This book is written by Shaykh Muhammad Mahdi Shams ad-Din Al-Amili in Arabic and then translated into English by I.K.A. Howard. It is published by Muhammadi Trust of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
Imam al-Husayn, peace be with him, created a momentous Islamic revolution, which has continued to live as history has gone by and still provides writers with vitality and inspiring material. Despite the passing of time, it is a revolutionary torch whose light guides revolutionaries and those who struggle to proclaim and support the truth and to resist and oppose the symbols of falsehood. For more than thirteen centuries, writers of different groups, inclinations and ideas have continued to write books and studies about this revolution.
Yet neither has its spring been exhausted nor have the streams which flow from it run dry. It is the same as it was at the blessed time it took place in terms of its great significance.
This book about the revolution of al-Husayn is considered one of the most original works on the subject, an originality which the author indicates in his own preface. With this in mind, we wanted to have this work translated from its original Arabic into English for two important purposes.
Firstly, we wanted to make those non-Muslims, who only speak English in many parts of the world, aware of the eternal quality of al-Husayn’s revolution so that they could understand its social circumstances and its influence on men.
This revolution is unique when considering the history of revolutions aimed at reforming society which abound in Islamic history, in terms of its ideology and its heroism. Similarly it represents the highest degree of self-sacrifice for the sake of religious principles and to free man from slavery and individualistic despotism.
Secondly, the secret of the lasting nature of this pioneering revolution, which, despite the passing of thirteen centuries still keeps alive the crucial position, which it had on the day it took place, as a vital agent in creating acts of heroism, embodying self-sacrifice and teaching men the way of noble sacrifice for the sake of achieving a noble aim.
The rising of al-Husayn was not merely a tragedy arising spontaneously out of the injustice of man. Nor was it a manifestation of family or personal struggle against the government or authority. It was much more exalted and greater than that. It was for the sake of preserving the Islamic religion and its great benefits for saving humanity from persecution and slavery.