Question: What was the wisdom in the tragically cruel treatment those blessed persons (Hadhrat Husain and his relatives) received? The Answer: There were three main reasons for the pitiless cruelty Hadhrat Husain’s opponents displayed during Umayyad rule:

One was the heartless principle of politics: “Individuals may be sacrificed for the welfare of the government and preservation of public order.”

The Second was the cruel rule of nationalism: “Everything may be sacrificed for the well-being of the nation.” For his opponents’ rule was based on racialism and nationalism.

The Third: The traditional vein of rivalry between the Umayyads and the Hashimites was present in some people like Yazid, and he displayed a merciless ability to be cruel.

A Fourth Reason: The Umayyads made Arab nationalism the basis of their rule, and they looked on the members of other nations – who were found among Hadhrat Husain’s supporters – as slaves. This had wounded their national pride. So, since the other nations had joined Hadhrat Husain’s community with mixed intentions and to take revenge, they felt excessively affronted at the Umayyad’s fanatic nationalism and were the cause of that terrible well-known tragedy.

The four reasons mentioned above are outward and apparent. When considered from the point of view of divine determining, the results pertaining to the hereafter and spiritual rule and spiritual progress that the tradegy won for Hadhrat Husain and his relatives were of such high worth that the distress they suffered due to it was made easy and cheap. It resembled a soldier who dies after an hour’s torture and becomes a martyr: he attains a rank so high that anyone else could reach it only if they strove for ten years. If the soldier were to be asked about it after he had died, he would reply that he had gained much for very little.