Monthly Archives: November 2011
Quotations about Imam Hussain (A.S.) by Non-Muslims
Mahatma Gandhi (Indian political and spiritual leader):
“I learnd from Hussein how to achieve victory while being oppressed.”
Thomas Carlyle (Scottish historian and essayist):
“The best lesson which we get from the tragedy of Cerebella is that Husain and his companions were rigid believers in God. They illustrated that the numerical superiority does not count when it comes to the truth and the falsehood. The victory of Husain, despite his minority, marvels me!”
Edward Gibbon (English historian and member of parliament):
“In a distant age and climate, the tragic scene of the death of Hosein will awaken the sympathy of the coldest reader.” (The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, London, 1911, volume 5, p. 391-392)
Charles Dickens (English novelist):
“If Husain had fought to quench his worldly desires…then I do not understand why his sister, wife, and children accompanied him. It stands to reason therefore, that he sacrificed purely for Islam.”
Antoine Bara (Lebanese writer):
“No battle in the modern and past history of mankind has earned more sympathy and admiration as well as provided more lessons than the martyrdom of Husayn in the battle of Karbala.” (Husayn in Christian Ideology)
Dr. K. Sheldrake:
“Of that gallant band, male and female knew that the enemy forces around were implacable, and were not only ready to fight, but to kill. Denied even water for the children, they remained parched under the burning sun and scorching sands, yet not one faltered for a moment. Husain marched with his little company, not to glory, not to power of wealth, but to a supreme sacrifice, and every member bravely faced the greatest odds without flinching.”
Ignaz Goldziher (Hungarian orientalist):
“…Weeping and lamentation over the evils and persecutions suffered by the ‘Alid family, and mourning for its martyrs: these are things from which loyal supporters of the cause cannot cease. ‘More touching than the tears of the Shi’is’ has even become an Arabic proverb.” (Introduction to Islamic Theology and Law, Princeton, 1981, p.179)
Edward G. Brown (Professor at the University of Cambridge):
“…a reminder of that blood-stained field of Karbala, where the grandson of the Apostle of God fell, at length, tortured by thirst, and surround by the bodies of his murdered kinsmen, has been at anytime since then, sufficient to evoke, even in the most lukewarm and the heedless, the deepest emotion, the most frantic grief, and an exaltation of spirit before which pain, danger, and death shrink to unconsidered trifles.” (A Literary History of Persia, London, 1919, p.227)
Sir William Muir (Scottish orientalist):
“The tragedy of Karbala decided not only the fate of the Caliphate, but also of Mohammadan kingdoms long after the Caliphate had waned and disappeared.” (Annals of the Early Caliphate,London, 1883, p.441-442)
Dr. Radha Krishnan
“Though Imam Hussain gave his life years ago, but his indestructible soul rules the hearts of people even today.”
Mahatma Gandhi
“My faith is that the progress of Islam does not depend on the use of sword by its believers, but the result of the supreme sacrifice of Hussain (A.S.), the great saint.”
Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru
“Imam Hussain’s (A.S.) sacrifice is for all groups and communities, an example of the path of rightousness.”
Reynold Alleyne Nicholson
“Hussain (A.S.) fell, pierced by an arrow, and his brave followers were cut down beside him to the last man. Muhammadan tradition, which with rare exceptions is uniformly hostile to the Umayyad dynasty, regards Hussain (A.S.) as a martyr and Yazid as his murderer.” [A Literary History of the Arabs, Cambridge, 1930, p197]
Rabin dranath *ore
“In order to keep alive justice and truth, instead of an army or weapons, success can be achieved by sacrificing lives, exactly what Imam Hussain (A.S.) did
Dr. Rajendra Prasad
“The sacrifice of Imam Hussain (A.S.) is not limited to one country, or nation, but it is the hereditary state of the brotherhood of all mankind.”
Dr. Radha Krishnan
“Though Imam Hussain (A.S.) gave his life almost 1300 years ago, but his indestructible soul rules the hearts of people even today.”
Swami Shankaracharya
“It is Hussain’s (A.S.) sacrifice that has kept Islam alive or else in this world there would be no one left to take Islam’s name.”
Mrs. Sarojini Naidu
“I congratulate Muslims that from among them, Hussain (A.S.), a great human being was born, who is reverted and honored totally by all communities
The shadow of her smile
The shadow of her smile, as beautiful as it may be,
Is dwarfed by the beauty of the girl that means so much to me.
The shadow of her smile, I cannot dream of it being gone,
Because the colour of all my dreams will follow, as will the light of dawn.
She looked into my eyes to see,
How much she really means to me.
She has filled my hearts’ massive abyss
My thoughts, went something, a little like this;
She may not even know it yet,
But I have only one regret,
The thought of her not by my side,
My life, I wish her to abide,
My dreams of the future without her there
Sends me into complete despair.
My love for her, there’s no compare
A gap in my heart, only she can repair.
I want her there, to be holding my hand,
Through any adversity we should withstand
I only need the shadow of her smile,
To want her there, walking down the aisle,
With me as the lucky man watch her walk in white,
Travelling that short distance without a fright
Knowing I would never let her down
Would never ever make her frown,
But this is all a dream to me,
The future has not yet come to be
But I prefer my version of events
For then we can tell our descent,
The love that has no earthy bound
Started with two of us, sitting on the ground.
Its shared between the two of us,
Without the need, to adjust,
And it all began, in that short while,
As I stared, at the shadow of her smile.