Page 151 - Pure Life 07

The Day of Ashura: A Microcosm of the Human Condition / 85

Instead, “his duty, he felt, was to execute the
1
order of his superiors.”
But Hurr did not turn off his conscience
completely. He began to question such orders on
the night before Ashura. It is narrated that “Hurr
was very restless. He could hear the children in
Imam Hussain's camp cry because of thirst. His
conscience whispered to him:
- ‘What have you done Hurr?
- Why did you put the son of Fatimah in this
position? Will Allah ever forgive?’
This was the rising of his dormant Islamic
conscience. This career soldier could not sleep the
whole night. Within him there was a struggle
between his duty as a soldier and his Islamic
2
conscience.”
It was through questioning and self-reflection
that he was able to join Imam Hussain. Through the
contemplation of his intellect, Hurr remembered
his eventual return to Allah, the magnitude of
fighting against the family of the Prophet, and the
responsibility of his deeds. It was through such
contemplation that his conscience was brought out
of the cloud of worldly duty, and was basked in the
sunlight of a far greater duty—a duty of justice
towards others and towards one’s soul.

1. Mulla Bashir Rahim, https://www.al-islam.org/articles/history-
and-philosophy-aza-of-imam-Hussain-mulla-bashir-rahim.
2. Ibid.