Question
I have read your book “The Islamic Sharī‘ah of Jihad” by Javed Ahmad Ghamidi, which arose a few questions in my mind. Please answer my following questions:
d. Was the battle of Karbala a revolt against the ruler Yazīd? Give your reasons.
Answer
Since your answer is on the basis of the “The Islamic Shari’ah of Jihad” by Javed Ahmad Ghamidi, I will answer your first two questions on the basis of the same book and the same premises:
- Which are the occasions when Jihad against own ruler of Islamic state can be undertaken?
- According to Javed Ahmad Ghamidi, it is as stated above, that is:
- In the context of this writing we consider revolt to be rising against the ruler in order to bring him down. To my best understanding based on the historical reports that have been available to me and I am relying on, Mu‘āwiah was not in the stage of revolt at the beginning. He only disobeyed Ali (ra) and criticized him and demanded the assassins of Uthman (ra). This however later reached to the stage that materialized itself as a full revolt against the ruler i.e. Ali (ra). Based on my understanding, Mu‘āwiah had no right to disobey and fight against Ali (ra).
- To my understanding and based on the historical reports that have been available to me and I am relying on, the battle of Karbala itself was not a revolt. It was in fact self-defense. Ibn Ziyād had demanded Hussain (ra) to submit himself to him and Hussain (ra) did not consider this fair and legal and considered it a humiliating act. The army of Ibn Ziyād did not allow Hussain (ra) and his caravan to leave and practically forced them to fight and defend themselves. Having said that, to my understanding, the move of Hussain (ra) from Madina and then Mecca towards Kufa was a move towards revolt. It appears that Hussain (ra) was trying to fulfill the conditions of a religiously legitimate revolt. His journey to Kufa was in fact his attempt to find a base and to start to get more and more supporters. When he realized that the situation in Kufa was not what he expected it to be, it was already too late and resulted in the occurrence of the sad events that happened.
Answered by: Farhad Shafti
Date: 2015-01-26