The confusion started when somebody asked Dr. Zakir Nayek about Yazīd and karbala war in a program. He said Radiallah for Yazīd and declared karbalā as a political war. I was shocked, because we have been listening that Yazīd was a cursed (mal‘ūn) and a brutal (Zālim) person and the war of kerbalā was the war of truth and falsehood (Ḥaq o Bāṭil). The same reaction was aroused in the Muslim community against him. They started condemning him in conferences. They said that Dr. Zakir is a student of comparative religion, not a good scholar of history and Islam. I also started thinking the same but my heart said that how it can be possible that somebody is authority in comparative religion but not having grip in his own religion. My Confusion increased. I decided to do research on this topic and read many books of different opinions on the topic.

The first book I read was ‘Khalāfat-o-Malūkiyyat‘ (somebody suggested it) written by Mawlānā Mawdūdī, and reached the conclusion that Haḍrat Mu‘āwiyah (rta) and Yazīd both were of the same calibre and they really degraded Islam and Haḍrat Ali (rta) and Haḍrat Imām Ḥussain (rta) were true defender of Islam. After that somebody suggested me to read ‘Khilāfat-i Mu‘awiyah O Yazīd‘ by Mahmūd Ahmed Abbāsī. That book made me think that in reality Haḍrat Mu‘āwiyah was real defender of Islam and Yazīd was a pious person. On the other hand the point of view of Haḍrat Ali and Haḍrat Imām Hussain was not right. My confusion was doubled. First I was having doubt about Haḍrat Mu‘āwiyah (rta) and Yazīd but now confusion about Haḍrat Ali and Imām Hussain (rta) was also created. I have also been researching Shī‘i point of view about Haḍrat Ali (rta) since long time. Suddenly a new controversy began, when Dr. Isrār Ahmed related a ḥadīth about Haḍrat Ali about forbidding alcohol. The same very harsh reaction was observed in the community. I also listened to the lectures of Dr. Ṭāhir al-Qādri about this. Tension increased because he represented Haḍrat Ali as a supernatural personality with his strong evidences. I am totally confused about the role of Saḥābah, who is right, who is wrong, whom to follow, whom to not, whom to please, whom to deny. Sir, please guide me in this regard. I would be highly thankful to you.

“I am totally confused about the role of Ṣaḥābah, who is right, who is wrong, whom to follow, whom to not, whom to please, whom to deny.”

I am going to answer the above in a very simple (but not simplistic) way and will then share some thoughts with you on the issue of Ali (ra) and Hussain (ra) versus Mu’āwiah and Yazīd:

1.who is right, who is wrong?

As a Muslim it is not your duty to figure this out about people who lived in the past, since your decision about who was right and who was wrong is not going to help any one. .

2.whom to follow, whom to not?

First I am not sure what you mean by following certain Saḥābah, do we have a book of guidance written by any of them?

Second, as a Muslim you should not follow any of the Saḥābah, you need to follow the Qur’ān and the Sunnah, on which all the Ṣaḥābah agree.

3.whom to please, whom to deny?

First I am not sure what you mean by pleasing certain Ṣaḥābah, do you believe that by carrying out certain acts or having some beliefs you will be able to please a Ṣaḥābī that is already dead?

Second, as a Muslim you should not seek to please any of the Ṣaḥābah or any human being, you only need to please your Lord.

Now, as for the personalities you referred to, I think there are a number of things that often people confuse with each other and therefore result in unnecessary tensions like that you mentioned.

As a Muslim and, in fact as a human being we need to always support the Truth and to deny the Falsehood and to help the oppressed and to correct the oppressing. Therefore we have every right to criticise a person who knowingly supports the falsehood and denies the truth.

However, the means by which we come to realise what is the truth and what is the falsehood are very subjective, in particular if the matter we are studying is a historical matter belonging to more than 1400 years ago.

Let’s assume that based on the sources of information that were available to us, we have come to conclusion that A is with the truth and B is with the falsehood. When some one starts praising B and criticising A, we become angry because we think he is praising the falsehood and criticising the truth. The reality is, he is still praising the truth and criticising the falsehood, just like us. The difference is, unlike us, the sources of information that were available to this person have led him to believe that A is with the falsehood and B is with the truth.

We need to appreciate that the often conflicting information that has reached us after 1400 years has come to us through fallible narrators and has been affected by many political and social factors. We can never hold any of this information to be the perfect truth. Therefore we cannot and should not expect every individual to come to the same conclusion that we have arrived. The two totally different conclusions that you have reached by reading two different books is a good example of this.

Please note that I am not saying that we should remain neutral when incidents like Karbalā happen. What I am saying is that after 1400 years it is very difficult to find out exactly what happened and why. If this incident was happening during our time then the situation was different. In this case it was of course our duty to do our best to find out who was right and who was wrong because then we could play a positive role to support the truth and to influence the flow of events.

This however is not the case anymore. Whether we believe Yazīd was right or Hussain (rta) was right is not going to help Islam and Muslims in any way. Albeit it is undeniable that Hussain (ra), a beloved member of ahl al-bayt of the Prophet (sws), did not deserve to be murdered. However whether we believe that he was right in rising against Yazīd or not and that to what extent Yazīd was responsible for this calamity can only be a matter of opinion.

Like every other interested Muslim, I too have my own opinion about the story of Karbalā and people who were associated with it. However my opinion is not going to help you in this matter because like every other opinion it is based on the information that was available to me. I have done my best to make sure that this information is reliable but I cannot deny the possibility that the picture that this information has given me might not be 100% true and that it might not be the complete picture of what happened.

You wrote: “(Dr. Ṭāhir al-Qādri) represented Ḥaḍrat Ali as a supernatural personality with his strong evidence (dalīl)”.