The Journey to The Light

As I am getting ready for a pilgrimage to the holy city of Karbala, where the shrine of the grandson of the Holy prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him and his family, is located, I thought of translating this great piece by Shahid Morteza Avini. Any inadequacy in the text comes from me and not the writer.




Imam Hussain(a.s) addressing the people of Kufa:

"O’People,The Prophet of Islam has said that if a believer sees a tyrannical ruler transgressing against Allah and his Messenger and oppressing people, but does nothing by word or action to change the situation, then it will be just for God to place him where he deservingly belongs. Do you not see to what low level the affairs have come to.., do you not observe that truth has not adhered and falsehood has no limits. And as for me, I look upon death but a means of attaining martyrdom. I consider life among the transgressors an agony and an affliction”

Shahid Avini:



It is not that Karbala is a city among the cities of the world,
And Ashura a day among the days,
The whole earth is the desert of Karbala, and Karbala calls on us!
Karbala calls on us!
Aye! Victory is with us, since God is with us!
Karbala calls on us and farther over there, is Al-Quds captured by Satan...
And the road to it passes through Karbala.
Observe them all throughout the history! Lest you turn ignorant and imagine that time would be loyal to you and you will never die; Nay! Time will not be loyal to anyone! All the same, time has stopped on Ashura and you- no matter yesterday, today or a thousand years later- have no choice rather than either entering Satan's tribe and joining Yazid's army or- if you are manly enough- accompaning Hussein's army fighting oppression and being prepared to sacrifice your blood and life.



Karbala calls on us and the keen hearts, like the doves of his shrine, in his love, fly into Karbala's sky! Listen! Listen to your heart which whispers: Hussain! Hussain! And if you are a lover of Karbala and your heart is Karbala’s infinite sky and your body cannot tolerate the small cage of fame and shame, sleep and provisions, turn towards the Frontlines of the battle fields, and if not, stay and face the shame of being stopped; and Know that a still water is named swamp!

But these are the doves of the shrine of Love, and the shrine of Love is Karbala. And how could one who has learned how to fly and knows the way to Karbala be confined to the earth? And how could he not give his life when he knows life is the price of the visitation?

Oh the chivalrous! Say! From which tribe are you?

Here the caravan of Light is heading towards Karbala and not far from here, lay The Tigris and Euphrates, which are still the troughs of the hungry wolves who blocked the water to the Karbalayees ; and farther in the horizon is Quds captured by Satan.

Oh the chivalrous! Say! From which tribe are you?


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Posted in: Avini,heart,Karbala,middle east uprising,Oppression,tyrannical ruler