The argument for: Imam al-Hussain (a) rose to recapture the authority that Imam al-Hassan (a) abdicated
Yazid inherited power from his father Mu’awiyah ibn Abi Sufyan. Both Mu’awiyah and Abu Sufyan accepted Islam as a last resort, a decoy to save themselves after the liberation of Mecca.
According to Themuslimvibe.com, after Mu’awiyah’s rebellions against Caliph’s Imam Ali ibn Abi Talib (a) and Imam al-Hassan (a), his power grew through a series of mass murders, political assassinations of the companions of the Prophet (s) such as Hujr ibn ‘Aday and bribes to narrators of hadith and tribal leaders. Consequently, Imam al-Hassan (a) was forced to abdicate his position of Caliphate, fearing an irredeemable split in the Muslim community.
As part of that bid to maintain unity in the Ummah, Imam al-Hassan (a) and Mu’awiyah agreed a peace treaty with several conditions. Crucially, one of them was that upon the death of Mu’awiyah, Caliphate must be returned to Imam al-Hassan (a), or in the event of his death, passed to Imam al-Hussain (a). Together, Mu’awiyah and Yazid realised that a return of Caliphate to the Ahl al-Bayt (a) would forever negate any chance of Banu Umayyah’s rule. They decided to murder Imam al-Hassan (a) by proposing to his wife, Jo’dah int Ash’ath that she poison Imam al-Hassan (a) in exchange for 100,000 Dirhams and a promise of marriage to Yazid thereafter. After she committed this most heinous of crimes, Mu’waiyah refused to marry her to Yazid citing that if she could be bribed to kill Imam al-Hassan (a), she could be bribed to kill Yazid too.
Upon the death of Mu’awiyah, the seat of Caliphate was due to return to Imam al-Hussain (a) as per the accord. Instead, he broke this condition, as he did the others and willed the seat of Caliphate to Yazid, thereby commencing the rule of hereditary power, or monarchical dictatorship, for the first time in Islamic history
Though disputed, some historians have cited a written testament from Mu’awiyah to Yazid which read, “My son, I have secured you from mischief coming to you and prepared our future tasks, humiliated for you the enemies, humbled the Arabs before you and arranged [your affairs the like] that none has ever arranged [before].” This is despite knowing their were candidates more qualified, as Mu’awiyah is recorded to have said, “By Allah, if the lushest lands of Damascus were full of better people, even then Yazid would be more preferable to me.”
On account of the broken condition of Caliphate transferring to Imam al-Hussain (a), it is suggested that his uprising was to retrieve power from Yazid. This would, therefore, constitute a ‘political’ movement rooted in the rights over leadership and a long-running rivalry between Banu Umayyah and Banu Hashim, the family of the Prophet Muhammad (s). Let us know briefly respond to this view.
