Quotes about Imam Hussein (a.s) & Muharram

1. http://moralsandethics.wordpress.com

2.  I,the grandson of the Holy Prophet Mohammad
(s.a.w.s.) stood for struggle of truth against
falsehood & justice against corruption in the
scorching heat of Kerbalā along with only 72 of
my companions, thirsty and weary but with a
firm determination, against the huge army of
Yazeed’s 70,000 men satiated and well
equipped with arms.
Imām Husain ibn Ali (a.s.)

3. I was forced to leave my hometown (Medinā)
and seek refuge in the Sacred Sanctuary (Mecca-
Ka’bāh), but was compelled to depart from there
too and forced to settle at a land devoid of water
or vegetation named Kerbalā – Then I was
beheaded like a lamb & 18 persons from my
family, who were unparallel in the earth, were
also killed along with me being thirsty for more
than 3 days & nights under the scorching
temperature on land of Kerbalā (IRAQ)….
 Imām Husain ibn Ali (a.s.)

4. I was forced to witness the savage
mutilation of Abbas – my brother, the
callous murder of my nephew Qasim,
the torture and execution of my
innocent son Ali Akbar and finally the
depraved murder of my 6 month
old baby boy – Ali Asgar. Left
alone finally they attacked me, my
body was showered with arrows, my
head was severed and the 1000’s
hooves of the horses of Yazeed’s
cavalry trampled on my body. They
decapitated me my supporters and
our bodies were mutilated and
trampled by horses
Imām Husain ibn Ali (a.s.)

5.  Aftermath of the battle they led to humiliation of my
women’s folk from my camp. Their tents were looted and
burnt, the aggrieved children who had lost their fathers
were beaten. The captives were made to travel from
Kerbala to Syria (Damascus), a journey of approximately
750 miles [Average travel by camel per day: 30-45 miles]
Their Headscarves were snatched off and they were made
to trek barefoot, chained, shackled, and taken on camels
without saddles, due to which many of the children fell off
the camels and the women were not allowed to even stop
and help their children. The graves of these children can
still be seen in the desert between Kerbala and Kufa
(IRAQ).
 Imām Husain ibn Ali (a.s.)

6. Mahatma Gandhi (Indian political and spiritual leader):
“I learnt from Hussein how to achieve victory
while being oppressed.”
Charles Dickens (English novelist):
“If Husain had fought to quench his worldly
desires…then I do not understand why his sister,
wife, and children accompanied him. It stands to
reason therefore, that he sacrificed purely for
Islam.”

7.  Sir William Muir (Scottish orientalist):
“The tragedy of Karbala decided not only the
fate of the Caliphate, but also of
Mohammadan kingdoms long after the
Caliphate had waned and disappeared.”
(Annals of the Early Caliphate, London, 1883, p.441-442)
 Soren Kierkegard:
“The tyrant dies and his rule ends, the martyr
dies and his rule begins.”

8.  Thomas Carlyle (Scottish historian and essayist):
“The best lesson which we get from the tragedy of
Cerebella is that Husain and his companions were
rigid believers in God. They illustrated that the
numerical superiority does not count when it comes
to the truth and the falsehood. The victory of
Husain, despite his minority, marvels me!”
 Edward Gibbon (1737-1794 Considered the greatest British
historian and member of parliament):
“In a distant age and climate, the tragic scene of the
death of Hosein will awaken the sympathy of the
coldest reader.”
(The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, London, 1911, volume 5, p. 391-392)

9.  Dr. K. Sheldrake:
“Of that gallant band, male and female knew that
the enemy forces around were implacable, and
were not only ready to fight, but to kill. Denied
even water for the children, they remained
parched under the burning sun and scorching
sands, yet not one faltered for a moment. Husain
marched with his little company, not to glory, not
to power of wealth, but to a supreme sacrifice,
and every member bravely faced the greatest
odds without flinching.”

10.  Antoine Bara (Lebanese writer):
“No battle in the modern and past history of mankind has earned
more sympathy and admiration as well as provided more lessons
than the martyrdom of Husain in the battle of Karbala
 Edward G. Brown (Professor at the University of Cambridge):
“…a reminder of that blood-stained field of Karbala, where the
grandson of the Apostle of God fell, at length, tortured by thirst, and
surround by the bodies of his murdered kinsmen, has been at
anytime since then, sufficient to evoke, even in the most lukewarm
and the heedless, the deepest emotion, the most frantic grief, and
an exaltation of spirit before which pain, danger, and death shrink to
unconsidered trifles.”
(A Literary History of Persia, London, 1919, p.227)la.” ( Husayn in Christian
Ideology)

11.  Peter J. Chelkowski ( Professor of Middle Eastern Studies, New York University )
"Hussein accepted and set out from Mecca with his family and
an entourage of about seventy followers. But on the plain of
Kerbela they were caught in an ambush set by the … caliph,
Yazid. Though defeat was certain, Hussein refused to pay
homage to him. Surrounded by a great enemy force, Hussein
and his company existed without water for ten days in the
burning desert of Kerbela. Finally Hussein, the adults and some
male children of his family and his companions were cut to bits
by the arrows and swords of Yazid's army; his women and
remaining children were taken as captives to Yazid in
Damascus. The renowned historian Abu Reyhan al-Biruni
states;“
… then fire was set to their camp and the bodies were trampled
by the hoofs of the horses; nobody in the history of the
human kind has seen such atrocities.“
[ Ta'ziyeh: Ritual and Drama in Iran , New York, 1979, p. 2 ]

12.  Robert Durey Osborn ( 1835-1889 Major of the Bengal Staff Corps )
"Hosain had a child named Abdallah, only a year old. He had accompanied his father in this
terrible march. Touched by its cries, he took the infant in his arms and wept. At that
instant, a shaft from the hostile ranks pierced the child's ear, and it expired in his father's
arms. Hosain placed the little corpse upon the ground. 'We come from God, and we return
to Him!' he cried; 'O Lord, give me strength to bear these misfortunes!' … Faint with thirst,
and exhausted with wounds, he fought with desperate courage, slaying several of his
antagonists. At last he was cut down from behind; at the same instance a lance was thrust
through his back and bore him to the ground; as the dealer of this last blow withdrew his
weapon, the ill-fated son of Ali rolled over a corpse. The head was severed from the trunk;
the trunk was trampled under the hoofs of the victors' horses; and the next morning the
women and a surviving infant son were carried away to Koufa. The bodies of Hosain and
his followers were left unburied on the spot where they fell. For three days they remained
exposed to the sun and the night dews, the vultures and the prowling animals of the
waste; but then the inhabitants of a neighbouring village, struck with horror that the body
of a grandson of the Prophet should be thus shamefully abandoned to the unclean beasts
of the field, dared the anger of Obaidallah, and interred the body of the martyr and those
of his heroic friends."
[ Islam Under the Arabs , Delaware, 1976, pp. 126-7 ]