On the Path of Husayn (a.s)
Written by anonymous
A humble traveller I am
on the path of Husayn
which is the path of Ali
which is the path of Muhammad
which is the Light of God.
An awed witness I am
of the courage of Zaynab
which is the courage of Fatima
which is the courage of Khadija
which is the Grace of God.
An imperilled sailor I am
stranded on the sea of life—
drowned in the raging storms
of fortune and earthly passions—
whose sole life-raft is the Ark of Salvation.
A poor slave I am
lost in this transitory world—
fearfully homeless,
owning nothing in truth—
whose chief refuge under God is the Prophetic Household.
In the realm of bodily history,
Husayn is dead,
lamented by heavenly hosts and pious men,
but in the realm of the Spirit and the Sacred,
he lives and can never die.
On the battlefield of sacred drama,
Husayn marries peerless sanctity with flawless chivalry,
and his death in body marries
horrific historical tragedy
with radiant spiritual triumph.
In the timeless abode of spiritual lessons,
Husayn points to the ultimate victory
of the Truth over falsehood,
of the Real over the unreal,
of the Light of Guidance
over the darkness of misguidance.
Killed in the flesh, desecrated in body,
Husayn’s stance for truth
is eternally unique in time
and yet endlessly resurfacing in spirit,
giving perpetual light
to all lovers of God across the ages.
Husayn died in form but lives on in Spirit,
whereas Yazid was dead in spirit
long before he died in form;
this blustering king in empty claim and title
was in truth a slave doomed in body and soul.
In the dust of Karbala
a humble servant fell in martyrdom
and rose as the king of truth,
while a tyrannical caliph sealed his own self-inflicted chains of spiritual slavery and historical ignominity.
In Husayn’s earthly death,
hatred and ignorance seemed to triumph
yet his stand marked the nadir
of people’s spiritual darkness
and awakened the believers
to purify the rust from their hearts.
The material dust of Karbala
today accompanies the prostration
of millions of lovers of Husayn
while the spiritual soil of Karbala
gives life-blood to every Tariqah.
Hymned and praised
in countless circles of Wilayah,
a fountain-stone in every writ of Silsila,
Husayn’s spiritual presence remains accessible to all his lovers,
united with the One for whom he stood up
and for whom he freely laid down his earthly life.
Every act of Karbala finds its place
in Divine Providence
as Husayn showed us all that he is
forever the Lamp of Guidance
for all those who confront the external Yazids of earthly power
and the inner Yazids within our own souls
Honour him with mourning rites—
for who but the heartless cannot grieve him?–
but let a quiet joy take hold in your heart:
Your very remembrance of Karbala today is the fruit of his valiant sacrifice and the fearless Zaynab’s tireless labour.
Lament the historical record of his and his family’s sufferings,
but rejoice that Husayn lives now forever in our hearts
and in the Eternal Present
as an undying Witness to the Reality
beyond this shadow world of witnessing—
A gate, as his sublime parents and grandparents are,
to the realm of the Real
which remains hidden from many.
Every act of Husayn and Abbas,
Ali Akbar, Aun and Muhammad,
Habib, and Zuhayr
shows them all to be heirs of Ali
in both bodily form and spiritual truth:
Just as Abu Turab’s mighty Dhulfiqar, whenever wielded,
naughted all else save God,
So, on the plain of Karbala
did Husayn’s stand naught all else
save His Lord.
Beloved of all true Muslims
and sincere believers everywhere
across sect and space, time, and tradition,
Imam Husayn lives on in the hearts
of all who honour him
and in every prayer in which we invoke
God’s peace and blessings upon his holy family.
Comments