Srinagar, June 25 -- By Bilal Ahmad Khanday

The story of Karbala is often told as a tragedy from the seventh century. It is remembered through tears, sermons, elegies, and historical accounts.

Many people know the names of its central figures: Imam Hussain, the grandson of Prophet Muhammad, and Yazid, the ruler whose forces confronted him in the desert of Iraq in 680 CE.

What gives Karbala its perpetual power, however, is that it speaks to a question that confronts humanity in every age: Which path will we choose?

The Quran presents human life as a journey defined by moral choice. In Surah Al-Balad, God declares, "And shown him the two highways."

Islamic scholars have long understood this verse as a reference to two distinct ways of ...