The bitterest sentence in history

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Tuesday, 23 August 2022

One of the bitter sentences in the history of Islam is a sentence attributed to Imam Sajjad (a.s.). He said, “Throughout Mecca and Medina, there were not twenty people who loved us AhlulBayt (a.s.).”

Almost half a century after the demise of the Prophet of Mercy, his children were unjustly martyred, and their wives and children were captured by those who were leaning on Prophet’s pulpit and considered themselves his caliphs. The cheering people celebrated Yazid’s so-called victory (In the other words, Martyrdom of Imam Hussain (a.s.) and the sincerest companions of Islam and captivity of the women of AhlulBayt)! People were cheering up and watching the women and children of martyred Imam Hussain (a.s.) as the call to prayer was heard five times from the mosques, and Friday and congregational prayers were held, and the Quran, Hadith, and other religious rituals (seemingly) were prevalent!

On the occasion of the martyrdom anniversary of Imam Sajjad (a.s.), Hojat al-Islam Ali Akbar Badi’i, the director general of the European and American section of the AhlulBayt (a.s.) World Assembly, wrote an article entitled “The bitterest sentence in history,” which is as follows:

“The bitterest sentence in history”

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By Ali Akbar Badi’i

August 22, 2022

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One of the bitter sentences in the history of Islam is a sentence attributed to Imam Sajjad (a.s.), as he said, “وَ مَا بِمَکَّةَ وَ المَدِینَةَ عِشرُونَ رَجُلاً یُحِبُّنَا” (Throughout Mecca and Medina, there were not twenty people who loved us AhlulBayt (a.s.).)

Almost half a century after the demise of the Prophet of Mercy, his children were unjustly martyred, and their wives and children were captured by those who were leaning on Prophet’s pulpit and considered themselves his caliphs. The cheering people celebrated Yazid’s so-called victory (In the other words, Martyrdom of Imam Hussain (a.s.) and the sincerest companions of Islam and captivity of the women of AhlulBayt)! People were cheering up and watching the women and children of martyred Imam Hussain (a.s.) as the call to prayer was heard five times from the mosques, and Friday and congregational prayers were held, and the Quran, Hadith, and other religious rituals (seemingly) were prevalent!

Most of the people of that time knew that Ali was the soul of the Prophet. They had seen on the day of Ghadir that the Prophet raised the hand of Ali as his caliph and successor. They had heard many times from the Prophet that: “عَلِیٌّ مَعَ الْحَقِّ وَالْحَقُّ مَعَ عَلِیٍّ” (Ali is right and right is with Ali.)

They had seen Imam Hussain (a.s.) many times in his childhood sitting on the shoulders of the Prophet Muhammad (a.s.). They had heard the hadith “Hassan and Hussain are the masters of the youth of heaven” many times. When those people took the fur of the Prophet’s camel for blessing, or when they held their hands under the Prophet’s under as he perform ablution so that a drop of the water of the Prophet’s ablution would be given to them, the Prophet reminded them of this important verse every time: “قُل لا أَسْأَلُکُمْ عَلَیهِ أَجْرًا إِلاَّ الْمَوَدَّةَ فِی الْقُرْبَی” (Say: I do not ask you any reward for it except the love of [my] relatives). After the demise of the Prophet (p.b.u.h), some of them not only refused to follow the Prophet’s advice, but also played an active role in the Ashura event and the killing of the Prophet’s beloved grandson in a painful way! But why did this happen?

In a hadith, Imam Hussain (a.s.) bitterly describes the situation of the people of his time and said, “النّاسَ عَبیدُ الدُّنْیا وَ الدِّینُ لَعْقٌ عَلى اَلْسِنَتِهِمْ یَحوطونَهُ ما دَرَّتْمَعائِشُهُمْ فَاِذا مُحِّصوا بِالْبَلاءِ قَلَّ الدَّیّانونَ” (People are servants of the (material) world, and religion is on their tongues, and they follow it until their lives revolve around religion, but when they are tested by “calamity”, religious people become few.)

This period of Islamic history was the opposite of the early period of Islam. Imam Ali (a.s.) describes this period as: “وَلَقَدْ کانَ مَعَ رَسُولِ اللّه صلّى اللّه علیه و آله نَقْتُلُ آباءَنا وَأبْناءَنا وَإخْوانَنا وَ أعْمامَنا، ما یزیدُنا ذلِک إلاّ إیماناً وَ تَسلیما وَ مُضِيّاً عَلَى‏ اللَّقَمِ وَ صَبْراً عَلَى مَضَضِ الْأَلَمِ وَ جِدّاً فِي جِهَادِ الْعَدُوِّ” (We were with the Messenger of Allah (p.b.u.h). We killed our fathers, children, brothers, and uncles, and this only added to our faith and submission (to Islam). We were on the right path, and we were patient with the pains, and we stood firm in the jihad against the enemy.) (Nahj al-Balagha, Sermon 56)

It seems that the prediction of the Messenger of God had come true, “سَيأتي على اُمَّتِي زَمانٌ لا يَبقى مِن القرآنِ إلاّ رَسمُهُ، و لا مِنَ الإسلامِ إلاّ اسمُهُ، يُسَمَّونَ بهِ و هُم أبعَدُ الناسِ مِنهُ، مَساجِدُهُم عامِرَةٌ و هِي خَرابٌ مِن الهُدى؛” (A time will come upon my Ummah when there will be nothing left of the Quran except its script, and of Islam except its name. They are attributed to Islam, while they are the farthest people from it. Their mosques will be prosperous, but they are ruined due to lack of guidance. The jurists of that time will be the worst jurists under the sky. Sedition and chaos will start from themselves, and it will return to them.)

The moral description of this period has not been hidden from the eyes of honest historians. According to Masudi in his book Murūj aḏ-Ḏahab wa-Maʿādin al-Jawhar, “corruption and obscene acts had become common in that era, the meetings of singing and dancing had increased and as a result, dancers, musicians and singers had the highest social status. During this period, desecration of the Prophet’s family was on the agenda of rulers such as Abd al-Malik Marwan.” (Sharh Nahj al-Balagha, Ibn Abi al-Hadid, vol. 15)

It was at this time that the rulers’ widespread propaganda against the Shiite Imams (a.s.) had separated all the people from the AhlulBayt and the commentators of revelation.

The great lesson of this bitter piece of history is that the spread of corruption, irreligion, pride in obscene acts, and the elevation of the social status of singers and dancers, and the decrease in the social status of commentators, memorizers and reciters of the Quran, and religious missionaries is a big alarm that may cause an event like the event of Karbala.

AhlulBayt (a_s_) World Assembly history Imam Hussain (a_s_) Imam Sajjad (a_s_)