The World Finally Speaks at Karbala Tribunals
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| Author | Hatem Abu Shahba |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Published | 2011 |
| Publisher | Jerrmein Abu Shahba |
| Pages | 266 |
The book The World Finally Speaks at Karbala Tribunals is a mock trial with the evidences in the form of historical documents, statements, and authentic facts written by Dr. Hatem Abu Shahba with the hope that this idea can become a reality one day.
About the author
Dr. Hatem Abu Shahba was born in 1950, he is a M.D. and a retired Nuclear Medicine specialist who practiced at Sr. Lukes Roosevelt Hospital in upper west side Manhattan. After retiring, he dedicated himself to serving Allah (SWT) and Ahlul Bayt(AS) and the community. He is currently the Director of Al-Ghadeer Islamic Education Center located in North Bergen, NJ and the Imam of Jum'ah prayers at Zainabia in Irvington, NJ.
About the book
This book published in Jerrmein Abu Shahba (September 26, 2011), has 266 pages.
It presents the heartbreaking historical facts of the tragedy of Husayn ibn 'Ali for the first time in a courtroom setting and proposes the idea of establishing an international court tribunal to try his killers and the perpetrators of the massacre of Karbala. Dr. Hatem Abu Shahba tries to imagine every detail of the court trial from the judges, the defendants, the indictment, the witnesses, prosecution and defense teams, the court sessions, the jurors, and the announcement of the final verdict as well as its consequences.
Abstract of chapters
The First Court Session
In this part, the author announces the place and purpose of this hypothetical trial and the reason for the peculiarity and astonishment of it. Twelve judges from six continents were carefully selected by the UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague for this unique trial
Five following defendants had committed war crimes, mass murder and crimes against humanity on Friday, the 10th day of Muharram, year 61 A.H
1. Yazid ibn Muawiya ibn Abi Sufyan
2. Ubaidullah ibn Ziyad ibn Abeeh
3. Umar ibn Sa’d ibn Abi Waqqas
4. Shimr ibn Dhil Jawshan Al Dababi
The second Court Session
In the second part, the prosecutor presents a list of 24 references and history books and requests the defense to answer “accepted” or “not accepted” after the name of each book is recited. Then he starts presenting his case and evidence to prove that the five defendants are guilty beyond any reasonable doubt of all the charges against them.
The third Court Session
The prosecutor continues presenting the rest of the evidence.
The fourth Court Session
Continuing to present the rest of the evidence, the prosecutor talks about Hussein's reason for leaving Mecca for Iraq and his preference for being killed in Iraq instead of Mecca:
Husayn ibn ‘Ali left Makkah only one day before the rituals of Hajj was to start due to the conspiracy plotted against his life. He left heading towards Iraq after he received multitude of letters from the people of Al-Kufa inviting him to come so they can support, protect, and provide him a safe haven. He did not want his blood to be shed in the Sacred House of God in Makkah and he said, “To be killed in Iraq is better to me than being killed in Makkah.” The sad journey commenced from Makkah in Hijaz to Al-Kufa in Iraq.
The fifth Court Session
Prosecutor claims that after recruiting the army, defendants prevented Al-Husayn and his civilian caravan from accessing water. They sent one of their commanders along with a force of 400 horsemen to guard the Euphrates river for this purpose. Al-Husayn and his companions suffered from thirst, so Al-Husayn started digging and searching for water. Fortunately, one spring of water erupted and they all quenched their thirst, then the spring dried. When the defendants learned of that, they prevented them from digging for water as much as they could and tightened their encirclement.
The sixth Court Session
In this part, the Chief Justice asks the defense team whether they want to rebut the evidences which the prosecution presented in the previous session or not. They believe that are just narrations that are passed on from one historian to another. So the presence of these same narrations in different books does not mean that they are true. And factors like nervous reaction, fear, anger, and instigation may play a big role in writing these letters, assuming that they are true. Therefore, we cannot rely on them very much and we should view them in light of these circumstances and effects.
Prosecutor in response to this claim says:
As for the talk about nervous reactions, tension, and emotional responses, etc, these excuses do not justify committing crimes in such great scale against children, women, and elderly in cold blood. Such excuses may be used to justify unintentional actions like breaking something or causing a car accident or manslaughter. As for using this pretext to justify war crimes, crimes against humanity, and mass murder, that is certainly unacceptable. Otherwise, anyone can justify killing thousands of people due to personal mood change resulting from stress. That is clear insanity which cannot be justified by any logic!
The Seventh Court Session
In this part, the prosecutor in order to bring the picture closer to us, invites us to imagine that there is a wrestling ring where 25 thousand of Matadors fight with swords against one bull. What can we expect the result to be?! Surely, it will be a great massacre and whenever one bull falls down, another bull steps forward to be slaughtered in front of the 25 thousand armed Matadors! It is a massacre which humanity rejects even for bulls and considers it to be a crime against animals. Then imagine when this situation is not against bulls, but it is against humans! Isn’t that considered to be a crime committed against mankind?!
After that, the great slaughtered happens and thousands of people allow themselves to join together to kill one person. Then they loot the body of the martyr Al-Husayn and take his sword, shield, clothes, ring, and seize everything! They leave his beheaded body naked in the desert, cut into pieces, and that is the great disaster and crime and biggest calamity ever! Now is there a crime against humanity and a war crime worst and more degrading than that in the history of mankind?!
Next Session
The court sessions continue in the same way with excitement and, of course, grief for up to 12 sessions. At the end and in the tenth court session, the prosecutor concludes his presentation of the incriminating evidence and stops here and turns it over to the defense.
The Eleventh Court Session
This part is dedicated to defense team, to present their rebuttal to the evidence which the prosecution presented until now. They believe that the prosecution has done a fine job in twisting the truth and moving the feelings and emotions, and intentionally ignored some of the facts and historical texts which contradict what he wants to portray. Then they give their examples of that, Albeit, their attack fails.
The Twelfth Court Session
The judges and jurors announced that they have reached a verdict! Most of the predictions from the legal experts were of the opinion that reaching a verdict this quickly indicates that the jurors are in big disagreement among each other, and so there is no escape from a verdict of “not guilty”.
The Last Court Session
Chief Justice announces that based on the guilty unanimous verdict of the jury and judges who represent all of dignified humanity regarding these five defendants: Yazid ibn Muawiya, Ubaidullah ibn Ziyad, Umar ibn Sa’d, Shimr ibn Dhi Jawshan, Hurmala ibn Kahel Al Sa’edi in all the crimes and charges directed against them collectively and individually, they are convicted of for sentences which are effective immediately and all human beings are instructed to observe and practice it from now on!