Safar 07, 1426 AH Friday Khutbah # 41

March 18, 2005 Imam Hassan Al-Mujtaba & Karbala

1:1 Praise belongs to God,

the First, without a first before Him,

the Last, without a last behind Him.

2:1

Praise belongs to God

who was kind to us through Muhammad

(God bless him and his Household)

to the exclusion of past communities and bygone generations,

displaying thereby His power,

which nothing can render incapable,

though it be great,

and nothing can escape,

though it be subtle.

Brothers and sisters in Imaan, Salaamun Alaikum,

Allah in Sura # 48, Sura-e-Fath, verses 1-3 says:

and complete His favor to you and keep you on a right way,

These verses of the Holy Qur’an were revealed at Hudaybiya, when the Holy Prophet

Muhammad [saww] entered into a peace treaty with the pagans of Makkah, under the

leadership of Abu Sufyan, in the year 6 AH when the Prophet had sought to go for

pilgrimage to the House of Allah, the Kaaba.

However, when the Holy Prophet did sign this peace treaty, some of the very close

companions have been recorded to have said that they had never doubted the Prophethood

of the Holy Prophet as they did on this occasion whilst Allah’s revelation of a clear victory

came; and at least one very apparent result was seen immediately that Muslims could freely

go for pilgrimage to the house of the Lord without any intimidation and the foundation of

the conquest of Makkah was also laid.

Similarly, after some 35 years of this event, a similar situation did arise in the Muslim world.

Having sworn their allegiance to Imam Hassan [as] after the martyrdom of Imam Ali [as],

Muslims were faced with the ploys and plots of Mu’awiyah bin Abu Sufyan.

Mu’awiyah, son of Abu Sufyan, the arch enemy of the Holy Prophet; and Hind, the liver

chewer of Hamza, the uncle of the Prophet with his unchecked excesses, corruption,

distortion and heavy handed atrocities not only ruled the Islamic world and took control of

the Muslims by appointing his henchmen at all the important and strategic positions, but

also in the process degenerated the morals of the Muslims that were brought about by the

Holy Prophet with such great difficulties and unmatched sacrifices.

Mu’awiyah challenged the Imamate of Imam Hassan and forged a full fledged war against

the Ahlul Bait of the Holy Prophet. To be able to understand and comprehend the situation

of the time, we shall very briefly discuss the social and political conditions of that time.

The martyrdom of Amirul Mu’mineen, Imam Ali ibne Abitalib [as] on the 21st of Ramadan, in

the year 40 AH, left the Ummah with no doubt or hesitation about the suitability of Imam

Hassan [as] as his successor. They were aware that they would not find anyone to match

Imam Hassan [as] caliber throughout the Islamic community.

We need to understand that political and religious leadership in Islam is a very high and

dignified position; it is also considered a crucial and great responsibility. The first

responsibility that makes this position critically important is the leader’s devotion to the

people who live within the scope of his authority and governance. In this respect, the

personality of Imam Hassan [as] surrounds a whole range of issues that could be discussed.

His knowledge and skill, his generosity, his nobility of mind and conduct, his patience and

forbearance and his perfect human quality are the topics on which many lengthy works have

been written.

Of all these, however, perhaps the most outstanding and brilliant part of the Imam’s life

was his devotion to the people. It was immediately after the martyrdom of Imam Ali [as]

that the people of Kufa swore their allegiance to Imam Hassan [as] and entrusted him to

assume the power of governing the country and to administer the Muslim affairs with his

efficient and just management. They were supported in this by the people of Medina;

however, the province of Syria [sham] was still in the hands of Mu’awiyah, known of his

open enmity towards the Prophet and his family.

Mu’awiyah had ruled Syria as a private kingdom since the time of the rule of Umar ibne

Khattab, the second Khalifa of the Muslims. He had built for himself a strong and loyal army

and a powerful propaganda machine. He had long planned to attract the people’s attention

towards himself and usurp and seize the khilafat by his military force that he had built of

Shami soldiers, in order to dominate all over the Islamic territories; but in the presence of

Amirul Mu’mineen [as] and his family, they being the perfect examples and models of

Islamic justice made the performance of this task impossible.

Mu’awiyah was well aware that in the presence of Imam Ali [as], Imam Hassan [as] and

Imam Husayn [as], he would never be able to fulfill this illegitimate ambition. It was as a

result of Mu’awiyah’s political intrigues and plotting that Imam Ali [as] was martyred in

Kufa.

No sooner had Imam Hassan [as] been entrusted with the reins of the state, Imam found

himself confronted by Mu’awiyah’s cunning and vicious policies and threatened by his

armies. Imam was well aware of Mu’awiyah’s plotting and knew that he would finally be

involved in a conflict with him. Personally he was ready, but he also knew how the

commanders of his father’s army accepted Mu’awiyah’s bribes to the extent that they even

became direct agents and parties of the plots against Imam Ali [as].

In a way history was to repeat itself, Mu’awiyah could not live his lifetime with the

illegitimate ambition of ruling the entire Islamic world without executing his desires. The

acceptance of Imam Hassan [as] by the people of Iraq with no opposition or protest from

Arabia, Persia and Yemen alarmed Mu’awiyah. He took the first step by denouncing Imam

Hassan’s appointment and began preparation for a war. He summoned all the commanders

of his forces and sent many of his agents and spies to arouse the people against Imam

Hassan [as].

Mu’awiyah employed the same vicious politics of buying out the commanders of Imam’s

army. With the commanders, several battalions of a large force of the Imam, left Imam’s

army and joined the enemy to fight against the Imam. This was followed by a mass

desertion. With only a few soldiers left, Imam found himself in an unsustainable situation.

Mu’awiyah in fact did not want to fight – it was only a political ploy to deceive the people

and force the Imam to make a peace treaty with him, just to abrogate the treaty and do

whatever he wanted. So he started to send messages to Imam offering peace on Imam’s

conditions. In the circumstance, Imam was finally persuaded to make the peace treaty.

Volumes have been written on this and we need not go into this at the moment.

What Mu’awiyah did next after signing the treaty was to commit a most despicable act of

crushing the document under his feet and declare the end of it.

The success of Mu’awiyah’s strategies and propaganda ploys led Imam Hassan [as] to

realize that the conditions were not right of fighting the exploitative forces and that a

revolution had to be developed against the Banu Ummayya dynasty. Now that the Banu

Ummayya reactionaries were in command of the power base of the government, Imam

Hassan [as] was well aware that such a revolution required specific social conditions without

which the aims of the revolution would not be achieved and the whole efforts would result in

great carnage and destruction. For these reasons, Imam Hassan [as] sensed that his

responsibility was to develop the preliminary grounds for such a revolution and lay the

foundations of steadfastness to the cause of Islam.

He turned to the people in such a way that he educated and prepared the grounds of the

revolution in their minds so that Imam Husayn [as] to follow him would be able to create a

great movement that culminated in Karbala. Imam preferred the people, the community

and devoted himself to the people’s prosperity. He resisted the distorting and unjust

exploitative measures of Mu’awiyah and in this respect the task was most difficult than

simply to fight and die. Imam’s flexibility, wisdom and endeavors were truly heroic.

Let us now summarize the main points of our analysis and assessment of the life of our

Imam. Imam’s vital and dynamic role in the supreme revolution in Karbala has gone down

in the annals of history as his great contribution to the revolution. During the final ten years

of his life Imam devoted himself to advancing the truth without fear of Mu’awiyah and

managed to save the true spirit of Islam in the face of all the distortions and falsehood

deliberately and maliciously introduced by Mu’awiyah and his bureau of vicious and base

propaganda.

Mu’awiyah had decided for a long time to renovate the old ideology of the era of Jahilliya

[ignorance]. Intent on developing this pagan ideology in the very nose and realms of Islam

by misusing the sacred name of Islam, he would be able to promote and serve their own

interests and prejudices and perpetuate the rule of Banu Ummayya.

In retrospect this would seem to be unstoppable, it was only Imam Hassan and the

household of the prophet and their most devoted followers who stood boldly against this

trend. Imam Hassan’s responsibility to attract people’s attention towards true Islam that

had been corrupted and distorted by Mu’awiyah was truly successful to ultimately bring

down the rule of Banu Ummayya in a short period of time. Imam had to steer a tiny

community of true believers through those moist turbulent times and to prepare them for

the great and most memorable revolution at Karbala which has become a universal symbol.

Two very explicit lessons we should learn from Imam’s holy life; the first is that it disproves

the false and malicious stories that Mu’awiyah and his corrupted Ulema and historians built

around Imam’s life in order to slur and denigrate Imam’s divine personality.

Secondly, we need to ask ourselves in how we can contribute to that revolution which Imam

initiated and effectively prepared the Ummah in Medina. We can also contribute greatly to it

by reforming our lives to fit into the kind of reformation which Imam declared in Medina

when he was leaving on that journey to Karbala; remaining steadfast onto the principles of

truth and upholding and saving the principles of Islam for which Imam gave his supreme

sacrifice in Karbala.

Today is the 7th of Safar; it is an extremely sad day. It is the day on which our second

Imam Hassan [as] departed from this world in extreme pain after being viciously poisoned,

therefore it behooves us to consider Imam’s martyrdom in the light of his contribution to

the cause of Islam and strive to emulate from his teachings and life.

Whilst some historians have reported this martyrdom of Imam on the 28th of Safar,

coinciding with the departure of the Holy Prophet, and corresponding to March 26th, 679 AD,

Sheikh Abbas Qummi in his Mifatihul Jinan has reported today’s date which we globally

commemorate.

Ya Allah condemn and damn the first tyrant who unjustly and wrongfully usurped that which

rightly belonged to Mohammad and the children of Mohammad, and curse be upon those

who, after him, followed this tyrant’s footsteps.

Ya Allah condemn and damn those conspirators who angered, troubled and harassed

Husayn, showed eagerness, agreed mutually, and joined hands to kill him. Ya Allah bring

curse upon all of them.

Allah has categorically and emphatically announced in the Holy Qur’an that religion is not an

idle sport and play and that our life in this world and our actions should not deceive us as

HE warns us of our meeting HIM and our accounting in the Hereafter, which is not only the

truth but certain. Our life in this world is a preparation for our eternal abode in the

Hereafter; and far more important than the temporary and short lived pleasures that we are

seduced into.

We therefore need to be conscious of our deeds and make concerted efforts in

accomplishing our duty to our Lord, being in HIS obedience at all times, following and

practicing the teachings of the Holy Prophet and the Imams of the Ahlul Bait [as], as there

is no escape from death and our bliss and/or misery depends on this.

Let us beseech Allah [swt] to grant us the tawfiq to be in HIS obedience at all times, and

shun away from HIS disobedience at all times and have sincere and truthful intentions at all

times.