\u201cWe served in the army of Amir al-Mu\u2019minin during the battle of Saffein\nunder the command of Ammar Yasir1. It\nwas noon and we were sitting in the shadow of the flag to escape the heat. A\nman cut through the lines and came up to us asking, \u2018which one of you is Ammar\nYasir?\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ammar spoke up: \u2018I am Ammar.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The man responded, \u2018I have a question.\nShould I ask in private or in public?\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ammar said: \u2018Ask in public.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The man said: \u2018When I left my house in\nthe morning to participate in this battle, I was under the impression that Imam\nAli (PBUH) was with the truth and that Muawiyah and his troops were wrong. But\nwhen I entered the battle I saw things that surprised me. I saw Muawiyah\u2019s army\nreciting the Adhan; they too bared witness to the oneness of Allah and the\nGreat Prophet as His messenger! They performed their prayers and recited Quran;\nthey have everything we have! I started doubting and asking myself why we are\nabout to fight other Muslims who pray and recite the Quran?? So I went to Amir\nal-Mu’menin (PBUH) with my disappointment and he sent me to you.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ammar asked: \u2018Do you see who is\nholding the black flag in front of us?\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He said: ‘Amr ibn al-\u2018As is holding\nit2.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ammar replied: \u2018I fought that same\nflag alongside the Great Prophet (PBUH&HP) on three occasions during the\nbattles of Badr, Uhud and Hunayn. Be certain that today that same flag remains\nas the flag of nonbelievers and this flag, which we are sitting in its shadow,\nis the only and true flag of Islam3.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Muawiyah was a sworn enemy of the\nProphet of Allah and his Ahlul-Bayt (PBUT). But he had managed to deceive the\npublic by acting as a Muslim. He would\nkeep a certain status for himself in the eye of the Islamic nation. Given his\nposition, his main goal was to destroy Islam and wipe out anything that had to\ndo with the Prophet and name of Allah. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Imam Hussain (PBUH), like his honored\nfather and brother understood that he must fight against such fatal deceit. But\nhe did not see another battle with Muawiyah to be in the interest of Islam and\nthe Muslim nation, because people did not know Muawiyah\u2019s true face, and many\nthought he was a decent believer. The people would question the validity of a\nwar against another believer? <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Thus it was necessary for Imam Hussain\n(PBUH) to follow the footsteps of Imam Hassan (PBUH) in the peace treaty and\noblige Muawiyah to the treaty and the promises that Muawiyah would eventually\nbreak. In this manner, Imam Hussein (PBUH) could show Muawiyah\u2019s true\nintentions and hypocrisy to people over time, and set the stage of an uprising\nagainst the Umayyad dynasty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After the death of Muawiyah, his son\nYazid came to power. Yazid was a\nshameless and irreverent individual. He was served wine in front of the Muslim\nnation, and often sang infidel-like poems such as: \u201cReign was a game in the\nhands of Bani Hashem; and now it is in our hands; Truly there was no angels to\ndescend upon anyone and there was no revelation! 4\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When Yazid demanded the allegiance of\nImam Hussain (PBUH) through the ruler of Medina, the Imam said: \u201cWhen the\nauthority of all Muslims is left to a person like Yazid, then that is a clear\nend to Islam.\u201d5<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This sentence shows that the\nmotivation of Imam Hussain (PBUH) in his uprising against Yazid in the year 61\nAH was to prevent the Umayyad destruction of the religion and protect Islam.\nThe phrase \u201ca person like Yazid\u201d implies that Yazid himself is not a\nsignificant entity to have an uprising against, but it is more the mentality\nand practices of Yazid. Imam Hussain\u2019s (PBUH) uprising was against people with\nsuch mentality and those who approve it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Although Yazid died long ago, his\nmentality and practices remains to this day. \nAnd until the reappearance of Imam Mahdi (PBUH), the followers of Imam\nHussain (PBUH) should continue to reject them. Therefore, the yearly uproar of\nAshura and the show of affection and love to Imam Hussein (PBUH) during Arbaeen\nis a response to the rebirth of the true Islam, or rather giving life to the\nHussein thinking path.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Selection taken from the Book, Hussein\n(PBUH) the light of guidance and the rescue arc, by Ayatullah Seyyed Muhammad\nZia Abadi (with minor changes)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On behalf of Roshd Website, we offer\nour condolences to all free people of the world, especially you dear friend, on\nthe 40th day (Arba\u2019een) after the martyrdom of Imam Hussein (PBUH) and his\ncompanions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Footnotes:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
1. Ammar e Yasir\nwas among Prophet Muhammad\u2019s (PBUH&HP) greatest companions who joined him\nfrom the first days of the Prophet\u2019s mission, and was among the first people\nwho became Muslim in Mecca. After the\nmigration, Hijrah, Ammar fought in different battles, alongside the Prophet,\nagainst the non-believers. The status of\nAmmar among the Muslims and the Prophet\u2019s (PBUH&HP) companions was quite\nhigh, to the extent that Muslims would consider Ammar as living proof and one\nthey could count on for finding the true path. \nThe Holy Prophet (PBUH) continuously praised Ammar for his faith and\npersistence, and would introduce him as the necessity of truth and\ntruthfulness. Based on this, Ammar\nconsidered the flag of the Bani Ummayah and that of the army of Siffein to be\nthe same flag as that of the clan of Qureish in the wars of Badr, Ahad, and\nHunein against Islam. He refers to the\nBani Umayyah and those of whom who fought in Siffein as the same people who\nbefore the victory of Mecca by Prophet Muhammad (PBUH&HP) had worked so\nhard to destroy Islam. Those are the\nsame people who continued to destroy Islam, only with a different appearance\nand technique. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
2. ‘Amr ibn\nal-\u2018As was one of Muawiyah\u2019s senior commanders who ordered the Qurans to be\nplaced on the spears to fool the opposition army into a temporary peace. This\nwas done in the battle of Seffein. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
3. The Event of\nSeffein, pg. 321<\/p>\n\n\n\n
4. Ihtijaj\nTabarsi, vol. 2, pg. 307<\/p>\n\n\n\n
5. Luhuf, pg. 24<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u201cWe served in the army of Amir al-Mu\u2019minin during the battle of Saffein under the command of Ammar Yasir1. It was noon and we were sitting in the shadow of the flag to escape the heat. A man cut through the lines and came up to us asking, \u2018which one of you is Ammar Yasir?\u2019 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28248],"tags":[20697,17778,20330,20698,17892,17977,18418,20696,18777,20699],"class_list":["post-4287","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-occasional-letters","tag-2017-11-10","tag-allah","tag-army","tag-heat","tag-imam-hussain","tag-morning","tag-occasion-letters","tag-the-rejuvenator-of-religion","tag-truth","tag-wrong"],"yoast_head":"\n