ISIS IS NOT NEW

(Disclaimer: I am not a scholar, nor an expert in Islam or Quranic studies, Islamic doctrine or jurisprudence.  I am however very concerned at what is currently happening "in the name of Islam").

DOES THE FOLLOWING SOUND FAMILIAR ?  

The “Caliph” and his henchmen/thugs demand allegiance from everyone.  Anyone who dares to resist swearing allegiance to the Caliph or in their eyes belongs to an “infidel” tribe/family/village is fair game.  Such "infidels" / "kuffar" / non-believers  will suffer cold-blooded murder, followed by public beheading, mutilation of their corpses, being thrown into mass graves in ditches or rivers while their killers publicly rejoice in the “pools of blood”.  Their women and children will be taken captive, paraded and sold into slavery or humiliated or both.  Unless the children are male in which case they also are unlikely to be spared the fate of their fathers.

The above narrative is depressingly familiar to all of us witnessing in abject horror the atrocities committed by ISIS against innocent Yezidis, Christians, Jews and all Muslims whom ISIS believe are either heretics (Shi’ite) or even fellow Sunnis who dare to not accept their grotesque version of Islam.  #notinmyname indeed. 

But what if this had been done to the family of the Prophet of Islam ? By people who themselves claimed to be Muslims ? Under the leadership of a man who claimed to be the leader of all Muslims, the Caliph, the successor to the legacy and Message of the Prophet Muhammad PBUH ?  

Impossible to believe ?  Well, so is what ISIS are doing in the name of a religion of "peace and tolerance".  This is actually the same dilemma: How can a religion claim to be tolerant and peaceful when some of its "followers" commit the most heinous atrocities against fellow human beings.

ISIS have exploited this dilemma and general weakness in the Muslim world.  The biggest cause of this weakness is internal division and the biggest division among Muslims is that between Sunni and Shia.  Yet the central character in the event that led to that very schism, the grandson of the Prophet PBUH - Al-Husayn(AS), could be the healing agent and the common ground for reconciliation.  What happened to Al-Husayn(AS), why it took place and was then covered up can be the rallying example to re-claim the narrative of Islam from those like ISIS whose intolerance and barbarity is perverting our faith.

If there is a single moment in the history of Islam which crystallised the division which ISIS and other extremists now exploit it was the massacre by the sixth Caliph Yezid ibn Mua'wiah's army of the Prophet's sole surviving descendants following their refusal to accept his legitimacy and perversion of Islam. This event has seared itself into the consciousness of some Muslims while being forcibly downplayed and hidden from others. But it could also be the event that holds the key to greater understanding and reconciliation between mainstream Sunni and Shia people for the defeat of ISIS as well as other intolerant, extremist, exclusivist, ideologies masquerading as "true Islam".

All un-biased historians confirm both the massacre in AD 680 and the barbaric nature of it as opposed to some revisionists who claim it never happened or was merely the quelling of an armed rebellion. The intolerant attempt to have everyone conform to the ruler's idea of Islam has striking parallels to the way ISIS and others are operating today within the Muslim world. The barbaric response to Al-Husayn's peaceful refusal to accept this perversion has striking contemporary relevance. For this was not an event in which imperialistic, "infidel", colonial powers were waging war on Muslims.  Instead this was self-proclaimed "Muslims" murdering, butchering and humiliating fellow Muslims.  Not just any Muslims but the Prophet’s own grandson and his entire family. 

The intolerance and barbaric practices that were carried out in the name of Islam bore no resemblance to the true faith - the same way ISIS is attempting to hijack the religion of Islam today.  It was this massacre of the Prophet's own direct descendants which should be seen as a very stark reminder of what needs to be done to avoid the situation Edward Burke so famously warned against : "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing".  

The details of what happened to the Prophet's family could be a literal template for what ISIS is doing to innocent families all over Iraq and Syria today.  Eighteen male family members of the Prophet's family were beheaded and their heads raised on spears, their bodies were mutilated as were those of their closest friends and companions.  The women and children of this family were captured, enslaved marched and paraded in such a way as to maximize humiliation and act as a weapon of terror.  They were marched on foot from Karbala in Iraq to Damascus in Syria.  

Exactly the same techniques of terror and use of ultimate savagery that ISIS use today.

But how can this be a cause for reconciliation ?  Because the family in question is dear to both Sunni and Shia - it was none other than the family of the Prophet Muhammad PBUH. 

What was Al-Husayn’s “crime”?  Public rejection of the corrupt, irreligious and immoral rule of the sixth Caliph Yezid and therefore refusing to pledge allegiance due to the extent he was distorting the faith and practice of Islam whilst claiming to be the leader of all Muslims (sounds familiar ?).

When we Muslims use the suffix PBUH (Peace Be Upon Him) after the name of the Prophet why do all of us not stop to think what kind of Peace do we wish on him when those who professed to be following his "Sunnah" ("path" or "way") could do this to his own family less than fifty years after his passing ? 

All Muslims should follow the Prophet's "Sunnah".  In the case of his grandson Al-Husayn(AS) what was the Prophet's sunnah ?

Two incontrovertible direct quotes from the Prophet PBUH on which all Muslims agree are the basis for Sunni / Shia reconciliation on the events at Karbala  : 

1.  The Prophet PBUH in his own lifetime had declared “Husayn is from me and I am from Husayn” 

2.  The Prophet PBUH also said that Al-Husayn(AS) along with his elder brother Al-Hasan(AS) were "the leaders of the youths of Paradise"

There can therefore be no doubt where the Prophet PBUH himself would have stood in this confrontation of the Caliph and his army against the grandson who set out not to wage war or armed rebellion but to peacefully protect his grandfather's legacy.

All Muslims should follow the Prophet's Sunnah and Al-Husayn's stand against the Caliph was in itself following that Sunnah. Resisting barbaric and oppressive rule conducted in the name of Islam is exactly what we should be doing in response to the perversion of Islam being played out by ISIS today.  Neither Sunni or Shia have a monopoly on Al-Husayn(AS). He is a supreme example for all human beings who value justice, liberty and a stance against tyrrany. This is evident in how he stands as an inspiration to contemporary heroes who are not Muslim - MK Gandhi and Nelson Mandela being just two examples who have stated clearly how he has inspired them.

This is the darkest secret in the history of Islam.  One whose facts deserve to be pored over and whose significance needs to be understood by all Muslims as an example of what can happen unless we shout loud and clear about what Islam is versus what it is being misrepresented as. ISIS are the latest manifestation of the ultimate enemy – those who wilfully pervert the true faith for their own purposes by masquerading as brothers to sabotage the faith from within.

In the midst of one of the darkest periods of recent history for Muslims the story and example of Al-Husayn(AS) should stand as an inspiration.  An inspiration to challenge ISIS and others like them with all means possible and show the watching world that ALL Muslims believe in only One God, One Quran, One Kaabah, One Prophet PBUH.