The Thirteen Distinctions of Imam Husain (a.s.)’s (a.s.) Jihād Compared to Jihād in Islam

امتيازهاي سيزده گانه جهاد امام حسين با جهاد در اسلام

اشاره

يكي آنكه: از شرايط جهاد در اسلام آن بود كه كفار از ده برابر مسلمين زياد نباشد، پس واجب بود كه يكنفر از ده نفر فرار نكند، و بعد از قوت اسلام و ازدياد شوكت آن، تخفيف وارد شد، و شرط شد كه از دو مقابل زياد نباشد، پس اگر كفار زياده از دومقابل باشند جهاد لازم نبود، و بر آن جناب لازم شد كه يك تن در مقابل سي هزار نفر، بلكه بيشتر بايستد و جهاد نمايد.دوم آنكه: جهاد بر اطفال و شيوخ لازم نبود، و در اين واقعه مشروع گرديد از براي طفل مانند قاسم، و عبدالله بن الحسن، و طفل آن عجوزه، و همچنين از براي شيوخ كبير مانند حبيب بن مظاهر.سوم آنكه: مظنه هلاكت نباشد، و آن حضرت مي‌دانست كه كشته مي‌شود، و به اصحاب خبر داد كه فردا تمام شما كشته مي‌شويد [232] و نجات نيابد مگر ولدم علي.چهارم آنكه: ستمكاران با آنجناب رفتاري نمودند كه خداوند در جهاد با كفار مقرر ننموده بود، من جمله بايد قتال در اشهر حرم نباشد، و آنها با آنحضرت در محرم كه شهر حرام است قتال نمودند، و آنحضرت ناچار با آنها مقاتله نمودند.پنجم آنكه: طفل و زن را نبايد كشت از كفار، و از آنجناب چند طفل بلكه شيرخوار شهيد كردند، يكي آن طفل كه حضرت طلبيد كه او را ببوسد تيري بجانب او انداختند و او را شهيد كردند. [233] .و ديگري را به نزد ايشان برد و از برايش آب طلبيد، به عوض آب، تير بر حلقومش زدند. [234] .ششم آنكه: هر گاه كفر شرط مبارزت نمايد بر او يكدفعه هجوم ننمايند، و ايشان [ صفحه 117] شرط نمودند كه يك يك به ميدان آورند، بعد مخالفت كردند و از هر طرف بر او هجوم نمودند، فرقة بالسيف، و فرقة بالرمح [235] .هفتم آنكه: ابتداء به قتال بعد از ظهر باشد، تا اينكه مقاتله طولي نكشد، و شب حايل شود تا اينكه بالتمام مستأصل نشوند، و ايشان خلاف اين معني نمودند، و از اول طلوع مشغول قتال شدند. [236] .هشتم آنكه: سر كافر را چون بريدند از معركه و محل حرب به جائي نقل نكنند [237] ، وايشان سر مبارك آنجناب را به كوفه و شام با سر اصحاب نقل نمودند.نهم آنكه: كافر اگر بزرگ قبيله باشد او را سلب نكنند، چنانكه حضرت امير (عليه‌السلام) در وقتي كه عمرو بن عبدود را به قتل آورد و او تمام كفر بود، و زره قيمتي اعلا دربر داشت كه بي‌نظير بود، حضرت متعرض آن نگرديدند، شخصي عرض كرد كه چرا زره او را نبرديد؟ فرمود او بزرگ قوم است نخواستم هتك حرمتش كنم [238] ، و خواهر عمرو چون اين حال را ديد، و فهميد كه قاتل او جناب امير است فرحناك شد، به دو جهت: يكي آنكه ديد كه قاتلش بزرگ بوده، و ديگر آنكه حرمت او را ملاحظه نموده، پس گفت:لو كان قاتل عمرو غير قاتله لكنت ابكي عليه اخر الأبدلكن قاتله من لا يعاب به و كان يدعي ابوه بيضة البلد [239] .و ايضا اظهار سرور نمود، گفت: اشك من خشك نشود اگر بر تو گريان شوم اي برادر، سالهاي دراز به بزرگي گذران نمودي، حال هم به دست كفو كريمي كشته شدي، من نمي‌دانم كه اگر قاتل برادرش، پسر بزچران بود، كه مبروص پيس، نابخت بداصل حرامزده بود، (شمر ملعون) آيا چه ميكرد؟ [ صفحه 118]

The Thirteen Distinctions of Imam Husain (a.s.)’s (a.s.) Jihād Compared to Jihād in Islam

First: One of the conditions of jihād in Islam was that the unbelievers should not outnumber the Muslims by more than ten to one. Thus, one Muslim was not permitted to flee from ten opponents. Later, after Islam gained strength and power, a concession was revealed, and the condition became that the enemy should not exceed twice the number of the Muslims. Therefore, if the unbelievers were more than double, jihād was no longer obligatory. Yet upon Imam Husain (a.s.) it became necessary to stand alone against thirty thousand men, or even more, and to fight them.

Second: Jihād was not obligatory upon children or the elderly. Yet in this event it became prescribed for youths such as Qāsim (a.s.), ʿAbdullāh ibn al-Hasan (a.s.), and the young son of that old woman. Likewise, it became prescribed for elderly men such as Ḥabīb ibn Muẓāhir.

Third: One condition was that there should not be a clear expectation of destruction and death. Yet Imam Husain (a.s.) knew that he would be killed, and he informed his companions that all of them would be killed the following day, and that none would survive except his son ʿAlī. [232]

Fourth: The oppressors treated him in ways that Allah had not legislated even for warfare against unbelievers. Among these was that fighting should not take place during the sacred months. Yet they fought him during Muḥarram, which is one of the sacred months, and he was compelled to fight them.

Fifth: Women and children among the unbelievers are not to be killed. Yet several children, indeed even nursing infants, were martyred in relation to him. One was the infant whom Imam Husain (a.s.) asked to hold and kiss; an arrow was shot toward him and he was martyred. [233]

Another infant was brought before him, and when he asked for water for the child, they responded by shooting an arrow into the child’s throat instead of giving water. [234]

Sixth: When an unbeliever requests single combat, he is not to be attacked all at once. They agreed that warriors would come out one by one to the battlefield, but then violated that agreement and attacked him from every direction:

«فرقة بالسيف، و فرقة بالرمح»

“A group with swords, and a group with spears.” [235]

[ صفحه 117]

Seventh: Fighting should normally begin after noon, so that the battle would not continue for too long and night would intervene before complete annihilation occurred. They violated this principle and began fighting from the very break of dawn. [236]

Eighth: When the head of an unbeliever is severed, it is not to be carried away from the battlefield and place of combat. [237] Yet they carried the blessed head of Imam Husain (a.s.), together with the heads of his companions, to Kūfah and then to Syria.

Ninth: If the slain unbeliever is the chief of his tribe, his belongings should not be stripped from him. Thus, when Amir al-Muʾminīn ʿAlī (a.s.) killed ʿAmr ibn ʿAbd Wudd—who represented the entirety of disbelief and was wearing an extremely valuable and unmatched coat of mail—the Imam (a.s.) did not take it. Someone asked him why he had not taken the armor. He replied:

“I did not wish to violate his dignity, for he was the chief of his people.” [238]

When ʿAmr’s sister learned of this and discovered that his killer was Amir al-Muʾminīn (a.s.), she was pleased for two reasons: first, because she saw that her brother had been killed by a great man; second, because his dignity had been respected. She then recited:

«لو كان قاتل عمرو غير قاتله لكنت ابكي عليه اخر الأبد لكن قاتله من لا يعاب به و كان يدعي ابوه بيضة البلد» [239]

“If the killer of ʿAmr had been someone other than his killer, I would have wept for him until the end of time. But his killer is one against whom no fault can be found, And whose father was known as the protector of the land.”

She also expressed her satisfaction and said that her tears would never dry if she were to weep for her brother, who had lived a life of greatness and in the end had been killed by a noble and worthy equal.

The author then remarks: I do not know what she would have done had her brother’s killer been a goatherd’s son, a leper, an ignoble and base-born illegitimate man—namely Shimr, the accursed.

[ صفحه 118]

دهم آنكه: كافر را مثله نمودن مشروع نيست (يعني نبايد اعضاي ايشان را قطع نمود) حتي اينكه حضرت اميرالمؤمنين (عليه‌السلام) نهي فرمود از مثله كردن به ابن‌ملجم كه اشقياي اولين و آخرين بود [240] ، و اين امر نيز در پيش كفار و بت‌پرستان ثابت بوده و در جاهليت نسبت به مسلمين.چنانكه ابوسفيان زماني كه بر جسد حمزه عبور نمود، آمد نزدش و سر نيزه را بر دهانش گذاشت و گفت: بچش اي عاق! و چون ديد كه انگشتانش را بريده و شكمش را دريده و جگرش را برده‌اند فرياد كرد كه اي اتباع محمد (صلي الله عليه و آله) در قتلاي شما مثله است، قسم به خدا كه من امر به آن ننمودم و به آن راضي نبودم [241] ، لكن پسر زياد ملعونه أعظم از مثله فرمان داد و نوشت به ابن‌سعد كه چون حسين را كشتي اسبها را بر سينه و پشت او بتاز، هر چند بعد از كشتن ضرري به حال او ندارد و لكن كلامي گفته‌ام عمل شود. [242] .يازدهم آنكه: چون زنان كفار را اسير كنند نبايد ايشان را بر كشته‌ي اقوام خود عبور دهند و در خيبر چون بلال صفيه را بر كشته‌ي خيبريان عبور داد و بدنش به لرزه درآمد، او را به خدمت حضرت رسول (صلي الله عليه و آله)برد حضرت بلال را عتاب فرمود [243] ، لكن نسبت به اسيران آل محمد (صلي الله عليه و آله) اكتفا نكردند به مرور بر قتلي، بلكه سرهاي ايشان را همراه ايشان داشتند و همواره در پيش چشم ايشان بود، تا وارد شام شدند. [244] .دوازدهم آنكه: زنان اسير از كفار اگر از خاندان سلطنت باشند ايشان را در بازار به عرض بيع درنياورند، و در مجالس بپا ندارند، و روهاي ايشان را مكشوف ننمايند، و در روايتي از حضرت باقر (عليه‌السلام) ديده‌ام كه چون سبايا را وارد شام نموده، اهل شام با هم مي‌گفتند: كه ما نديده‌ايم اسيراني كه از اينان خوشروتر باشند، [245] و در مجلس يزيد [ صفحه 119] ملعون، شخص شامي به او گفت: اي يزيد اين جاريه را به من ببخش [246] ، و اين فقره بدتر و بالاتر است از بيرون آوردن در معرض بيع.سيزدهم آنكه: باب امر به معروف و نهي از منكر، شرط آن امن از ضرر است و آنجناب با قطع به ضرر اقدام بر آن نمود، و آن از خصائص آنحضرت است، و از براي هدايت و ارشاد خصوصياتي است، چنانكه در روي قاتل خود تبسم مي‌نمود و او را موعظه مي‌فرمود. [247] . و سر مباركش راهب را ارشاد به اسلام نمود. [248] .

Tenth: It is not permissible to mutilate an unbeliever (that is, to cut off his limbs). Even Amir al-Muʾminīn (a.s.) forbade the mutilation of Ibn Muljam, although he was the most wretched of the former and latter generations. [240] This principle was recognized even among unbelievers and idol-worshippers during the Age of Ignorance in their dealings with Muslims.

Thus, when Abu Sufyan passed by the body of Hamzah (a.s.), he came near him, placed the tip of his spear upon his mouth and said, “Taste this, O disobedient one!” Then, when he saw that Hamzah’s fingers had been cut off, his abdomen torn open, and his liver removed, he cried out:

“O followers of Muhammad (s.a.w.a.)! There has been mutilation among your slain. By Allah, I neither ordered this nor was I pleased with it.” [241]

But Ibn Ziyad, the accursed, commanded something even worse than mutilation. He wrote to Ibn Saʿd:

“When you have killed Imam Husain (a.s.), make the horses trample upon his chest and back. Although this will not harm him after death, I have spoken these words and they must be carried out.” [242]

Eleventh: When women from among the unbelievers are taken captive, they should not be made to pass by the bodies of their slain relatives. At Khaybar, when Bilāl caused Ṣafiyyah to pass by the slain Jews of Khaybar and she trembled upon seeing them, he brought her before the Holy Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w.a.), and the Prophet (s.a.w.a.) reproached Bilāl. [243]

But with regard to the captives from the family of Muhammad (s.a.w.a.), they were not content merely to make them pass by the slain. Rather, they carried the heads of their loved ones alongside them, keeping them constantly before their eyes until they entered Syria. [244]

Twelfth: If captive women from among the unbelievers belong to a royal household, they are not to be displayed in the marketplace for sale, nor made to stand in public gatherings, nor should their faces be uncovered.

I have seen in a narration from Imam al-Baqir (a.s.) that when the captives were brought into Syria, the people of Syria said among themselves:

“We have never seen captives more beautiful in appearance than these.” [245]

And in the gathering of the accursed Yazid, a man from Syria said to him:

“Yazid, grant this young woman to me.” [246]

This was even more grievous and disgraceful than putting someone up for sale in the marketplace.

[ صفحه 119]

Thirteenth: In the matter of al-amr bil-maaroof wa an-nahi an al-munkar (enjoining good and forbidding evil), one of the conditions is safety from harm. Yet Imam Husain (a.s.) undertook it while knowing with certainty that harm would befall him. This is among his unique distinctions.

Likewise, he possessed unique qualities in guiding and directing people. For example, he would smile at his own killer and admonish him. [247]

And his blessed head guided the monk to Islam. [248]