SERMONS
The only chance that the Imam had to give an open sermon was in the court of Yezid. It was very important for him to do so because all along, the people of Syria were being told lies about the Prophet (S.A.W W) and his family, especially about Imam Ali (A.S), Hazrat Fatima (S.A), Imam Hassan (A.S) and Imam Husain (A.S). In the eyes of the Syrians, Muawiya and Yezid were the true representatives of the Prophet (S.A.W.W) and Imam Ali (A.S) and his children were the enemies of Islam.
As a matter of fact, Imam Zainul Abidin (A.S) and the family of the of the Prophet were presented in the court of Yezid as those who had fought against Islam. It was very important for the Imam therefore to tell the Syrians what was the truth. That is to say that Muawiyyah and Yezid were the enemies of Islam and they had murdered the innocent members of the family of the Prophet (S.A.W W); and the Imam gave a very powerful sermon which you have already seen in the article 'The Adulthood of Imam Ali Bin Husain (a.s)'.
Notice that in this sermon, the Imam describes very openly high position of the Prophet (S.A.W W) his family and other relatives of the Prophet. He also proves that Yezid, his parents and his grandparents were truly the enemy of Islam. Although he never got another chance to give a sermon like this, this one sermon was enough to awaken the Syrians from the sleep of ignorance. This sermon will always be a guide to those Muslims who need to know truly how evil the Bani Umayyah were and how virtuous the Ahlul Bayt were.
The other sermon that the Imam gave was very short but very effective. We saw that in the aforementioned article. This was given to the people of Medina on the day the Imam returned from the prison of Yezid. The people of Medina were not in darkness regarding the goodness of the family of the Prophet, the way the people of Syria were. It was not at this time necessary for the Imam to remind the people of Medina about the evils of Bani Umayyah; what the people of Medina needed to be told were two things.
First, they had to be made to know what Bani Umayyah did to Imam Husain (A.S). Secondly, they needed to be told of what was expected of them now that Imam Husain (A.S) had given his life. And the Imam did just that in this short address to them which you have already seen in 'The Adulthood of Imam Ali Bin Husain (a.s)'.
Source:
A Brief Biography of Ali Ibn Husain (a.s)
By: Muhammad Reza Dungersi. PH.D
[Vol. 1, Pg. 31-32].
