Dear Friends,

History is a collection of tragedy, pain, and sorrow. How is it possible to feel the pain of a grieving mother? The loneliness of an orphan? Or the horror of a slave? The amount of cruelty and suffering humans are capable of inflicting on one another is endless. It makes any decent human being sick. Yet, this story, this story of greed and exploitation, has been like such since the beginning, and continues until today.

One chapter began in the sands of Arabia 1400 years ago. It was a society as cruel and greedy as any other. Tribes killed each other for generations over petty differences. The poor were naked, hungry, and exploited. Women were considered less valuable than animals. Baby girls were killed mercilessly for the crime of being female.

In this midst, a man named Muhammad dared to speak out. He spoke on behalf of the oppressed; the orphans; the slaves; and the babies buried alive only for their gender. He was a voice for the voiceless. He suffered so the weak wouldn’t suffer. Muhammad was not after power, but justice. He was offered wealth and authority to give up, but refused. Until his last breath, he fought for the downtrodden.

Muhammad’s legacy was in his teachings, and his family. Individuals that went to sleep hungry so the poor would not. That gave away all their belongings to strangers. A family that did not care for anything that this world offered, but instead gave their everything to guide its people

Yet after he died, people began turning back to their old ways. Instead of fighting for justice, they fought for money and power. Even worse, in the name of Muhammad, in the name of his teachings, they oppressed the same people that he strived to defend. They shed innocent blood. They separated families. They destroyed lives.

Having corrupted his teachings, these people turned on his family. They silenced them, they tortured them, and began to kill them one by one. No cruelty was too big for them. Nothing could satisfy their greed.

In the year 680, almost half a century after the death of Muhammad, the final tragedy occurred. A group of people who were fed up with the oppression of their tyrannical ruler, called upon Hussain, the grandson of Muhammad, to lead and rule them. The tyrannical Caliph ordered Hussain to pledge allegiance to him. Hussain refused to submit, declaring that pledging allegiance to such a tyrant would result in the destruction of all virtous.

Thus, Hussain’s enemies surrounded his camp in a desert and cut off all supplies of food and water. Hussain had not come for war and had no intention for bloodshed, but his enemies had other things on their minds. They massacred Hussain’s family and his followers who were weakened by thirst. They showed mercy to no one, not even to Hussain’s six-month old infant whose throat was slit with an arrow and then beheaded. After all his followers were killed they set upon Hussain himself and attacked him with all they had, swords, arrows, spears, and stones, and he fell, exhausted, thirsty, and drowning in his own blood. They then ended his life by separating his head from his body. Not content, they then trampled and mutilated his body under the hooves of horses. His severed head was put on a spear and paraded in every village and city the army marched through. Thus came to an end, an atrocity that forever, stained the pages of history. Painfully, among those that caused this catastrophe, were some of the same people who had previously asked him for assistance.

Hussain was killed because he refused to bow down to tyranny. He stood for truth, for goodness, and for freedom. Today, 14 centuries later, that Caliph is long gone, but Hussain’s name is still alive.

We mourn today for the tragedy of Hussain. His enemies not only killed him, but killed his grandfather’s legacy. They killed the Islam of truth, the Islam of justice, and the Islam of love. They strived to replace them with the Islam of terror and oppression.

That same battle is being fought today. ISIS, Al-Qaeda, and Boko Haram are the descendants of those that killed Hussain. They too, fight to replace the light of Muhammad with the darkness of their greed. They kill in the name of the Prophet and his teachings, but are the biggest enemies of both. They kill and torture Muslims and non-Muslims. In Paris and Baghdad, in Brussels and Beirut, in Istanbul and Damascus, they mutilate not only the innocent, but mutilate Islam.

So today, with teary eyes, we shout out the name of Hussain. We wail and grieve not just for him and the tragedy that befell his family, but because by separating his head from his body, his enemies also killed all chivalry, justice, and mercy. We mourn the loss of all these virtues and march due to our grief.

We believe that a day will come, a day that all the religions of the world wait for, when the awaited Messiah and Savior of humanity will appear. He will renew peace and friendship, and will eradicate all injustice and oppression. He will end poverty, insecurity, war, enmity, and hardships and raise the banner of equity and affection.

Brothers and Sisters, no matter what religion you belong to and what beliefs you have, we ask that you take a moment to pray from the depths of your hearts that God sends his Savior so that the world can unite under his standard and benefit from permanent peace, security, and friendship.

Who is Hussain (Brochure)