Critical Analysis of Orientalists' Opinions about the Causes and Motivations of the Hosseini (as) Movement

The personality of Imam Hossein (as), his movement and uprising are among the topics that Muslim scholars, as well as Orientalists and Western Islamologists, have paid attention to and presented various analyses. One of the fields that has received a lot of attention and various opinions and analyzes have been presented around it is the discussion of the causes and motivations of the Hosseini (as) movement, and different opinions have been presented by Muslim and non-Muslim thinkers in this regard. The purpose of this article is to introduce, recognize and criticize the opinions of Orientalists regarding the causes and motivations of the uprising of Imam Hossein (as) and the Hosseini movement (as) and aims to answer the question that according to the various analyzes of non-Muslim scholars in this field, to what extent do these analyzes agree with the Shi'a view? Therefore, this article, using a descriptive-analytical method, tries to express what image the most important Orientalists who have commented in this field have presented to their readers about the causes and motivations of the uprising of Imam Hossein (as) and the Hossein (as) movement. The findings obtained from this research indicate that the Orientalists have stated three goals and motivations for the uprising of Imam Hossein (as): A. Monarchy and presidential ambitions. B. Invitation of the Kufians. C. Revenge and bloodlust of Muslim ibn Aqeel. In some cases, the results obtained from the studies of Orientalists are different from what exists in reality and the philosophy expressed by the Imam Hossein (as) himself; and in fact, they have not been able to present a correct picture of the causes and motivations of Imam Hossain's (as) uprising, both according to the reality of the matter and according to the Shiite point of view.