Imam Hussain (a) told us everything. We just have to listen. He said: "I have emerged to call for reform in the Ummah of my grandfather.." He did not say he emerged 'for reform', but "to call" for reform. The rest is the job of the people - and this sums up the lesson of Ashura.
Brothers and sisters, we tend to forget that as an infallible divine authority and as al-insān al-kāmil (the complete human being), Imam Hussain (a) was going to fulfill his religious duty anyway. The question was always whether or not the people would follow and answer the call.
This has always been God's test in sending emissaries - to be obeyed (4:64), to govern (4:65), to call people to that which revives them (8:24), etc. And the sad result is that human societies have long failed in this regard (15:11), (36:30), etc. But the question remains.
The infallibility of the Imam (a) and incorporeal capacity of his leadership do not mean we are not expected to take part in the fulfillment of his missions. In fact, it means precisely the opposite. It means that our performance is all that is left of the divine expectations.
Let us put this in terms of martyrdom, which is defined in Islamic thought as the final stage of an individual's journey to attain perfection - beginning with al-tawba (repentance), growing with al-wilāyah w'al-jihād (connection and struggle), and ending with al-liqā' (assembly).
The Imam (a) had reached his perfection even before his martyrdom. He was free even before his martyrdom. He was assembled with the will of God even before his martyrdom. He was 'all for Islam' even before his martyrdom. Do not allow that to become the subject of inquiry at hand.
The theme at hand is the believing public and the stages it must go through to be harmonious with the infallible's will just as he is with God's. The theme is how Karbala exposed the failure of all except a few to repent (fix their direction), grow (cover some ground), and join.
That is, join in the sense that those with a group in this world are resurrected with them in the Hereafter as we know from the Qur'an and narrations. Join in the sense that one must 'know the Imam of their time' not just by name, but in presence, association and 'assembly'!
Islam is 'on the move' and the Imam (a) will always be in the driver's seat, leading the way. That never was and will never be the question from any angle. The question is whether or not when the morning comes we will miss the bus of love. Is the morning not near? (11:81)
