Imam Hussein’s Stand Offers a Model for Resisting Today’s Yazids: Scholar
In an online seminar titled “Quranic Governance and Imam Hussein’s (AS) Uprising” held on Saturday, Hojat-ol-Islam Najaf Lakzaei, President of the Islamic Sciences and Culture Academy and faculty member at Baqir al-Olum University, said Imam Hussein (AS) viewed Yazid’s regime as inherently illegitimate and unjust, likening it to Pharaoh’s oppressive rule in ancient Egypt.
“Yazid’s government was a system of tyranny and discrimination that posed a threat to Islam,” Lakzaei stated. “Imam Hussein (AS) rose up to save the people from such a regime.”
He cited a narration from Imam Hussein (AS), in which the Imam emphasized the importance of “enjoining good and forbidding evil”, noting that Islamic governance at the time had fallen into the hands of the unworthy. “This is why the Imam considered it a duty to oppose injustice,” Lakzaei said.
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Referring to Imam Hussein’s (AS) departure from Medina, Lakzaei explained that the Imam refused to pledge allegiance to Yazid under pressure from the city’s governor and left the city after reciting verse 21 of Surah Al-Qasas: “He said, ‘My Lord! Deliver me from the wrongdoing lot.’.”
According to Lakzaei, “This verse, which reflects Prophet Moses’ escape from Pharaoh’s tyranny, shows that Imam Hussein (AS) saw Yazid’s rule in the same light.”
Lakzaei added: “Imam Hussein considered himself in the role of Moses—facing a tyrant, seeking justice, and defending the faith.” He pointed out that Yazid, in his own poems, mocked divine revelation and saw religion as a political game among the Hashemites.
“To understand Imam Hussein’s (AS) uprising,” Lakzaei said, “we must study the Quranic stories of Moses and Pharaoh in Surahs like Al-Qasas, Taha, Al-Baqarah, and Al-A’raf.”
Drawing parallels between the Quranic narrative and Karbala, Lakzaei said, “Like Pharaoh and his supporters, Yazid and his backers ultimately failed. Despite the martyrdom of Imam Hussein and his companions, Yazid’s regime could not sustain itself.”
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He also condemned figures like Umar ibn Sa’d, Ubayd Allah ibn Ziyad, and Shimr, who stood against Imam Hussein (AS) for worldly gain but were left disgraced in both this world and the hereafter.
“Imam Hussein (AS) was a voice for justice, and like him, Imam Khomeini broke the global system of oppression,” Lakzaei concluded.
“Today, we must continue Imam Hussein’s (AS) path and resist tyranny and global arrogance. If we were alive then, which side would we choose—the side of truth or falsehood? That choice still matters today.”
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