In the Realm of the Husseini Epic by Abdul Sattar Al-Jabri 10
5 days ago
Wisdom anecdotes-طرائف
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**The Effects of the Revolution of Imam al‑Husayn (peace be upon him) – 2**
**Second: Transformation in the Political Reality of Iraq**
Iraq became a center for revolutions and uprisings against Umayyad rule and later Abbasid rule in a way that no other region experienced to the same extent. Among the most notable of these were the uprising of Zayd al‑Shahid (may God be pleased with him) and the uprising of Mu‘awiyah ibn ‘Abd Allah ibn Ja‘far ibn Abi Talib (may God be pleased with him).
The revolutions of Iraqi society were not confined to a particular group or sect. In some cases, Iraqis of different sects and orientations united against unjust authority, as occurred in the revolt of the people of Kufa against al‑Hajjaj ibn Yusuf al‑Thaqafi. They also participated in opposition movements alongside figures such as Yusuf ibn ‘Umar and later ‘Abd Allah ibn ‘Umar ibn ‘Abd al‑‘Aziz against the Umayyad court.
The revolutions of the Iraqis played a significant role in weakening Umayyad rule. As a result, the conditions became favorable for the Abbasids to overthrow the Umayyad government and bring it to an end.
**Third: Correcting Intellectual Deviation**
The Noble Qur’an was revealed to establish the civilizational foundations upon which Muslim society should be built. Among the most prominent of these foundations is sincere devotion to the worship of God, the Blessed and Exalted:
“And I did not create jinn and mankind except that they may worship Me.”
Sincere worship of God is realized through adherence to the teachings of the Noble Qur’an and the guidance of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family):
“Indeed, this Qur’an guides to that which is most upright,”
and
“Whatever the Messenger gives you, take it, and whatever he forbids you from, refrain from it.”
These two principles require following the Qur’anic teachings and the prophetic teachings. Anything beyond them represents a departure from the foundations that God has established for Muslim society.
Muslim society in the first century faced a series of trials which, when examined in light of the social patterns experienced by all human societies, reveal a broader phenomenon. Human societies naturally tend to impose their own will over the will of God and to prioritize immediate worldly interests over the higher interests intended by God. Such social tendencies are among the primary causes of deviation from the civilizational values brought by divine religions.
The Muslim community was not unique in this regard; it was a human society like others, subject to the same dynamics. The Qur’an itself alludes to this social reality in the verse:
“You will surely pass from stage to stage.”
When observing the course of human history in its interaction with the civilizational values brought by the great religions, one finds an evolution in the way societies dealt with those values. In pre‑Flood societies, humanity moved from a society of monotheism to one of pervasive polytheism. In post‑Flood societies, the responses to religious reality differed. Some societies became fully polytheistic, such as the communities of Sodom, Thamud, ‘Ad, and the Pharaonic society of Egypt. Other societies did not reach complete polytheism and thus were not destroyed by God, such as the society of Babylon during the time of the Prophet Abraham (peace be upon him), the Arab society in the Arabian Peninsula after the tribe of Khuza‘ah introduced idol worship there, and the societies of the eastern world and Europe.
As for the society of the Children of Israel, it remained fundamentally monotheistic, though it was influenced by the deviant ideas of the Egyptians. This influence was evident when they asked Moses (peace be upon him) to make for them a god and when the call of the Samiri succeeded in leading them to worship the calf. Over time, their society shifted from pure monotheism to one marked by theological doubts that left lasting effects on their beliefs and practices, even after the establishment of the monotheistic state under the Prophet Joshua (peace be upon him).
Anyone who studies the Qur’anic narratives about the Children of Israel will find this clearly illustrated. Because of their deviation from the divine path, the influential forces in their society eventually became three:
– **The political authority**, administered by the kings of the Children of Israel after a political coup removed the prophets from the highest position in governing the affairs of the land.
– **The rabbis**, who assumed responsibility for managing religious affairs within the state and played a harmful role in distorting religious values and manipulating the sources of legislation in ways that served their personal or factional interests.
– **The prophets**, who conveyed God’s message but lived as ordinary individuals within society while facing hostility from temple priests and unjust authorities.
When one studies the social reality of Muslim society from the conquest of Mecca until the late Abbasid era, it becomes clear that what occurred among the Children of Israel was repeated almost exactly within the Muslim community. Kings ruled while unjustly adopting the titles of caliphs and “Commanders of the Faithful.” The state developed its own class of jurists who issued legal opinions according to the desires of the rulers and helped establish intellectual frameworks that ignored the two foundational principles of Islamic civilizational thought. This caused severe harm to Muslim society.
Rulers and court scholars turned religion into a tool to achieve their political aims, consolidate their power, and eliminate their opponents. Fabrication of hadith in the name of the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) spread widely, especially after the recording of the prophetic tradition had been prohibited for a long period under weak justifications. Independent reasoning in opposition to authentic texts became common, and the opinions of rulers came to be treated as binding religious authority—even when they contradicted the explicit teachings of the Qur’an and the Sunnah.
The Muslim community was further afflicted by rulers who adopted particular sectarian positions and attempted to impose their sectarian affiliation upon society, thereby restricting people’s right to knowledge, the search for truth, and adherence to it. Various methods of persecution were used against intellectual and political opponents. Leaders known for righteousness and piety were harassed, exiled, imprisoned, or killed. Thus, the first three centuries of Islamic history became among the most difficult periods in terms of intellectual and political freedom.
Amid these dark circumstances, the Husayni epic maintained a powerful presence in the conscience of the Muslim community. Its political impact—manifested in the emergence of revolutions against political and social injustice—also left a clear influence on the intellectual sphere. It stripped away the aura of sanctity surrounding the methods of intellectual domestication practiced by state scholars and official propaganda. This gave rise to intellectual currents that ran parallel to the ideology of the ruling authority. At times these currents approached the truth, and at other times they diverged from it, since they were largely products of human reasoning, which can be correct or mistaken.
Although the leaders of these intellectual movements often realized the limitations of their positions, personal inclinations sometimes prevented them from drawing directly from the pure source of truth that is free from falsehood. Nevertheless, they remained part of the broader intellectual movement within society that weakened the project of monopolizing the intellectual life of the Muslim community.
Over time, this intellectual movement developed further, until today we witness calls for returning to the Noble Qur’an and the authentic Sunnah in order to re‑examine the Islamic heritage that had been subjected to distortion over many centuries. All of this is among the effects of the revolution of the Master of Martyrs (peace be upon him), which awakened in free‑thinking individuals the spirit of returning to the truth.
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