Our Mawlana Al-Husayn, exalted is His glory, when He was on the night before the battle, He appeared to His followers and the people of His house in the form of incapability and told them: 'These people have no desire other than me. If they capture me, they will not seek you. So take this night as a means of transport, and let every man of you take the hand of a man from the people of my house and go about his business, and you are released from your pledge to me.' They wept and said: 'What excuse will we have with people if they ask us and we tell them that we abandoned our Mawla and fled, and did not strike a sword for Him or thrust a spear for Him? There is no good in life after you.' When He tested them and found them patient and submissive to His command, because this is the greatest trial upon the people of the earth, it was then that He manifested Himself to them in the form of Light (Nuraniyyah), and they fell down prostrating to Him and proclaiming His Oneness. He then created a person from the good deeds of the people of Al-Taff who were confronting Him and gave them power over him, and they killed him. Thus, they weep over their good deeds until the Day of Resurrection, and He raised up His likeness, Hanzalah ibn As'ad Al-Shabami.1
What clarifies the meaning of this narration is what was reported in the book Al-Tajrid from our Mawlana Al-Sadiq, exalted is His glory:
From Al-Mufaddal, peace comes from him, who said: I asked: 'My Master, how does creation view the ranks (maqamat)?' He said: 'God inverts their eyes and shows them a form He creates for them from their deeds. They look at their deeds in a form that pleases and delights them. If the form they witnessed from their deeds is the cause of the created beings, the Creator is the Essence of the Being, and the created beings do not see the Essence fully, nor the Light, then how is it fitting for the Cause of the believers to be a veil for the Creator? May He be exalted far above that!'2
Perhaps a questioner may ask: "Did the people who were against Him in the Karbala camp have good deeds?" Yes, this is natural. Most of those who attended the event of Al-Taff were from the Muqassirah (those who fall short), and we will clarify this matter at the end of the book concerning the reason for the confusion in the incident of Karbala.