Imam Hussain (as) was Martyred on the battlefield as he did Sajdah. His head was removed from his body on the plains of Karbala, mounted on a spear, and paraded through villages and towns as it was taken to Damascus and presented to king of time who was Yazid.
All of Imam Hussain’s (as) actions demonstrate that he was fully aware of the reality that mere military conquests are temporal victories that do nothing to change the hearts or consciousness of mankind. In time another power will be mustered of greater strength and it will topple the empire before it. Truthfully, in the rising and falling of nations are many signs for those who reflect.
If Imam Hussain (as) would have accepted the iniquitous manner of Yazid’s lifestyle then this would not merely have been an acceptance of values and norms contrary to the Din of Islam, it would have detrimentally impacted the Ummah for all time to come. Yazid’s manner of living would have come to prevail and be accepted by Muslims who would have thus reverted to the wickedness of those who Muhammad (sal) came to and reformed. It would have, in short, undone what Muhammad (sal) and the Imams before Imam Hussain (as) had done.
Imam Hussain (as) was no ordinary man. Like the other Imams and the 14 Infallibles, he was endowed with a perception clearer than those not of his station. An average man would have turned away when warned. He would not have risked being killed in the manner that Hussain (as) was killed. At the very least, even if the man were a courageous man, he would have taken the advice of his uncle Ibn Abbas and left his family and new born child behind. Yet Imam Hussains (as) vision was clear and he strove onward with his family accompanying him.
Aware of the nature of the tyrannical Munafiqun pitted against him, Imam Hussain (as) knew that upon his own martyrdom, his family would be captured and taken as prisoners of war, from Kufa to Damascus. This caravan of Muhammad’s (sal) own flesh and blood in captivity would publicize the message of Imam Hussain (as) martyrdom, and ultimately of the path to Hell which the Ummah was being led down by the Umayyads.
Just as Imam Hussain knew, these things came to pass. As he begged the infidels to spare his infant son, and to permit his son some water to drink (as both women and children among Imam Hussain people were being deprived of such resources by the Umayyads), these demons shot an arrow through the throat of his son, the great grandchild of the Prophet Muhammad (sal). Imam Hussain (as) fought diligently against this horde of devils, but his strength and perseverance was overcome by the shear mass of them. Eventually he was dealt a final blow, and decapitated along with the others among him. Their heads were then placed upon spears and paraded in a procession as the oppressors returned from their battle.
ARTICLE BY: HIWM DR SYED ABBAS NAQVI