Martyrdom of Imam Ali (PBUH)

Heartfelt condolences to you on a very tragic day. In fact, today is that fateful day in history which saw the end of the only instance of the administration of social justice, with the martyrdom of the Commander of all True Believers, Imam Ali ibn Taleb (AS), the cousin, son-in-law, and divinely-designated vicegerent of the Almighty’s Last and Greatest Messenger, Prophet Mohammad (Blessings of God upon him and his progeny).

Before we present you a special programme on the tragic 21^st of Ramadhan, here is ayah 15 of Surah Hujuraat where God Almighty says:  

“The true believers are only those who have attained faith in Allah and His Prophet and have never doubted, and who wage jihād with their possessions and their persons in the way of Allah. It is they who are the truthful.”     

We are once again commemorating the martyrdom anniversary of the Barometer of Belief, the Fulcrum of Faith, the Paragon of the Pious, the Epitome of Eloquence, the Byword of Bravery, the Manifestation of Magnanimity, the Symbol of Sincerity, the Jewel of Justice, and the Excellent Exemplar of the Administration the like of which the world has yet to see.

The Grand Man who passed away on the Grand Night of Ramadhan continues to transcend history and all historical developments despite the passing away of a millennium and four centuries since the day when struck on the head by the poisoned sword of a cowardly renegade (khwarej), while engrossed in the ritual morning prayer of the 19^th of the fasting month, he expressed those immortal words:

“Fuzto wa Rabb-il-Ka’ba” (By the Lord of the Ka’ba I have triumphed).

Imam Ali ibn Taleb (AS) triumphed, because as the Divinely-Designated Heir of the Almighty’s Last and Greatest Messenger, he drew the permanent line between the rule of the righteous and the misrule of the miscreants.

Deprived for twenty-five long years of his right of political leadership of the Ummah following the passing away of his cousin and father-in-law, the Prophet, he never harboured grudge against the usurpers. Whenever they came begging at his doorstep to resolve the problems facing the Muslims, he readily gave them the finest advice, to the extent that the second caliph Omar ibn Khattab would say: “If not for Ali, I would have perished.” 

When masses thronged his threshold to take over the caliphate, he refused, and when their pleas increased in view of the critical situation facing the Islamic realm, he reluctantly took up the reins of government to salvage the faith of Muslims, on condition he would rule only in accordance with the laws of God in the holy Qur’an and the precepts set by the Prophet, rather than the un-Islamic innovations made by the previous three caliphs.

Here is what he said on establishing the model government of social justice:

“By Allah I had no liking for the caliphate nor any interest in government, but you yourself invited me to it and prepared me for it. When the caliphate came to me I kept the Book of Allah in my view and all that Allah had put therein for us, and all that according to which He has commanded us to take decisions; and I followed it, and also acted on whatever the Prophet had laid down as Sunnah.”

The famous exegete of the holy Qur’an, Abdullah ibn Abbas has narrated: “I saw Ali ibn Abi Taleb (AS) mending his shoes. I said ‘It is better you spend your time on repairing the social affairs.’ He ignored me until he finished with his shoes and then asked me how much the value of his pair of shoes was. I said that it had no value. He insisted that I may price it as it was. I said: ‘Well, a fraction of a dirham!’ Imam Ali (AS):

“By Allah, this pair of shoes is more favorable to me than leading your political affairs, unless I can establish right and eradicate falsehood!'”

Compare this statement of the One and Only Commander of True Believers, not with the tyrants, the debauchees, and the Godless, who styled themselves as caliphs after him; but with the behaviour of politicians of our own days, who harp upon human rights but practice none, including those supposed to be Muslims, who in their greed for power, lie glibly, make false promises, divide people, instill fear of war, and encourage sins and violation of the laws of God in society in the name of ill-defined freedom in order to gain the votes of the wayward, when they could have well become true believers by admonishing the audience and calling for striving in the straight and unwavering path that leads to real prosperity in life and paradise in afterlife.    

In one of his sermons, Imam Ali (AS) elaborates on the concept of Jihad or striving sincerely in the way of God, which ought to inspire the spirit of resistance and the resolve to solve crises in contemporary Muslim societies which are facing a variety of intricate plots from cultural, social, and economic, to wars imposed upon them by the enemies of humanity such as the Zionists and the US, as well as their minions the Takfiri terrorists (modern day khwarej to which the Imam’s assassin Ibn Muljam belonged).

The Imam says: “Jihad is one of the doors of paradise, which Allah has opened for His chosen servants. It is the dress of piety and the protective armour of Allah and His trustworthy shield. Whoever abandons it Allah covers him with the dress of disgrace and the clothes of distress...

“Beware! I called you to fight these people night and day, secretly and openly, and exhorted you to attack them before they attacked you, because by Allah, no people have been attacked in the hearths of their homes but they suffered disgrace; but you put it off to others and forsook it till destruction befell you and your cities were occupied...You have become the target at which arrows are shot...You are being attacked but you do not attack. Allah is being disobeyed and you remain agreeable to it. When I ask you to move against them in summer you say 'it is hot weather spare us till the heat subsides'. When I order you to march in winter you say 'it is severely cold, give us some time till cold clears from us.”.

Alas, despite such words of wisdom, the Iraqis, because of their weak faith, failed to heed the admonishments of Imam Ali (AS), and the result was calamitous for them and the other sections of the Ummah, not just through the seizure of the caliphate by the Omayyad charlatan Mu’awiya ibn Abu Sufyan but by the several centuries of deprivation they continued to suffer, well into modern times.

This is a warning to all Muslim peoples, including the present day Iraqi politicians and some segments of the people, who instead of expressing gratitude to their brethren-in-faith who saved them from the Daesh terrorists, are allowing themselves to be deceived by their archenemies, the Saudis and the Americans.

The words of Imam Ali (AS) are also a warning to Iranian people, whom God Almighty rescued through Imam Khomeini (RA) from the despotic Pahlavi regime and the hegemonic Americans that if the laws of God are violated, if the Sunnah of the Prophet is ignored, and if the precepts of Imam Ali (AS) and the other Eleven Infallible Imams of the Ahl al-Bayt are set aside, on the misconstrued notion of progress on the patterns of the decadent West, then the result would be suicidal in the transient world and damnation in afterlife.

Therefore, as Muslims, we ought to tread the footsteps of the person, whom Prophet Muhammad (SAWA) likened to the Holy Qur’an and who left for our guidance the lasting legacy of the rule of social justice by saying on his deathbed in his Last Will:

“I advise you to fear Allah. Do not go after this vicious world though it may try to entice you. Do not seek it though it may seek you and do not grieve over and pine for things which this world refuses you. Let the eternal Reward and Blessings of Allah be the prompting factors for all that you say and do. Be an enemy of tyrants and oppressors and be a friend and helper of those who are oppressed and tyrannized.

“Develop mutual liking, friendship and love, and help one another. Take care that you do not spurn and treat one another badly and unsympathetically. Exhort people to do good and abstain them from evil, otherwise the vicious and the wicked will be your overlords and if you willingly allow such persons to be your rulers then your prayers will not be heard by Allah."

There are thus immortal lessons to be learnt, not just from the discourses, but from all the actions and deeds of Imam Ali (AS), whose martyrdom we commemorate.

AS/ME