From Karbala to Tomorrow: We Are Those Around Whom States Fell, Yet We Did Not Fall
Anyone who reads the history of the Shi’a after the martyrdom of Imam al-Husayn, peace be upon him, at Karbala cannot help but pause before an extraordinary historical phenomenon:
How many times were the Shi’a believed to have come to an end? How many states that ruled in their name or embraced them eventually fell? How many times were their communities subjected to killing, displacement, persecution, and cultural erasure? And how did they return, time and again, after all of this, to rebuild?
Karbala was not merely a battle that ended on the tenth of Muharram in the year 61 AH. It was the beginning of a long phase in Shi’a history, marked by successive trials almost impossible to count.
After Imam al-Husayn, peace be upon him, the followers of the Ahl al-Bayt faced periods of persecution, imprisonment, and killing under the Umayyads and then the Abbasids. Various Shi’a cities and communities suffered persecution. Some groups disappeared, others were scattered, scholarly centers were destroyed, scholars were killed, and entire families were subjected to persecution.
And yet, the Shi’a did not disappear.
Quite the opposite happened.
Generation after generation emerged. The transmitted teachings were preserved. Hawzas flourished. Schools were established. Communities took shape. The knowledge of the Ahl al-Bayt moved from scholar to scholar, from city to city, and from century to century.
Then history began to witness something even more remarkable:
The rise of states and kingdoms with Shi’a character, followed by their fall, and then the emergence of other experiences in other lands.
The Idrisid state emerged in Morocco. Other Shi’a states and political experiences arose in different regions, including the Fatimid state in North Africa and Egypt, the Hamdanid state in Aleppo and Mosul, and the Buyid dynasty, which exercised significant influence in Baghdad, Iran, and Iraq. Then came the Safavid state, which established Twelver Shi’ism as the state religion in Iran, followed by the Qajar period and, later, the establishment of the Islamic Republic of Iran in the modern era.
This does not mean that all these states were identical, nor that every Shi’a political experience was successful or ideal. That requires an independent historical study.
But the most important lesson is this:
A state may fall, but an idea does not necessarily fall with it.
A capital may fall while the community survives.
A ruler may be killed while the school survives.
A state may collapse while the book remains.
A city may be destroyed while the memory survives.
Scholars may be persecuted, only for other scholars to emerge decades or centuries later, carrying the same knowledge and rebuilding the institution anew.
Here lies one of the distinctive features of Shi’a history.
History was never a straight ascending line.
It was more like the waves of the sea:
Rise, then breaking, then another rise.
Strength, then trial, then reconstruction.
A state, then its fall, then another state in another land.
If one experience collapsed in Morocco, that was not the end of history.
If another experience fell in Egypt, that was not the end of history.
If the Buyid influence disappeared, Shi’ism did not disappear.
If other states fell, the hawzas, schools, communities, and religious memory remained.
Then came the Safavids, transforming the sectarian and political map of Iran. Centuries later, the twentieth-century revolution produced another Shi’a political experience.
Thus one can look at the entire history and ask:
Did the fall of all those states mean that the cause had ended?
The historical answer is clear:
No.
And here begins the spiritual lesson.
First: God Is With Us
This does not mean that every battle we fight will be won immediately, nor that every human project we build will endure, nor that everyone who identifies as Shi’a will always be correct or successful.
The deeper meaning is that the Shi’a presence endures as long as the inhabited world endures.
As for us in Jabal Amel, we must build our future with our own hands. No one will help us except our own people. Between courage and wisdom, our existence today is bound to another Ashura-like, Karbala-like struggle — another battle after which the clouds may lift from Jabal Amel. Then the wisdom of the sages of Jabal Amel will have a role in preserving what has been achieved.
A nation may pass through weakness. Believers may lose a battle. A regime may fall. The balance of power may change. The future may appear dark. But none of this means that God has abandoned His servants.
“And Allah will surely support those who support Him. Indeed, Allah is Powerful and Exalted in Might.”
(Qur’an 22:40)
Victory, in the Qur’anic understanding, is not necessarily one moment or one form.
It may be the preservation of faith.
It may be the survival of believers.
It may be the preservation of knowledge.
It may be the emergence of a new generation.
It may be the opening of a path that did not previously exist.
And it may be the great victory that we ourselves never see, but which history will recognize hundreds of years later.
Second: The Ahl al-Bayt Are a Light and a Lamp That Cannot Be Extinguished
Perhaps the greatest paradox in Shi’a history is that the enemies of the Ahl al-Bayt, peace be upon them, were able to kill individuals, but they could not kill the light carried by those individuals.
Imam al-Husayn was martyred. But al-Husayn did not die from memory.
His companions were killed. But Karbala became a school.
The Imams were imprisoned. But their knowledge became a heritage.
Their followers were expelled. But new generations carried their names, words, and lives.
This is what it means for the Ahl al-Bayt to be a lamp that cannot be extinguished.
A true lamp is not measured by whether the place in which it was first placed survives, but by its ability to illuminate another place.
A house may be closed.
A school may be destroyed.
A state may fall.
But the light moves.
From scholar to scholar.
From book to book.
From heart to heart.
From generation to generation.
Third: We Are Not the Owners of the Outcome
Perhaps this is the most important principle for anyone working along this path.
We are not infallible.
We are not Imams.
We do not possess knowledge of the unseen.
We do not decide how events will ultimately unfold.
We are ordinary human beings with limited abilities, limited lifespans, and limited knowledge.
We are not required to behave as though the entire universe revolves around us.
We are required to ask:
What is my duty now?
What can I do?
What knowledge can I acquire?
What person can I serve?
What sound idea can I communicate?
What institution can I build?
What mistake can I correct?
Then we do what we can.
As for the greater outcome, it is not in our hands.
And this makes a person stronger, not weaker.
Because he becomes free from the illusion that he must see the fruits of his work immediately.
You may plant a tree without ever sitting beneath its shade.
You may write an idea without knowing who will read it fifty years from now.
You may establish a small institution, and someone after you may make it great.
You may educate one person, and that person may become the reason for changing the lives of thousands.
You are responsible for planting the seed. You do not own the years required for the harvest.
Fourth: We Do Not Worship Our Own People
One of the most dangerous diseases that can afflict any movement or project is the transformation of individuals into legends.
We are not above history.
We are not taller than the heavens.
We are not stronger than the laws of the universe.
And the universe does not revolve around us.
We are human beings.
We make mistakes and we are sometimes correct.
We succeed and we fail.
We need criticism and reassessment.
We may be in a position of strength today and weakness tomorrow.
We may imagine that a particular phase is the end of history, only for history to teach us that human beings do not know the unseen.
Therefore, humility is not weakness.
Humility before God is the source of true strength.
Work with all your ability, but do not sanctify your own work.
Plan, but do not claim ownership of the future.
Trust in God, but do not abandon the causes and means.
Be optimistic, but do not become naïve.
Be strong, but do not imagine yourself immortal.
Fifth: The World Turns
Perhaps this is the most important message history gives us.
There is no eternal political order.
There is no immortal empire.
There is no human power capable of guaranteeing its existence forever.
The Umayyads departed.
The Abbasids departed.
The Seljuks departed.
The Mongols departed.
The Ottomans departed.
The Safavids departed.
The Qajars departed.
The European empires that once ruled much of the world declined.
And powers that at one moment appeared invincible changed.
History does not stop at the moment in which we live.
Therefore, a believer should neither become arrogant in a moment of victory nor fall into despair in a moment of defeat.
The world turns.
Days alternate.
Generations change.
God says:
“And these days We alternate among the people.”
(Qur’an 3:140)
In the Shi’a Mahdist vision, the ultimate victory does not belong merely to material power, but to justice.
The goal is not for individuals to triumph under their own names, but for truth, justice, and the oppressed human being to prevail.
Here, the cause of Imam al-Mahdi, may Allah hasten his noble reappearance, becomes a historical horizon that transcends our lifespans, our states, and our generations.
We may not see the end.
We may not know when it will come.
We may not be the generation that witnesses it.
But this does not absolve us from action.
Perhaps it makes our action even more sincere.
Because when you work knowing that you may never see the result, your question becomes:
“Have I fulfilled my duty before God?”
Not:
“Did I receive the glory?”
And here the whole of history becomes one lesson:
Do not fear the fall of a particular phase.
A state may fall.
An institution may collapse.
A community may weaken.
An entire generation may pass through trials.
But do not allow the fall of a particular phase to appear to you as the fall of the divine promise.
After Karbala, the Shi’a rose again.
After every wave of persecution, they rebuilt themselves.
After the fall of states, other states emerged.
After scholarly centers were destroyed, new centers appeared.
After scholars departed, other scholars came.
After generations departed, new generations came.
The maps changed, but the light did not stop.
Therefore, let us be less arrogant about ourselves and more confident in God.
Let us do what we can.
Let us learn.
Let us build.
Let us serve.
Let us preserve knowledge.
Let us raise generations.
Let us repair whatever we are capable of repairing.
And let us leave to God what we cannot control.
For the emergence of Imam al-Mahdi, may Allah hasten his noble reappearance, may today be connected to the final steps we take in confronting this global cancerous growth.
Perhaps the greatest victory of our lives will be to fulfill our duty sincerely and then depart before seeing the fruit.
We are not the owners of the end. We are the people of duty.
As for the end, it belongs to the knowledge of God.
And to the divine promise summarized in the Qur’an:
“And We desired to favor those who were oppressed upon the earth, and to make them leaders and to make them the inheritors.”
(Qur’an 28:5)
Let our motto be:
We work as though we are responsible for building the world,
we remain humble as though we own none of it,
we trust in God as though the entire future is in His hands,
and we move forward… because the light that began at Karbala has never been extinguished.
Mohammad Abbas Kawrani�
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