Hazrat Hur ibn Yazid ar-Riyahi

And hasten to forgiveness from your Lord; and a Garden, the extensiveness of which is the heavens and the earth, it is prepared for those who guard (against evil). [3.133] On numerous occasions we hear lecturers speak about the day where we will be made to remain quiet, whilst our souls will complain to Allah (s.w.t) for the injustices we have inflicted on it throughout our lives. Have any of us stopped to ponder on this? Allah (s.w.t) knows that it is in our nature to commit sins, as he created us in this way, but the key to gaining piety and protection from the fires of hell is to show remorse and turn to the almighty for his forgiveness.

Us human beings are very strange people, we plead with Allah (s.w.t) in this world to keep our sins hidden from the public and our communities, but we lack the understanding that when the day of qiyamat shall come, our whole lives, every single action will be exposed in front of all humanity. Should we not instead be trying to remain on the right path whilst asking his forgiveness, so on that day we can hold our heads up high, with the light shining from our faces, with our book of deeds in our right hands?

Many people think its too late in their lives to repent and be remorseful, but with Allah (s.w.t) the time to ask does not end till the day that you die, so listen to Allah’s plea and turn to him.

A perfect example of this is Hazrat Hur ibn Yazid ar-Riyadh (a.s). We all know the story of this great man, arguably the man responsible for the Imam and his family ending up in Karbala.

Hazrat Hur (a.s) was the commander of Yazid’s regiment, who had obstructed Imam Hussain (a.s)’s way near Kufa, leading them to the desert of Karbala.

From that night he spent all his time in remorse and feeling very guilty for having obstructed the way of the grandson of the Prophet, and blamed himself for bringing the Imam to Karbala. The armies officers and soldiers were constantly wondering at the mysterious sorrowful silence and the serious pensive mood in which Hazrat Hur (a.s) spent all his time.

On the morning of the 10^th of Muharram Hazrat Hur (a.s) called on his son and with his servant the three of them secretly escaped the enemies tents and made his way towards the Imams camp.

He appeared before Imam Hussain (a.s), with tears in his eyes begging for his pardon for the wrong he had done. He was received very warmly by the Imam and his companions, and was treated as a special guest.

This shows us how forgiving the Imam was, and he is just a servant of the almighty Allah (s.w.t), the all-forgiving.

Can we even begin to imagine how forgiving Allah (s.w.t) is?

The moral is to turn to our with sincerity and you will never be let down, for surely he says “Call on me and I shall answer you”.

Youth article by Mohammed Hudda