In the twentieth century no Shiite alim has written or spoken more about Karbala and martyrdom of Husayn than Ayatullah Ali Naqi Naqvi (d. 1988), a Shiite alim from India, and a prolific author who also held the position of Dean of Shiite Theology at Aligarh University (India). Rare also it is for a Shiite scholar of his stature to choose to sit on a pulpit for public lectures. Scholarship has pointed out how often Karbala symbolism has been used as means to political ends, especially in the context of contemporary Iranian history. The case of Ali Naqvi is, however, different. Besides being a representative of the traditional Shiite culture in which the events of Karbala are reiterated to evoke mourning and tears, Naqvi's sermons employ the powerful symbolism of Karbala narrative to preach religion. For Shiite Muslims confronted by the challenge of pluralism of worldviews, religious and secular, he makes ample use of Karbala symbolism to teach afresh what he took to be the core teachings and truths of Islam. He accomplished it by universalizing the meaning and message of Karbala, whereby Husayn is no more a martyr of Shiite Islam, but the martyr par excellence of humanity, thus the title of his book Shahid-e-Insaniat (The Martyr of Humanity). Similarly, other themes of Karbala and the symbolism behind those are presented in universalistic terms, geared towards communicating religious teachings in the light of contemporary challenges. This paper analyzes Ayatullah Naqvi's 'recasting' of the Islamic tradition through his sermons on Karbala.