In one of the visitation prayers of Imam Imam Hussain (a), after the noble text has set forth the Husayni objective — which is "the offering of his soul for Your sake, to deliver Your servants from ignorance and the confusion of misguidance" — it proceeds to mention those who conspired to kill him, describing them with these words: "Those who conspired against him were deceived by the world, and sold their share for the most vile and lowest of things, and traded their hereafter for the most paltry of prices, and were arrogant and sank into their desires, and enraged You and enraged Your Prophet, and obeyed from among Your servants the people of discord and hypocrisy and the bearers of burdens who have made the Fire their due."

Why does Imam al-Sadiq (a) go to such lengths in enumerating these attributes, when he could simply have said "the Umayyads killed him"? Because the Imam wishes to convey profound messages, the most important of which is that these attributes — when they become entrenched in the human soul — are the true cause behind the ongoing killing of Imam Hussain (a) in every age. This is a precise analysis that plumbs the true causes rather than the surface of things, and it follows the guidance of the Quran, which makes victory and defeat contingent upon what the hearts contain of faith or disobedience.

For this reason, in this article we will pause at the most prominent of these attributes, drawing upon examples from the history of Karbala, to see how the enemies of Imam Hussain (a) were not merely transient figures of a particular time, but rather a recurring model for all who clothe themselves in these vices.

First: Deception by the World

Imam al-Sadiq (a) says: "deceived by the world" — meaning it deluded him and adorned falsehood for him until he took it for truth. It was the world that caused 'Umar ibn Sa'd to hesitate in fighting Imam Hussain (a) and then to proceed with the crime out of greed for the governorship of al-Rayy. History speaks of Ibn Sa'd's wavering that night as he held a private conversation with himself in the well-known verses that the sources have preserved:

By Allah, I do not know — and I am bewildered — I think on my affair, caught between two perils. Shall I abandon the kingdom of al-Rayy, al-Rayy being my wish? Or return, guilty of the killing of Imam Hussain? Imam Hussain is the son of my uncle, and events are many — By my life, in al-Rayy lies the delight of my eye. And Allah, Lord of the Throne, will pardon my lapse Even were I in it the most unjust of all creation. Surely the world, with its hastened good, is but this — And no man of reason trades his existence for his faith.

The world had deceived him, and he came to believe that the kingdom of al-Rayy was the ultimate happiness, forgetting that Allah says: ❬And leave those who take their religion as amusement and diversion and whom the worldly life has deluded.❭ The Imam Ali (a) warned against this affliction, saying: "The deceived one is he who has been deceived" — meaning by the world — and he also said: "Whoever is deceived by the world through the illusions of hope and beguiled by the falseness of its desires, it will bequeath to him blindness, clothe him in sightlessness, cut him off from the hereafter, and deliver him to the sources of perdition." This is precisely what happened to Ibn Sa'd and those like him: they lost both the world and the hereafter — they did not truly attain al-Rayy, nor did they attain Paradise.

Second: Selling One's Share for the Most Vile and Lowest of Things

Allah (swt) says: ❬Those are the ones who have purchased error for guidance, so their transaction has brought no profit.❭ The killers of Imam Hussain (a) sold their share of eternal felicity — their share of the intercession of the Prophet (s) and the guardianship of the People of the House (peace be upon them) — for a paltry price that was worth nothing. What profit does the transaction of those who advanced to kill the Master of the Youth of Paradise bring them? Imam Hussain (a) said of them: "People are slaves of the world, and religion is but a lick upon their tongues" — and so they were among those slaves whose only concern was a meager morsel or a fleeting position.

Third: Purchasing the Hereafter for the Most Paltry of Prices

The word "al-awkas" means the deficient and of least value. Imam al-Sadiq (a) says: "traded their hereafter for the most paltry of prices" — meaning they gave away their hereafter, which is the abode of eternity, for a small and contemptible price. This is a losing transaction by every measure. The Imam Ali (a) said: "Whoever purchases his hereafter with his world has profited both, and whoever sells his hereafter for his world has lost both." Those who killed Imam Hussain (a) did not only lose the hereafter — they lost the world as well, for they did not enjoy what they obtained and lived under the curse of history.

Fourth: Arrogance and Sinking into Desires

Arrogance is the act of puffing oneself up and exalting oneself above the truth, and desire is the following of the self without guidance from Allah. Allah (swt) says: ❬Have you seen the one who takes as his god his own desire?❭ The Imam Ali (a) said: "I fear for you two things: the following of desire and the prolonging of hope — as for the following of desire, it bars one from the truth." And from Imam al-Sadiq (a): "Beware of your desires as you beware of your enemies, for nothing is more an enemy to men than the following of their desires." The enemies of Imam Hussain (a) were arrogant toward the truth despite their knowledge of his station, to the point that they said to him openly: "We fight you out of hatred for your father." This is the desire that blinded their inner sight.

Fifth: Enraging Allah and Enraging the Prophet (s)

By their abominable act, these people enraged Allah (swt) and enraged His noble Messenger (s). They killed the fragrant flower of the Prophet Muhammad (s), his grandson and his beloved, after the Prophet (s) had declared his virtue before the nation on repeated occasions. In Tafsir al-Burhan, it is narrated from Imam al-Sadiq (a) that Hell has seven gates, of which he said: "A gate through which the Umayyads enter — it is theirs exclusively, and none share it with them — and it is the gate of Laza... and a gate through which those who bear hatred toward us, who wage war against us, and who abandon us enter — and it is the greatest of gates and the most intense in heat." Their recompense is Hell, and wretched is the destination.

Sixth: Obeying the People of Discord and Hypocrisy

The killers of Imam Hussain (a) obeyed the hypocrites and the people of discord, and abandoned obedience to Allah, His Messenger, and those in authority. The Prophet Muhammad (s) said: "Whoever pleases a ruler by that which angers Allah has departed from the religion of Allah the Almighty." And the Imam Ali (a) said: "There is no religion for one whose religion consists of obeying the creation and disobeying the Creator." Among the most glaring examples of this is Yazid ibn Mu'awiya, who was reciting verses in his palace:

Would that my forefathers at Badr had witnessed The anguish of the Khazraj at the striking of the spears — They would have cheered and cried out in joy And said: O Yazid, may your hand never be paralyzed.

This is discord itself: rejoicing at the killing of the ancestors of the disbelievers at Badr while grieving over the killing of Imam Hussain (a)? Yes — these people obeyed their forefathers in the era of ignorance and disobeyed Allah in the matter of guardianship of the People of the House.

Conclusion: The Attributes Are the True Enemy

Imam al-Sadiq (a) did not mention these attributes in vain — rather, he did so to teach us that the enemy of Imam Hussain (a) is not any specific person who has passed away, but rather every person who clothes himself in these attributes: whoever is deceived by the world, sells his share for a paltry price, follows his desires, and obeys the people of hypocrisy. Therefore, everyone who wishes to be a supporter of Imam Hussain (a) must wage the greater struggle against these attributes within himself, so that he may be worthy of supporting the truth in every age. Imam Hussain (a) remains the banner of virtue, and his enemies remain those who commit abominations in every era — even if names and forms change.