Sayyid Hassan Khomeini had a meeting with the members of the Islamic society of the university students of Tehran University. Their meeting was at Husseiniah Jamaran, where Sayyid Hassan Khomeini told them: “Ashura has an important basis which is related to all times. The heroes of Karbala are without a doubt men with great virtues. Ashura has different appearances; love, bravery, friendship and good character are only a few of them. The most prominent characteristic of the Master of Martyrs compared to others, was his observance of the bases of good character.”
Sayyid Hassan also said the following regarding the definition of Karbala: “If we want to define Karbala, we must say that Ashura was an uprising, which consisted of bravery and insight and was against deviation and oppression.”
Sayyid Hassan further added: “What happened that the society of that time allowed the grandson of the Prophet (saw) to be martyred all comes down to deviation (from religion). This deviation and the problems that were infused with it, lead to the tragedy of Ashura. Ashura was a result of deviation along with different types of oppressions.”
Sayyid Hassan also stated that Ashura is a broadcaster of bravery and tried to define what bravery is exactly: “Bravery refers to a willful act, but even willful acts need initiation. When one wants to carry out an act, he first imagines it, then weighs its benefits and if it is beneficial, he is eager to carry it out. This eagerness slowly rises in intensity and this causes one’s muscles to be provoked and finally one carries out an act.”
He named these four levels as imagination, confirmation, confirmed eagerness and finally act. Sayyid Hassan also said that throughout these four stages, one may be inflicted with doubt. “These doubts are due to the fear one has of the dangers that threaten him if one carries out this act. The factor of danger causes one to doubt the benefits of his act and say to himself this act is not worth the risk.”
He continued to say: “Although carrying out any act always has a possibility of danger and the benefits and disadvantages need to be weighed out against each other, sometimes it is one’s duty to accept the dangers and turn a blind eye to personal disadvantages and not stop himself carrying out an act. It may be that dying is a personal disadvantage but the results are praiseworthy.” “Sometimes benefits and risks are of a material type but there are many times where they are of different types. It is here that bravery can be truly understood. Sometimes one goes through all the stages of imagination, confirmation and confirmed eagerness but greed and fear cause one to fall short of carrying out the act.”
Sayyid Hassan Khomeini continued to say that the condition for bravery is for one to think about what he needs to do and not what others need to do. “The price of bravery should not be paid by others. It should not be so, that you speak and others pay the price, because this is no longer bravery. Bravery is something which you alone need to pay for. If others pay the price or are disadvantaged by your bravery, it is no longer bravery.
Sayyid Hassan further added: “What happened in Ashura, was first the envision of deviation in Prophet Muhammad’s (saw) religion and second the envision of oppression as an aspect of an Islamic society. The confirmation was that this deviation and oppression cannot be tolerated. In the confirmed eagerness stage this eagerness grew and in the final stage Imam Hussein (as) and his companions carried out the act”
“In those days, whoever rose against the government would be labeled an outsider and his reputation would be ruined. The first sacrifice the Master of Martyrs made was his reputation. After this Imam Hussein (as) made many sacrifices and faced many difficulties. This does not, however, mean that Ashura was not a clever or insightful move. Ashura also teaches us another lesson and that is that bravery should not be something which is ill-organized or ill-planned.”
Sayyid Hassan Khomeini, further said: “We are now faced with a society, which more than ever is in need of learning and understanding the lesson of Ashura. We must always keep Ashura as a fountain of truth in our minds.”
Sayyid Hassan Khomeini pointed out the bad characteristics we now have in our society and said: “Many say the problem with our society is fear, but I think the biggest problem of our society is not being fearful. I wish, ‘fear’, was a problem. Many of the bad characteristics we have are because we do not fear God and do not believe that this world has a God. The key to all problems is not being afraid of God.”
At the end of this speech Sayyid Hassan sent his Salams and respects to the martyred university student of the Islamic revolution, eight-year imposed war, and also the martyrs of the 7th of December.