Philosophers of history and social sciences have found a very interesting fact about the attitudes of nations and their impacts or circumstances. According to them, when members of a nation start snatching the rights of each other and deprive each other of their rights, then sins and other social injustices become rampant and uncontrollable. Reasons behind this habit of a nation may be the lack of education, absence or lack of a strong belief (mostly a religion) and the prosperity that makes the people lazy and fills their hearts with more and more wishes and desires. Anyhow, this act of a nation is tolerated by nature for some time and when it crosses all its limits, the nation is forced to payback for its mistakes or sins. Usually, this revenge by nature comes in different shapes like drought, national disunity, economic problems, famine and other natural disasters and when all these alarming factors fail to change the cruel attitude of a nation, then nation pays in the form of blood. This bloodshed is the final and disastrous symptom after which complete and tragic decline of a nation starts.
Pages of history are full of such examples when social injustices lead to this flow of blood, showing the ever-present and ever-active system of justice of nature in the world. Present Bangladesh was once a part of Pakistan, making it one of the strongest, largest and most populated nations of Islamic world. But slowly and gradually, social injustices grabbed the society which increased with the passage of time and then there was no ending to this. The nation got divided, the economy fell on its knees but those who were committing this injustice did not learn anything from it and at last the nation had to pay for this in the form of blood. Hundreds and thousands of people gave the sacrifice of their lives to sustain the system of equality and justice of nature.
In Afghanistan, many decades ago, society got divided into two main groups. One group was included of lords, tribal chiefs, industrialists and top government officials who made a small minority of the country while second group included of poor peasants, laborers, and other members of depressed class which made almost 95 percent of the society. As the first group had all the power and resources to utilize the second group for its benefits, so a series of never-ending cruelties and injustices started in the society that still continues to some extent. As the initial symptoms of this cruelty, society got divided into different groups on the basis of race and language and was followed by an economic decline but the cruelty or injustices did not stop and at last, there was a bloodshed that took away the lives of millions and displaced many millions more, taking them through the bitter experience of leaving their own country and taking refuge in other countries.
This bloodshed continued with regular intervals, a time for people to contemplate and preview their attitude but no one took lesson from these and cruelties and injustices continued and eventually, the flow of blood also continued. Even in present Afghan society, people complain a lot of social injustices and as we see that the blood still keeps flowing, but comparatively less to the previous.
Then the question arises, what should be done to avoid this revenge of nature and save our beloved ones from being the victim of this bloodshed. The simple answer comes is to stop cruelty and injustice and promote social justice and equality. These two words may appear to be very simple and often-repeated but they need to be thoroughly contemplated and thought about. These two achievements are not easy to be attained and whole structure and functioning of a society depend on them. Anyhow, this task of promoting social justice comes with the self-responsibility of common public and this can be achieved by promoting education that polishes the minds of people, make them think better and ratifies their attitude and behaviors.
In some cases, a very sensitive and sincere member of a society rises and tries to make corrections in the society. Even he shows willingness to sacrifice his own life to save the others of this. This sacrifice of a person can be in two ways. One, by forgetting his own self and working for the betterment of society to make it a place full of justice and prosperity and bearing all the difficulties in this regard. There are many examples of such dedicated people who stood up for a noble cause and changed the fate of the whole nation. They were present in the different eras of history and they are still present and will continue to exist in the future as well until the war between the evil and the good doesn’t come to an end. But when the injustices go far beyond the limit and the nature has to make its adjustment and keep balance in the society at any cost, then this dedicated person doesn’t hesitate to give away his life to save the society or a noble cause aimed for the betterment of the society.
Many centuries ago, when the greed of power and lust of material acquisitions blinded many and they established the basis of cruelty in society, Islamic world came into great danger. These were the initial years of Islam and thus could not afford to give any kind of sacrifice. On the other hand, there was need of a person who should forget himself and jump into the field to save Islam. This great grandson of our Holy Prophet (PBUH) saw that there was need of a sacrifice to revive Islam and make it as an ideal path to achieve prosperity and success in both the worlds.
His war was not against any specific person, rather it was against injustice. He gave his life and made the Islam eternal and saved it from extinction in its beginning stages.
The great sacrifice of Hazrat Hussain (RA) had such grand impact on Islam that all the Muslims of world will always remain indebted to him and his loyal companions. Islam got a new life and then started growing more rapidly and served for more than thousand years as the path to elevate Muslims to the peak of prosperity and success until Muslims got weak to follow this golden path.
He established great criteria for the sacrifice in the world. He forgot himself in this path and never expected any kind of reward, appreciation or praise. He showed the importance of perseverance and dedication with a cause, however difficult the circumstances may be. He ignored worldly offers and benefits and nothing like these were able to stop him.
The first month of Islamic calendar always reminds us of the great sacrifice of Hazrat Hussain (RA) when he courageously fought for Islam and sacrificed his life. This is a special occasion when we need to revise our responsibilities regarding our duties and noble cause of Islam. This is also the occasion when we need to praise the great Imam and his sacrifice and make the people realize about its importance. This was the sacrifice that was the best of all the sacrifices ever given in the world.