martyrs upon Husain AS

The horrific attacks upon the faithful on the Day of Ashura, the day of the martyrdom of Imam Husain AS, were entirely predictable and preventable by the ruling military authority. After all, it was the Administration that put great stock in the infamous Zarqawi letter^[1] that described in detail a plot to target Shi'a religious events in order to ignite a sectarian war.

Syedna Muhammad Burhanuddin TUS has said in his bayaan that preventing a mukhlis Shi'a from ziyarat of Imam Husain AS in Karbala is a grievous, terrible sin. The fates of those who ruled over Karbala have been intertwined with their accomodation towards the pilgrims. Saddam Hussein interfered greatly with ziyarat, finally relenting, but his regime's end was marked for doom the moment stood in the way, even if for a moment.

Once, the emir of the region decreed that out of every ten pilgrims, one would be beheaded for the privelege of ziyarat. This was an attempt to quell the tide, but do you know how the Shi'a responded? They came in droves! Each begging for the great sharaf and privelege of being the one whose head was taken. Is there any higher honor upon this earth than facilitating the ziyarat of nine other mumineen to do ziyarat of Husain AS? I'd offer my head without qualm.

So Al Qaeda, or Ba'athists, or space aliens or the Illuminati or whatever all seek to wreak their hate upon the Shi'a. There is nothing they can do to us apart from send us to Imam Husain AS. The 125 dead and counting are just the latest martyrs upon Husain AS.

UPDATE: Compiling statistics and signing agreements are worthless as metrics for success in Iraq. Lest you think the martrydom of 125 (and counting) innocent worshippers is not worthy of including in your calculus?


^[1] comprehensively and systematically analyzed by Dan Darling who has significant expertise on this arena, see his regular War on Terror roundups over at Winds of Change.