From Hell to Eternity of Aashoora - Part 3

From Kufah, a top officer of Obaidullah son of Zyyaad named Omar son of sa’d, along with over 4000 soldiers, arrived in Karbala, and Horr and his men went under his command; as days passed, the number of soldiers grew to tens of thousands. O’ my Lord! You only know, how I wished that I could swallow them and place my dirt over them and prevent them from what they were planning to do… .

On the 7^th of Moharram, Omar son of sa’d ordered his men to close the waterway to the Euphrates river -which Hossain and his companions had access to- and therefore, the supply of water was cut off from Imam Hossain (PBUH) and his companions!

How could the people of Kufah do that?! Had they truly forgotten, just a few years back when Hossain was a child and my back was broken from dryness, there was a drought in Kufah, I remember that at that time, the people of Kufah -many of them, the same people who were now standing against Hossain- went to Ali (PBUH) and asked him to implore the Lord for rain and Ali told them to ask Hossain and they did so; it was Hossain who implored Allah for rain and Allah -loving Hossain so much- answered his prayer and the drought was over; had they truly forgotten or was it just convenient to forget?! O’ my lord! I can not believe how ignorant some humans are! Do they not know that their sustenance is from you? So, why do they do so many wrong things, in order to just gain more?! Do they truly not know that everything is from you or do they just freely choose to be ignorant?! I -with my dusty eyes- saw a different look on Horr’s face. May be -now that they had cut off the water supply to Hossain and his companions- Horr was thinking about the time when Hossain -so kindly- gave him and his thirsty men and horses water in the middle of the desert! I saw the same look on Horr’s face, every time -during these few days-Hossain send messages to Omar son of Sa’d and tried to enlighten and guide his heart and mind and save him from Hell. I was so sure that something was happening inside Horr, something wonderful.

When Omar son of Sa’d was getting ready to start the war, Horr -who could not believe that the son of Sa’d was actually going to fight the son of the Prophet- went to the son of Sa’d and asked him if he was really going to fight Hossain? He responded that yes he was going to throw their heads on the ground, on me! Then Horr asked him why he did not accept Hossain’s messages and recommendations, to prevent all this; the son of Sa’d just said that he had permission not! I remember when Hossain talked to the son of Sa’d and asked him to obey Allah and choose salvation and Heaven, Omar said that he was promised the rulership of the city of Ray by the son of Zyyaad and right then, Hossain told him that he would never reach Ray, but Omar son of Sa’d laughed and chose Hell over Heaven. That is when, I noticed that familiar look on Horr’s face, again.

That morning, the 10^th of Moharram, year 61 A.H. Horr was on his horse, standing next to one of his cousins; Horr asked him, whether or not he had watered his horse? He responded that he had not and then left Horr to water his horse. Every one was getting ready to attack Hossain (PBUH) and his companions. Another one of horr’s cousins -named Mohaajer who was standing close- came to Horr and asked him, what was he planning in his mind? But Horr responded him not.

Suddenly Horr started to tremble, Mohaajer was so surprised, because he knew Horr very well, Horr was one of the most courageous and strongest men he knew. Mohaajer asked Horr about his trembling; Horr said that he was seeing himself between Heaven and Hell and then Horr continued: I swear to Allah, I hold dear nothing more than Heaven and I am not going to give up Heaven even if they cut me into pieces and burn me!

Then Horr rode his horse towards Hossain, towards Heaven and away from Hell; and I was proud to be the ground that he rode his horse upon… .

To be continued…