moharram A.H.61 (October 19,680. A.D.), Imam's small band of loyal followers who had refused to desert
their leader were all slaughtered. Even Imam's (A.S.) infant son was killed by an arrow while cradled in his father's arms, as Imam (A.S.) pleaded the enemy for water for the baby. Imam (a.s) fought to the last, was killed and decapitated,
and women and children were taken prisoner and led to Kufa in Iraq to face the indignity of seeing Imam's (A.S.) head brought to the Ubaydallah Ibn.Ziyad, the Governor of Iraq, on a platter. Ibn Ziyad tortured them by hitting
Immam's lips with his cane. He then threatened to kill the only remaining son of the Imam (A.S.), Ali bin Hussain (A.S.) (Imam Zain ul- Abidin (A.S.) who lived in Medinah for 35 years after the tragedy of Karbala), a child who had been too
ill to fight .But Imam's heroic sister, Hazrat Zainab, protested, and Ali bin Hussain (A.S.) was spared, and sent on with the rest of the prisioners to Damascus, where they were ultimately set free because Yazid feared a public outcry.
There were many companions of the Holy Prophet (PBUH) still alive and some were present in the court of Yazid who remembered the love the Prophet (SAW) showered upon the his grandson Hussain (A.S.).Today when we tell this story each death
and each terrible event is re-stated so that no one having heard it once could ever forget it. The events of Karbala are so alive today as they were thirteen centuries ago, when they actually occurred.
Some times it is too painfulTo relate the events, into words what we feel,Yet if we do notOur life becomes emptyOut sole stale.So here I try to tell
So here I shed my tears.speak of a pain so deepBeyond your grief or mineI speak of a man so dearI speak of Imam Hussainof orphans with no fathersof mothers mourning their sons,of wives missing their husbands,
of each house missing a loved oneThe cries of women and children Drowned by the scream of frightTo every one who eats and sleepsWith nothing on their mind.Do you not hear Karbala weeps?Or are you deaf and blind?
Are you stand motionless, with folded armsAre you content, have you nothing to say ?I will cryI will cry until I die.
Dear reader the detailed story of Karbala that you will read now was written by Maulana Abul Kalam Azad in 1927 in the Urdu Language. Ever since I read this book I had in mind to
get it translated into English so as to reach a wider readership. Just like earlier events, but the Maulana had done his best by referring to some of the historical facts, still some controversies in his book remain. We got the book
translated without any change.
Prof. Syed Ismail AhsonVasant Kunj,New Delhi - 110070November (2000) / March 2001.
