By: The Religious Authority H. E. Sayyed Muhammad Hussein (a.s.) Fadlullah

Both prose and poetry may need some imagination in addition to some artistic glimpses for the emotions in a tragedy be more affective in the inner consciousness of the Muslim. However, imagination has to be rather objective that it does not create irrelevant dimensions or interpretations or produce a variant intellect. Actually, the artistic side in its suggestive, faith -related and expressive aspects should convey some of the real beauty to reflect the context, yet additional beauty should never be imposed on the idea or be given a non-existing characteristic.

For the reason, I call for a Husseini literary production nurtured by the Islamic vocabulary of the Husseini movement in its spiritual, intellectual and active dimensions of Imam Hussein's tragedy. Let the commemoration serve the cause through continuous suggestion all the way down in history.

Let it be the outstanding image because Ashoura must be the launching ground but not the end. It is meant to produce a new audience for its concepts at all times and places by stressing the never-dying elements in comprehending the future that shows up to man everlastingly.

Sometimes we may go across some tragic Husseini poetry that presents Imam Hussein (a.s.) in Karbala as weak and afraid looking for a shelter but no shelter. It is something similar to a wandering fugitive trying to evade his enemies. Such features can be noticed in a poem by Sayyed Ja'far El Hilli when he says, "Hussein departed from Al -Madina the way Moses did, silent and fearful….

He departed and never knew where to take rest as if he has been denied to have shelter"

In this poetic image of Hussein (a.s.) showing him as he was escaping from the Umayyads, afraid of the murderers, just as Prophet Moses(a.s.) who "left fearfully looking out for danger" was afraid of Pharaoh's plot to kill him together with his followers. We can notice that Imam Hussein (a.s.) was lost with no sense of direction because he couldn't find any secure place although it is known that he left Mecca and headed for Al Kufa to revolt.

In this image, we can't see the revolutionary who was moving against the deviating tyrant in order to change a corrupted reality in authority, behavior, and action. It contrasts with what he said when he introduced his movement and the title he made for his legal movement which relied on the words of the Prophet (p.).

Now, if the poet chose to agitate emotions, then his choice is hurting the powerful Islamic attitude in the personality of Imam Hussein (a.s.).

There are several images in which Imam Hussein (a.s.) is presented yelling for help and not getting it; yelling for protection but no one defends him; and he pleads for a drink of water, but no one responds. Towards the end of the battle when Hussein (a.s.) was dying, a soldier from the tribal army of Saad whose name was Humayd Bin Musallam noticed that the Imam's lips were cursing them." Then he approached him and heard him say, "Oh people give me a drink of water. My liver is breaking apart because of thirst." And other narrators add to that, "By my Grandfather I am thirsty."

Clearly such an image suggests weakness not strength. It does not suit the image of Imam Hussein (a.s.) who represents a rebellious person against all weaknesses and the elements of pain in the face of the tyrannical and deceptive powers.

They all put their forces together to defeat him, to shake his steadfastness, to force him away from his solid and distinguished attitude, and to impose on him submission to the authority of Yazeed. Yet he refused to retreat, give up or yield. He wanted to bear all the hard consequences in order to embody the great human values, which God wanted for man in life. It was not a personal conflict, yet it was the question of the Message against the big challenges and a question of holding on and remaining intact and in balance during hard times when an earthquake shakes the ground underneath.

It was relayed that he said, "Now that this braggart, the son of a braggart, is forcing me to choose between death and dishonor; how impossible is it for me to accept disgrace. Neither God, His prophet, the faithful, the dead, or the ancestors would prefer obedience for the wicked to honorable death."

Again, he said, "No, by the name of God, I would never disgracefully surrender, or acknowledge you the way slaves do."

Such words never reflect the style of someone seeking for pity as it was told in a previous narration because they reflect powerful determination to bear the hardest consequences just to stick by his principles of dignity and the line of Godly inspiration.

It can not be denied that even prophets or imams could grow weak being human, but Imam Hussein had made up his mind to stand up and fight after he examined all the consequences. He had known about the bestial nature lying in the tyrannical personality of his enemies. He also saw in the battlefield how harshness is represented in the enemies attitude even towards a breast-fed infant, so how come he yelled for help or asked for a drink of water when his body was completely inflicted with wounds in the ugliest manner?! How come he would utter words that would be reason for disgrace and call for a look at him while breaking down? One time prior to his expedition he said to his sister Zeinab (a.s.) when she showed her fear of the destiny he described to her as for how he would and - "Never let our enemies rejoice at our misfortune.

The true image of Imam Hussein (a.s.) is the one produced by one soldier in Yazeed's army, "By God, never have I seen someone whose children and family members are killed with firmer self-possession, nor more courageous fighter than Hussein. Every time the fighters drew close to him, he would charge at them and they would scatter before him like goats attacked by a wolf."

Similarly, we don't find the image of Zeinab in the Husseini or the popular poetry as a heroine powerful and challenging in the manner she was when she stood firmly, surely, and forcefully before Ibn Ziad to challenge him, in Kufa to point out the deviation and the frustration the people caused, and before Yazed when she scolded him. However, we see the image of a Bedouin female with feeble spirit speaking in a weak style being bereaved of loved ones looking for the tribe that she did not find, nor did she find someone to support her; as a result she would face the cause by calling for tribal avenge…

It is an image of a feeble female stricken by calamity and taken a captive. Her worries were limited to her pains, her children, and other women with her without any interest in the main cause…

Nevertheless, I notice that such a style may impose a balance between emotions and the ideal image of a prototype, which makes a perfect blend of the elements of revolution to serve the main cause. Therefore, I do not refuse the emotional excitement as long as the elements of the tragedy are kept in a real form. However, I refuse the content which carries the tragedy from the atmosphere of the cause in terms of power and vigor. I refuse also the style which does not make a match between the atmosphere and the idea.

In the light of the above, I call for a new Husseini literature to serve the main goals and trace the events of the Husseini cause with conscious criticism that takes into account the surrounding conditions namely the followers, the nature of the enemy, and the image of the historical stage so that to bring in all of those facts to the presents reality in an attempt to suggest revolution and a movement to change on the basis of Islam, and in order to give the commemoration a momentum throughout time so it may be a blessing for the present and the future the way it was a blessing for the past, so let the narration be not different from popular fiction.