Today is the tenth day of the holy month of Muharram, a day of remembrance, mourning, of catharsis. For regardless of our faith or the lack of it, we have all known a Husain in our lives or witnessed a Karbala in the making, one that resembles the real-life incidents of over 1,300 years ago.
Husain, the son of Ali, the grandson of Prophet Muhammad, was a handsome, charismatic, fearless warrior, and a loving family man. Over the years, he has become an enduring emblem of a brave man wronged, tragically felled by forces beyond his control yet choosing to fight till the bitter end despite a foreknowledge of the odds stacked against him.
It is precisely this element of choice that makes Husain such a powerful symbol of martyrdom, one that transcends his time and circumstance. It is also the quality of unflinching, unyielding uprightness which could neither be silenced nor bought over, that makes Husain the ultimate ‘alienated’ hero.
What adds to the poignancy of his situation is his aloneness at the hour of reckoning. Save for a handful of family members, no one came to his aid. The majority watched and listened but did nothing.