The quality of employment means in the Holy Prophet’s and religious opponent’s manner-3

Abraham, Son of the Holy Prophet
Abraham was a favorite son of the Holy Prophet from Mariah Qibtiah. He died when he was 18 months of age. The Holy Prophet, a very sentimental man, was moved to tears saying: “O, Abraham, our heart is broken and we shed tears in sorrow for you. But we can never utter a word against God’s Will.” All the Muslims were touched upon seeing the Holy Prophet mourning. Accidentally, there was an eclipse of the sun right on the day of Abraham’s death. The Muslims attributed it to a harmony between the world a high, the earth the Holy Prophet. The attributed the eclips of the sun to the death of the Holy Prophet’s son.

This, of course, does not matter in itself. Even the whole world may get upset for the sake of the Holy Prophet. Thus rumor took wings, and all men and women of Medina attributed the sin’s eclipse to the sorrow that rested in the Prophet’s heart. Consequently, their faith in the Holy Prophet became stronger. The Holy Prophet’s however, did not want to take advantage to people’s ignorance and weakness, he was willing to use only strong points, their knowledge and intellect while calling them to Islam, because the Holy Quran had ordered him:

“Call to the way of your Lord with wisdom and fair, admonition, and have disputations with them in the best manner.”… The Holy Quran :(16: 125)

He didn’t want to realize his goals through any means possible. So he mounted the pulpit and told the people “The eclipse of the sun is not for my son.” “Thus, he rejected this illogical reasoning. He would not take advantage of such reasoning by remaining silent because in Islam,, there is no room for such cunning. Such means are resorted by those whose religion is not based on logic. nor on clear evidence. Secondly, those who take advantage of such tricks finally land into trouble. As goes the famous proverb, you can fool some people all the time, and you can fool all the people for some time, but you can’t food all the people all the time. Thirdly, God does not allow man to do so. To attain the right, one should use the right means. Bringing right and wrong together will ruin the former. Right vanishes when wrong moves in.

Once in a town, a great scholar heard a certain Sayyed narrating false accounts of the tragedies of Karbala. The great scholar protested: “What are these stories that you say?” The Sayyed answered: “ You mind your own jurisprudence and principles of religion: I am free to deal with my ancestor (Hussain) whichever way I deem fit”. Such attitudes have very harmful to our religion in many ways. When the goal is sacred, the means we choose in reaching this should also be sacred. We should not lie, backbite, or accuse others, either for our own sake or for the sake of our religion. To lie, to backbite, or to accuse people for the sake of religion, is actually what religion prohibits. We should look carefully at the lives of our innocent Imams to see how they lived. When Ali (A.S) encountered Mu’awiah at the “Battle of Seffin”, the latter saw to it that water of Euphrates would not reach Ali and the troops of Islam. Ali and his companions ran out of water and Ali sent a message to Muawiah telling him that he is there for negotiations and that perhaps Allah will help them solve the Muslim’s problems. He then requested Mu’awiah to allow them to have access to the wate of the Euphrates. Mu’awiah however, refused to do so, considering this as a good tactic for final victory. Seeing through Muawiah’s intention, Ali ordered for an attack and the sun had hardly set, when the soldiers of Mu’awiah were forced to retreat from their positions, leaving the Euphrates of Ali’s soldiers. The latters wanted to pay in the same coin to Mu’awiah troops, namely to cut their access to water, but Ali (A.S) told them:” We are not going to do this because God has gifted water to both Muslims, and non- Muslims, equally. Doing so would be unmanly. We do not want to win the war by such a mean act.”

In the story Umro bin Ass, who was indeed very mean, we see that once Ali asked Mu’awiah to stop sending the Muslims to the fronts to be killed and to come forward ( without cowardice) and fight him. Umro bin Ass too would every now and then incite Mu’awiah, telling him: “You are a man of courage. Take arms and fight Ali.” Mu’awiah knew that if he even tried to fight Ali, he would be killed, and so he did not accept the offer. Finally, Mu’awiah managed to fool “Umro bin Ass and sent him to the battlefield. The latter, was undoubtedly a brave man as he was the commander of Islamic troops when they took over Egypt. He put on his armor and went to the battlefield, watching out not to face a strong adversary as Ali. He said, “I am going to strike you while Ali (A.S) is not here.” Abalfadl, a young man of fourteen, was also present at the scene. Ali approached slowly and silently to avoid being noticed by Umro Ass. When he was close to him, Ali said: “I am the Quraishi Imam with whom everybody is safe!” Umro Ass was scared to death and fled on his horse. Ali (A.S) pursued him and struck him with his sword. Umro Ass, knowing that Ali would do nothing that went against Islam, threw himself off his horse and abruptly exposed his genital (seeing someone else’s genital is prohibited in Islam).So Ali turned back, leaving him to himself. This shows how some people would use any means possible to reach their goals and these people are all like Umro bin Ass could have killed him at once, but as he would not use any unworthy means to attain his goal, he didn’t neglect his morals when he encountered the enemy. Such examples show that our immaculate Imama were different from us and that their way of thinking also differed from us and that their way of thinking also differed from us and that their way of thinking also differed from ours. They considered themselves to be guardians of righteousness and truth. Imam Hossein (A.S) for example, did not care about being killed or not. His aim was actually to save a religion from extinction, a fundamental principle from being suppressed, even though his principle may seem to be insignificant.

On the day of Ashura, Shemr, a man m unequalled in the wickedness, was anxious to witness the situation at the fronts. He did his best to make his way behind the tents so that he could commit any crime he wanted. However, he ignored that Hossein (A.S) had already the tents set up close to each other in a semi-circle, inaccessible because of a ditch burning with hot flames. on seeing this, Shemr was furious and being to swear. One of Imam Hossein’s men sought permission to kill Shemr with a single stroke. He did not agree. That person thinking that Imam Hossein (A.S) did not know wicked Shemr was said: “I know what a cruel man he is.” The Imam remarked: “ I know him well too.” The man said: “Why don’t too allow me ti kill then?” Imam Hossein answered: “ We are now two groups of antagonists facing each other and I don’t like to be the aggressor or the first to begin the fight. I shall not start the battle until they start it with bloodshed since I respect this Quranic principle:

“The Sacred month for the sacred month and all sacred things are under the law of retaliation, whoever then acts aggressively against you, inflict injury on him according to the injury he has inflicted on you…..” The Holy Quran :( 2:194)

Ali (A.S). also referred to the same verse in the “Battle of Seffin and said that he would not start the war but will only keep to a defensive stand.

These points show the Imam’s character and give us a clear idea as to how they thought about the Islamic principles, even about minor ones. The enemy, however, did not think in the same way.

Dawn was gradually approaching and Imam Hossein (A.S)was busy positioning his troops to the right, left and center. He chose the flag –bearer and paid no attention to the fact that the enemy had an army of thirty thousand men whereas his consisted of ongy seventy two. Zuher was given vommand og the right wing and Habib-bin –Mazahir og the left. Hussain’s brother, All Abultadl, lifted the flag up and courageously, they faced an army of thirty thousand men. The enemy, on the other hand, did not care for manliness or meanness. Avarice for worldly possessions and the desire to become governor of Rey had blinded Umar – ibn- Sa’d. His ultimate goal was to please Ubeidullah –ibn –Ziad, so as to secure his position as governor of Rey. He was the first one to school at the Imam’s tents. He turned to his men and said: “ You soldiers! All of you bear witness that I have short the first arrow!

He had at least four thousand archers who shot continuously at the Imam and his companions. Imam Hussain (A.S) had a few archers too who fought back very bravely and for every man they lost, they killed several on the enemies’ side, Probably man of Imam Hussain ‘s men were martyred during this shooting, but certainly Imam Hussain ‘ was not the one to begin the offensive. The Ashura war started with the arrow of Umr- ibn-Sa’d and ended with three – winged arrow throwing Imam Hussain down from his horse.