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History
Caliphate
"A person like me can never pay allegiance to a person like him" - Imam Husayn
Islam includes two main branches, the Sunni and Shi'a Muslims. The main difference revolves around the contentious question of who has the authority to rule over the Islamic community.
In Shi'a law, the legitimate ruler and the one who will hold the position as leader of the Islamic community (Caliphate) must be a direct descendant of the Prophet Mohammad. Husayn, who was martyred at Karbala, was thought by many to be the rightful leader of Islam. His position as Caliph had been usurped by the political ruler Yazid.
Faced with this aberration, Husayn refused to pay allegiance (Bay'at) to Yazid which lead to the massacre at Karbala. This tragedy was then intimately bound up with the question of legitimate authority and the right to rule. In order to understand how Husyan arrived in Karbala we need to go back to the Prophet's death and the resulting crisis of the Caliphate. Only then can we truly understand what Muharram is all about.
When the Prophet Mohammad died in 11AH/632CE his followers were distraught and
confused. Some even renounced Islam. Abu Bakr father of Aisha, the Prophet's wife,
called out to the assembled in the Medina mosque and said, "O people, those of
you who worshipped Mohammad, Mohammad has died. And those of you who worshipped
God, God is still living".
Sunnis believe that the Prophet had died without naming a successor whilst Shi'a believe that he appointed his son-in-law, 'Ali. There was much debate about who would lead the Islamic community (Ummah). This went to the very heart of the question of whether the ruler should be political or religious. To the Sunni Muslims the leader of the Ummah was more political than religious; and to the Shi'a Muslims the position of the leader (Caliph) was more religious and spiritual.
Following the Prophet's death, an assembly of Muslims nominated Abu Bakr as Caliph. This was a political rather than the religious appointment but there were many Muslims who disagreed with this model believing that the Caliphate should also be the spiritual head of the Ummah.
Furthermore, the only man that they recognised as embodying these two roles was the cousin and son-in-law of the Prophet Mohammad, Imam Husayn ibn Ali. Those supporters of 'Ali became known as the Shi'a. Indeed, the word Shi'a is an abbreviation of "Shi'at Ali" meaning "the party of 'Ali".
However, there were to be three Caliphates before 'Ali, namely Abu Bakr, Umar and Uthman who had all been close companions of the Prophet.
'Ali's Caliphate began in 35AH/656CE, 24 years after the death of the Prophet Mohammad. He was the first Shi'a Imam, which for Shi'a represented the true successor of the Prophet Mohammad.
The belief that the leader of Islam needed to be directly related to the Prophet stemmed from the Arabic idea that noble qualities as well as physical attributes were hereditary. As it was believed that Mohammad was the restorer of the true religion of Abraham and Ishmael so it was believed that only someone of that family endowed with the same qualities, guided by the same principles could lead the Ummah.
The importance of a true descendent of the Prophet, 'Ali, leading the people cannot
be underestimated for Shi'a Muslims. For Shi'a then only 'Ali and not the previous
three Caliphs fitted these criteria. It was the usurpation of 'Ali's rights that
is looked upon by Shi'a as the event initiating their movement.
'Ali's succession to the Caliphate was accepted by the majority of Muslims. He was revered by Sunnis and Shi'a alike even Umar the second Caliph regarded him as the "best of judges" and for Shi'a the brief period of his Caliphate is looked upon as the Golden Age when the Muslim community was led by the divinely-chosen Imam.
Ali's rule as the fourth Caliph and the first Shi'a Immam ended in 40AH/661CE with his assassination in a mosque in Kufa. With Ali's death the Caliphate passed to Mu'awiya, the governor of Syria and the son of Mohammad's most powerful enemy, rather than Ali's sons Husan and Husayn, the grandchildren of the Prophet.
Shi'a opposed Muawiya's appointment, they considered Ali's son Hasan to have become the second Imam after the death of his father. But from a political point of view in order to avoid bloodshed Hasan had little choice but to abdicate and give up the Caliphate to the powerful rival Mu'awiya.
Hasan signed a peace treaty with Mu'awiya guaranteeing the family's safety. When he died in 49AH/669CE Hasan's younger brother, Husayn became the leader of the Prophet's household and for the Shi'a, the third Imam.
Mu'awiya broke with tradition by deciding to nominate his own son Yazid to be his successor, the next Caliph. By doing so he established the first Islamic monarchy, the Umayyads. The Caliphate passed to Yazid instead of the Prophet's progeny which many pious Muslims found offensive, especially as Yazid was a drunkard who openly flouted the laws of Islam.
As opposition to Yazid grew the people of Kufa began to stir and soon there were calls urging Husayn to come to Kufa and assume leadership. Hasayn set out with an army of 50 men and a number of women and children (numbers range from 70-200). Yazid got wind of this plan and instructed his delegate 'Ubaydu'llah ibm Ziyad to take control of Kufa and kill anyone who dared revolt against him.
Due to the terror and bribery that Ziyad wielded over the Kufans most of them rescinded their pledges of support for Husayn. It fell to al - Hurr at -Tamimi, the young commander of a 1000-strong military detachment to intercept Husayn's party before they entered Kufa. After negotiations, Husayn agreed to proceed in a direction away from Kufa travelling instead to the plain of Karbala, arriving on the second day of Muharram in the year 61AH/680CE.
On the following day Husayn was met by some 4,000 men sent from Ziyad with the instructions that they should not allow Husayn to leave alive until he had signed a pledge of allegiance to Yazid. This was something that his father Mu'awiya had never asked of the house of the Prophet and it was something that the Imam could not and would not do.
Yazid stood as the embodiment of corruption and treachery. He defiled Islamic law and had no respect for Muslim traditions. Faced with this, Husayn would not pledge allegiance to Yazid and he and his family were left to fight and die for their principles.
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