Muharram Quotes

1. http://moralsandethics.wordpress.com Muharram Quotes

2. I, the grandson of the Holy Prophet Mohammad (s.a.w.s.) stood for struggle of truth against falsehood& justice against corruption in the scorching heat of Kerbalā along with only72of my companions, thirsty and weary but with a firm determination, against the huge army of Yazeed’s70,000men satiated and well equipped with arms. Imām Husain ibn Ali (a.s.)

3. I was forced to leave my hometown (Medinā) and seek refuge in the Sacred Sanctuary (Mecca-Ka’bāh), but was compelled to depart from there too and forced to settle at a land devoid of water or vegetation named Kerbalā – Then I was beheaded like a lamb & 18persons from my family, who were unparallel in the earth, were also killed along with me being thirsty for more than 3 days & nights under the scorching temperature on land of Kerbalā (IRAQ)…. • Imām Husain ibn Ali (a.s.)

4. I was forced to witness the savage mutilation of Abbas – my brother, the callous murder of my nephew Qasim, the torture and execution of my innocent son Ali Akbar and finally the depraved murder of my 6 month old baby boy – Ali Asgar. Left alone finally they attacked me, my body was showered with arrows, my head was severed and the 1000’shooves of the horses of Yazeed’s cavalry trampled on my body. They decapitated me my supporters and our bodies were mutilated and trampled by horses Imām Husain ibn Ali (a.s.)

5. Aftermath of the battle they led to humiliation of my women’s folk from my camp. Their tents were looted and burnt, the aggrieved children who had lost their fathers were beaten. The captives were made to travel from Kerbala to Syria (Damascus), a journey of approximately 750 miles [Average travel by camel per day: 30-45 miles] Their Headscarves were snatched off and they were made to trek barefoot, chained, shackled, and taken on camels without saddles, due to which many of the children fell off the camels and the women were not allowed to even stop and help their children. The graves of these children can still be seen in the desert between Kerbala and Kufa (IRAQ). • Imām Husain ibn Ali (a.s.)

6. Mahatma Gandhi (Indian political and spiritual leader): “I learnt from Hussein how to achieve victory while being oppressed.” Charles Dickens (English novelist): “If Husain had fought to quench his worldly desires…then I do not understand why his sister, wife, and children accompanied him. It stands to reason therefore, that he sacrificed purely for Islam.”

7. Sir William Muir (Scottish orientalist): “The tragedy of Karbala decided not only the fate of the Caliphate, but also of Mohammadan kingdoms long after the Caliphate had waned and disappeared.” (Annals of the Early Caliphate, London, 1883, p.441-442) • Soren Kierkegard: “The tyrant dies and his rule ends, the martyr dies and his rule begins.”

8. Thomas Carlyle (Scottish historian and essayist): “The best lesson which we get from the tragedy of Cerebella is that Husain and his companions were rigid believers in God. They illustrated that the numerical superiority does not count when it comes to the truth and the falsehood. The victory of Husain, despite his minority, marvels me!” • Edward Gibbon (1737-1794 Considered the greatest British historian and member of parliament): “In a distant age and climate, the tragic scene of the death of Hosein will awaken the sympathy of the coldest reader.” (The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, London, 1911, volume 5, p. 391-392)

9. Dr. K. Sheldrake:“Of that gallant band, male and female knew that the enemy forces around were implacable, and were not only ready to fight, but to kill. Denied even water for the children, they remained parched under the burning sun and scorching sands, yet not one faltered for a moment. Husain marched with his little company, not to glory, not to power of wealth, but to a supreme sacrifice, and every member bravely faced the greatest odds without flinching.”

10. Antoine Bara (Lebanese writer): “No battle in the modern and past history of mankind has earned more sympathy and admiration as well as provided more lessons than the martyrdom of Husain in the battle of Karbala • Edward G. Brown (Professor at the University of Cambridge): “…a reminder of that blood-stained field of Karbala, where the grandson of the Apostle of God fell, at length, tortured by thirst, and surround by the bodies of his murdered kinsmen, has been at anytime since then, sufficient to evoke, even in the most lukewarm and the heedless, the deepest emotion, the most frantic grief, and an exaltation of spirit before which pain, danger, and death shrink to unconsidered trifles.” (A Literary History of Persia, London, 1919, p.227)la.” ( Husayn in Christian Ideology)

11. Peter J. Chelkowski( Professor of Middle Eastern Studies, New York University ) "Hussein accepted and set out from Mecca with his family and an entourage of about seventy followers. But on the plain of Kerbela they were caught in an ambush set by the … caliph, Yazid. Though defeat was certain, Hussein refused to pay homage to him. Surrounded by a great enemy force, Hussein and his company existed without water for ten days in the burning desert of Kerbela. Finally Hussein, the adults and some male children of his family and his companions were cut to bits by the arrows and swords of Yazid's army; his women and remaining children were taken as captives to Yazid in Damascus. The renowned historian Abu Reyhan al-Biruni states;“ … then fire was set to their camp and the bodies were trampled by the hoofs of the horses; nobody in the history of the human kind has seen such atrocities.“ [ Ta'ziyeh: Ritual and Drama in Iran , New York, 1979, p. 2 ]

12. Robert Durey Osborn( 1835-1889 Major of the Bengal Staff Corps ) "Hosain had a child named Abdallah, only a year old. He had accompanied his father in this terrible march. Touched by its cries, he took the infant in his arms and wept. At that instant, a shaft from the hostile ranks pierced the child's ear, and it expired in his father's arms. Hosain placed the little corpse upon the ground. 'We come from God, and we return to Him!' he cried; 'O Lord, give me strength to bear these misfortunes!' … Faint with thirst, and exhausted with wounds, he fought with desperate courage, slaying several of his antagonists. At last he was cut down from behind; at the same instance a lance was thrust through his back and bore him to the ground; as the dealer of this last blow withdrew his weapon, the ill-fated son of Ali rolled over a corpse. The head was severed from the trunk; the trunk was trampled under the hoofs of the victors' horses; and the next morning the women and a surviving infant son were carried away to Koufa. The bodies of Hosain and his followers were left unburied on the spot where they fell. For three days they remained exposed to the sun and the night dews, the vultures and the prowling animals of the waste; but then the inhabitants of a neighbouring village, struck with horror that the body of a grandson of the Prophet should be thus shamefully abandoned to the unclean beasts of the field, dared the anger of Obaidallah, and interred the body of the martyr and those of his heroic friends."[ Islam Under the Arabs , Delaware, 1976, pp. 126-7 ]