# Who were the Shia who invited Husayn to Kufa?

*The journey to Kufa: who the early Shia were and the interception at Karbala*

- URL: https://muftiabulayth.org/r/iabl5vis3rg/s/2/
- Date: 2020-10-16 · Kind: lesson · Transcript tier: machine · Recording: Karbala & it's precursors | Mufti Abu Layth (1:50–6:25)
- Status: general teaching
- Watch from the start of the segment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iaBL5ViS3Rg&t=110s
- Recording page: https://muftiabulayth.org/r/iabl5vis3rg/

**Topics:** Karbala; Succession and the first civil wars

**Summary (not a quotation; machine-made, unchecked):** The Shia who invited Husayn to Kufa were a political faction favouring Ali, not today's sect; a force of perhaps a couple of hundred under Umar ibn Sa'd intercepted him at Karbala.

**Checked position (checked by two independent reviews, not by the channel):** Mufti Abu Layth says that in early Islam Shia was more a political than a theological thing, meaning those who favoured Ali.

**Evidence, his words at 2:54:** “In early Islam, Shi'a was more a political thing. It wasn't a theological thing. There was slight There was a undertone theological undertone, but it was really political. So, it was about those people who favored Ali.” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iaBL5ViS3Rg&t=174s)

## Longer summary

Mufti Abu Layth describes Husayn travelling to Kufa with some seventy men, as well as women and children, because he had been invited by the Shia. He distinguishes the sect of Shia today, a theological group, from the Shia of early Islam, which he says was mainly political, those who favoured Ali, with only a theological undertone. He calls Karbala an eruption of pressures long building up, and notes that the name evokes karb, pain, and bala, trial. He says Husayn was intercepted on the way by a force that some Shia sources describe as vast, which he calls a fabrication, assuming it was a couple of hundred men, led by Umar ibn Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas, son of the great companion, in the time of Yazid, with Ubaydullah ibn Ziyad as governor of Kufa. He then pauses the story to go back in time to its causes.

## Sources and names cited

- Karbala
- Husayn ibn Ali
- Ali ibn Abi Talib
- Umar ibn Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas
- Yazid ibn Mu'awiya
- Ubaydullah ibn Ziyad
- Shia

## Transcript (machine tier, 1:50–6:25)

[1:24] I mean, that that's I don't think any Muslim, generally speaking, I'm going for the most part, uh would ever disagree on that. Okay? The events of Karbala are pretty much I mean, for for the most part, the in summation, like looking at the the kind of huge the major events of it are are known.

[1:49] Okay? There are minor details that there is a a disagreement about. So, briefly, what is it that's happened for those people that don't know? Well, what happens, and I will go back to the pre- to the precursor, but let's look at this stage, Hussein radiyallahu anhu is traveling with maybe they say about 70 odd people with him who are men, and and then women separately and children.

[2:25] They're traveling. He's on his way to Kufa. Why is he going there? He's going there because he uh has been invited by the Shi'a. Okay? Now, the Shi'a are You see, the Shi'a are of two types, by the way. Like, when I when I use the word Shi'a, Shi'a can mean two things. It's the sect today that you have, like the Shi'a as opposed to the Sunnis.

[2:54] This is a theological Shi'a. This is somebody who has a particular sectarian belief. They believe certain things. They I I don't mean it necessarily like that. In early Islam, Shi'a was more a political thing. It wasn't a theological thing. There was slight There was a undertone theological undertone, but it was really political. So, it was about those people who favored Ali.

[3:20] And this lies in with all the precursors that we'll briefly look at as well. That the build-up because Karbala is really a kind of a blowing point, an eruption of so many things that have so much pressure that has been building up. Okay?

[3:43] So, in this in this event of Karbala And you know, it's interesting, the name Karb actually means like pain, like a suffering. And Bala, a test. Okay? So, even though the the name doesn't actually mean, but it that's what it is, Karbun wa Bala. It is just a tragedy of pain and suffering.

[4:09] So, Hussein radiyallahu anhu took his family over there. What he was going there because the people of Iraq had invited him to come over so they can give him the Shi'a of of his time. Uh that means the political Shi'a of his time had invited him to Kufa, and they were going to give him a pledge of allegiance.

[4:33] Right. And what happens is he is intercepted uh en route at the place of Karbala by an army. When I mean, to be Okay, in in in the generals When I say army, it wasn't like I know sometimes some Shi'a sources say they were a massive army as huge as the Roman army, and I don't I think these are just huge fabrications, but they I assume were a couple of hundred people.

[5:04] So, it was like that kind of a a battalion that had been sent out to intercept them. And they did intercept them. It had uh it was led by Umar uh ibn Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas. So, the son of the great Sahabi. The son of the great Sahabi. Now, he It was dispatched This is in the time of Yazid.

[5:30] And we have to stop these events here. Right? Because what happens is at this place, Hussein is martyred. We've got to slightly go back in time to understand what is going on here. Why is Hussein going here? What is Yazid is in Damascus. He's the governor not the governor, he's the ruler, the caliph uh of of the Muslims at the time.

[5:57] Uh you've got another governor uh who he has set called uh Ubayd in Kufa, who's dispatched this army. What is What is all of this about? So, we have to pause this and go back. People, there has been some nastiness in in Muslim politics, okay? But that's that's the norm in old politics.

[6:24] This thing about Rajniti, about Siyasa, is it it's problematic massively. And the truth is that really, the roots of Karbala are way before Islam. They start with a kind of rivalry that begins with two clans of Quraysh.

## Cite

Mufti Abu Layth Archive, segment iaBL5ViS3Rg/s/2. https://muftiabulayth.org/r/iabl5vis3rg/s/2/

Not a fatwa: these answers were given to specific people at specific times. Ask a qualified scholar about your own situation.