TEHRAN – Professor Charles Taliaferro says “the life and sacrifice of Imam Hussein has been inspiring to both Muslims and non-Muslims.”

Taliaferro, a professor of philosophy at St. Olaf College, tells the Tehran Times that Imam Hussein’s movement “prizes boldness, courage, faithfulness, integrity, (and) being steadfast to the end.” 

Following is the text of the interview:

Q: What is the message of Ashura to Muslims and the people of other faiths in our time?

A: As the Day of Remembrance, it is a time for thinking about one's own loyalties and history.  The life and sacrifice of Imam Hussein has been inspiring to both Muslims and non-Muslims. Famously, Mahatma Gandhi and Nelson Mandela found his bold refusal to side with injustice to be so awesome as to strengthen their own resolve to fight for justice in India and Africa.

Q: What are the main characteristics of Imam Hussein’s movement?

A: I think it is a movement that prizes boldness, courage, faithfulness, integrity, being steadfast to the end.  On the latter, I suggest that the pivotal event of making a last stand for one's beliefs is of extraordinary power.  Of course, being willing to live in light of one's beliefs and principles is of the highest priority, but in cases of when unjust forces threaten you with deadly power, willingly fighting in self-defense until death can be an awesome witness to one's integrity.

“Famously, Mahatma Gandhi and Nelson Mandela found his (Imam Hussein’s) bold refusal to side with injustice to be so awesome as to strengthen their own resolve to fight for justice in India and Africa.”

Q: Was the movement of Imam Hussein a reformation or revolution?

A: That is a difficult question!  There may be something to each term: He sought to correct a growing, oppressive force and thus, in a sense, he was in revolt against such august authority, but he also sought a reform, a calling the people back to the true path of Islam.

Q: What are the Yazids of our time?

A: Another difficult question!  I suggest each person and community will have to discern what paths in life have the most integrity and require our deepest loyalties. It can only be hoped that, given the great sacrifice remembered in the Ashura, that the resolve of Imam Hossein inspires us, as it did Gandhi and Mandela, to a life of compassion for others that is, ultimately, stronger than death.