They killed Imam Hussein (peace be upon him) and his companions, claiming they were outsiders and it was religiously necessary to kill them.
But really, should outsiders be killed?
Did Yazid’s government kill outsiders?
Today, in Persian, we call someone who does not hold our country’s citizenship a foreigner, but in Yazid’s time, a foreigner was someone who had abandoned belief in Yazid’s rule and had risen against him, meaning they had revolted.
Yazid considered himself the Commander of the Faithful. It’s evident that back then, as today, there was no radio and television like our national broadcaster, but Yazid, with the tools he had, spread such propaganda that many simple-hearted and naive individuals truly thought and believed that obeying Yazid was equivalent to obeying the Messenger of God. They saw Yazid’s guardianship as a continuation of the Messenger of God’s guardianship.
These days, on the threshold of Arbaeen of Hussein, it is a commendable act to honor and exalt Imam Hussein (peace be upon him) by walking on foot from Najaf al-Ashraf to Karbala al-Muqaddas, and a more commendable act is to recognize the Yazid of your time.
You may ask, how can we recognize the Yazid of our time?
There are various ways to recognize the Yazid of the time, but a better and simpler way is to wait a few days and see who gets upset and angry about this writing of mine and reacts to it, and who takes offense at this writing of mine; then conclude that the Yazid of the time is that very person.
Ultimately, the Yazid of the time will be exposed and will reveal himself.
Mohammad Mahdavifar
Seventh of Aban, 1397 [October 29, 2018]
Isfahan Central Prison