Page 149 - Pure Life 07

The Day of Ashura: A Microcosm of the Human Condition / 87

To see how a single person can make such a drastic
change in his or her life provides magnificent hope for
change for many. It reinforces that God’s mercy is not far
for those who seek it. Both Zuhair and Hurr embody the
struggle every person will face at least once in their life.
It is not always easy to choose the right side,
especially when there is no material reward, and
when there are so few walking the straight path.
But these great martyrs show that if one allows
one’s intellect to govern their interests rather than
self-preservation and reward, one can become a
human being in the truest, greatest sense. Through
their intellect, they governed their decisions with
the upright principles of enjoining good and
forbidding evil—a characteristic that only a true
human being can possess and protect.

5. A martyr’s blood: the cause of immortality
After the Day of Ashura, many believed that the
Family of the Prophet had lost everything and
would be obliterated from history. In the moment,
to those who saw death as an ending, this was true.
“Those who were flowing in the current of the
events may not have realized the importance of
each and every incident, but when we consider
those events today we can place each and every
1
incident in a proper perspective.”

1. Rizvi, https://www.al-islam.org/understanding-karbala-allamah-
sayyid-saeed-akhtar-rizvi.