Violence, in itself, is an act devoid of values. No sound relationship can be established between violence and human, moral or rational values, because violence, no matter how some may attempt to cloak it in legitimacy, necessity or law, remains at its core a departure from the restraints of reason, a violation of the meaning of justice, and a separation from the principles of truthfulness, trustworthiness and mercy.
The violence under discussion does not operate in a vacuum. Behind it lies a fluid philosophy or amorphous ideology that seeks to justify it in pursuit of its own objectives and interests. Such a philosophy does not seek truth, justice or the reform of the human being; rather, it seeks to justify domination and control over others. Violence does not recognize the meaning of justice, truthfulness or trustworthiness. All forms of evil can lie dormant within it, even when a justificatory doctrine or pragmatic ideology attempts to give violence meaning, legitimacy or legal cover.
The most dangerous aspect of violence, therefore, is not merely the act itself, but its ability to manufacture justifications and slogans and to dress brutality in the language of righteousness. A person may practice violence in the name of interest, authority, revenge or necessity, but the outcome is the same: it opens a wide door to domination over others and establishes a logic that sees the human being merely as an instrument, power as the only path, and the other as an adversary who must be subdued.
The Enduring Conflict Between Instinctualism and Rationality
At its deepest level, history has been an enduring struggle between two currents, two philosophies or two ideas: instinctualism and rationality. This conflict is not incidental to human life; it is constantly present, because the development, refinement and advancement of the human being fundamentally depend on the ability to give rationality precedence over instinct.
The more a person’s rationality develops and takes precedence over instinctual impulses, the more fully human that person becomes. Conversely, the more rationality recedes and instinct takes control, the more brutal the human being becomes. This helps explain why crises and problems repeatedly emerge in human life and why wars and conflicts have persisted throughout history: at their core, many of them arise from the domination of instinct over human conduct.
Instinctualism, by its nature, is blind, unrestrained and turbulent. It is an expression of undisciplined human desires and of the impulses of the self when they break free from the restraints of reason and values. Instinct, in its various forms, possesses neither vision nor insight. It seeks immediate gratification and moves toward desire without asking about truth, justice, consequences, the human being’s responsibility before Allah Almighty, or the rights of others.
Rationality, by contrast, is discerning because it follows reason, and reason possesses the capacity to distinguish and is guided by a set of values and constants that illuminate the human path. Rationality is not merely cold calculation; it is discipline through values, liberation from blind impulse, and the capacity to resist instinct when it seeks to dominate the human being and lead him toward brutality.
Ashura and the Exposure of Blind Instinct
It is in this context that Imam Husayn (peace be upon him), on the Day of Ashura, addressed those confronting him in words that exposed the nature of the closure that had overtaken them. He said:
“Woe to you! What prevents you from listening to me and hearing what I have to say? I only call you to the path of guidance. Whoever obeys me will be among the rightly guided, and whoever disobeys me will be among those who perish. Yet all of you disobey my command and refuse to listen to my words. Your bellies have been filled with what is unlawful, and your hearts have been sealed. Woe to you! Will you not remain silent? Will you not listen?”
This meaning reveals that instinctualism had taken control of those people. They could no longer hear admonition, perceive the truth or respond to what was right. When a person becomes filled with what is unlawful, consumed by attachment to worldly life and blinded by desire, that person can no longer recognize the truth even when it stands plainly before him, nor can he hear sincere and unmistakable counsel.
In another statement, Imam Husayn (peace be upon him) said:
“People are slaves to this world, and religion is but something they lick with their tongues. They uphold it as long as their livelihoods prosper, but when they are tested by adversity, few remain truly religious.”
This means that instinctualism had taken control of them. They spoke the language of religion but did not live its essence. Religion, for them, had become words without value, slogans without commitment and speech on the tongue that never became a principled position. They therefore neither heard nor saw, because their hearts had become closed and sealed, leaving them unable to perceive.
The condition of a person who refuses to hear admonition, advice or ideas reveals the extent to which instinct has taken control. Such a person thinks only about how to gratify desire blindly and no longer asks what is right or wrong, lawful or unlawful, nor considers consequences and ultimate destiny. This is a problem that stretches across history. It appears in histories of violence, revolutions and counter-revolutions, in the records of oppressive rulers, in crimes of extermination, and in the collapse of nations and states.
In the end, all of these represented a struggle between instinctualism and rationality, and in many cases instinctualism prevailed. The result was enormous waves of violence that produced injustice, bloodshed, the collapse of states, the disintegration of societies, accumulated grievances and recurring cycles of revenge.
The Absence of Rationality and the Crisis of Governance and Society
If we turn to a contemporary example, Iraq offers one. The major problems that exist today cannot be separated from the absence of rationality: rationality in governance, the state and institutions. When there is no governing rationality, no binding system of values and no institutions operating according to the logic of law, justice and responsibility, public life becomes a process of satisfying private interests and accumulating gains.
This is why, day after day, corruption increases, crime spreads and deviant behavior expands. Deviation and crime are consequences of the domination of instinctualism. When reason and its logic disappear, and when the logic of values is lost, private interests take their place, leaving society exposed to the expansion of violence, corruption and brutality.
The battle over values is always a battle between values and the absence of values. This struggle does not remain confined to the realm of ideas; it generates waves throughout reality. When violence prevails, it produces further violence. When revenge spreads, it creates counter-revenge. When cruelty becomes entrenched, it produces cruelty in return. Society then enters endless cycles of action and reaction.
Allah Almighty says:
“If you do good, you do good for yourselves; and if you do evil, it is against yourselves.” — Al-Isra, 17:7.
This verse reveals an important law governing social and human life. When a person practices violence and brutality, he does not harm others alone; he also opens new doors of violence against himself and his society. Every act of violence generates a reaction, counter-violence produces further violence, and revenge leads to more revenge. It becomes a continuing chain in which every additional act and reaction deepens brutality and violence.
If, by contrast, society learns mercy, embraces nonviolence and is educated in rationality, it creates another wave: one of benevolence, mercy and tranquility. Just as violence spreads, benevolence also spreads. Just as revenge produces revenge, mercy produces mercy, nonviolence produces security, and values generate further values.
Husayni Freedom as Liberation From Instinct
This is what Imam Husayn (peace be upon him) sought to establish on the Day of Ashura when he said:
“Be free people in your worldly life.”
The meaning was: be rational, and do not become brutal. A free human being does not practice violence or commit crimes. A free person is one who possesses the ability to control personal whims, desires, vengeance, impulses and appetites.
Freedom here is not merely political, external or physical liberation. Before all of that, it is an internal liberation from slavery to instinct. A person may live outside prison and yet remain captive to desire, anger and revenge, hostage to personal interests and distorted ambitions. Such a person is not truly free. The free person is the one who possesses self-control in anger, restrains instinct at moments of impulse, subjects desire to the judgment of reason, and makes values the governing authority over conduct.
This is a fundamental issue in understanding violence, because waves of violence do not emerge from nothing. They arise when one state is built on the ruins of another and one authority replaces another through revenge, only for a later authority to retaliate against its predecessor, perpetuating the cycle. Allah Almighty says:
“Then We brought forth after them other generations. No nation can precede its appointed time, nor can it delay it. Then We sent Our messengers one after another. Whenever a messenger came to his people, they denied him, so We made them follow one another and turned them into tales of the past. Away, then, with a people who do not believe.” — Al-Mu’minun, 23:44.
“And thus We cause some of the wrongdoers to prevail over others because of what they used to earn.” — Al-An‘am, 6:129.
“And such days We alternate among the people.” — Aal ‘Imran, 3:140.
These are images of a constant equation. Those who fail to learn from the historical circulation of power, who cannot escape the logic of revenge, and who fail to understand that force does not create legitimacy and violence does not produce justice, will remain trapped in the cycle of instinctualism. One authority comes to devour another, only to be devoured in turn, while societies continue to pay the price.
Critique of the Justification of Violence
This is the basis for a critical stance toward violence and toward those who justify it under different priorities and impulses. In reality, such people either do not understand religion, or they understand religion but pursue private purposes and rigid ideological agendas through which they seek power or revenge, because the desire for retaliation has become deeply rooted within them.
Anyone who truly understands religion cannot make violence a foundational principle, cannot make revenge a method, and cannot confuse defending what is right with legitimizing brutality. Religion came to refine the human being, not to unleash human instincts. It came to build reason and the heart, not to provide justifications for domination, oppression and coercion.
Here we recall the conduct of the Messenger of Allah, Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him and his family), when he said:
“Go, for you are free.”
This Prophetic statement was not a passing gesture. It established a principle for transcending the logic of revenge and giving precedence to rationality and mercy over instinct and vengeance. The Prophet had the power to retaliate, but he did not turn power into revenge. He was victorious, but he did not make victory a means of vindictiveness. This is the difference between principled rationality and power-driven instinctualism.
We must therefore understand that a profound conflict exists between instinctualism and rationality, and that every justification of violence must be examined in light of that conflict: does it originate in reason, values and justice, or does it arise from desire, revenge and the will to dominate?
How Does Imam Husayn Influence Our Lives?
The essential question remains: how does Imam Husayn (peace be upon him) influence our lives through his method and approach?
To this day, we have not fully comprehended this point, perhaps because our rationality has not yet reached the stage required for deep and discerning understanding. As stated in a tradition concerning the Imams (peace be upon them):
“Whoever comes to Husayn knowing his right, Allah will forgive his past and future sins.”
An important observation is necessary here: the narrations emerge from the Holy Quran and complement it. This narration can be understood as deriving from the following Quranic verses:
“Indeed, We have granted you a manifest victory, so that Allah may forgive you what preceded of your sin and what is to come, complete His blessing upon you, guide you to a straight path, and support you with a mighty victory. He is the One who sent tranquility into the hearts of the believers so that they might increase in faith upon their faith. To Allah belong the forces of the heavens and the earth, and Allah is All-Knowing, All-Wise.” — Al-Fath, 48:1–4.
The phrase in the narration, “Whoever comes to Husayn,” requires reflection. The word “comes” here does not mean visitation alone; its meaning is broader than visitation. It encompasses visitation, commitment, service to the Husayni cause and, ultimately, complete emulation. Coming to Imam Husayn (peace be upon him) is not merely a physical movement toward a place; it is an existential movement toward a method, and an intellectual, spiritual and behavioral movement toward the values of Imam Husayn.
There is also a distinction between “coming toward” and “arriving.” The former denotes the beginning, while the latter indicates the completion of that beginning. The narration therefore does not say, “Whoever arrives at Husayn,” but rather, “Whoever comes to Husayn.” This indicates the existence of an integrated program and method: approaching Imam Husayn marks the beginning of entering that program and committing oneself to that path.
Whoever commits to the method of Imam Husayn (peace be upon him), as embodied in his words and positions, will ultimately find that such commitment leads to the forgiveness of sins. This does not mean that forgiveness is merely a promise detached from the construction of the human being. Whoever sincerely repents becomes protected, because true repentance is not a passing feeling of remorse but a process of building and perfecting the personality and distancing oneself from desires, sins and personal whims.
From Forgiveness to Moral Immunity
The process of building and perfecting the personality by distancing oneself from desires, sins and whims ultimately leads the soul to develop a gradual form of protection, creating within the person an internal capacity to resist instinct. This is not infallibility in the inherent sense, but acquired protection: a moral immunity that the human being builds within.
Through commitment to the path of Imam Husayn (peace be upon him), a person can construct a powerful internal immunity against instinct, distorted ambition, sins and transgressions. This protection is the fruit of the Husayni path because it enables the human being to resist impulse, restrain desire, break the inclination toward revenge, turn away from violence and choose rationality.
Accordingly, when the narration says, “Allah will forgive his past and future sins,” the phrase “future sins” can be understood in terms of the protection acquired by a person that prevents a return to sin. This protection is what the traditions refer to as taqwa, or God-consciousness. Taqwa is the inner disposition that protects a person from falling into sin and enables the choice of rationality over instinctualism, mercy over violence, and values over opportunism.
This is what Imam Husayn sought to accomplish through his great movement of deliverance. His method is not merely emotion or slogan; it is a process of fortifying the human being and developing the individual rationally so that one may advance along the path of human perfection.
Conclusion: True Victory Is Victory Over Instinct
The meaning of true victory is not confined to external triumph, the possession of power or defeating an opponent. True victory occurs when the human being commits to this principle, frees himself from the domination of instinct and moves toward rationality.
Allah Almighty says:
“Indeed, We have granted you a manifest victory.”
This indicates that true victory is the triumph that opens for the human being the path toward forgiveness, the acquisition of moral immunity, the attainment of taqwa and the building of human perfection. From this perspective, we understand that Imam Husayn (peace be upon him) sought to move the human being from the logic of instinct to the logic of reason, from the cycle of violence to the realm of values, from slavery to worldly desires to freedom of the spirit, from revenge to mercy, and from brutality to humanity.
Violence is devoid of values, and when instinctualism takes control of the human being, it renders him blind, unable to hear or see. Rationality, when illuminated by the path of Imam Husayn (peace be upon him), builds the free human being who is capable of controlling personal impulses, confronting desires, fortifying the self through taqwa, and advancing along the path of perfection.
This is the meaning of the Husayni path: for the human being to transform from a slave of instinct into a free person, from a being driven by violence into a discerning and rational personality, and from a self seeking domination and revenge into a tranquil soul seeking truth, mercy and values.
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