Fulfilling Divine Duties: Sayyed Abbas al-Moussawi on Imam Hussain and Ashura

The following is a translation of a sermon of utmost importance at this time, delivered by His Eminence the Martyr Sayyed Abbas al-Mousawi (ra), former secretary general of Hezbollah, on 31 August 1986.

The Holy Qur’an is the Book of God, the guide, and criterion. No one has any excuse to say, “I had no guidance from it.” “That is the Book, there is no doubt in it, a guidance to the Godwary.” (Qur’an 2:2) [Al-Baqarah: 2].

Whoever seeks guidance and righteousness should turn to our noble Qur’an.

From this perspective, we will explain some of the divine duties mentioned in God’s noble Book, so that we may understand how to deal with our divine duties.

Prophet Moses and the Divine Duty

The Holy Qur’an narrates the story of Prophet Moses (as), one of the most comprehensive stories, which embodies any lessons and morals. 

God Almighty said: ” Certainly We sent Moses with Our signs: ‘Bring your people out from darkness into light and remind them of Allah’s [holy] days. There are indeed signs in that for every patient and grateful [servant].’ When Moses said to his people, ‘Remember Allah’s blessing upon you when He delivered you from Pharaoh’s clan who inflicted a terrible torment on you, and slaughtered your sons and spared your women, and in that there was a great test from your Lord.” (Qur’an 14:5-6)

In these verses, we see that God Almighty charged the Children of Israel with a difficult divine duty:  To eliminate the greatest tyrant of that era, Pharaoh, who used to say to the people,  “‘I am your exalted lord!’”  (Qur’an 79:24)

The Pharaohs were the most oppressive and tyrannical civilization of that era, while the Children of Israel were a weak people, suffering all forms of torture.

Before presenting their divine duty, Prophet Moses reminded them of the greatest blessing God had bestowed upon them: the staff, the greatness of which they later realized.

God mentions it in the Holy Qur’an, saying, “‘Moses, what is that in your right hand?’” (Qur’an 20:17) 

Even Moses, a scholar at the time, who was holding the staff, did not understand the purpose behind this question as he gave a simple answer: “He said, ‘It is my staff. I lean on it, and with it I beat down leaves for my sheep; and I have other uses for it.’” (Qur’an 20:18)

It later became clear that this staff was what brought down the entire Pharaonic civilization:  “And when We parted the sea with you, and We delivered you and drowned Pharaoh’s clan as you looked on.” (Qur’an 2:50)

God grants the person charged with a divine duty a portion of His power

In reality, any divine duty involves difficulties and hardships.

God (Glory be to Him), who commands any duty, knows in advance every step that the person charged with a task will take. He also knows the true power that this person possesses.

At the same time, God knows the power of enemies and the power of tyrants. 

Thus, when God (Glorified and Exalted be He) entrusted the weak Israelites with a divine duty, He empowered them and strengthened them.

In this way, the staff of a weak person—that is, the shepherd’s staff—was transformed into a miracle; all the miracles of Prophet Moses were manifested in his staff.

Our Command Is Difficult and Intractable

When any prophet or imam undertakes a divine duty to the people, he will encounter difficulties and problems; Imam al-Sadiq (as) would repeatedly say, “Our command is difficult and intractable.”

No one should think that the issue of divine duty is an ordinary one. Accordingly, as we commemorate Ashura, we must understand the nature of Imam Hussain’s commitment and divine duty.

Imam Hussain’s Command: “God Willed It”

In addition to all the lessons he taught to successive generations, Imam Hussain (as) wanted—first and foremost—to emphasize the necessity of adhering to any divine duty.

Hence, when many urged him not to revolt against Yazid, and they saw him insisting, they said to him, “Do not send the women and children out. Why should you send them out with you?”

Imam Hussain’s answer did not convince them!

Whatsoever, his goal was not to convince; rather, Imam Hussain’s goal was to adhere to his divine duty.

He said, “God willed that I be killed and that I bet on [my family being taken as] captives.”

It was as if he wanted to say to them:

• This is God’s will and His command.
• It is God who wants me to be a martyr; so how can you fear that I will be killed?
• It is God who wants to see Sayyeda Zaynab (sa) taken captive; so how can you fear that she will be taken captive?
• It is God who wants that; this is my divine obligation.

The issue of adhering to a divine duty is the most prominent lesson of Imam Hussain’s uprising!

Imam Hussain was not seeking victory in Karbala. He knew that even the minimum conditions for victory were not present in the Battle of Karbala. Rather, God intended his revolution to be a collective martyrdom operation led by him, in order to ingrain in the generations that adherence to divine duty is a must for attaining victory.

The Ordeal of the Prophets and Imams

Throughout generations, convincing people of the necessity of adhering to the divine duty was a difficult task for reformers—prophets, imams, and jurists.

Indeed, their utmost ordeal lay in preparing people to fulfill their divine duty.

For example, when you read the story of Prophet Noah (as) in the Holy Qur’an, you don’t find that he faced an ordeal with the ruling authority, nor that any authority was persecuting him. His ordeal was represented by the ignorant and stubborn attitude of the people.

Prophet Noah (as) was rejected by the people, and the elders would advise the younger ones to stay away from him. An elderly man, nearing death, would gather his sons and tell them: “This man is a liar.” This was a father’s advice to his son, to discredit Prophet Noah.

As for Prophet Abraham (as), his ordeal was with both the ruling authority and the people.

When Nimrod asked the people to gather firewood to burn Prophet Abraham’s noble body, they began to translate their blind obedience with one of them vowing that he would gather firewood with the intention of healing his son.

The divine duty ordered by Imam Khomeini

Adhering to the divine duty and any message espoused by a religious reformer is not an easy matter.

Obviously, the divime duty issued by Imam Khomeini (may God Almighty have mercy on his pure soul) is: ”’Israel’ must be eliminated from existence.”

This was no simple matter at a time when many leaders and countries, and all international, Arab, local, and regional conferences were seeking “peace” with “Israel.”

We, as Hezbollah, knew the difficulty of this divine duty, and the difficulty of any proposal that falls within its scope, but we persisted with it as this is what we have learned from Imam Hussain (as).