This week millions of Muslims around the world will commemorate the event of Ashura.
The 10th day of the first Islamic month, Ashura is the day in history when the Battle of Karbala took place in the year 680 between the camp of Hussain and the army of Yazid.
Hussain was the grandson of Muhammad, the final prophet of Islam. Several years after Muhammad’s death, the moral values and rights of society were being eroded under a new tyrannical ruler named Yazid ibn Muawiyah.
When he saw that the fundamental rights of his fellow citizens all around him were being violated, Hussain chose to make a stand and not bow to a corrupt leader.
But while Hussain, along with his small group of loyal companions and kin, was ruthlessly crushed at the Battle of Karbala, a moral victory emerged that transcends space and time.
Hussain stood for truth, and refused to stay silent when immorality, injustice, and oppression had engulfed society. His stand was never about prevailing militarily over the forces of Yazid, who vastly outnumbered Hussain’s men.
Through his death, he showed the world how to take a stand against wrong in any shape or form, no matter how imposing the odds.
In his own words, “Death with dignity is better than life with humiliation.”
That’s why it comes as no surprise that many people in history have been inspired by Hussain’s monumental stand for the truth. Gandhi for example famously said, “I learned from Hussain how to be wronged and be a winner—I learnt from Hussain how to attain victory while being oppressed.”
Yet the true beauty of Hussain’s story is that its very essence awakens the heart and spirit of mankind. The lessons we learn from Hussain are timeless because of the simple fact that they are based on core values and principles that all human beings share.
Fourteen centuries later, Hussain’s principles and message lives on while Yazid’s legacy serves only as a disgraceful reminder of the product of immorality and corrupt leadership.
Hussain doesn’t belong to the world’s 190 million Shia Muslims.
He belongs to everyone.
