on his death the government will be handed over to Imam Hassan or to Imam Hussain, whoever would be alive by that time. The day Yazid took over the charge he was determined to ask Hussain to concede before him. He sent a message to his governor Walid commanding him to pressurise Imam Hussain to accept him as a caliph. When contacted by the governor, Imam Hussain flatly refused. After a few days he left for Mecca; there he came to know that, in the guise of pilgrims, some hired assassins had been deputed by Yazid to slay Imam Hussain. Keeping in view the sanctity of Kaaba he decided to leave Mecca. By this time he had received eighteen thousand letters from the Kufians to come to Kufa and guide them as they were leaderless. He decided to proceed for Kufa and openly declared that he had no political intentions as he was being pursued by the government spies and agents. He wanted a safe place where he could only guide people about Islamic tenets and injunctions. He put off the Ahram a few days before the Hajj and left for Kufa. So many influential people proposed that he should  not  leave  Mecca  as hundreds of

thousands of pilgrims had gathered there and they could be easily moved and mobilized to wage a crusade against the tyrant of time, Yazid. But Imam Hussain refused their proposal with the plea that he did not want bloodshed to take place amongst the Muslims.

Imam Hussain fully knew about the consequences of his blatant denial. He once said: 'How a man like me can take an oath of allegiance of man like Yazid.' It was not a battle between two princes. It was a battle between two principles. Imam Hussain never claimed caliphate on the basis of relationship to Prophet (PBUH). He stood on merit. He deserved to be the Caliph of the Muslims as he was the man of Islamic merit. Dr. Allama Iqbal says: ' I have learnt the secret of the Quran from Hussain. I have treasured flames from his fire.' What was the fire running through the veins of Imam Hussain? It was the fire of piety, freedom and justice. Time and again Imam Hussain announced that he was marching towards the valley of death. He was not afraid of death. At a place he asked his dear son Hazrat Ali Akbar about the nature of death.

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