the ashura within
a reflection on hussein, silence and the tyrant inside
every year, the tenth of muharram arrives.
we cry. we remember. we post a quote.
and then we move on.
but ashura isn’t asking to be remembered.
it is asking to be lived.
because karbala isn’t over.
because yazid still lives.
because your silence still feeds him.
let me tell you about hussein عليه السلام
not the hussein in black banners.
not the one you only think of in muharram.
but the man who stood trembling and clear,
with no army left,
his children buried,
his brother’s arms severed,
his baby still and silent in his hands.
he was offered survival.
he chose dignity.
he was offered allegiance.
he said:
“someone like me does not give allegiance to someone like him.”
قتلِ حسین اصل میں مرگِ یزید ہے
اسلام زندہ ہوتا ہے ہر کربلا کے بعد
he buried his own infant with his bare hands
and whispered,
“ya Allah, if this is how You accept, then take more.”
this is not about death.
this is about defiance.
hussein did not die for a moment.
he stood so truth could live forever.
who are ahl al-bayt?
they are not just family.
they are the prophet’s living light.
and the prophet ﷺ said:
حُسَيْنٌ مِّنِّي وَأَنَا مِنْ حُسَيْنٍ
hussein is from me, and i am from hussein
this is not just lineage.
this is legacy.
to love the prophet is to love his family.
and to love his family is to love the truth enough to bleed for it.
Hazrat Abubakr once said this after the passing of our Prophet ﷺ :
محمد کے قُرب کو اُن کے اہلِ بیت کے قُرب میں تلاش کرو
seek the closeness of muhammad ﷺ through closeness to his family.
— Sahih Bukhari
this was not just a family.
this was wilayah: the divine guardianship given by Allah to those entrusted with truth.
they were the awliya: protectors of the prophet’s light, living reminders of what faith looks like under fire.
and hussein’s stand was not just defiance.
it was shahada: the sacred act of witnessing truth with one’s life,
a martyrdom that turned death into defiance
and grief into eternal testimony.
ghadir happened
on the day of ghadir,
the prophet stood before thousands
and raised the hand of ali and said:
من كنت مولاه فهذا علي مولاه
whoever i am master to, ali is also his master.
not a metaphor.
not a moment.
a map.
from ali
to fatima
to hassan
to hussein
this is not a family tree.
this is the spine of resistance.
قیامت تک رہے گا نعرۂ زینبؑ کا یہ اعلان
میں کربلا میں اکیلی نہیں، میرے ساتھ خدا ہے
zainab’s cry will echo till the end of time
i am not alone in karbala. Allah is with me.
the contradiction inside
a man who had fought with yazid’s army once asked ibn umar about the blood of a mosquito.
abdullah ibn umar replied:
“they ask me about the blood of a mosquito
while they have shed the blood of the grandson of the messenger of Allah?”
how many times have we done the same?
nitpicked rulings
while we stayed quiet in the face of genocide.
perfected our tajweed
while refusing to utter the names of the oppressed.
this is the discrepancy of the mind.
this is how you perform islam
without ever living it.
gaza is karbala again
they are denied water.
their children are buried.
their homes are circled by power.
this is not a coincidence.
this is karbala on repeat.
and once again
the ummah watches.
some still scroll.
some still justify.
some stay quiet.
the tyrant inside
you think of tyranny as something out there
but the first yazid lives inside you
the ego that chooses comfort over truth
the fear that keeps you quiet
the tongue that stays still when it should speak
Allah said:
فَمَا ظَلَمَهُمُ ٱللَّهُ وَلَٰكِن كَانُوا أَنفُسَهُمْ يَظْلِمُونَ
they did not wrong Allah, but they wronged themselves.
— an-nahl 16:33
your body is a trust
your hands will testify
your silence is not neutral
do not be your own oppressor
do not be your own yazid
to live karbala today
you don’t need a battlefield.
you need a backbone.
speak when it’s easier to stay silent.
refuse when it’s easier to comply.
pray with sincerity.
give without being seen.
stand with the oppressed even if you stand alone.
love the prophet by living like his people
those who moved with iman, a faith that breathes through fire,
stood in sabr, patience rooted in dignity,
and placed their feet in tawakkul, full trust in Allah even when the path disappeared.
every act of truth
is a step toward hussein.
every refusal of falsehood
is a blow to yazid.
this is not about history.
this is about now.
a prayer for those who choose hussein
ya Allah,
purify my heart from fear,
my tongue from cowardice,
my soul from hypocrisy,
my worship from performance.
do not let me side with power when truth is lonely.
let me speak like sayyidna zainab,
pray like sayyidna fatima,
stand like imam ali,
and sacrifice like imam hussein.
let me not just mourn karbala.
let me live it.
let me live it.
let me live it.
to live karbala is to align your life with the prophetic resistance that hussein alayhi as-salām embodied.
it’s a plea to not be a spectator of truth
but a participant in it.
Wow.
this is absolutely beautiful