Committed Muslims everywhere are commemorating the ten days of Ashura and mourning the ten months of genocide in Gaza.
The followers of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) and Hussein, from Iraq to Iran, Yemen and Lebanon, are in the solidarity front resisting the genocide in Gaza.
Why is it that the ones who are sacrificing their lives in solidarity with Gaza are all inspired by Imam Hussein?
He was the dearest to the Prophet (pbuh).
The little one whom the Messenger would enthusiastically seek out and ask, “Where is the little beauty”.
The little beauty who would jump on the back of the Prophet while he was prostrating in prayer.
The Prophet (pbuh) would remain in prostration until Hussein had jumped off his back lest he got hurt by falling.
The Messenger could not bear any hurt caused to Hussein.
There is something that the Prophet (pbuh) said about Hussein that he did not say about any other person: “I am of Hussein and Hussein is of me”.
Why? Because Hussein has a unique place in history.
The Prophet (pbuh) was the leader of the Islamic Revolution in Madinah and Hussein was the defender of the Islamic Revolution in Karbala.
Hussein screamed a raging and defiant ‘NO’!
He said no to injustice and hereditary monarchy, no to capitalism and no to tyranny.
This was at a time when everyone was afraid to rise up and resist because resistance meant death.
They were not prepared to speak truth to power because power is brutal and ruthless.
Hussein who was anchored in the consciousness of Allah’s power presence, could see what others did not.
The Prophet (pbuh) is reported to have said: “Beware of the committed Muslim who sees with the light of Allah.”
This is the light that guided Hussein to Karbala.
When the great Imam was in the field of Karbala, he chose death.
He had 72 comrades.
The enemy had 5000-6000 soldiers.
There was no chance of military victory.
There was only one outcome: martyrdom.
Earthly logic would have dictated escape to build the movement and fight when you are stronger and have a chance of victory.
Go underground.
Surrender to the genocidal goons otherwise you and your family and companions will be massacred.
Forget about Islamic governance and justice.
You have no chance, there is no point in resisting.
This is what others were thinking; not Hussein. He saw things differently.
Hussein is the heir to the Prophet (pbuh).
He could not surrender to a tyrant.
He knew there was no military victory but that his martyrdom and resistance would serve as catalyst for Islamic resistance and ultimate freedom from tyranny for all people.
He knew that his defiance and resistance meant death.
Hussein chose death and martyrdom over surrender.
It is both a historical and eternal choice because Hussein inspires revolutionaries throughout history.
His blood bears witness and brings to the public mind awareness of the reality of injustice.
His fearlessness makes others lose their fear of Yazid and the oppressors.
His blood inspires resistance and revolt as it exposes the brutality of oppressors.
Were it not for Hussein’s legacy, many battles would not have been fought and many tyrants would not be toppled.
Israel would not be defeated in 2006 were it not for Hussein nor would the Islamic Resistance Movement in Palestine have continued to resist after October 7 and face off the fourth most powerful military machine in the world.
Consider the resistance to genocide in Gaza. Israel is described as the fourth most powerful military in the world and is supported by other powerful militaries and economies in the world.
Gaza is described as the biggest open-air concentration camp.
This is akin to all the rich big bullies at school ganging up on the thin, poor, black kid from the ghetto to beat him.
There’s no chance for the ghetto kid but he refuses to surrender and fights back.
All the other kids hate the bullies and their actions but are scared because the bullies will hurt them if they intervene.
But then there are these three kids, an Iraqi, Yemeni and Lebanese, who cannot tolerate this injustice.
They step in to kick the bullies in their backside.
Hussein’s resistance embarrasses and exposes oppressors and makes their lowly actions visible to all the people of the world.
The American empire brings all its military hardware to the region and provides an endless supply of weapons for Israel’s genocide but does nothing to save a single Palestinian child.
The bombs kill tens of thousands of children and turn Gaza into rubble.
America’s ugly face is exposed to the whole world when it bombs the followers of Hussein in Yemen and kills innocent Yemenis because Ansarallah is acting to stop the genocide.
The blood of the Yemeni martyrs exposes the barbarism of the US empire.
The unifying factor in the axis of resistance is Hussein.
Every person who loves the Prophet (pbuh) and his family, during these ten days of Muharram thinks about the spear piercing the throat of baby Ali Asghar, and his fresh blood flowing.
They think about the children in Gaza who are slaughtered by Israeli zionist Jews every day.
They picture the tears of the noble Zaynab, the sister of Hussein and think about the tears of the sisters and mothers of the babies killed in Gaza.
They think about the bombs blowing to bits every little child in Gaza.
They think of the orphaned Zaynul Abideen who witnessed the slaughter of his father, brothers and uncles on the burning sand of Karbala.
Then they think of the tens of thousands of orphaned children in Gaza who through their innocent eyes see their parents killed by the merciless Israeli zionist Jews.
The leader of the resistance in Palestine, Ismail Haniyeh walks in the footsteps of Hussein.
Like Imam Hussein, his sons and grandsons were slaughtered in Gaza in one day.
Like Hussein, he sees them martyred but is not broken.
He keeps resisting and fighting the enemy.
How is it possible to see your children and grandchildren slaughtered in one day and not lose faith in Allah and keep on fighting?
Three of Haniyeh’s sons, Hazem, Amir and Muhammad and four of his grandchildren were all killed on April 10, 2024, the day of Eid al Fitr.
He remembers his hero Hussein who lost two sons Ali Akbar and Ali Asghar, seven brothers and six nephews at the battle of Karbala but even this pain could not stop the Imam from resisting the oppressors.
Like Hussein, he sees his family martyred but is not broken.
He keeps on resisting and fighting.
Haniyeh demonstrates this Muhammadi courage after the loss of his family and says “The blood of my children is not more valuable than the blood of other Palestinian children.”
Isn’t it time for everyone to learn about Hussein, and to know him?
Gaza is the Karbala of today.
On July 13, the zionist war criminals slaughtered 71 people from the Mawasi refugee camp in Gaza, a place they had designated a “safe zone”.
This is virtually the same number of people massacred in Karbala.
Gaza is red while the world is deaf and dead. Deaf to the helpless cries of the orphans, deaf to the excrutiating pain of the amputees, deaf to the mourning wails of mothers, deaf to calls for help, deaf to the words of Allah in the scripture, deaf to the desperate cry of brothers and sisters. The blood of Hussein will not stop flowing. Today the world is dark and dead. Gaza is red but is not dead.
Iqbal Suleman is a social justice lawyer and former head of the law clinic for Lawyers for Human Rights based in Pretoria.
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