As a sacred religious movement and as a revolutionary political step the epic of Karbala is the most crucial religio-political uprising in the political culture of Muslim Ummah. This movement aimed at the revival of the religious laws, the elimination of religious and political deviation. Separating Imam Husain (A.S.) from his historical and ideological organs is the same as cutting a part of a living body and studying it separately.
Throughout the history, religious movements are divided into two kinds: on the basis of content and conducts of prophets and founders. A set of Prophets came from the most deprived layer of social and economic life of their age – Those were the Abraham’s descendents. The second group of prophets and the founders of schools of thoughts and morality, such as Mani, Mazdak, Siddhartha Gautama, Confucius, Zarathustra, Socrates, Aristotle, Plato, etc. came from the noble families.
The Abrahamic Prophets rose from the deprived masses. They were neither from the angels nor from the elites or noble families but the simple individuals who spoke by their nation’s language and accent. They were not able to talk the same as philosophers, poets or intellectuals. According to Islamic worldview, all the prophets, such as Adam, Noah, Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Jesus Christ, Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), etc. were sent by Allah Almighty for the salvation of men. They were the heirs of one another who made efforts for the same purpose. This historical continuity of prophecy ended with Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). According to Shiite ideology, this responsibility was placed on the shoulder of Imams after the demise of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). Hence, Imams were the heirs of holy prophets.
From the very start of history, there was always a battle between right and wrong. For instance, when Cain slew Abel, it was the first drop of blood shed on Earth and the war between right and wrong started – there emerged the Devine and Devil’s parties. Moses protested against the King of his time Pharaoh and wrecked his imperial castle. Abraham revolted against Nimrod and Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) against the pagans of Makah. Hence, all Abrahamic prophets preached the same religion and launched war against the oppressors and pagans of their times for the same purpose. In other words, all the prophets came to preach the oneness and uniqueness of God, direct the men to salvation and fight against the Devil’s party.
When Cain murdered Abel, he and his descendents owed blood to Abel’s descendents. The men were polarized into Divine and Devil’s parties. A sense of revenge handed down from one generation to the next.
The very historical continuity is stated in Holy Qur’an and Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) is called the last messenger and all the religious messengers came to spread justice. The prophets’ global movements were to free the men from the intrinsic and extrinsic slavery. The last Prophet (PBUH) came to offer unity to the men’s history, races, nations, families and the social layers of society and to bridge the gap which was caused by pagans and paganism. Initially, rather than focusing on thinkers, philosophers, etc, Islam started with freeing the hungry, humiliated and oppressed slaves from the clutch of their masters. Hence, the Abrahamic Prophets rose from the deprived masses and were backed by the deprived and underprivileged groups of society rather than by aristocrats.
The slaves and the deprived masses were ruled by the ideologies – “false conscience” as defined by Marx, which is a tool in the hand of the kings to rule the people. The great Greek philosopher, Aristotle, thought that slavery was a natural thing and that human beings came in two types - slaves and non-slaves. “For that some should rule and others be ruled is a thing not only necessary, but expedient; from the hour of their birth, some are marked out for subjection, other for rule…” Some people, he said, were born natural slaves and ought to be slaves under any circumstances. Other people were born to rule these slaves, could use these slaves as they pleased and could treat them as property. Plato thought similarly that it was right for the “better” to rule over the “inferior”. Or as the Prophet Mani had said when speaking of light and darkness, “The wretched and defeated are of the essence of darkness and the conquerors are of the essence of light.” It was dictated to the deprived people and they believed this way. Hence, such type of thinking was the very frame of minds of the public. Men were divided unjustly into slaves and masters.
The Prophet (PBUH) of Islam had been appointed in order to complete the movement which had existed throughout history against deception, falsehood, polytheism, creation of discord, hypocrisy, aristocracy and class differences which were all made an object of the spiritual struggle and by announcing that all of humanity is of one race, one source, one nature and one God, to declare equality for all, with philosophical explanation and by fighting an economically powerful regime to maintain social equity.
But this gap was widened and the rift re-grew after the sad demise of the holy Prophet (PBUH). Since the Imams and caliphs were the substitutes and heirs of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), they had to fight the moral corruption, injustice, oppression, dictatorship, deviation, etc.
At the time of Imam Husain (A.S.) the moral corruption and oppression reached at their peaks and was beyond tolerance. So, as Imam and religious leader, Husain (A.S.) felt obliged to fight at the cost of his blood. His blood was his only wealth that could prevent the tree of Islam, planted by the holy Prophet (PBUH), from weathering and the religious beliefs and moral values from erosion. He raised his voice against the illegitimate and dictatorial regime of Yazid. His drops of blood defamed Yazid and his corrupt regime and Imam Husain’s (A.S.) spiritual victory is witnessed by history up to now and his courage is praised and his martyrdom is commemorated annually by Muslim Ummah.