Kerbala and Beyond

*Illustrated Version*The bloody confrontation between Hussain's tiny group of family members and supports and the huge army raised according to orders issued by the ruler of his time, namely Yazid "son" of Mu'awiyah, which is referred to in history books as the Taff Battle, started on the first day of Muharram, 61 A.H./October 4, 680 A.D. and ended ten days later with the barbaric killing of Imam al-Hussain and all males with him with the exception of his ailing son referred toabove, namely Ali, including his infant Abdullah, who was six months old and who was shot with an arrow in the neck. Imam al-Hussain was pleading to those folks to give Abdullah some water to drink. Imam al-Hussain and his small band were not permitted to the end to have access to the water of the Euphrates that lied a short distance from their camp. This reveals the extent of cruelty of those who fought Imam al-Hussain and his small band of supporters, the brave defender of principles and the reformer of the nation that he was, the man whom the Prophet on many occasions praised and honoured as one of the Masters of the Youths of Paradise, the other Master being his older brother Hassan. Imam al-Hussain's body was trampled under the hoofs of the soldiers' horses and his head was cut off, placed on top of a spear and paraded before his women and children, who were all tied and chained as captives and conveyed in the most cruel manner the entire distance from Kerbala', as the Taff area came to be called, to Damascus, Syria, seat of the Umayyad tyrant Yazid "son" of Mu'awiyah ibnAbu Sufyan. The heads of the other heroes who fought on Imam al- Hussain's side were also cut off and paraded in the same manner as trophies although Islam does not permit the mutilation of anyone's body, be he a Muslim or a non-Muslim. Little did those killers care to know about Islam, and the same can be said about those who refrain from condemning them and who, thus, share in the burden of sins those killers shall bear on the Day of Judgment.