IMAM Hussain is for all humanity, not just only for Muslims.

IMAM Hussain is for all humanity, not just only for Muslims.

The personality of the Imam Hussain A.s described by the Chris Heuer who was a Christian teacher we want to find out what he thinks and knows of the story and legacy of Imam Hussain A.S Chris spent most of his life in religious and theological studies he studied Christianity and Islam and now spends most of his time helping Christians and Muslims understand each other's beliefs and to foster better relations between the two faith groups I've been doing this kind of work for nearly 30 years we used to have a specialist Center in Birmingham which was called the Center for the Study of Islam and Christian.Muslim relations and there we would have Christians and Muslims from all over the world coming together to study these two faith traditions with professors from both religions students from both religions and also organization administration from both communities and then after that I worked in the city of Birmingham as the Interfaith advisor trying to find ways to develop a better understanding within a city of many different faiths in many different cultures.

 IMPORTANCE OF IMAM HUSSAIN A.S AND KARBALA for all humankind.

 I spent a number of years studying about Islam with different Muslims professors and that gave me a background a basis on which to understand more and part of that understanding was to work in a Shia Academy and I used to teach a few basic courses there for them and during that process the students there taught me about the importance of imam husain and the importance of the story of Karbala in their life and therefore I began to start reading and exploring this more and thinking of ways in which I could explain it to others you see at any time of the year when we hear of something happening in Iraq it is very likely that it will be tied up with one of the shrines of one of the imams often it will be something that happens when crowds of people are gathering for a pilgrimage now people who are just listening to the news need to understand something about this background and when they hear the story of Karbala they need to hear it in a way that explains not only the event but also the spiritual meaning and the impact that has on people down through the centuries when you are reading about Imam Hussain and the tragedy what had the biggest impact on you what struck you the most I think that is the greatest impact of the story is his willingness to embrace the struggle against injustice and tyranny not to give in to it and to go through with that commitment with that dedication in the face of all odds in the knowledge of certain death for himself and also for his companions and yet to persevere in faith in trust and in submission to God what kinds of work have you produced on Imam Hussain I've written about the importance of Karbala for all humankind it seems to me that one of the important messages that we have to share is that our great spiritual traditions our great spiritual figures do not belong to us they belong to humanity at large and therefore the religious communities have to learn ways of talking about these people 

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 Human dilemma empathizes Imam Hussain after listening to his sacrifices.

 The events of their lives in ways that actually communicate that essence the importance of that message to people who in this case to people who are not Muslims I've also given talks about Karbala and also made television programs in interviews about the story of Karbala trying to make that better known and understood amongst a wider audience and how was the feedback from the people that listened to some of your work I think that their response is always to understand this human dilemma to start with they can understand how it is that he is in this situation and therefore they can empathize with him when we talk about understanding of religious tradition understanding is something more than just what happens in the head understanding is also something that happens in the heart I need to be able to feel within myself I need to be able to empathize in order to truly understand now in order to understand the events of Karbala Imam Hussain one has to go beyond the head to the heart and to that deeper level of empathetic understanding so that people can feel within themselves what would I have done would I have followed him would I have taken his invitation to go and save my life even up to the day before Ashura itself or would I have stood firm with him would I to have been willing to sacrifice my life and we can see in that way that they the response of people of faith and also of people of no faith is to see that .

 This is the deepest human tragedy. 

there is a deeply human tragedy being done here with which they can empathize they can feel along with it that is the response that I think that we want from people do you think there should be more awareness about Imam Hussain and the tragedy of Karbala