WHO IS ALHUSSEIN? ^{Peace UPON him}

Who is Alhussein?
He is Al Imam Al Hussein Bin Ali Bin Abu Talib Bin Abdul Muttalib Bin Hashim Bin Abd Munaf Bin Qusay Bin Kulab Bin Mara Bin Ka’ab Bin Loa’y, Bin Ghalib Bin Fahad Bin Malik Bin Al Nadar Bin Kunana Bin Khuzaima bin Mudrika Bin Ilyas Bin Mudar Bin Nezar Bin Ma’ad Bin Adnan. ⁽¹⁾

His Father:
is Ali Bin Abi Talib , the prince of believers , and the cousin of prophet Mohammed ( P.U.H).⁽²⁾

His Mother:
is the first lady in the world (P.U.H) Fatima al Zahra’a, the daughter of our prophet Mohammed (P.U.H), therefore he is called The Sibt of the messenger of Allah ( Sibt in general means in Arabic the sons or the son’s sons or the daughter’s sons. It can also mean the group or the piece, therefore The Sibt of the messenger of Allah means a piece from him as evidence of his great love to him and to his brother Al Hasan.⁽³⁾

His Nickname:
He was known as “ Abu Abdullah “ . People called him after he was killed by these nicknames (Abu alshuhada’a or Abu alahrar ). ⁽⁴⁾

His titles:
His first title was “the sibt” as the prophet said “ Hussein is one of the sibts”.⁽⁵⁾ The other titles were: the martyr, the kind, the leader of heaven’s youth, the wise, the loyal , Abu Al Dhaim , the seeker of Allah’ satisfaction, one of the Kadhimain , the evidence of Allah’s existence, the blessed, and the immaculate. ⁽⁶⁾
Al Imam Al Hussein bin Ali Bin Abu Talib (P.U.H) is the third one of the twelve Imams of the prophet’s family, the fifth of the 14 impeccable people, and one of the four people whom the prophet was proud of before the Christian people of Najran. He was the one who had the qualities of Prophecy, Imamate and the honor of the roots of a great family.⁽⁷⁾

His Birth
According to what is known is that he was born on the 3rd of Sha’ban in the 4th year of migration, in the city of “Almedina Al Munawara” ⁽⁸⁾

His siblings
He had many brothers but the ones who were with him in Karbala were six only:

• Alabbas (P.U.H) and his three brothers, Jaafar , Abdullah and Othman whose mother was Fatima bint Huzam bin Khalid alkulabiyah, who is known as Um al beneen (P.U.H)
• Mohammed bin Ali, who was named Abdullah (P.U.H) and his nickname was Abu Bakir and whose mother was Layla bint Masood bin Khalid Altimimy,
• and The youngest Abbas whose mother was Lubaba bint Obeidillah bin Al Abbas.
• AlHussein had another brother called the youngest Mohammed whose mother is Um alwalad. He was martyred with him.

Those brothers were martyred between his hands in Ashooraa. The best and the most respected one was Abu AlFadhil AlAbbas (P.U.H) who was the oldest among the Hashimis in Karbala other than AlHussein. He was 34 years old; therefore, AlHussein chose him to hold his great flag and was described as the ram of the troop.⁽⁹⁾
He (P.U.H) was handsome, tall , with a huge body. His face was so beautiful therefore he was called the moon of Hashimis. He was the last to be killed before AlHussein (P.U.H) on Ashooraa day. His death was a shock to AlHussein and hurt him badly. He expressed his grief when he stood by his corpse and said: Now my back is broken, I lost my support and my enemy gloated over me. He seemed broken and cried over him.⁽¹⁰⁾
His great position was described by Al Imam Zein Al Abdeen (P.U.H) when he said: God bless the soul of my uncle Al Abbas, he sacrificed himself for the safety of his brother till his hands were cut, then God replaced them with wings to fly with the angels in Heaven like Jaafar bin Abu Talib.
Alabbas has a position before God that all martyrs envy him on Doomsday. (11)⁽¹¹⁾
When Imam Zein Al Abdeen (P.U.H) buried him on the same spot that he was killed at, that was a proof of how great his position was in Hashimis and also to show appreciation to what he did.

His wives
One of them was:

• Shahar Bano the daughter of Yazdajer, the Persian king.
• Layla bint Abu Murra bin Arwa bin Masood Althakafi.
• Al rabab bint Emrii Al Qais bin Oday
• Om Ishaq bint Talha bin Obeid Allah Altimimiyah.
• Om Jaafar ⁽¹²⁾ which sometimes was called Solafa, who was from Kuthaa tribe.

The duration of his Imamate and his honorable age:
It was 10 years and almost 10 months (minus 10 days). He got this position after his brother Al Hasan Al Mujtaba, till the day of his martyr in 61 Hijri when he was 57 years old, (as mentioned by Alsheikh Al sadook in his book (Amalyh) and by Alkulainy in his book (Alkafi)) which was in Ashoora day in Muharram in Altaf battle as instructed by Yazeed bin Moawiya bin abi Sufyan (may God curse them) after the greatest fight in history, and after the death of his family and friends (13), so they made a record of the best martyr and sacrifice. ⁽¹³⁾

The engraving of his honorable ring.
First one had: (Allah fulfills his Will.) (Surah at-Talaq: 3)
Second one : It was stolen from him when he was killed and it was written on it⁽¹⁴⁾ (There is no God but Allah, the number of meeting God). It was said that if someone engraved his ring with the same words, then it would protect him from Evil.

His use of Alteeb:
He used to love Alteeb and carry musk with him wherever he went, and oud incense was always in his divan. ⁽¹⁵⁾

The rising of Al Imam Alhussein:

Al Imam Al Hussein (P.U.H) managed through his big rising to send a clear message to humanity, that the rights are what any normal human wants.

He sacrificed himself, his sons, and his friends in Altaf battle to protect the Islamic religion. He faced the tyrant of that time, Yazeed bin Muawiyah, with his plans to ruin Islam and to change its concepts and rules. Al Imam Al Hussein (P.U.H) managed to fend this great danger and fail all those sinful plans. He did all this to protect the legislation of his Grandfather Al Mustafa (P.U.H) and the concepts and beliefs of Islam from distortion and forge ring.
Al Imam Al Hussein (P.U.H), with his great revolution against injustice, managed to reach all people ‘s minds and he was considered a symbol of contention, that makes people come from everywhere to visit his grave, especially in the twentieth of Safar, which is the anniversary of 40 days after his martyrdom. This anniversary is very important and blessed, as mentioned by the prophet’s family, and is very special to the visitors of the holy Karbala.

The path of Al Imam Al Hussein is continued till now.
The visit of the fortieth is considered a proof of belief as mentioned by Al Imam Al Hasan Al Askari (P.U.H). He said: The signs of the believer are 5; the prayer of 51 , the visit of the 40th , ending with an oath, spot in the forehead , saying (by the name of Allah the most gracious and merciful) in public. ⁽¹⁶⁾
Therefore, every year believers come from all around the world to revive this ritual. Nothing stops them from coming whether it is the brutal authorities, or the weather. People support each other to maintain the path and prepare it for the visitors of Al Imam al Hussein (P.U.H).
This tradition will continue till the resurrection of Al Imam Al Mahdi, as mentioned by lady Zeinab (P.U.H). when she said to the tyrant Yazeed: (Whatever you plot or scheme, whatever effort you make, by the one who honored us with the holy book and the revelation, with the prophecy and the procreation, you will not get our goal) ⁽¹⁷⁾

As prophet Mohammed (P.U.H) said: (The murder of Al Hussein has a great effect on the hearts of Muslims like a fire that will not be extinguished.)

His honored graveyard:
Al Imam Al Hussein (P.U.H) was buried in holy Karbala, which is an Islamic holy city that is well known in history of Islam, and before Islam.
It is located at 105 km southwest of the Iraqi capital Baghdad, at the edge of the desert west of Euphrates.

Some of the famous words of Al Hussein Bin Ali.

• If you do not have a religion, and you are not scared of doomsday, then you are free in your world. ⁽¹⁸⁾
• People who are the slaves of life, Religion is just licking in their mouths, as their lives require, when they are experiencing any ordeal, their religion vanishes. ⁽¹⁹⁾
• When people need you, is a blessing from God, so do not get bored of it.⁽²⁰⁾
• A death in almighty is better than a life in humiliation.⁽²¹⁾
• I did not go out to slander or to do evil things or to do any injustice, but I went to fix the nation of my grandfather. I wanted to encourage people to do the good things and leave the bad ones.⁽²²⁾
• When someone tries to do something against the rules of God, he will miss what he hopes for, and he gets what he is cautious of.⁽²³⁾

References:

1. ↑↑دائرة المعارف الحسينية ج1/ 157، وكشف الغمة:2/178، والمناقب 4/84
2. ↑دائرة المعارف الحسينية ج1/ 157، وكشف الغمة:2/178، والمناقب 4/84
3. ↑دائرة المعارف الحسينية ج1/ 157، وكشف الغمة:2/178، والمناقب 4/84
4. ↑كشف الغمة:1/551، و حياة الإمام الحسين:1/43
5. ↑كشف الغمة:1/551
6. ↑كشف الغمة:1/551، و حياة الإمام الحسين:1/43
7. ↑سيرة الإمام الحسين عليه السلام دراسة تحليلية:29
8. ↑أنساب الأشراف:3/395
9. ↑ينظر:حياة الإمام الحسين:3/ 277_278
10. ↑شبكة المعراج
11. ↑الأمالي:548
12. ↑سيرة الإمام الحسين عليه السلام دراسة تحليلية:40_41
13. ↑مع الركب الحسيني:4/217
14. ↑دلائل الإمامة:73
15. ↑حياة الإمام الحسين:1/42
16. ↑بحار الأنوار:٢٣٩/٢٨
17. ↑اللهوف في قتلى الطفوف :١٨١-١٨٢
18. ↑كشف الغمة في معرفة الأئمة، 1421 ق، ج 1، ص592
19. ↑تحف العقول، 1404 ق، ص 245
20. ↑كشف الغمة في معرفة الأئمة، 1421 ق، ج 1، ص 573
21. ↑المناقب، 1379، ج 4، ص 68
22. ↑مقتل الحسين، 1423 ق، ج 1، ص 273
23. ↑تحف العقول، 1404 ق، ص 248