Imam Hussian (A.S)
Who is he? Why are we Walking?
Who is Imam Hussain?
Imam Hussain gave everything he had, including his life, for the greater good, and his epic legacy continues to inspire millions across the world on a daily basis.
Hussain ibn Ali was born in 620 AD to a family famed for their values of equality, love and peace. Raised by his grandfather Muhammad (the last prophet of Islam), Hussain was known for his integrity, generosity of spirit and blindness to colour and social class. It was for this reason that people flocked to him and his family.
A walk of commemoration
We are walking because of a tragedy that happened in present day Karbala, Iraq.Millions of people travel there to visit the shrine of Imam Hussain. He was killed in injustice for standing up to the Umayyad caliph, Yazid.
A Brief History
1,300 years ago, the Umayyad caliph Yazid was very cruel to the people he was ruling over. The people called on Imam Hussain to save them from the oppressor.Imam Hussein accepted and set out from Mecca with his family and an entourage of about seventy followers. Yazid ambushed Imam Hussain and his company Though, defeat was certain Imam Hussain refused to pay homage to him.Surrounded by a great enemy force, Hussain and his company existed without water for ten days in the burning desert of Karbala.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 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]