Text Box: In the Name of Allah, the Gracious, the Merciful FRIDAY SERMON HAZRAT AMIR’UL MOMENEEN MUHYI-UD-DIN AL KHALIFATULLAH MUNIR AHMAD AZIM 16 January 2009 (Summary of the Sermon) After having greeted everybody with the Salutations of Peace, the Khalifatullah read the Tashahhud, Taouz and Surah Al Fatiha and afterwards he said: Today also, my sermon will be centred on the sad and drastic martyrdom of Imam Hussein (May Allah be pleased with him) in the hands of the army of Yazid at Karbala. And how they manifested their joy upon the death of Imam Hussein (May Allah be pleased with him). They took this massacre as Yazid’s victory! But Allah’s punishment is never far away from the evil doers who harm His humble servants. These kinds of evil people are those want honor and power in this world, to be able to become chiefs, so that people may curb before them and give them importance, even if in doing do, they are going against the teachings of Allah and His Prophet (pbuh). You will understand through the reading of the Holy Quran, that ever since the creation and existence of this universe, each time with the arrival of a Messenger of Allah, who comes to preach the Unicity of Allah and to guide people on the right path for their own benefits, so that they may obtain salvation and rewards in both worlds; thus with the arrival of these humble servants of Allah, who come to do works under Divine Instructions, they get all sorts of persecutions and they become a target for their opponents. It is with the Divine Manifestation that you come to witness all these revolts from the part of these evil-minded people. This has existed in the past, exists today itself and will continue to exist in the future. After the martyrdom of Imam Hussein (May Allah be pleased with him), the weather has remained dark for seven consecutive days and rain had fallen, and buildings became blood-like red. For six months, the horizon remained red and little by little this color eventually disappeared. After the martyrdom of Imam Hussein, there was only a man, Zainul Abedeen who remained alive, along with some women and children, whereby during this drastic event, they went through a terrible night; they were tortured by pain and sadness when they witnessed the martyrdom of their own families. On the morning after that sad day, the soldiers of Yazid approached their tents, where the members of the family of Imam Hussein (May Allah be pleased with them) were residing, and they burnt these tents and they wanted to kill Zainul Abedeen (May Allah be pleased with him) but amongst these soldiers themselves, there were those who stopped their comrades from putting into action this crime, because Zainul Abedeen was ill. But instead, they imprisoned all the survivors. Ibn Sa’ad ordained that the corpses of all the soldiers of Yazid who died during the war be put together and to perform their funeral prayer before burying them. Ibn Ziad took a stick and hit the lips of Imam Hussein with it. When his surviving and imprisoned family saw that, they cried a lot and amongst them there was a companion whose name was Hazrat Zaid Bin Arqam (May Allah be pleased with him). He ordained Ibn Ziad to stop doing that. He told him that he saw Allah and His Messenger (pbuh) kiss those very lips which he was hitting with the stick. When that companion said that, Ibn Ziad was disconcerted and he then became angrier than before. He then saw a lady from among the prisoners. He (Ibn Ziad) asked who that lady was. They replied that she was Hazrat Zainab (May Allah be pleased with her), the daughter of Hazrat Fatima (May Allah be pleased with her), and the sister of Imam Hussein (May Allah be pleased with him). Ibn Ziad then pompously and arrogantly talked with Hazrat Zainab (May Allah be pleased with her), and there was a great debate between the two of them. Ibn Ziad: “I thank Allah that you were dishonored and we became victorious.” Hazrat Zainab (May Allah be pleased with her): “By the grace of Allah, our family achieved martyrdom by being truthful and dishonor is for you great liars and sinners.” Ibn Ziad: “Have you seen how Allah reacted towards your family?” Hazrat Zainab (May Allah be pleased with her): “It was their destiny (that they were martyred); now you and your army prepare yourselves to account for all your cruelty which you did before Allah.” Ibn Ziad was shocked with the answer of Hazrat Zainab (May Allah be pleased with her). He then gave orders to kill Zainul Abedeen (May Allah be pleased with him). Quickly, Hazrat Zainab (May Allah be pleased with her) hugged her nephew and told Ibn Ziad: “O Ibn Ziad, is the quantity of blood which our family has shed not enough for you? Are you not yet satisfied? O Ibn Ziad, if you will kill him, then kill me along with him.” Ibn Ziad was disconcerted and ordered that Zainul Abedeen be released. He then ordained that the head of Imam Hussein be taken; whereby they will all (the army) present this before their great chief, Yazid. They manifested their joy till they reached a church. The priest of the church approached the members of the army of Yazid and asked of them to give him the head of Imam Hussein (May Allah be pleased with him) to keep for the night, but they refused his request. The priest then paid them lots of money (about 80,000 dirhams) and finally they agreed to give him the head of Imam Hussein only for the night. During that night, the priest washed the face of Imam Hussein (May Allah be pleased with him) and perfumed it. The priest later reported that he witnessed that during that night he saw that face illumine as bright as the moonlight, and thus the priest converted to Islam and became a Muslim. This shows to us that even after his martyrdom, Hazrat Imaam Hussein’s (May Allah be pleased with him) mission continued and it was only by taking care of the head of Imam Hussein that the priest in question obtained faith in Islam. The soldiers in the rank of the army of Yazid were stone-hearted and sealed with sins and hypocrisy and the next day, the priest returned to them the head of Imam Hussein and these criminals continued their manifestation of joy. Yazid’s palace was found in Syria at Damas and Yazid knew that all people will blame him for the crime he committed against Imam Hussein. Thus, when his army arrived at the palace along with the head of Imam Hussein, and the rest of the prisoners, Yazid began to cry hypocritically. He then welcomed the families of Imam Hussein with much honor and he put all blames (of the martyrdom of Imam Hussein) on Ibn Ziad. Yazid gave orders that someone be sent along with the families of Imam Hussein and the head of the Imam to Madina Shariff. And when the caravan arrived at Madina Shariff, the companions of the Holy Prophet accompanied the families of Imam Hussein and the latter related to the companions the bloodshed at Karbala. They all cried all their heart out and the whole of Madina were in mourning. The son of Imam Hussein whom the people respectfully called him Zainul Abedeen (May Allah be pleased with him) and the other people (the surviving companions of the Holy Prophet) performed the funeral prayers of Imam Hussein (May Allah be pleased with him) and then they went to bury his head in Jannatul Baqui. After the event at Karbala, Yazid got the necessary freedom to do whatever he wants and he did everything he did with hypocrisy and cowardice. He gave the soldiers who had gone to war at Karbala three days of total freedom and these three days are known as “Ayyamul Hurrah”. Yazid’s army went to Madina Shareef, and they killed for their mere pleasure many companions of the Holy Prophet (pbuh) and the Tabeen. These soldiers attached their horses in the Masjid Nabawi and for many days, no Muslim could not go to the Mosque and recite the Azaan. Nowadays, we are living these same happenings whereby in Pakistan and other countries, the Ahmadi Muslims are prohibited from reciting the Azaan in Mosques and they cannot proclaim their faith openly as Ahmadi Muslims who believe in the coming of the Promised Messiah (on him be peace). Moreover these evil-doers of Pakistan erased and removed the Kalima from the Mosques of Jamaat Ahmadiyya in Pakistan (and the same is happening in other countries also). There is no difference between what they are doing and the wretched practices of Yazid and his cruel army. Yazid along with his army created lots of disorders and then they marched towards Mecca Shariff. Without any shame and hesitation, they threw stones at the Sacred House of Allah, and burnt the covering of the Ka’aba Shariff and the souvenirs which were found in it. They disrespected all the Holy places of Islam and afterwards they went in other places, and by using force they forced the other Muslims to accept Yazid as their Caliph. Moreover, Yazid established new anti-Islamic laws which aimed at ridiculing the teachings of Islam. He introduced such laws which contradict the Holy Quran, for example, he legalized Adultery, Alcoholic drinks, and Money on Interest. He made Salaat, Saum, Zakaat etc. not obligatory! This suffice to show that Yazid was completely against the teachings of Islam and it is for that reason that Imam Hussein (May Allah be pleased with him) preferred to give his life for Islam rather than accepting Yazid as Chief for the Muslims. For all the cruelties which Yazid did, the punishment of Allah seized him in this life itself. He remained Caliph for only three years and seven months and he contracted a lot of maladies, to such an extent that his health never got any better. His health became worse and worse till he reached his death on 15 Rabi-ul-Awwal in the year 64 after Hijra at the age of thirty-nine. At the moment of his death, he was a great drunkard, drinking rum and it was in that state that he died. All members of his army were shocked when they heard the news of his death, and thereupon they ceased all the massacres which they used to do against the Muslims (who were with Imam Hussein) and they returned to Damas. After the death of Yazid, the Muslims of Yemen, Iraq, Khurasan etc took the pact of allegiance at the hands of Hazrat Abdullah Ibn Zubair (May Allah be pleased with him). As for the inhabitants of Egypt and Syria, they took the pact of allegiance at the hands of the son of Yazid whose name was Muawiyah Bin Yazid. The son of Yazid (Muawiyah Bin Yazid) was the complete opposite of his father. He was a honest and respectable person. He had no family feeling concerning his father, and he had lots of faith in Allah and His Messenger (pbuh). He remained Caliph for only forty days for he had no desire to become Caliph. He advised his family to choose another person as Caliph in his place. Muawiyah Bin Yazid died at the tender age of only twenty-one years old. After his death, the inhabitants of Egypt and Syria took the pact of allegiance at the hands of Hazrat Abdullah Bin Zubair (May Allah be pleased with him) whereby Hazrat Abdullah Bin Zubair became the Chief of the believers at that time.