Following the discussions on the concept of responsibility in Islam and Muslims' duties towards other human beings, this article reviews the duties towards the teachers, students, and young and older adults.

The Responsibility in Islam Towards Mentors

Teachers are acknowledged and valorized in Islam. It is said that God, angels, earth inhabitants and even the small ants in their nests and the fish in the seas, all salute the mentors who invite to goodness [1]. Imam Ali (AS) said that whoever has taught me a word has made me “his slave”[i] [2]. Regarding the Islamic resources, the rights of the mentor over the students are:

to be polite and grateful to the mentor, and honor him\her [3];
to sit down politely in his\her presence such that to face him\her directly [3];
to listen carefully to him\her and forget anything else during the session except what the mentor explains [3];
not to answer the questions that the mentor has been asked about and let him\her to reply [3];
to lower your voice when talking to him\her [3] as a means of showing the respect for him\her;
to ask in order to know and not to annoy the mentor or to mock him\her [4] and then to listen carefully to the answer of the question [5];
not to talk and whisper to anybody in his\her presence [3] otherwise the mentor feels being ignored;
not to talk behind other people’s back with him\her [3] since this is an unpleasant act which also bothers the audience ;
not to let others insult the mentor or lie about him\her [3];
not to reveal his\her deficiencies and to tell others about his\her positive characteristics [3].

The Rights of the Knowledge-seeker and The Responsibility in Islam Towards Them[ii]

Seeking knowledge is such important in Islam that according to Prophet Muhammad (PBUH&HP), trees, winds, clouds, seas and stars, plants and everything that the sunshine falls on, all ask for mercy for whoever seeks knowledge [6]. Also, the Prophet (PBUH&HP) said that whoever seeks knowledge is beloved by God, angels, and prophets and good for them on the judgment day [7]. Of the rights of the knowledge-seekers over their mentor are:

To be kind to them [8];
To be humble and flexible to them [8];
To know their names and some details about each of them [8]. This helps to maintain a better relationship and consequently to better teach and educate them;
To respect their character and to consider their words and thoughts [8];
To equally love them and pay attention to them [8]. In this regard, mentors are almost like judges in Islam;
To teach with serenity and dignity [8], therefore, his\her lessons impress their mind and soul  ;
To be tolerant of them and answer their questions properly [8];
To consider and support kindly the newcomers [8];
To honestly tell if he\she does not know the answer to a question [8] instead of saying what he\she is not sure about;

The Rights of Young People

Of the rights of young people over older adults and their responsibility in Islam are: 

To be kind to them [3];
To be engaged in their education and training [3];
To ignore and forgive their mistakes and hide their deficiencies [3];
To tolerate them, be patient with them and help them in difficulties [3];
If the young people do something wrong because they are naive, the older adults should not reveal that [3];
To avoid arguments and conflicts with them [3].

The Rights of Elderly people

The responsibility in Islam of the younger people toward the elderly include:

To respect them since they are older than you [3];
If they argue with you, do not react unpleasantly [3];
If you accompany each other on the way, do not overtake them [3];
If they do not know about something, do not humiliate them [3];
And, if they ignore you because you do not know something, keep calm and do not react as they are older than you [3].

Notes: 
[i] The word “slave” here does not mean servant, but is used to valorize the mentor and emphasizes the importance of respecting him\her.
[ii] Knowledge-seeker is used as a more general word than a student to cover whoever seeks knowledge.

References:

1. M. B. Majlisi, “Bihar al-Anwar”, vol. 61, p. 245
2. M. Naraqi, “Jami' al-Sa'adat”.
3. Imam Zayn al-'Abidin (AS), “Treatise On Rights (Risalat al-Huquq)”.
4.  “Nahj al Balaqa”, I. 320.
5. Ibn Babawayh, “Ilal Al-Shara'I”, vol. 2. p. 334.
6. H. al-Daylami, "Irshad al-Qulub", p. 164.
7. M. Shoueiri “Jami’ al-Akhbar”, p. 37.
8.  Al-Shahid al-Thani, “Munya al-murid fi adab al-mufid wa al-mustafid”, p. 190-219.

In year 60 AH Imam Hussain (AS) left Mecca with his followers and family destined to Kufah, the city of which the people had invited Imam Hussain (AS) to be their leader in the battle against Yazid. Imam Hussain (AS) took his family with himself including some of his sisters, his wives, daughters, sons and so on. Not only did he take his family with himself, but also some of his followers were accompanied by their family. 

Knowing that Imam Hussain (AS) was going to Kufah to wage a war against Yazid you may ask yourself why he jeopardized his family by taking them to this dangerous trip. 

Imam Hussain’s Household was in danger

When Yazid, in spite of the terms of Muaviah’s agreement with Imam Hassan (AS), took over as the King of Muslims and became a Caliph, Imam Hussain (AS) didn’t acknowledge him as a proper king for the Islamic society so Yazid ordered the ruler of Medina to make Imam Hussain (AS) accept Yazid as a King though Imam Hussain (AS) turned down and said:

Yazid is an alcoholic person and kills innocent people and commits sins in public, so a person like me wouldn’t accept a person like him as their king (1)

Yazid had ordered the ruler of Medina that if Imam Hussain (AS) had refused to do as the Caliph said, the ruler must have cut his head and send it to Yazid besides if anybody else   had done so, the ruler would have to do the same to them. (2) When Imam Hussain (AS) found out that he was in danger in Medina he moved to Mecca so that they couldn’t harm him because of sacredness of Kaaba. 

It was then Imam Hussain (AS) decided to leave Mecca when the letters from about 18000 people of Kufah reached asking him (desperately) to help them fight against the tyranny and cruelty of Yazid and be their leader. Thus he was well aware of the fact that he was also in jeopardy in Mecca so he took his family with him to Karbala.

(The letters of about 18000 people of Kufah reached to Imam Hussain (AS) asking him (desperately) to help them fighting against the tyranny and cruelty of Yazid and be the leader of them, he decided to leave Mecca. He knew that he was also in jeopardy in Mecca so he took his family with him.) Bear it in mind that if he hadn’t taken them with him; it is obvious that Yazid would have taken Imam Hussain’s household as hostages in order to make him give in and obey the Caliph.

Actually, Imam Hussain (AS) cleverly understood what they were up to and ruined their plans so that he could approach to his objectives. 

As an astute leader, Imam Hussain (AS) was well aware of what they were up to and their wickedness, and he ruined their plots so that he could pursue his objectives. 

Imam Hussain’s Household was his Messenger

 Imam Hussain’s household besides the martyrs’ in Karbala became mostly captivated by Umar ibn Sa’d’s forces and were at first taken to Kufah and not long afterwards to Damascus. If you scrutinize more carefully through history, you may find out that in case Imam Hussain’s household wasn’t there and got slaved, the message of Karbala would have been neglected forever.

To substantiate this fact it can be witnessed that Imam Sajjad (AS) and Lady Zeinab (SA) tried to brief people on what Yazid had done to them. They used every opportunity to talk to people and make speeches for them about Imam Hussain (AS) so that they would understand who really he was.

Once an old man in Damascus went to those enslaved women and told them: 

“Thank God that killed your men and destroyed you and extricated the people from you and relieved the King” 

Imam Sajjad (AS) replied: “O old man! Have you read the holy Quran?”  “Yes” he replied.

Then Imam Sajjad said: “Haven’t you read this verse that says:

 Say, ‘I do not ask you any reward for it except the love of [my] relatives.’ (42:23)" 

He said: “Yes, I have (read that)”

Imam Sajjad (AS) then said: “We are the relatives of the Prophet (PBUH & HP)”

The old man was so sorry then because of what he said. (3)

The women? Imam Hussain’s children, wives, sisters informed the people of Damascus about the lies that Mu’aviah and Yazid had told them about Islam and Imam Hussain (AS) and told them that they were cheated. 

The speeches of Imam Sajjad (AS) and Lady Zeinab (SA) in Damascus and Kufah are so famous.
 
The Slavery of those Women and Children Proved Imam Hussain’s Honesty

Imam Hussain (AS) sacrificed everything he had even his little son, for his objective which was reminding people the original message of Islam. Yazid had told people that Imam Hussain (AS) is a liar and is only after taking over the kingdom. When Imam Hussain (AS) sacrificed his life and the life of his family for his goal (the sake of Islam), people understood that kingdom wasn’t the thing which Imam Hussain (AS) tried to obtain but he wanted to make people aware of the tyranny and the cruelty of Yazid and Banu-Umayyah.

The Will of Allah

When Imam Hussain (AS) was leaving Mecca, his brother Muhammad ibn al-Hanafiah told him:“What’s the rush? Why do you want to go?”
“I dreamt about the Holy Prophet (PBUH & HP) and he told me to leave Mecca because Allah wants to see me martyred.” Imam Hussain (AS) replied.
Then Muhammad said: “We belong to Allah and we turn back to him. Then why do you take these women and children, knowing your destiny?” 
Imam Hussain (AS) said: “The Prophet (PBUH & HP) also said that Allah wants them to be enslaved as well” (4)

These words of Imam Hussain (AS) meant that saving the lost essence of Islam was the most important duty of him and that to achieve this goal there is no other way rather than fighting until death against the oppression of Yazid. In this way, people will be tested by Allah and also enlightened about the hideousness of Umayyad dynasty.   

We do not necessarily know the Reason of Every Issue

We believe that the infallible Imams are immaculate and they do not commit any sins or make mistakes. So when they do something, we do know and believe that they had enough reason to do so, even if we do not understand it. We may find some reasons by thinking about them but mostly we cannot be totally sure about the core of whatever they did and the reason why they had taken such actions.

References 

1. Maghtal al-Hussain (AS), Abd ar-Razzaq al-Mugharram, pg.129
2. Tarikh of Ya’ghubi, Ahmad ibn Ya’ghub, vol.2, pg.241
3. Al-Malhuf, Seyyed ibn Tavuss, pg.211
4.  The same, pg.128