Husayn (r.a.)

It was the 4th year of the Migration. The second grandson, who would continue the blessed descent of the Prophet, was born. The Prophet rushed to the house of his daughter as soon he heard the good news. He hugged his grandson. He named his grandson “Husayn”. A ram was sacrificed for him. In addition, his hair was weighed and its weight was given to the poor in silver. He was also circumcised.   

After that, the house of Hz. Fatima became more valuable in the eye of the Prophet. He started to go there more frequently; he hugged, kissed and loved his grandsons. He smelled them by saying, “Hasan and Husayn are my basils that I smell in this world.”[1]

The Prophet never wanted his beloved grandsons to cry due to any reason. He did not like it when they were made cry. Once, he was cuddling Hz. Husayn. He kissed and caressed him and took on his lap. Meanwhile, Husayn peed on him. The Prophet gave him to Ummu’l-Fadl and said, “Hold him. He peed on me.” Ummu’l-Fadl (r.anha) got angry with Husayn and hurt him. The Prophet could not bear it when his grandson cried. He said to Ummu’l-Fadl , “May Allah forgive you! You saddened me by hurting him.” Ummu’l-Fadl apologized to the Prophet. Once the Prophet heard Husayn cry. He said to Hz. Fatima, “Do you not know that I feel sorry when he cries?”[2]

The Messenger of Allah (pbuh) loved both of his grandsons very much. He did not discriminate between them. When both of them wanted something, he would give it to the one that wanted it first. Once, he went to visit and love his grandsons. They were sleeping. Hz. Hasan woke up and asked for some milk. There was a sheep in the house but she gave very little milk. The Prophet approached the sheep and milked her. The sheep gave a lot of milk. While he was about to give the milk to Hz. Ha­san, Hz. Husayn woke up and asked for some milk. The Prophet gave the milk to Hasan. Hz. Fatima said, “O Messenger of Allah! You probably love Hasan more.” The Prophet said, ‘I love both of them equally but Hasan asked for milk before Husayn did.”[3]

The Prophet's beloved grandsons became toddlers and started to toddle, which made them cuter. They loved their grandfather very much and wanted to see him all the time. It looked as if they felt that their grandfather was sent as a savior to human beings and that the universe was created for his sake.  

Once, they looked for the Prophet. They thought he could be at the mosque and walked toward the mosque. They entered the mosque and fell down. Meanwhile the Prophet was telling something to his Companions. When he saw that Hz. Hasan and Husayn fell, he interrupted his talk and went to pick them up. He cuddled them and said,

“Allah Almighty said, ‘Your riches and your children may be but a trial.’ How true He spoke. I saw these two children. They stumbled while walking. I could not put up with it and interrupted my talk to pick them up and brought them here.”[4]

Once, the Prophet was walking with his Companions. While they were passing by the house of Fatima, the Prophet saw Hz. Husayn playing in front of the door. He hurried toward Husayn, opened his arms and wanted to hug him. However, Hz. Husayn ran to the right and left, trying to escape from him. The Prophet smiled at his efforts. Then, he caught him. He put one of his hands on his head and the other on his chin. Then, he kissed and loved him. He said, “Husayn is of me and I am of Husayn. Anyone who loves Allah loves Husayn too.  Husayn is a grandson among grandsons."[5]

Once, the Prophet (pbuh) was talking to his Companions; Umm Ayman came and said in excitement, “O Messenger of Allah!  Hasan and Husayn have been lost. We could not find them.” The Prophet said to his Companions, “Go and look for my grandsons.” They went to different directions. The Prophet went out with Hz. Salman to look for them. When they arrived at the top of a mountain, they saw Hz. Hasan and Husayn. They were standing by hugging each other. There was a snake near them, with its mouth open. The Prophet ran toward them. The snake moved away, entering a hole. The Prophet went over to his grandsons and caressed them. He said, “May my mother and father be sacrificed for you! This is a great grace of Allah.” Then, he put one of them on his right shoulder and the other on his left shoulder. When Hz. Salman saw this, he said, “How Lucky you are! What a nice mount you have!” The Prophet said, “The riders are nice too. Their father is superior to them.”[6]

Hz. Hasan and Husayn grew up. They became old enough to wrestle each other. The Prophet made them wrestle and smiled. Once, they were wrestling again. The Prophet encouraged Hz. Hasan. He said, “Come on, Hasan! Catch Husayn!” Hz. Ali was there too. He said, “O Messenger of Allah! I think you should support Husayn because Hasan is older.” The Prophet (pbuh) said, “Look Jibril is supporting Husayn by saying, ’ Come on, Husayn! Catch Hasan!'"[7]

The Prophet saw his grandsons almost every day. He sometimes went to his daughter Fatima's house to see them and sometimes Hz. Fatima took them to the Prophet's house. She wanted her children to learn from him.  

Once Hz. Fatima took his sons to the Prophet when he was with Umm Salama.  Hz. Ali was also there. Meanwhile, verse 33 of the chapter of al-Ahzab was sent down: “Allah only wishes to remove all abomination from you, ye Members of the Family, and to make you pure and spotless.” The Prophet covered his daughter Fatima, Hz. Ali’, Hz. Hasan and Husayn with his garment. Then, he prayed as follows: “O Lord! They are my family members. Remove all abomination from them and make them pure and spotless!”[8]

After the death of the Prophet, Hz. Husayn, who was brought up by Hz. Ali, led a very plain life. He led a life that would set an example to everybody. Many of his statements reached us. Two of them are as follows:  

“The jobs of the people entrusted to you are divine trusts. Do not exploit them. Otherwise, they will be punishment for you.”

“A generous person has good manners; a stingy person has bad manners. If a person thinks of the wellbeing of his Muslim brother before himself, he will find better things in the hereafter.”

Hz. Husayn was a person whose prayer was accepted by Allah. Once, he was passing by a man who was cleaning his water-well. When the man saw Hz. Husayn, he said, “I am enlarging my well but I cannot increase its water by any means.” Hz. Husayn asked the man to bring him some water from the well. The man brought some water. Husayn (r.a.) drank a little from that water, rinsed it and sprinkled it into the well. After that, the water of the well increased and sweetened.

During the incident of Karbala, one of Yazid's men asked, “Is Husayn among you?” Then, he uttered rude words for Hz. Husayn, for whom the Prophet said, “He is the master of the youths of Paradise” and said, “I give him the glad tiding that he will go to Hell.” Hz. Husayn opened his hands and prayed Allah as follows: “O Allah! Send him to Hell!” As soon as he finished praying, Yazid's horse shied and he fell of the horse; his leg was stuck in the stirrup. He went to Hell by being broken into pieces.

After the death of Hz. Muawiya, Hz. Husayn did not accept the caliphate of Yazid because he was an oppressor and fasiq (sinner) He did not act in compliance with the orders of Allah. It was unthinkable for Hz. Husayn to pay allegiance to such a person. When the people of Kufa saw that Hz. Husayn did not pay allegiance to Yazid, they invited Hz. Husayn to Kufa and said that they would pay allegiance to him. They did not like the way Yazid lived. Thereupon, Hz. Husayn decided to go to Kufa. The Companions asked him not to go there but he insisted on going. He set off for Kufa with his children and relatives.

Yazid got very angry when he heard this. He ordered Ubaydullah bin Ziyad to prepare an army and to prevent Hz. Husayn. Ibn Ziyad prepared an army under the command of Hurr bin Yazid and sent them against Hz. Husayn. Yazid ordered Hurr to force Hz. Husayn to settle in a place without water, stones and trees. Hurr fulfilled his order. He forced Hz. Husayn to settle in Karbala. Hz. Husayn and his mujahids could have killed Hurr bin Yazid and his men but Hz. Husayn did not want to shed the blood of Muslims in vain. He tried to make a deal with them but no deal was made. One day later, an army of four thousand soldiers under the command of Umar bin Sa'd came to help Hurr bin Yazid. They surrounded Hz. Husayn and the people with him. They surrounded the place where there was water. The weather was very hot. Hz. Husayn and the people with him were very thirsty. They asked for water but their demand was refused.

Hz. Husayn realized that they were determined to kill him. He did not want the people around him to be killed.  He addressed them as follows:

“O my friends! You see that the world has changed. The good ones died and the bad ones remained. Life has no taste. The remaining part of our life is nothing but water left at the bottom of a container and life in boring grassland with bad weather. Do you not see that people do not act in accordance with what is right and do not give up what is wrong? A person who is left in such conditions needs to prefer death to life. I regard death as happiness and living under the administration of oppressors as dishonor.”

After speaking like that, Hz. Husayn asked the people around him to go away at night making use of darkness. However, they did not accept it. They said, “May Allah not leave us alive after you! By Allah, we shall not leave you!” They showed a great example of loyalty. Hz. Husayn was influenced by their words and deeds.

After a while, both armies were deployed opposite each other. They approached. Hoping to prevent a big disaster, Hz. Husayn made a moving speech. He addressed the people of Kufa as follows:

“O people! The Messenger of Allah (pbuh) stated the following in a hadith: ‘When a person sees a tyrant oppressing people, doing what Allah forbids without fear, acting against the Sunnah of the Messenger and ruling over the people with tyranny and sinfulness, and when he continues to keep silent and do not try to stop him with his hands and tongue, Allah will drive him toward the place that he rightly deserves.’ These men (Yazid and Ubay­dul­lah bin Ziyad) follow Satan all the time. They stop worshipping Allah and cause mischief. They have suspended the laws of Allah and have shared the Treasury of the state among themselves. They permit what Allah has forbidden and forbid what He has allowed. It is my duty before everybody else to oppose this.

“You sent me many letters that the situation is like that. You sent me messengers that you would pay allegiance to me and that you would not leave me alone. If you keep your promise and pay allegiance to me, you will act righteously. If you have broken your covenant and if you do not like my coming here, allow me to go back.

 “Think of it a bit. Will it do you good if you kill me? Will it be legitimate for you to shed my blood? Am I not the son of your Prophet's daughter? Am I not your Prophet's cousin Ali's son? Are Hamza, Abbas and Jafar not my uncles? Did the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) not say for me and my brother, ‘they are the masters of the youths of Paradise’?”

However, this raving group definitely wanted to kill Hz. Husayn. They were not in a position to understand anything. They attacked all together. There were a lot of people attacking Hz. Husayn and those with him. 

The people around Hz. Husayn promised that they would protect the beloved grandson of the Messenger of Allah until he was martyred. They resisted the attackers heroically. They formed a wall of flesh around Hz. Husayn. After a while, all of them were martyred one by one.

There were only a few people left around Hz. Husayn. They had several wounds. Hz. Husayn also had several wounds. He wanted to take a sip from the last bowl of water he had; he took the bowl to his mouth. Just then, an arrow hit his mouth. The bowl fell to the ground. He wiped the blood on his mouth with his hand. Meanwhile, another arrow hit him on the side. A group of ravagers attacked him. They cut his hand. Then, they martyred Hz. Husayn, whom the Prophet called “my basil”. They cut off his head and sent it to Yazid. It was the 61st year of the Migration.  

One day after this terrible incident, the people of the village of Ghadiriyya near Karbala arrived there and buried the martyrs. They wanted to make the grave of Hz. Husayn unknown but the nice scent coming from the grandson of the Prophet made his grave known.

Hz. Husayn’s younger son Umar and his son Aliy­yu’l-Asghar, who was ill, his son, Zaynab and some women were saved from being killed in the incident of Karbala.[9]

With this incident, another miracle of the Prophet became clear. The Messenger of Allah (pbuh) said years ago that Hz. Husayn would be martyred in Karbala. It turned out as he said. It occurred as follows:

Once, Jibril came to the Prophet. The Prophet was with Umm Salama then. The Prophet said to Umm Salama, “Close the door and do not let anybody in.” While they were inside, Hz. Husayn arrived and wanted to go in. Hz. Umm Salama tried to stop him but he managed to go in somehow and sat on the lap of the Messenger of Allah (pbuh). The Prophet kissed and caressed his grandson. Jibril said, “Do you love him a lot?” The Prophet said, “Yes, I love him a lot.” Jibril said, “Yes, but your ummah will martyr him.” The Prophet said, “You mean the believers will kill him?” Jibril said, “Yes. I will tell you where he will be martyred if you wish.” When the Prophet said, "Yes", Jibril left for a while. He returned with a handful of red and wet soil from Karbala. Thereupon, the Prophet started to shed tears. He gave the soil that Jibril brought to Umm Salama and asked her to keep it.[10]

On the day when Hz. Husayn was martyred, the sun was eclipsed and the sky became red. People thought Doomsday would strike. On the other hand, not only people but also jinn cried due to his death. Umm Salama narrates: “I had never heard jinn cry after the death of the Messenger of Allah. Once, I heard them cry again. I felt that Husayn was martyred. I sent my servant to find out what happened. My servant returned after a while and told me that Hz. Husayn had been martyred.”[11]

Hz. Husayn, who spent his life in the service of Islam, narrated several hadiths from the Prophet. Some of them are as follows:

“To leave unnecessary things shows the beauty of a person's Islam.”[12]

“The real miser is a person who does not utter salawat when my name is mentioned.”[13]

“O people! We act as if death is prescribed for others in the world, not for us; we act as if it is obligatory to act in accordance with what is right for others, not for us. We think the dead people that we saw off will soon return; we spend their inheritance as if we will stay in the world forever. We seem to have forgotten all of the advice and we do not fear that a misfortune will hit us. How happy is a person who is interested in his own mistakes and does not see others' mistakes! How happy is a person whose income is legitimate, whose secret things are good, whose open things are useful and whose path is straight! How happy is a person who acts modestly without humiliating himself, spends his legitimate income in the way of Allah, who spends time with knowledgeable and wise people and who shows mercy on poor and needy people! How happy is a person who spends most of his money but does not speak very much, who acts in accordance with the Sunnah and does not resort to bid'ah!”[14]

Lastly, we will narrate two hadiths mentioning the virtue of Hz. Hasan and Husayn:

“Hasan and Husayn are my children. He who loves them is regarded to love me. He who loves me is regarded to love Allah. Allah puts a person He loves into Paradise. He who does not love them and treats them as enemy is regarded to treat me as enemy. Allah does not love a person who treats me as enemy. Allah puts a person He does not love into Hell.”[15]

He stated the following for (Hz. Fatima, Hz. Hasan and Hz. Husayn) “I declare war against a person who declares war against you; I will be in peaceful terms with a person who is in peaceful terms with you.”[16]

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[1] Tirmidhi, Manaqib: 31.
[2] Hz. Muhammed ve İslamiyet, 4: 160.
[3] Usdu’l-Ghaba, 5: 523.
[4] Tirmidhi, Manaqib: 31.
[5] Mustadrak, 3: 177.
[6] Hayatu’s-Sahaba, 2: 493.
[7] al-Isaba, 1: 332.
[8] Tirmidhi, Manaqib: 32.
[9] Hz. Muhammed ve İslamiyet, 4: 195-202.
[10] Mustadrak, 3: 777; Usdu’l-Ghaba, 2: 22.
[11] Isaba, 1: 135; Hayatu’s-Sahaba, 3: 493.
[12] Musnad,1: 201.
[13] Musnad,1: 201.
[14] Hayatu’s-Sahaba, 3: 306.
[15] Mustadrak, 3: 166.
[16] Ibn Abi Shayba, Musannaf, 12: 97.