The Grandson the Prophet Carried
The Prophet Muhammad (SAW) had a love for his grandsons Hasan and Husain that he expressed openly, without reservation — an unusual display for a culture that prized composure. He would descend from the minbar (pulpit) mid-sermon to pick up a grandson who had tripped on the steps. He would prostrate in prayer and hold the position long past its usual duration because Husain had climbed on his back and he did not want to disturb him.
He said:
اَلحُسَينُ مِنِّي وَأَنَا مِنَ الحُسَين “Al-Husain is from me, and I am from al-Husain.” (Tirmidhi)
This saying has always puzzled those who read it only at surface level: of course Husain is from the Prophet — he is the Prophet’s grandson. But the Prophet reversed it: I am from al-Husain. In the Bohra understanding, this means: the continuation of the prophetic message, the survival of the Islam the Prophet brought, flows through al-Husain. Without the stand he took at Karbala, that message would have been submerged.
His Birth and Early Life
Imam Husain (AS) was born on 3 Sha’ban, 4 AH (625 CE) in Medina. He was the second son of Imam Ali ibn Abi Talib (AS) and Maulatona Fatema al-Zahra (AS) — making him the Prophet’s second grandson through Fatema.
His name was given by the Prophet himself. When the Prophet saw him, he wept and said: “This is the martyr, the grandson, the son of the martyr. May Allah curse those who kill him.” The Prophet had been informed by divine revelation about what Karbala would hold.
He grew up in the house of his parents — the house of the Prophet’s daughter and cousin. He saw the Prophet regularly, sat at his knee, absorbed his presence. He was 6 or 7 years old when the Prophet (SAW) passed away. He then grew up watching his father face 25 years of silence before assuming the caliphate, watching his mother Fatema die of grief within months of the Prophet’s death, watching the community that had pledged allegiance under the Prophet’s eyes now drift from the path the Prophet had designated.
He was present for all of it. And he remembered.
After His Father and Brother
When Imam Ali (AS) was martyred in 40 AH, Imam Hasan (AS) became the 2nd Imam. Imam Husain stood fully behind his brother. When Imam Hasan entered into the peace treaty with Muawiyah in 41 AH — a decision that protected the lives of thousands — Husain accepted his brother’s wisdom even as he grieved the political reality it represented.
Imam Hasan (AS) was poisoned in 50 AH (670 CE) through the machinations of Muawiyah’s agents. He died in Medina. Before he died, he transferred the Imamate to his brother:
اُوصِيكَ بِتَقوَى اللَّهِ يَا أَخِي وَأَنتَ الإِمَامُ مِن بَعدِي “I entrust you with the consciousness of Allah, O my brother — and you are the Imam after me.”
Imam Husain (AS) was now the 3rd Imam — the third in the unbroken chain that began with Imam Ali, and that would, through Husain’s son Ali Zayn al-Abidin, continue to the 21st Imam al-Tayyib and thence to the Dais who lead the Bohra community today.
The Refusal — Yazid ibn Muawiyah
Muawiyah died in 60 AH (680 CE) and had arranged for his son Yazid to succeed him as caliph. This succession was unprecedented — the Prophet had explicitly condemned dynastic caliphate, and the Muslim community had never before accepted a son automatically inheriting his father’s position over the Umma.
More critically: Yazid was openly corrupt. He drank wine. He mocked the religious obligations. He had no Islamic credentials. And yet he demanded the allegiance (bay’ah) of all Muslims — including Imam Husain (AS), the grandson of the Prophet, the son of Fatema al-Zahra, the living Imam of the Age.
Imam Husain (AS) refused.
His words have been transmitted to us:
“A man like me cannot give allegiance to a man like him.”
And more: “By Allah, I will never give my hand like a man who is humiliated, and I will never flee like a slave. O people, surely the Messenger of Allah said: ‘Whoever sees a tyrannical ruler violating the prohibitions of Allah, breaking the covenant of Allah, opposing the Sunnah of the Messenger, acting among the servants of Allah sinfully and aggressively — and does nothing about it by deed or word — then Allah will enter him into Hellfire where that tyrannical ruler is.’ Beware! These people have tied themselves to the obedience of Satan and abandoned the obedience of the Most Merciful.”
This refusal was not the decision of a moment. It was the declaration of a man who had thought deeply about what his grandfather’s mission meant, what the Imamate was for, and what would be left of Islam if he bent.
The Letters from Kufa — and the Journey
When word spread that Husain (AS) had refused Yazid’s demand and departed Medina for Mecca (to be safe during the Hajj season), the people of Kufa — those who had once pledged to Imam Ali and never forgotten — flooded him with letters.
Over 12,000 letters arrived in Mecca from the people of Kufa, begging Imam Husain to come to Iraq and lead them. They pledged their loyalty, their homes, their lives.
Husain sent his cousin Muslim ibn Aqeel to Kufa to assess the situation. Muslim’s initial reports were positive — he found tens of thousands pledging allegiance to the Imam. But the tide turned with shocking speed when Yazid’s new governor, the ruthless Ubaydullah ibn Ziyad, arrived in Kufa. Through terror and bribes, he dismantled the support base for Husain. Muslim ibn Aqeel was arrested, tortured, and executed from the top of a building. His last message to Husain was: “The situation has changed. Return. Do not come to Kufa.”
The message reached Husain while he was already on the road. Some of his companions urged him to turn back. He continued.
Why? Because this was not merely a political calculation. This was the 3rd Imam — divinely guided — who understood that his martyrdom was necessary. That the community needed a wound that would never close, a grief that would never be forgotten, a lesson that would be recited for a thousand years. That the survival of true Islam required a price that he alone could pay.
The Family Who Came
Imam Husain (AS) did not travel alone. With him were:
- His wives and daughters
- His sisters (including Sayyida Zainab AS)
- Ali al-Akbar — his son, 18 years old, described as resembling the Prophet in appearance and character
- Ali al-Asghar — his infant son, a nursing baby
- Qasim — the son of Imam Hasan, who came to fight
- His brothers: Abbas, Ja’far, Uthman, Abdullah — sons of Imam Ali
- 72 companions — men who knew they were walking toward death and chose to walk anyway
The number 72 against thousands. A family and a group of true believers against an army.
Karbala — The Ground of the Sacrifice
On 2 Muharram 61 AH, the caravan of Imam Husain was intercepted and forced to stop on the plain of Karbala — a barren land beside the Euphrates River in what is now Iraq. The army of Ibn Ziyad surrounded them, growing from thousands to tens of thousands over the following days.
On 7 Muharram, the water supply was cut off. The Euphrates was 10 minutes’ walk away, but the army prevented the Imam’s camp from reaching it. The women, children, and companions endured the desert heat without water for three days.
On the night of 9 Muharram (the Night of Ashura), Imam Husain gathered all his companions and delivered one of the most extraordinary speeches in history. He told them the army would be satisfied only with his death. He released all of them from any obligation to remain. He extinguished the lamps so none would feel shame in leaving. He said:
“As for those who are with me — I know of no companions more loyal and better than my companions, and no family more righteous and more caring than my family. Allah will reward you well on my behalf. I believe that tomorrow will be our day with these enemies.”
Not one man left. Instead, they spoke:
- His brother Abbas: “By Allah, we will never leave you.”
- Muslim ibn Awsaja: “By Allah, if I were killed and then brought back to life 70 times, I would not leave you.”
- Zuhayr ibn Qayn: “By Allah, I wish I were killed, then revived, then killed again a thousand times, if it would keep Allah’s punishment from this family.”
Ashura — 10 Muharram
The morning of 10 Muharram 61 AH brought the last dawn many would see.
The companions went one by one — some in formal duels, some in the general fighting. The sons of Imam Husain’s brothers were martyred. Qasim ibn Hasan died. Ali al-Akbar — the 18-year-old who looked like the Prophet — was killed. Each death was announced to Imam Husain as he continued to fight and pray.
The companions fell. The brothers fell. The family fell.
Then Ali al-Asghar — the six-month-old infant — was brought out by Imam Husain himself. His throat was parched, the women’s milk had dried from thirst. Imam Husain walked to the edge of the army and lifted the baby toward them:
“If you have no mercy on me, have mercy on this infant. He has committed no sin.”
An arrow was fired. It pierced the baby’s neck in his father’s arms.
Imam Husain caught the blood in his palm and raised it toward the sky:
“It is easy for me in the sight of Allah that this [suffering] is witnessed by Him.”
He dug a small grave with his sword and buried his son.
Finally, alone, Imam Husain (AS) stood before the army. He had received wounds throughout the day — arrows, sword cuts, spear blows — and yet continued. He called out:
“Is there anyone who will come to my aid? Is there anyone who will defend the family of the Prophet?”
The answer was silence.
He was martyred on the afternoon of Ashura. He fell to the ground saying:
بِسمِ اللَّهِ وَبِاللَّهِ وَفِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ وَعَلَى مِلَّةِ رَسُولِ اللَّهِ
In the name of Allah, with Allah, in the path of Allah, and upon the religion of the Messenger of Allah.
After Karbala — What the Sacrifice Preserved
The bodies were left on the plain. The heads were taken to Kufa, then Damascus. The women and children — Sayyida Zainab (AS) at their head — were paraded as captives.
But the captives were not silent. Sayyida Zainab’s speeches in Kufa and Damascus turned the political tide. She named what had happened. She forced the world to see. The community that had failed Husain wept and, in weeping, began to understand.
The head of Imam Husain was eventually buried in Karbala — at the spot of his martyrdom, where the great shrine of Imam Husain (AS) stands today, drawing millions of pilgrims each year.
What his sacrifice preserved:
- The memory that the Prophet’s family is the custodian of his message — not whoever holds political power
- The principle that religious authority cannot be bought, inherited by tyranny, or surrendered under threat
- The chain of Imamate — through his son Ali Zayn al-Abidin (4th Imam), who survived Karbala, the line continued unbroken through all the Fatimid Imams to the present day
- The institution of zikr — remembrance. The crying of the believers for Husain became an act of worship, a channel to divine mercy, a reminder of what Islam stands for at its heart
Ashara Mubaraka — The Bohra Remembrance
Every year, on the first ten days of Muharram, the Dawoodi Bohra community observes Ashara Mubaraka — the Ten Blessed Days. The community gathers from around the world in the city designated by the Dai al-Mutlaq for that year’s Ashara.
For ten days:
- The Dai al-Mutlaq (or a senior Dai) delivers the waaz (sermon) — a profound daily lecture that traverses Quranic ta’wil, the biography of Imam Husain, and spiritual guidance for the community
- The community wears black
- No weddings or celebrations are held
- The faithful gather in the thousands — sometimes tens of thousands — to weep for Imam Husain and seek the divine mercy that descends upon those who grieve for him
On Ashura itself, the day of his martyrdom is mourned with the most intense grief of the entire year.
The Prophet (SAW) said: “The skies and the earth weep for Husain.”
And the Imam who succeeded him said: “Every day is Ashura and every land is Karbala.” — meaning: the principle Husain stood for — truth against corruption, family against power, faith against fear — is not a historical event. It is the eternal condition of the believer.
The Ziyarat
When a Bohra pilgrim visits the Imam Husain shrine in Karbala, they recite his ziyarat:
السَّلَامُ عَلَيكَ يَا أَبَا عَبدِ اللَّهِ السَّلَامُ عَلَيكَ يَا بنَ رَسُولِ اللَّهِ وَابنَ خَلِيلِهِ وَابنَ أَمِينِهِ السَّلَامُ عَلَيكَ يَا ثَارَ اللَّهِ وَابنَ ثَارِهِ وَالوِترَ الْمَوتُور
Peace be upon you, O Abu Abdillah. Peace be upon you, O son of the Messenger of Allah and son of His Friend and son of His Trusted One. Peace be upon you, O blood-right of Allah and son of His blood-right, and the one left alone and bereaved.
اللَّهُمَّ إِنَّ قُلُوبَنَا تَشهَدُ لَكَ يَا حُسَينُ وَأَرواحَنَا فَدَاؤُك O Allah, our hearts bear witness for you, O Husain, and our souls are a ransom for you.