Tribute to Imam Hussain (RA)

" He championed the Islamic democracy"

As the revered Imam Hussain (RA) took on the state forces armed to teeth in Karbala with barely 72 ill-equipped men in his command, he was championing the democratic model of Islam, where consensus rather than contention is the essence of democratic order. The consensus was the hall mark of choosing Khulfa-e-Rashdeen (rightly guided Caliphs). Shura-e-Bainhum [mutual consultation] was the order of the day.
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As the state changed hue from democratic to hereditary order, in spite of promises made to Imam Hassan (RA) that election to caliphate by consensus would be restored, contention became the order of the day. The capital of Islamic state in the meantime was moved to Damascus instead of Madinat-ul-Nabi--the city of Prophet (pbuh).
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The knowledgeable in Medina, some of them Suhaba-e-Karam [companions of Prophet (AS)] preferred to study and lecture on tenants of Islam. The state narrative had turned to control by tyranny. Hereditary rule left no space for Shura-e-Bainhum. Only the ones subscribing to state narrative held positions of power. No space was left for the knowledgeable in the tenants of Islam.
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Imam Hussain (RA) in spite of odds heavily favouring the state narrative decided to show the light--the light of Islam. The light that shone during caliphate of Khulfa-e-Rashdeen, the light that illuminated nearly half the world, as the standard of Islam traversed borders and continents.
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Alas! The odds did not favour the valour of Imam Hussain. From the word go, it was an un-equal fight. Yet, the engagement went on, as warrior after warrior fell to the wile and guile of state. Finally it came to Imam Hussain, valiantly he laid down his life to serve the cause of Islam.
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“In a distant age and climate,” says Gibbon, the famed western author “the tragic scene of the death of Hussain will awaken the sympathy of the coldest reader”. Year after year, in Muhram-ul-Haram (the sacred month of Muhram) he is mourned and the slogan raised ‘Long Live the Spirit of Imam Hussain (RA)’ the spirit of freedom!