Earlier today, I was speaking to an old friend of mine from back home. She railed against the fact that I hadn’t been speaking to her as much in my second year at University than I did in my first.

There was nothing astonishing about that, frankly. Seeing as I had taken up more extra and co-curricular responsibilities for my own good in a year which counts for 50% of my degree, I was indeed clambering the peak that is time with marked unease – coughing, spluttering – barely managing, but still.

The part of our conversation that struck me, got me thinking and eventually led me to writing was how she said that I don’t need her any more. Be advised, this is no romantic attachment that might be referred to implicitly or even explicitly. She went on to explain her assertion, saying that I did not need her any more because I had more people now. More people to talk to, she said. Therefore, she alleged, I did not talk to her.

Before proceeding further, I should clarify that I consider most – if not all – writing product of a moment(s) of profundity. Here, I risk trivializing the art, consider me reckless.

Her words, themselves, did not really form an affront to me. She was right. I knew she was. I knew she was right because, even before this seemingly dull colloquy with my dear friend, I had always known that relationships are always forged out of a sense of ‘bankability’, trust – faith, if you must – and a certain confessional attitude that has become acceptable between the two concerned individuals. The more of these sort of relationships you form, the faster you tend to – but not always – move on from your past ones. A phenomenon that is very simple and very real.

What was it that struck me then, you may ask?

I feel it was the realization of this particular phenomenon happening to me. That perhaps, it was I who had forged more relationships and was more inclined to moving on ‘talking’ to other people than ‘talking to her’. That I, now, had too many options to choose from and had forgotten that, once upon a time, I had established this one connection too. It was then that I felt the truth of her words. It was then that I spoke to this idea first, like Charles Dickens would to a ghost, before it explained itself.

Perhaps what I am saying here is that sometimes it is all too easy to move on from old friendships to new ones. To find some one else who is willing to listen to you, to help you knock that chip off your shoulder. But for something like that to happen continually, you need to sustain your friendships, cherish them. So that when you have that talk again, you get that same old complete satisfaction, that old sensation of sheer lightness.

It is my thinking – admittedly, not very profound – that if one is able to sustain all his old friendships he will continue to develop new ones, in an ongoing cycle that is characterized by mutual respect and return.

So thank you, dear friend, for teaching me this invaluable lesson.

Think not of those who are slain in God’s way as dead. Nay,
they are living, finding their sustenance in the presence of their
Lord
Qur’an 3:169

Imam Husayn (a.s) was the grandson of the beloved Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) who stood tall  against yazid’s despotism. He was martyred by the evil forces of despotism for not accepting yazid as a leader. Yazid was evil intentious serving people in severe cruelty an injustice person our beloved Imam was aware of yazid intentions that if he accepted yazid as Leader so he will be the cause of great devastation of pure religion(Islam).

Hussain wrote with his blood

On the sand of Karbala

La Illaha Illallah Muhammad rasul Alla

Here is  a collection of short quotations about Imam Hussayn (a.s)  from a wide variety of Non-Muslim notables from around the world.

Charles Dickens (English novelist):

“If Husain had fought to quench his worldly desires…then I do not understand why his sister, wife, and children accompanied him. It stands to reason therefore, that he sacrificed purely for Islam.

Thomas Carlyle (Scottish historian and essayist):

“The best lesson which we get from the tragedy of Cerebella is that Husain and his companions were rigid believers in God. They illustrated that the numerical superiority does not count when it comes to the truth and the falsehood. The victory of Husain, despite his minority, marvels me!”

Edward Gibbon (English historian and member of parliament):

“In a distant age and climate, the tragic scene of the death of Hosein will awaken the sympathy of the coldest reader.” (The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, London, 1911, volume 5, p. 391-392)

Antoine Bara (Lebanese writer):

“No battle in the modern and past history of mankind has earned more sympathy and admiration as well as provided more lessons than the martyrdom of Husayn in the battle of Karbala.” (Husayn in Christian Ideology)

Sir William Muir (Scottish orientalist):

“The tragedy of Karbala decided not only the fate of the Caliphate, but also of Mohammadan kingdoms long after the Caliphate had waned and disappeared.” (Annals of the Early Caliphate,London, 1883, p.441-442)

Dr. Radha Krishnan:

“Though Imam Hussain gave his life years ago, but his indestructible soul rules the hearts of people even today.”

Mahatma Gandhi:

“My faith is that the progress of Islam does not depend on the use of sword by its believers, but the result of the supreme sacrifice of Hussain (A.S.), the great saint.”

Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru:

“Imam Hussain’s (A.S.) sacrifice is for all groups and communities, an example of the path of righteousness.”

Rabindranath Tagore:

“In order to keep alive justice and truth, instead of an army or weapons, success can be achieved by sacrificing lives, exactly what Imam Hussain (A.S.) did.

Dr. Rajendra Prasad:

“The sacrifice of Imam Hussain (A.S.) is not limited to one country, or nation, but it is the hereditary state of the brotherhood of all mankind.”

Swami Shankaracharya:

“It is Hussain’s (A.S.) sacrifice that has kept Islam alive or else in this world there would be no one left to take Islam’s name.”

Mrs. Sarojini Naidu:

“I congratulate Muslims that from among them, Hussain (A.S.), a great human being was born, who is reverted and honored totally by all communities

Reynold Alleyne Nicholson:

“Hussain (A.S.) fell, pierced by an arrow, and his brave followers were cut down beside him to the last man. Muhammadan tradition, which with rare exceptions is uniformly hostile to the Umayyad dynasty, regards Hussain (A.S.) as a martyr and Yazid as his murderer.” [A Literary History of the Arabs, Cambridge, 1930, p197]

Edward G. Brown (Professor at the University of Cambridge):

“…a reminder of that blood-stained field of Karbala, where the grandson of the Apostle of God fell, at length, tortured by thirst, and surround by the bodies of his murdered kinsmen, has been at anytime since then, sufficient to evoke, even in the most lukewarm and the heedless, the deepest emotion, the most frantic grief, and an exaltation of spirit before which pain, danger, and death shrink to unconsidered trifles.” (A Literary History of Persia, London, 1919, p.227)

Ignaz Goldziher (Hungarian orientalist):

“…Weeping and lamentation over  the evils and persecutions suffered by the ‘Alid family, and mourning for its martyrs: these are things from which loyal supporters of the cause cannot cease. ‘More touching than the tears of the Shi’is’ has even become an Arabic proverb.” (Introduction to Islamic Theology and Law, Princeton, 1981, p.179)

Dr. K. Sheldrake:

“Of that gallant band, male and female knew that the enemy forces around were implacable, and were not only ready to fight, but to kill. Denied even water for the children, they remained parched under the burning sun and scorching sands, yet not one faltered for a moment. Husain marched with his little company, not to glory, not to power of wealth, but to a supreme sacrifice, and every member bravely faced the greatest odds without flinching.”

Peter J. Chelkowski (Prof. of Middle Eastern Studies, New York University):

‰ “Hussein accepted and set out from Mecca with his family and an entourage of about seventy followers.  But on the plain of Kerbela they were caught in an ambush set by the … caliph, Yazid.  Though defeat was certain, Hussein refused to pay homage to him.  Surrounded by a great enemy force, Hussein and his company existed without water for ten days in the burning desert of Kerbela.  Finally Hussein, the adults and some male children of his family and his companions were cut to bits by the arrows and swords of Yazid’s
army; his women and remaining children were taken as captives to Yazid in Damascus.  The renowned historian Abu Reyhan al-Biruni states; “… then fire was set to their camp and the bodies were trampled by the hoofs of the horses; nobody in the history of the human kind has seen such atrocities.”
[Ta'ziyeh: Ritual and Drama in Iran, New York, 1979, p. 2]

Sir William Muir (Scottish scholar and statesman) :

‰ “The tragedy of Karbala decided not only the fate of the caliphate, but of the Mohammedan kingdoms long after the Caliphate had waned and disappeared.”
[Annals of the Early Caliphate, London, 1883, pp. 441-2

Simon Ockley (Prof. of Arabic at the University of Cambridge):

 
‰ "Then Hosein mounted his horse, and took the Koran and laid it before him, and, coming up to the people, invited them to the performances of their duty: adding, 'O God, thou art my confidence in every trouble, and my hope in all adversity!'… He next reminded them of his excellency, the nobility of his birth, the greatness of his power, and his high descent, and said, 'Consider with yourselves whether or not such a man as I am is not better than you; I who am the son of your prophet's daughter, besides whom there is no other upon the face of the earth.  Ali was my father; Jaafar and Hamza, the chief of the martyrs, were both my uncles; and the apostle of
God, upon whom be peace, said both of me and my brother, that we were the chief of the youth of paradise.  If you will believe me, what I say is true, for by God, I never told a lie in earnest since I had my understanding; for God hates a lie.  If you do not believe me, ask the companions of the apostle of God [here he named them], and they will tell you the same.  Let me go back to what I have.’  They asked, ‘What hindered him from being ruled by the rest of his relations.’  He answered, ‘God forbid that I should set my hand to the resignation of my right after a slavish manner.  I have
recourse to God from every tyrant that doth not believe in the day of account.’”
[The History of the Saracens, London, 1894, pp. 404-5

Robert Durey Osborn (Major of the Bengal Staff Corps):

‰ “Hosain had a child named Abdallah, only a year old.  He had accompanied his father in this terrible march.  Touched by its cries, he took the infant in his arms and wept.  At that instant, a shaft from the hostile ranks pierced the child’s ear, and it expired in his father’s arms.  Hosain placed the little corpse upon the ground.  ‘We come from God, and we return to Him!’ he cried; ‘O Lord, give me strength to bear these misfortunes!’ … Faint with thirst, and exhausted with wounds, he fought with desperate courage, slaying several of his antagonists.  At last he was cut down from behind; at

the same instance a lance was thrust through his back and bore him to the ground; as the dealer of this last blow withdrew his weapon, the ill-fated son of Ali rolled over a corpse.  The head was severed from the trunk; the trunk was trampled under the hoofs of the victors’ horses; and the next morning the women and a surviving infant son were carried away to Koufa. The bodies of Hosain and his followers were left unburied on the spot where they fell.  For three days they remained exposed to the sun and the night dews, the vultures and the prowling animals of the waste; but then the

inhabitants of a neighbouring village, struck with horror that the body of a grandson of the Prophet should be thus shamefully abandoned to the unclean beasts of the field, dared the anger of Obaidallah, and interred the body of the martyr and those of his heroic friends.

[Islam Under the Arabs, Delaware, 1976, pp. 126-7