20100710
Karbala by Yusuf Ali
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Imam Husain And His Martyrdom
By Abdullah Yusuf Ali (Public Lecture, 28 May 1931, London)
Sorrow as a Bond of Union
I am going to talk this afternoon about a very solemn subject, the martyrdom of Imam Husain at Kerbela, of which we are celebrating the anniversary. As the Chairman has very rightly pointed out, it is one of those wonderful events in our religious history about which all sects are agreed. More than that, in this room I have the honour of addressing some people who do not belong to our religious persuasion, but I venture to think that the view I put forward today may be of interest to them from its historical, its moral and its spiritual significance. Indeed, when we consider the background of that great tragedy, and all that has happened during the 1289 lunar years since, we cannot fail to be convinced that some events of sorrow and apparent defeat are really the very things which are calculated to bring about, or lead us towards, the union of humanity.
How Martyrdom healed divisions
When we invite strangers or guests and make them free of our family circle, that means the greatest outflowing of our hearts to them. The events that I am going to describe refer to some of the most touching incidents of our domestic history in their spiritual aspect. We ask our brethren of other faiths to come, and share with us some of the thoughts which are called forth by this event. As a matter of fact all students of history are aware that the horrors that are connected with the great event of Kerbela did more than anything else to unite together the various contending factions which had unfortunately appeared at that early stage of Muslim history. You know the old Persian saying applied to the Prophet:
Tu barae wasl kardan amadi;
Ni barae fasl kardan amadi.
"Thou camest to the world to unite, not to divide."
That was wonderfully exemplified by the sorrows and sufferings and finally the martyrdom of Imam Husain.
Commemoration of great virtues
There has been in our history a tendency sometimes to celebrate the event merely by wailing and tribulation, or sometimes by symbols like the Tazias that you see in India, - Taboots as some people call them. Well, symbolism or visible emblems may sometimes be useful in certain circumstances as tending to crystallise ideas. But I think the Muslims of India of the present day are quite ready to adopt a more effective way of celebrating the martyrdom, and that is by contemplating the great virtues of the martyr, trying to understand the significance of the events in which he took part, and translating those great moral and spiritual lessons into their own lives. From that point of view I think you will agree that it is good that we should sit together, even people of different faiths, - sit together and consider the great historic event, in which were exemplified such soul-stirring virtues as those of unshaken faith, undaunted courage, thought for others, willing self-sacrifice, steadfastness in the right and unflinching war against the wrong. Islam has a history of beautiful domestic affections, of sufferings and of spiritual endeavour, second to none in the world. That side of Muslim history, although to me the most precious, is, I am sorry to say, often neglected. It is most important that we should call attention to it, reiterated attention, the attention of our own people as well as the attention of those who are interested in historical and religious truth. If there is anything precious in Islamic history it is not the wars, or the politics, or the brilliant expansion, or the glorious conquests, or even the intellectual spoils which our ancestors gathered. In these matters, our history, like all history, has its lights and shades. What we need especially to emphasise is the spirit of organisation, of brotherhood, of undaunted courage in moral and spiritual life.
Plan of discourse
I propose first to give you an idea of the geographical setting and the historical background. Then I want very briefly to refer to the actual events that happened in the Muharram, and finally to draw your attention to the great lessons which we can learn from them.
Geographical Picture
In placing before you a geographical picture of the tract of country in which the great tragedy was enacted, I consider myself fortunate in having my own personal memories to draw upon. They make the picture vivid to my mind, and they may help you also. When I visited those scenes in 1928, I remember going down from Baghdad through all that country watered by the Euphrates river. As I crossed the river by a bridge of boats at Al-Musaiyib on a fine April morning, my thoughts leapt over centuries and centuries. To the left of the main river you have the old classic ground of Babylonian history; you have the railway station of Hilla; you have the ruins of the city of Babylon, witnessing to one of the greatest civilisations of antiquity. It was so mingled with the dust that it is only in recent years that we have begun to understand its magnitude and magnificence. Then you have the great river system of the Euphrates, the Furat as it is called, a river unlike any other river we know. It takes its rise in many sources from the mountains of Eastern Armenia, and sweeping in great zig-zags through rocky country, it finally skirts the desert as we see it now. Wherever it or its interlacing branches or canals can reach, it has converted the desert into fruitful cultivated country; in the picturesque phrase, it has made the desert blossom as the rose. It skirts round the Eastern edge of the Syrian desert and then flows into marshy land. In a tract not far from Kerbela itself there are lakes which receive its waters, and act as reservoirs. Lower down it unites with the other river, the Tigris, and the united rivers flow in the name of the Shatt-al-Arab into the Persian Gulf.
Abundant water & tragedy of thirst
From the most ancient times this tract of the lower Euphrates has been a garden. It was a cradle of early civilisation, a meeting place between Sumer and Arab, and later between the Persians and Arabs. It is a rich, well watered country, with date-palms and pomegranate groves. Its fruitful fields can feed populous cities and its luscious pastures attract the nomad Arabs of the desert, with their great flocks and herds. It is of particularly tragic significance that on the border of such a well-watered land, should have been enacted the tragedy of great and good men dying of thirst and slaughtered because they refused to bend the knee to the forces of iniquity. The English poet's lines "Water, water everywhere, and not a drop to drink" are brought home forcibly to you in this borderland between abundant water and desolate sands.
Kerbela and Its Great Dome
I remember the emotion with which I approached Kerbela from the East. The rays of the morning sun gilt the Gumbaz-i-Faiz, the great dome that crowns the building containing the tomb of Imam Husain. Kerbela actually stands on one of the great caravan routes of the desert. Today the river city of Kufa, once a Khilafat capital, is a mere village, and the city of Najaf is famous for the tomb of Hazrat Ali, but of little commercial importance. Kerbela, this outpost of the desert, is a mart and a meeting ground as well as a sacred place. It is the port of the desert, just as Basra, lower down, is a port for the Persian Gulf. Beautifully kept is the road to the mausoleum, to which all through the year come pilgrims from all parts of the world. Beautiful coloured enamelled tiles decorate the building. Inside, in the ceiling and upper walls, there is a great deal of glass mosaic. The glass seems to catch and reflect the light. The effect is that of rich coruscations of light combined with the solemnity of a closed building. The tomb itself is in a sort of inner grill, and below the ground is a sort of cave, where is shown the actual place where the Martyr fell. The city of Najaf is just about 40 miles to the South, with the tomb of Hazrat Ali on the high ground. You can see the golden dome for miles around. Just four miles from Najaf and connected with it by a tramway, is the deserted city of Kufa. The mosque is large, but bare and practically unused. The blue dome and the Mihrab of enamelled tiles bear witness to the ancient glory of the place.
Cities and their Cultural Meaning
The building of Kufa and Basra, the two great outposts of the Muslim Empire, in the 16th year of the Hijra, was a visible symbol that Islam was pushing its strength and building up a new civilisation, not only in a military sense, but in moral and social ideas and in the sciences and arts. The old effete cities did not content it, any more than the old and effete systems which it displaced. Nor was it content with the first steps it took. It was always examining, testing, discarding, re-fashioning its own handiwork. There was always a party that wanted to stand on old ways, to take cities like Damascus readymade, that loved ease and the path of least resistance. But the greater souls stretched out to new frontiers - of ideas as well as geography. They felt that old seats were like dead wood breeding worms and rottenness that were a danger to higher forms of life. The clash between them was part of the tragedy of Kerbela. Behind the building of new cities there is often the burgeoning of new ideas. Let us therefore examine the matter a little more closely. It will reveal the hidden springs of some very interesting history.
Vicissitudes of Mecca and Medina
The great cities of Islam at its birth were Mecca and Medina. Mecca, the centre of old Arabian pilgrimage, the birthplace of the Prophet, rejected the Prophet's teaching, and cast him off. Its idolatry was effete; its tribal exclusiveness was effete; its ferocity against the Teacher of the New Light was effete. The Prophet shook its dust off his feet, and went to Medina. It was the well-watered city of Yathrib, with a considerable Jewish population. It received with eagerness the teaching of the Prophet; it gave asylum to him and his Companions and Helpers. He reconstituted it and it became the new City of Light. Mecca, with its old gods and its old superstitions, tried to subdue this new Light and destroy it. The human odds were in favour of Mecca. But God's purpose upheld the Light, and subdued the old Mecca. But the Prophet came to build as well as to destroy. He destroyed the old paganism, and lighted a new beacon in Mecca - the beacon of Arab unity and human brotherhood. When the Prophet's life ended on this earth, his spirit remained. It inspired his people and led them from victory to victory. Where moral or spiritual and material victories go hand in hand, the spirit of man advances all along the line. But sometimes there is a material victory, with a spiritual fall, and sometimes there is a spiritual victory with a material fall, and then we have tragedy.
Spirit of Damascus
Islam's first extension was towards Syria, where the power was centred in the city of Damascus. Among living cities it is probably the oldest city in the world. Its bazaars are thronged with men of all nations, and the luxuries of all nations find ready welcome there. If you come to it westward from the Syrian desert, as I did, the contrast is complete, both in the country and in the people. From the parched desert sands you come to fountains and vineyards, orchards and the hum of traffic. From the simple, sturdy, independent, frank Arab, you come to the soft, luxurious, sophisticated Syrian. That contrast was forced on the Muslims when Damascus became a Muslim city. They were in a different moral and spiritual atmosphere. Some succumbed to the softening influences of ambition, luxury, wealth pride of race, love of ease, and so on. Islam stood always as the champion of the great rugged moral virtues. It wanted no compromise with evil in any shape or form, with luxury, with idleness, with the seductions of this world. It was a protest against these things. And yet the representatives of that protest got softened at Damascus. They aped the decadent princes of the world instead of striving to be leaders of spiritual thought. Discipline was relaxed, and governors aspired to be greater than the Khalifas. This bore bitter fruit later.
Snare of Riches
Meanwhile Persia came within the Muslim orbit. When Medain was captured in the year 16 of the Hijra, and the battle of Jalula broke the Persian resistance, some military booty was brought to Medina - gems, pearls, rubies, diamonds, swords of gold and silver. A great celebration was held in honour of the splendid victory and the valour of the Arab army. In the midst of the celebration they found the Caliph of the day actually weeping. One said to him, "What! a time of joy and thou sheddest tears?" "Yes", he said, "I foresee that the riches will become a snare, a spring of worldliness and envy, and in the end a calamity to my people." For the Arab valued, above all, simplicity of life, openness of character, and bravery in face of danger. Their women fought with them and shared their dangers. They were not caged creatures for the pleasures of the senses. They showed their mettle in the early fighting round the head of the Persian Gulf. When the Muslims were hard pressed, their women turned the scale in their favour. They made their veils into flags, and marched in battle array. The enemy mistook them for reinforcements and abandoned the field. Thus an impending defeat was turned into a victory.
Basra and Kufa: town-planning
In Mesopotamia the Muslims did not base their power on old and effete Persian cities, but built new outposts for themselves. The first they built was Basra at the head of the Persian Gulf, in the 17th year of the Hijra. And what a great city it became! Not great in war and conquest, not great in trade and commerce, but great in learning and culture in its best day, - alas! also great in its spirit of faction and degeneracy in the days of its decline! But its situation and climate were not at all suited to the Arab character. It was low and moist, damp and enervating. In the same year the Arabs built another city not far off from the Gulf and yet well suited to be a port of the desert, as Kerbela became afterwards. This was the city of Kufa, built in the same year as Basra, but in a more bracing climate. It was the first experiment in town-planning in Islam. In the centre was a square for the principal mosque. That square was adorned with shady avenues. Another square was set apart for the trafficking of the market. The streets were all laid out intersecting and their width was fixed. The main thoroughfares for such traffic as they had (we must not imagine the sort of traffic we see in Charing Cross) were made 60 feet wide; the cross streets were 30 feet wide; and even the little lanes for pedestrians were regulated to a width of 10.5 feet. Kufa became a centre of light and learning. The Khalifa Hazrat Ali lived and died there.
Rivalry and poison of Damascus
But its rival, the city of Damascus, fattened on luxury and Byzantine magnificence. Its tinsel glory sapped the foundations of loyalty and the soldierly virtues. Its poison spread through the Muslim world. Governors wanted to be kings. Pomp and selfishness, ease and idleness and dissipation grew as a canker; wines and spirituous liquors, scepticism, cynicism and social vices became so rampant that the protests of the men of God were drowned in mockery. Mecca, which was to have been a symbolical spiritual centre, was neglected or dishonoured. Damascus and Syria became centres of a worldliness and arrogance which cut at the basic roots of Islam.
Husain the Righteous refused to bow to worldliness and power
We have brought the story down to the 60th year of the Hijra. Yazid assumed the power at Damascus. He cared nothing for the most sacred ideals of the people. He was not even interested in the ordinary business affairs of administration. His passion was hunting, and he sought power for self-gratification. The discipline and self-abnegation, the strong faith and earnest endeavour, the freedom and sense of social equality which had been the motive forces of Islam, were divorced from power. The throne at Damascus had become a worldly throne based on the most selfish ideas of personal and family aggrandisement, instead of a spiritual office, with a sense of God-given responsibility. The decay of morals spread among the people. There was one man who could stem the tide. That was Imam Husain. He, the grandson of the Prophet, could speak without fear, for fear was foreign to his nature. But his blameless and irreproachable life was in itself a reproach to those who had other standards. They sought to silence him, but he could not be silenced. They sought to bribe him, but he could not be bribed. They sought to waylay him and get him into their Power. What is more, they wanted him to recognise the tyranny and expressly to support it. For they knew that the conscience of the people might awaken at any time, and sweep them away unless the holy man supported their cause. The holy man was prepared to die rather than surrender the principles for which he stood.
Driven from city to city
Medina was the centre of Husain's teaching. They made Medina impossible for him. He left Medina and went to Mecca, hoping that he would be left alone. But he was not left alone. The Syrian forces invaded Mecca. The invasion was repelled, not by Husain but by other people. For Husain, though the bravest of the brave, had no army and no worldly weapons. His existence itself was an offence in the eyes of his enemies. His life was in danger, and the lives of all those nearest and dearest to him. He had friends everywhere, but they were afraid to speak out. They were not as brave as he was. But in distant Kufa, a party grew up which said: "We are disgusted with these events, and we must have Imam Husain to take asylum with us." So they sent and invited the Imam to leave Mecca, come to them, live in their midst, and be their honoured teacher and guide. His father's memory was held in reverence in Kufa. The Governor of Kufa was friendly, and the people eager to welcome him. But alas, Kufa had neither strength, nor courage, nor constancy. Kufa, geographically only 40 miles from Kerbela, was the occasion of the tragedy of Kerbela. And now Kufa is nearly gone, and Kerbela remains as the lasting memorial of the martyrdom.
Invitation from Kufa
When the Kufa invitation reached the Imam, he pondered over it, weighed its possibilities, and consulted his friends. He sent over his cousin Muslim to study the situation on the spot and report to him. The report was favourable, and he decided to go. He had a strong presentiment of danger. Many of his friends in Mecca advised him against it. But could he abandon his mission when Kufa was calling for it? Was he the man to be deterred, because his enemies were laying their plots for him, at Damascus and at Kufa? At least, it was suggested, he might leave his family behind. But his family and his immediate dependants would not hear of it. It was a united family, pre-eminent in the purity of its life and in its domestic virtues and domestic affections. If there was danger for its head, they would share it. The Imam was not going on a mere ceremonial visit. There was responsible work to do, and they must be by his side, to support him in spite of all its perils and consequences. Shallow critics scent political ambition in the Imam's act. But would a man with political ambitions march without an army against what might be called the enemy country, scheming to get him into its power, and prepared to use all their resources, military, political and financial, against him?
Journey through the desert
Imam Husain left Mecca for Kufa with all his family including his little children. Later news from Kufa itself was disconcerting. The friendly governor had been displaced by one prepared more ruthlessly to carry out Yazid's plans. If Husain was to go there at all, he must go there quickly, or his friends themselves would be in danger. On the other hand, Mecca itself was no less dangerous to him and his family. It was the month of September by the solar calendar, and no one would take a long desert journey in that heat, except under a sense of duty. By the lunar calendar it was the month of pilgrimage at Mecca. But he did not stop for the pilgrimage. He pushed on, with his family and dependants, in all numbering about 90 or 100 people, men, women and children. They must have gone by forced marches through the desert. They covered the 900 miles of the desert in little over three weeks. When they came within a few miles of Kufa, at the edge of the desert, they met people from Kufa. It was then that they heard of the terrible murder of Husain's cousin Muslim, who had been sent on in advance. A poet that came by dissuaded the Imam from going further. "For," he said epigramatically, "the heart of the city is with thee but its sword is with thine enemies, and the issue is with God." What was to be done? They were three weeks' journey from the city they had left. In the city to which they were going their own messenger had been foully murdered as well as his children. They did not know what the actual situation was then in Kufa. But they were determined not to desert their friends.
Call to Surrender or Die
Presently messengers came from Kufa, and Imam Husain was asked to surrender. Imam Husain offered to take one of three alternatives. He wanted no political power and no revenge. He said "I came to defend my own people. If I am too late, give me the choice of three alternatives: either to return to Mecca; or to face Yazid himself at Damascus; or if my very presence is distasteful to him and you, I do not wish to cause more divisions among the Muslims. Let me at least go to a distant frontier, where, if fighting must be done, I will fight against the enemies of Islam." Every one of these alternatives was refused. What they wanted was to destroy his life, or better still, to get him to surrender, to surrender to the very forces against which he was protesting, to declare his adherence to those who were defying the law of God and man, and to tolerate all the abuses which were bringing the name of Islam into disgrace. Of course he did not surrender. But what was he to do? He had no army. He had reasons to suppose that many of his friends from distant parts would rally round him, and come and defend him with their swords and bodies. But time was necessary, and he was not going to gain time by feigned compliance. He turned a little round to the left, the way that would have led him to Yazid himself, at Damascus. He camped in the plain of Kerbela.
Water cut off; Inflexible will, Devotion and Chivalry
For ten days messages passed backwards and forwards between Kerbela and Kufa. Kufa wanted surrender and recognition. That was the one thing the Imam could not consent to. Every other alternative was refused by Kufa, under the instructions from Damascus. Those fateful ten days were the first ten days of the month of Muharram, of the year 61 of the Hijra. The final crisis was on the 10th day, the Ashura day, which we are commemorating. During the first seven days various kinds of pressure were brought to bear on the Imam, but his will was inflexible. It was not a question of a fight, for there were but 70 men against 4,000. The little band was surrounded and insulted, but they held together so firmly that they could not be harmed. On the 8th day the water supply was cut off. The Euphrates and its abundant streams were within sight, but the way was barred. Prodigies of valour were performed in getting water. Challenges were made for single combat according to Arab custom. And the enemy were half-hearted, while the Imam's men fought in contempt of death, and always accounted for more men than they lost. On the evening of the 9th day, the little son of the Imam was ill. He had fever and was dying of thirst. They tried to get a drop of water. But that was refused point blank and so they made the resolve that they would, rather than surrender, die to the last man in the cause for which they had come. Imam Husain offered to send away his people. He said, "They are after my person; my family and my people can go back." But everyone refused to go. They said they would stand by him to the last, and they did. They were not cowards; they were soldiers born and bred; and they fought as heroes, with devotion and with chivalry.
The Final Agony; placid face of the man of God
On the day of Ashura, the 10th day, Imam Husain's own person was surrounded by his enemies. He was brave to the last. He was cruelly mutilated. His sacred head was cut off while in the act of prayer. A mad orgy of triumph was celebrated over his body. In this crisis we have details of what took place hour by hour. He had 45 wounds from the enemies' swords and javelins, and 35 arrows pierced his body. His left arm was cut off, and a javelin pierced through his breast. After all that agony, when his head was lifted up on a spear, his face was the placid face of a man of God. All the men of that gallant band were exterminated and their bodies trampled under foot by the horses. The only male survivor was a child, Husain's son Ali, surnamed Zain-ul-'Abidin - "The Glory of the Devout." He lived in retirement, studying, interpreting, and teaching his father's high spiritual principles for the rest of his life.
Heroism of the Women
There were women: for example, Zainab the sister of the Imam, Sakina his little daughter, and Shahr-i-Banu, his wife, at Kerbela. A great deal of poetic literature has sprung up in Muslim languages, describing the touching scenes in which they figure. Even in their grief and their tears they are heroic. They lament the tragedy in simple, loving, human terms. But they are also conscious of the noble dignity of their nearness to a life of truth reaching its goal in the precious crown of martyrdom. One of the best-known poets of this kind is the Urdu poet Anis, who lived in Lucknow, and died in 1874.
Lesson of the Tragedy
That briefly is the story. What is the lesson? There is of course the physical suffering in martyrdom, and all sorrow and suffering claim our sympathy, ---- the dearest, purest, most outflowing sympathy that we can give. But there is a greater suffering than physical suffering. That is when a valiant soul seems to stand against the world; when the noblest motives are reviled and mocked; when truth seems to suffer an eclipse. It may even seem that the martyr has but to say a word of compliance, do a little deed of non-resistance; and much sorrow and suffering would be saved; and the insidious whisper comes: "Truth after all can never die." That is perfectly true. Abstract truth can never die. It is independent of man's cognition. But the whole battle is for man's keeping hold of truth and righteousness. And that can only be done by the highest examples of man's conduct - spiritual striving and suffering enduring firmness of faith and purpose, patience and courage where ordinary mortals would give in or be cowed down, the sacrifice of ordinary motives to supreme truth in scorn of consequence. The martyr bears witness, and the witness redeems what would otherwise be called failure. It so happened with Husain. For all were touched by the story of his martyrdom, and it gave the deathblow to the politics of Damascus and all it stood for. And Muharram has still the power to unite the different schools of thought in Islam, and make a powerful appeal to non-Muslims also.
Explorers of Spiritual Territory
That, to my mind, is the supreme significance of martyrdom. All human history shows that the human spirit strives in many directions, deriving strength and sustenance from many sources. Our bodies, our physical powers, have developed or evolved from earlier forms, after many struggles and defeats. Our intellect has had its martyrs, and our great explorers have often gone forth with the martyrs' spirit. All honour to them. But the highest honour must still lie with the great explorers of spiritual territory, those who faced fearful odds and refused to surrender to evil. Rather than allow a stigma to attach to sacred things, they paid with their own lives the penalty of resistance. The first kind of resistance offered by the Imam was when he went from city to city, hunted about from place to place, but making no compromise with evil. Then was offered the choice of an effectual but dangerous attempt at clearing the house of God, or living at ease for himself by tacit abandonment of his striving friends. He chose the path of danger with duty and honour, and never swerved from it giving up his life freely and bravely. His story purifies our emotions. We can best honour his memory by allowing it to teach us courage and constancy.
The End
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Imam Husain And His Martyrdom
By Abdullah Yusuf Ali (Public Lecture, 28 May 1931, London)
Sorrow as a Bond of Union
I am going to talk this afternoon about a very solemn subject, the martyrdom of Imam Husain at Kerbela, of which we are celebrating the anniversary. As the Chairman has very rightly pointed out, it is one of those wonderful events in our religious history about which all sects are agreed. More than that, in this room I have the honour of addressing some people who do not belong to our religious persuasion, but I venture to think that the view I put forward today may be of interest to them from its historical, its moral and its spiritual significance. Indeed, when we consider the background of that great tragedy, and all that has happened during the 1289 lunar years since, we cannot fail to be convinced that some events of sorrow and apparent defeat are really the very things which are calculated to bring about, or lead us towards, the union of humanity.
How Martyrdom healed divisions
When we invite strangers or guests and make them free of our family circle, that means the greatest outflowing of our hearts to them. The events that I am going to describe refer to some of the most touching incidents of our domestic history in their spiritual aspect. We ask our brethren of other faiths to come, and share with us some of the thoughts which are called forth by this event. As a matter of fact all students of history are aware that the horrors that are connected with the great event of Kerbela did more than anything else to unite together the various contending factions which had unfortunately appeared at that early stage of Muslim history. You know the old Persian saying applied to the Prophet:
Tu barae wasl kardan amadi;
Ni barae fasl kardan amadi.
"Thou camest to the world to unite, not to divide."
That was wonderfully exemplified by the sorrows and sufferings and finally the martyrdom of Imam Husain.
Commemoration of great virtues
There has been in our history a tendency sometimes to celebrate the event merely by wailing and tribulation, or sometimes by symbols like the Tazias that you see in India, - Taboots as some people call them. Well, symbolism or visible emblems may sometimes be useful in certain circumstances as tending to crystallise ideas. But I think the Muslims of India of the present day are quite ready to adopt a more effective way of celebrating the martyrdom, and that is by contemplating the great virtues of the martyr, trying to understand the significance of the events in which he took part, and translating those great moral and spiritual lessons into their own lives. From that point of view I think you will agree that it is good that we should sit together, even people of different faiths, - sit together and consider the great historic event, in which were exemplified such soul-stirring virtues as those of unshaken faith, undaunted courage, thought for others, willing self-sacrifice, steadfastness in the right and unflinching war against the wrong. Islam has a history of beautiful domestic affections, of sufferings and of spiritual endeavour, second to none in the world. That side of Muslim history, although to me the most precious, is, I am sorry to say, often neglected. It is most important that we should call attention to it, reiterated attention, the attention of our own people as well as the attention of those who are interested in historical and religious truth. If there is anything precious in Islamic history it is not the wars, or the politics, or the brilliant expansion, or the glorious conquests, or even the intellectual spoils which our ancestors gathered. In these matters, our history, like all history, has its lights and shades. What we need especially to emphasise is the spirit of organisation, of brotherhood, of undaunted courage in moral and spiritual life.
Plan of discourse
I propose first to give you an idea of the geographical setting and the historical background. Then I want very briefly to refer to the actual events that happened in the Muharram, and finally to draw your attention to the great lessons which we can learn from them.
Geographical Picture
In placing before you a geographical picture of the tract of country in which the great tragedy was enacted, I consider myself fortunate in having my own personal memories to draw upon. They make the picture vivid to my mind, and they may help you also. When I visited those scenes in 1928, I remember going down from Baghdad through all that country watered by the Euphrates river. As I crossed the river by a bridge of boats at Al-Musaiyib on a fine April morning, my thoughts leapt over centuries and centuries. To the left of the main river you have the old classic ground of Babylonian history; you have the railway station of Hilla; you have the ruins of the city of Babylon, witnessing to one of the greatest civilisations of antiquity. It was so mingled with the dust that it is only in recent years that we have begun to understand its magnitude and magnificence. Then you have the great river system of the Euphrates, the Furat as it is called, a river unlike any other river we know. It takes its rise in many sources from the mountains of Eastern Armenia, and sweeping in great zig-zags through rocky country, it finally skirts the desert as we see it now. Wherever it or its interlacing branches or canals can reach, it has converted the desert into fruitful cultivated country; in the picturesque phrase, it has made the desert blossom as the rose. It skirts round the Eastern edge of the Syrian desert and then flows into marshy land. In a tract not far from Kerbela itself there are lakes which receive its waters, and act as reservoirs. Lower down it unites with the other river, the Tigris, and the united rivers flow in the name of the Shatt-al-Arab into the Persian Gulf.
Abundant water & tragedy of thirst
From the most ancient times this tract of the lower Euphrates has been a garden. It was a cradle of early civilisation, a meeting place between Sumer and Arab, and later between the Persians and Arabs. It is a rich, well watered country, with date-palms and pomegranate groves. Its fruitful fields can feed populous cities and its luscious pastures attract the nomad Arabs of the desert, with their great flocks and herds. It is of particularly tragic significance that on the border of such a well-watered land, should have been enacted the tragedy of great and good men dying of thirst and slaughtered because they refused to bend the knee to the forces of iniquity. The English poet's lines "Water, water everywhere, and not a drop to drink" are brought home forcibly to you in this borderland between abundant water and desolate sands.
Kerbela and Its Great Dome
I remember the emotion with which I approached Kerbela from the East. The rays of the morning sun gilt the Gumbaz-i-Faiz, the great dome that crowns the building containing the tomb of Imam Husain. Kerbela actually stands on one of the great caravan routes of the desert. Today the river city of Kufa, once a Khilafat capital, is a mere village, and the city of Najaf is famous for the tomb of Hazrat Ali, but of little commercial importance. Kerbela, this outpost of the desert, is a mart and a meeting ground as well as a sacred place. It is the port of the desert, just as Basra, lower down, is a port for the Persian Gulf. Beautifully kept is the road to the mausoleum, to which all through the year come pilgrims from all parts of the world. Beautiful coloured enamelled tiles decorate the building. Inside, in the ceiling and upper walls, there is a great deal of glass mosaic. The glass seems to catch and reflect the light. The effect is that of rich coruscations of light combined with the solemnity of a closed building. The tomb itself is in a sort of inner grill, and below the ground is a sort of cave, where is shown the actual place where the Martyr fell. The city of Najaf is just about 40 miles to the South, with the tomb of Hazrat Ali on the high ground. You can see the golden dome for miles around. Just four miles from Najaf and connected with it by a tramway, is the deserted city of Kufa. The mosque is large, but bare and practically unused. The blue dome and the Mihrab of enamelled tiles bear witness to the ancient glory of the place.
Cities and their Cultural Meaning
The building of Kufa and Basra, the two great outposts of the Muslim Empire, in the 16th year of the Hijra, was a visible symbol that Islam was pushing its strength and building up a new civilisation, not only in a military sense, but in moral and social ideas and in the sciences and arts. The old effete cities did not content it, any more than the old and effete systems which it displaced. Nor was it content with the first steps it took. It was always examining, testing, discarding, re-fashioning its own handiwork. There was always a party that wanted to stand on old ways, to take cities like Damascus readymade, that loved ease and the path of least resistance. But the greater souls stretched out to new frontiers - of ideas as well as geography. They felt that old seats were like dead wood breeding worms and rottenness that were a danger to higher forms of life. The clash between them was part of the tragedy of Kerbela. Behind the building of new cities there is often the burgeoning of new ideas. Let us therefore examine the matter a little more closely. It will reveal the hidden springs of some very interesting history.
Vicissitudes of Mecca and Medina
The great cities of Islam at its birth were Mecca and Medina. Mecca, the centre of old Arabian pilgrimage, the birthplace of the Prophet, rejected the Prophet's teaching, and cast him off. Its idolatry was effete; its tribal exclusiveness was effete; its ferocity against the Teacher of the New Light was effete. The Prophet shook its dust off his feet, and went to Medina. It was the well-watered city of Yathrib, with a considerable Jewish population. It received with eagerness the teaching of the Prophet; it gave asylum to him and his Companions and Helpers. He reconstituted it and it became the new City of Light. Mecca, with its old gods and its old superstitions, tried to subdue this new Light and destroy it. The human odds were in favour of Mecca. But God's purpose upheld the Light, and subdued the old Mecca. But the Prophet came to build as well as to destroy. He destroyed the old paganism, and lighted a new beacon in Mecca - the beacon of Arab unity and human brotherhood. When the Prophet's life ended on this earth, his spirit remained. It inspired his people and led them from victory to victory. Where moral or spiritual and material victories go hand in hand, the spirit of man advances all along the line. But sometimes there is a material victory, with a spiritual fall, and sometimes there is a spiritual victory with a material fall, and then we have tragedy.
Spirit of Damascus
Islam's first extension was towards Syria, where the power was centred in the city of Damascus. Among living cities it is probably the oldest city in the world. Its bazaars are thronged with men of all nations, and the luxuries of all nations find ready welcome there. If you come to it westward from the Syrian desert, as I did, the contrast is complete, both in the country and in the people. From the parched desert sands you come to fountains and vineyards, orchards and the hum of traffic. From the simple, sturdy, independent, frank Arab, you come to the soft, luxurious, sophisticated Syrian. That contrast was forced on the Muslims when Damascus became a Muslim city. They were in a different moral and spiritual atmosphere. Some succumbed to the softening influences of ambition, luxury, wealth pride of race, love of ease, and so on. Islam stood always as the champion of the great rugged moral virtues. It wanted no compromise with evil in any shape or form, with luxury, with idleness, with the seductions of this world. It was a protest against these things. And yet the representatives of that protest got softened at Damascus. They aped the decadent princes of the world instead of striving to be leaders of spiritual thought. Discipline was relaxed, and governors aspired to be greater than the Khalifas. This bore bitter fruit later.
Snare of Riches
Meanwhile Persia came within the Muslim orbit. When Medain was captured in the year 16 of the Hijra, and the battle of Jalula broke the Persian resistance, some military booty was brought to Medina - gems, pearls, rubies, diamonds, swords of gold and silver. A great celebration was held in honour of the splendid victory and the valour of the Arab army. In the midst of the celebration they found the Caliph of the day actually weeping. One said to him, "What! a time of joy and thou sheddest tears?" "Yes", he said, "I foresee that the riches will become a snare, a spring of worldliness and envy, and in the end a calamity to my people." For the Arab valued, above all, simplicity of life, openness of character, and bravery in face of danger. Their women fought with them and shared their dangers. They were not caged creatures for the pleasures of the senses. They showed their mettle in the early fighting round the head of the Persian Gulf. When the Muslims were hard pressed, their women turned the scale in their favour. They made their veils into flags, and marched in battle array. The enemy mistook them for reinforcements and abandoned the field. Thus an impending defeat was turned into a victory.
Basra and Kufa: town-planning
In Mesopotamia the Muslims did not base their power on old and effete Persian cities, but built new outposts for themselves. The first they built was Basra at the head of the Persian Gulf, in the 17th year of the Hijra. And what a great city it became! Not great in war and conquest, not great in trade and commerce, but great in learning and culture in its best day, - alas! also great in its spirit of faction and degeneracy in the days of its decline! But its situation and climate were not at all suited to the Arab character. It was low and moist, damp and enervating. In the same year the Arabs built another city not far off from the Gulf and yet well suited to be a port of the desert, as Kerbela became afterwards. This was the city of Kufa, built in the same year as Basra, but in a more bracing climate. It was the first experiment in town-planning in Islam. In the centre was a square for the principal mosque. That square was adorned with shady avenues. Another square was set apart for the trafficking of the market. The streets were all laid out intersecting and their width was fixed. The main thoroughfares for such traffic as they had (we must not imagine the sort of traffic we see in Charing Cross) were made 60 feet wide; the cross streets were 30 feet wide; and even the little lanes for pedestrians were regulated to a width of 10.5 feet. Kufa became a centre of light and learning. The Khalifa Hazrat Ali lived and died there.
Rivalry and poison of Damascus
But its rival, the city of Damascus, fattened on luxury and Byzantine magnificence. Its tinsel glory sapped the foundations of loyalty and the soldierly virtues. Its poison spread through the Muslim world. Governors wanted to be kings. Pomp and selfishness, ease and idleness and dissipation grew as a canker; wines and spirituous liquors, scepticism, cynicism and social vices became so rampant that the protests of the men of God were drowned in mockery. Mecca, which was to have been a symbolical spiritual centre, was neglected or dishonoured. Damascus and Syria became centres of a worldliness and arrogance which cut at the basic roots of Islam.
Husain the Righteous refused to bow to worldliness and power
We have brought the story down to the 60th year of the Hijra. Yazid assumed the power at Damascus. He cared nothing for the most sacred ideals of the people. He was not even interested in the ordinary business affairs of administration. His passion was hunting, and he sought power for self-gratification. The discipline and self-abnegation, the strong faith and earnest endeavour, the freedom and sense of social equality which had been the motive forces of Islam, were divorced from power. The throne at Damascus had become a worldly throne based on the most selfish ideas of personal and family aggrandisement, instead of a spiritual office, with a sense of God-given responsibility. The decay of morals spread among the people. There was one man who could stem the tide. That was Imam Husain. He, the grandson of the Prophet, could speak without fear, for fear was foreign to his nature. But his blameless and irreproachable life was in itself a reproach to those who had other standards. They sought to silence him, but he could not be silenced. They sought to bribe him, but he could not be bribed. They sought to waylay him and get him into their Power. What is more, they wanted him to recognise the tyranny and expressly to support it. For they knew that the conscience of the people might awaken at any time, and sweep them away unless the holy man supported their cause. The holy man was prepared to die rather than surrender the principles for which he stood.
Driven from city to city
Medina was the centre of Husain's teaching. They made Medina impossible for him. He left Medina and went to Mecca, hoping that he would be left alone. But he was not left alone. The Syrian forces invaded Mecca. The invasion was repelled, not by Husain but by other people. For Husain, though the bravest of the brave, had no army and no worldly weapons. His existence itself was an offence in the eyes of his enemies. His life was in danger, and the lives of all those nearest and dearest to him. He had friends everywhere, but they were afraid to speak out. They were not as brave as he was. But in distant Kufa, a party grew up which said: "We are disgusted with these events, and we must have Imam Husain to take asylum with us." So they sent and invited the Imam to leave Mecca, come to them, live in their midst, and be their honoured teacher and guide. His father's memory was held in reverence in Kufa. The Governor of Kufa was friendly, and the people eager to welcome him. But alas, Kufa had neither strength, nor courage, nor constancy. Kufa, geographically only 40 miles from Kerbela, was the occasion of the tragedy of Kerbela. And now Kufa is nearly gone, and Kerbela remains as the lasting memorial of the martyrdom.
Invitation from Kufa
When the Kufa invitation reached the Imam, he pondered over it, weighed its possibilities, and consulted his friends. He sent over his cousin Muslim to study the situation on the spot and report to him. The report was favourable, and he decided to go. He had a strong presentiment of danger. Many of his friends in Mecca advised him against it. But could he abandon his mission when Kufa was calling for it? Was he the man to be deterred, because his enemies were laying their plots for him, at Damascus and at Kufa? At least, it was suggested, he might leave his family behind. But his family and his immediate dependants would not hear of it. It was a united family, pre-eminent in the purity of its life and in its domestic virtues and domestic affections. If there was danger for its head, they would share it. The Imam was not going on a mere ceremonial visit. There was responsible work to do, and they must be by his side, to support him in spite of all its perils and consequences. Shallow critics scent political ambition in the Imam's act. But would a man with political ambitions march without an army against what might be called the enemy country, scheming to get him into its power, and prepared to use all their resources, military, political and financial, against him?
Journey through the desert
Imam Husain left Mecca for Kufa with all his family including his little children. Later news from Kufa itself was disconcerting. The friendly governor had been displaced by one prepared more ruthlessly to carry out Yazid's plans. If Husain was to go there at all, he must go there quickly, or his friends themselves would be in danger. On the other hand, Mecca itself was no less dangerous to him and his family. It was the month of September by the solar calendar, and no one would take a long desert journey in that heat, except under a sense of duty. By the lunar calendar it was the month of pilgrimage at Mecca. But he did not stop for the pilgrimage. He pushed on, with his family and dependants, in all numbering about 90 or 100 people, men, women and children. They must have gone by forced marches through the desert. They covered the 900 miles of the desert in little over three weeks. When they came within a few miles of Kufa, at the edge of the desert, they met people from Kufa. It was then that they heard of the terrible murder of Husain's cousin Muslim, who had been sent on in advance. A poet that came by dissuaded the Imam from going further. "For," he said epigramatically, "the heart of the city is with thee but its sword is with thine enemies, and the issue is with God." What was to be done? They were three weeks' journey from the city they had left. In the city to which they were going their own messenger had been foully murdered as well as his children. They did not know what the actual situation was then in Kufa. But they were determined not to desert their friends.
Call to Surrender or Die
Presently messengers came from Kufa, and Imam Husain was asked to surrender. Imam Husain offered to take one of three alternatives. He wanted no political power and no revenge. He said "I came to defend my own people. If I am too late, give me the choice of three alternatives: either to return to Mecca; or to face Yazid himself at Damascus; or if my very presence is distasteful to him and you, I do not wish to cause more divisions among the Muslims. Let me at least go to a distant frontier, where, if fighting must be done, I will fight against the enemies of Islam." Every one of these alternatives was refused. What they wanted was to destroy his life, or better still, to get him to surrender, to surrender to the very forces against which he was protesting, to declare his adherence to those who were defying the law of God and man, and to tolerate all the abuses which were bringing the name of Islam into disgrace. Of course he did not surrender. But what was he to do? He had no army. He had reasons to suppose that many of his friends from distant parts would rally round him, and come and defend him with their swords and bodies. But time was necessary, and he was not going to gain time by feigned compliance. He turned a little round to the left, the way that would have led him to Yazid himself, at Damascus. He camped in the plain of Kerbela.
Water cut off; Inflexible will, Devotion and Chivalry
For ten days messages passed backwards and forwards between Kerbela and Kufa. Kufa wanted surrender and recognition. That was the one thing the Imam could not consent to. Every other alternative was refused by Kufa, under the instructions from Damascus. Those fateful ten days were the first ten days of the month of Muharram, of the year 61 of the Hijra. The final crisis was on the 10th day, the Ashura day, which we are commemorating. During the first seven days various kinds of pressure were brought to bear on the Imam, but his will was inflexible. It was not a question of a fight, for there were but 70 men against 4,000. The little band was surrounded and insulted, but they held together so firmly that they could not be harmed. On the 8th day the water supply was cut off. The Euphrates and its abundant streams were within sight, but the way was barred. Prodigies of valour were performed in getting water. Challenges were made for single combat according to Arab custom. And the enemy were half-hearted, while the Imam's men fought in contempt of death, and always accounted for more men than they lost. On the evening of the 9th day, the little son of the Imam was ill. He had fever and was dying of thirst. They tried to get a drop of water. But that was refused point blank and so they made the resolve that they would, rather than surrender, die to the last man in the cause for which they had come. Imam Husain offered to send away his people. He said, "They are after my person; my family and my people can go back." But everyone refused to go. They said they would stand by him to the last, and they did. They were not cowards; they were soldiers born and bred; and they fought as heroes, with devotion and with chivalry.
The Final Agony; placid face of the man of God
On the day of Ashura, the 10th day, Imam Husain's own person was surrounded by his enemies. He was brave to the last. He was cruelly mutilated. His sacred head was cut off while in the act of prayer. A mad orgy of triumph was celebrated over his body. In this crisis we have details of what took place hour by hour. He had 45 wounds from the enemies' swords and javelins, and 35 arrows pierced his body. His left arm was cut off, and a javelin pierced through his breast. After all that agony, when his head was lifted up on a spear, his face was the placid face of a man of God. All the men of that gallant band were exterminated and their bodies trampled under foot by the horses. The only male survivor was a child, Husain's son Ali, surnamed Zain-ul-'Abidin - "The Glory of the Devout." He lived in retirement, studying, interpreting, and teaching his father's high spiritual principles for the rest of his life.
Heroism of the Women
There were women: for example, Zainab the sister of the Imam, Sakina his little daughter, and Shahr-i-Banu, his wife, at Kerbela. A great deal of poetic literature has sprung up in Muslim languages, describing the touching scenes in which they figure. Even in their grief and their tears they are heroic. They lament the tragedy in simple, loving, human terms. But they are also conscious of the noble dignity of their nearness to a life of truth reaching its goal in the precious crown of martyrdom. One of the best-known poets of this kind is the Urdu poet Anis, who lived in Lucknow, and died in 1874.
Lesson of the Tragedy
That briefly is the story. What is the lesson? There is of course the physical suffering in martyrdom, and all sorrow and suffering claim our sympathy, ---- the dearest, purest, most outflowing sympathy that we can give. But there is a greater suffering than physical suffering. That is when a valiant soul seems to stand against the world; when the noblest motives are reviled and mocked; when truth seems to suffer an eclipse. It may even seem that the martyr has but to say a word of compliance, do a little deed of non-resistance; and much sorrow and suffering would be saved; and the insidious whisper comes: "Truth after all can never die." That is perfectly true. Abstract truth can never die. It is independent of man's cognition. But the whole battle is for man's keeping hold of truth and righteousness. And that can only be done by the highest examples of man's conduct - spiritual striving and suffering enduring firmness of faith and purpose, patience and courage where ordinary mortals would give in or be cowed down, the sacrifice of ordinary motives to supreme truth in scorn of consequence. The martyr bears witness, and the witness redeems what would otherwise be called failure. It so happened with Husain. For all were touched by the story of his martyrdom, and it gave the deathblow to the politics of Damascus and all it stood for. And Muharram has still the power to unite the different schools of thought in Islam, and make a powerful appeal to non-Muslims also.
Explorers of Spiritual Territory
That, to my mind, is the supreme significance of martyrdom. All human history shows that the human spirit strives in many directions, deriving strength and sustenance from many sources. Our bodies, our physical powers, have developed or evolved from earlier forms, after many struggles and defeats. Our intellect has had its martyrs, and our great explorers have often gone forth with the martyrs' spirit. All honour to them. But the highest honour must still lie with the great explorers of spiritual territory, those who faced fearful odds and refused to surrender to evil. Rather than allow a stigma to attach to sacred things, they paid with their own lives the penalty of resistance. The first kind of resistance offered by the Imam was when he went from city to city, hunted about from place to place, but making no compromise with evil. Then was offered the choice of an effectual but dangerous attempt at clearing the house of God, or living at ease for himself by tacit abandonment of his striving friends. He chose the path of danger with duty and honour, and never swerved from it giving up his life freely and bravely. His story purifies our emotions. We can best honour his memory by allowing it to teach us courage and constancy.
The End
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Karbala Chain
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KARBALA - CHAIN OF EVENTS
by: Ramzan Sabir
The events of Karbala reflect the collision of the good versus the evil, the virtuous versus the wicked, the collision of Imam Husain (the head of virtue) versus Yazid (the head of impiety). Husain was a revolutionary person, a righteous man, the religious authority, the Imam of Muslim Ummah. As the representative of his grandfather Prophet Muhammad , Imam Husain's main concern was to safeguard and protect Islam and guide fellow Muslims. On the other hand, the staying power of the rulers (Muaweya and his son Yazid) depended solely on the might of the sword. They used brute force to rule over the Muslim empire even by all possible illicit means.
Imam Husain as head of Ahlul Bayt never recognized Muaweya nor his followers. Before him Imam Ali had fought battles against Muaweya because Muaweya continuously violated the Islamic principles. Imam Hasan had to swallow the bitter pill of making a peace agreement with Muaweya, in order to safeguard the security of the Ummah which was at stake. When Yazid son of Muaweya declared himself as a ruler over the Ummah, he demanded Imam Husain's allegiance of loyalty. Imam Husain on his part flatly rejected Yazid's rule and behavior, for there was no way Yazid could represent Islam, it would be blasphemy. But Yazid, the tyrant ruler over the Ummah, was adamant in his demand, and tension between the two parties increased day by day.
Imam Husain was quick to realize that giving allegiance of loyalty to Yazid would serve no purpose but to jeopardize the survival of Islam. To safeguard and protect Islam, therefore, the Imam had no choice but to confront and collide with Yazid's rulership irrespective of consequences. Since Yazid had ordered his commanders to seize the Imam's allegiance of loyalty at any cost, even by brutal force, the commanders had to assemble a relatively large army, surrounding Imam Husain's camp in a desert called Karbala. Then they cut off the basic necessities to the camp, including access to water. The camp consisted of Imam Husain, his family, friends, and companions, all of whom stood fast and firmly with him. These braves would rather face death for the noble cause of Islam, than submit to the outrageous tyranny and the un-Islamic ways of Yazid.
Thus, Karbala proved to be a clash involving Islamic truths versus falsehood, right versus wrong, belief versus disbelief, the oppressed versus the oppressor, faith against brute force. Karbala was about standing in the face of oppression, regardless no matter the cost. Thus, in Karbala, Husain the 57 year old grandson of Prophet Muhammad , sacrificed his totality and all he had, for one goal. This goal was to let the truth triumph over falsehood eventually, and he did that brilliantly. His goal was to foil the plan that Muaweya had expertly developed for his son, Yazid, which was to establish a permanent Benu Umayya rulership over the Muslim Ummah (even by sacrificing the Islamic principles), but doing it in the name of Islam. Brilliantly, Imam Husain succeeded in foiling this plan and he exposed the disreputable nature of Benu Umayya though this was at the expense of his life.
WHO WAS MUAWEYA?
Muaweya was son of Abu Sufyan, a leader of Benu Umayya clan which was one of the clans of Quraish tribes. Muaweya grew up in a family known to be cunning, worldly, materialistic, and power hungry. Muaweya became Muslim only when Prophet Muhammad triumphed over Mecca. Those who became Muslim in this manner were called Tulaqaa', (a term scornfully used for the disbelievers who became Muslims to save their lives). Muaweya, his father Abu Sufyan, his mother Hind, and his brother Yazid son of Abu Sufyan were all Tulaqaa'; Muaweya never forgot this stigma for the rest of his life; he could never shake it from his mind, thus a feeling of malicious vengeance always existed in his heart. Muaweya's character and aspirations were entirely opposite to that of his sister, Umm Habiba, who was one of the wives of the Holy Prophet . Unlike Muaweya, Umm Habiba was a sincere believer and a pious person.
Omar, the second Khalifa, appointed Muaweya's brother, Yazid son of Abu Sufyan, as the Governor of Syria when the Muslims captured that territory from the Byzantines. Within a few years, Yazid son of Abu Sufyan died of a disease, and Omar appointed Muaweya in his brother's place as the Governor. Upon coming to power, Muaweya took advantage of the rich public treasury of Syria using it personally to buy favors and influence people. Thus he built a large base of support among some tribes, almost to the fanatic level. He used this to his advantage in later years to form a network of informants (spies) against Ahlul Bayt and their devotees.
JAMAL CONFRONTATION:
When Imam Ali became Khalifa, he decided to remove Muaweya immediately, notwithstanding Muaweya's strong base of support. At that time, Muaweya had been the governor of Syria, Palestine, and Jordan for 17 years. Muaweya became defiant, he refused to obey Ali's orders. Brazen and unabashed, he even declined to recognize Ali or give allegiance of loyalty to him. Also in defiance, Muaweya established a parallel government in Greater Syria, and started a campaign of treacherous accusations and malicious rumors against Imam Ali. He falsely blamed Imam Ali for the killing of Uthman, the third Khalifa, and urged people to take up arms against the Imam. He spread these notorious accusations constantly to incite an uprising against Ali.
At the same time A'isha, the Prophet's widow, became highly vocal against Imam Ali. She called for taking revenge for the blood of Uthman. As a result, a party of 3,000 insurgents supported by Sahaaba (Companions) such as Talha and Zubair, along with A'isha headed toward Basrah. The insurgents upon reaching Basrah clashed with the local authorities and finally occupied a portion of Basrah. Soon after the occupation these insurgents spread a reign of terror among the people, killing no less than 600 local Muslims, pilfering the treasury and stealing the arms supplies of the armory.
As a Khalifa in charge, Imam Ali could not ignore the situation, he had to act and restore peace and order. He ordered his forces to proceed to Basrah. As the Imam's forces reached near Basrah, Imam Ali tried to persuade the insurgents led by A'isha, Zubair and Talha to change their minds and avoid confrontation, but he did not succeed. A battle broke out though Zubair elected not to fight. Talha was wounded then bled to death. Thousands of people lost their lives. A'isha fell down from the camel after it was disabled; but luckily she was not hurt. Imam Ali asked Muhammad ibn Abu Bakr, (A'isha's brother), to take A'isha to Basrah for a few days, and from there to escort her to Medina with full honor and dignity. Upon leaving Basrah Hasan and Husain accompanied the Prophet's widow for some distance before bidding her farewell. Imam Ali stayed in Basrah for a few weeks to restore law and order. He compensated for the dead, and decided to forgive and absolve all who fought against him, exactly as the Prophet had done when he triumphed over Mecca 40 years earlier.
BATTLE OF SIFFIN:
Upon returning to Kufa, Imam Ali immediately prepared for the anticipated clash with Muaweya. The defying Muaweya continued to violate the Islamic principles by personally using the public treasury for espionage and buying peoples' loyalty. The people of Syria fully believed him and the in false picture he presented. Ultimately this resulted in a confrontation called Battle of Siffin when the troops of the two sides met at Siffin. The battle saw ferocious fighting for nine days when Muaweya's forces were near collapse. His troops were fleeing and in disarray, and their retreat was in massive disorder, running helter skelter. Muaweya, alarmed, tense, and frightened, preparing to run away, when he learned of a clever trick. The trick was indecent and unbecoming, it was to make the Holy Quran as an instrument and exploit it, to use it as a tool to his advantage. Muaweya seized on this immediately and commanded his fighters to raise 500 Holy Qurans on tips of spears, in order to stun the troops of Imam Ali. As jolting as it was, this maneuver did break the onslaught and the momentum of Ali's fighters, for they were very pious men. But Imam Ali was quick to recognize this deceit, he knew how deceptive Muaweya was, and now that being near collapse, Muaweya wanted to save his neck at the expense of the Quran itself.
With that in mind, Ali urged his generals not to halt, but to keep fighting since victory was almost at hand. Alas, Ali's generals and fighters were in shock, for the sight of the Holy Quran high on spear heads was startling to say the least. They could not take it. Not willing to fight, they wanted to accept Muaweya's offer to halt the fighting and negotiate instead. The termination of the battle in this manner and the consequences thereof proved to be disastrous to say the least, especially for Ahlul Bayt and Islam.
It is said that there was a conspiracy between Amr Ibnil Aas of Muaweya's side, and Ash'ath Ibn Qais, a General in Imam Ali's camp, who was working as a spy against Ali, secretly working as an agent for Muaweya. In this battle 45,000 men lost their lives in Muaweya's camp, and about 25,000 in Ali's camp. Many men of high caliber from both sides died, especially Ammar Ibn Yasir, the great Companion of the Prophet , who was 90 years old and fought on Imam Ali's side against Muaweya.
AFTER SIFFIN:
Imam Ali's generals, who stopped the battle to negotiate with Muaweya, did not pick the right person for the negotiation. They unyieldingly refused to accept Imam Ali's choice, instead they picked Kufa's Governor, Abu-Musa Ash'ari, an incompetent Governor who had been previously dismissed from office by Imam Ali. Muaweya appointed Amr Ibnil Aas, a shrewd and cunning man, to be his representative in the negotiation. Negotiation between the two sides did not take place for about one year.
When the two negotiators came face to face, it was clear that Ash'ari's capability was no match for his opponent Ibnil Aas. In the negotiations, Ash'ari proposed that, both Muaweya and Imam Ali were to abdicate and to let the people hold election for the Khilaafah. Amr Ibnil Aas, a deceptive man at best, quickly agreed to Ash'ari's proposal and asked Ash'ari to first announce the agreement. Ash'ari stood up and announced, "O people, we have agreed not to consider Ali or Muaweya for Khilaafah. You may choose or elect whomever you think is fit." The cunning Amr Ibnil Aas stood up next to say, "O people! I won't consider Ali for the Khilaafah. But Muaweya, in my opinion, is the person for that office!" Upon hearing this (and feeling deceived), the people screamed disapprovingly, an uproar was the result. Imam Ali's camp was in shock, they were double-crossed, deceived and lied to, they felt deeply cut. Amr's double crossing and deception was simply beyond their imagination. They left the place bewildered and utterly disappointed. Because of this a large group of Imam Ali's supporters defected to form a separate group called Kharijies, meaning the Outsiders.
The Khariji became fanatically opposed to Imam Ali and Muaweya. Some of their members met secretly in Mecca and drew a plan to assassinate Ali in Kufa, Muaweya in Syria, and Amr Ibnil Aas in Egypt. Three fanatics took the responsibility, they were to attack their victims in the morning, the same day, as the would-be victims were going to the mosque to lead the morning salat. Ibn Muljim attacked and fatally wounded Imam Ali, whereas Muaweya escaped with a light wound of his buttock. Amr Ibnil Aas was ill that day and his replacement was killed by the Khariji. Imam Ali, in wounded condition, conferred the Imamah and the reign of the Islamic nation to his 37 years old son Hasan.
PEACE AGREEMENT BETWEEN IMAM HASAN AND MUAWEYA:
Imam Hasan faced extremely difficult conditions from the start. He observed that fear, anxiety and much distress were ever present in Kufa, Basrah, Medina and other towns. The anxiety, uncertainty and insecurity were caused by Muaweya's ill dealing of sincere Muslims. Muaweya had spread secret agents all over to defame Ahlul Bayt. Imam Hasan knew that his father Imam Ali had stood like a lion in all difficulties and fought battles against Muaweya, but these confrontations had resulted in heavy casualties on both sides. A mass scale family devastation was visible everywhere. Considering all circumstances, Imam Hasan discussed the matter with his brother Husain and other relatives. He revealed to them that in order to end the bloodshed and to provide a reasonable safety and security to the Ummah, he would make a peace agreement with Muaweya and abdicate until after Muaweya's death. After a few days of careful consideration, Imam Hasan accepted an agreement as per the terms dictated by the Imam and agreed to by Muaweya. Four noteworthy terms of this agreement were:
People of Syria, Iraq, Hijaz, Yemen and other places shall enjoy amnesty against persecution, Friends and companions of Imam Ali and all their women and children shall be protected from all dangers, Muaweya is to immediately stop the use of abusive language with reference to Ahlul Bayt (cursing Imam Ali) after Salat of Jumu'a), and Muaweya shall not appoint anyone as his successor.
Once the treaty was signed, Imam Hasan and brother Husain moved out of Kufa and settled in Medina. Over there both Imams lost no time in holding nightly meetings for Islamic discussions. The nightly meetings proved very successful and gained tremendous popularity. More people started to attend, to hear the Imams give of their fountain of knowledge on Islam and humanity. The reputation of these meetings began to fly to far away places. People from as far away as Egypt, Iraq, Yemen, and other distant areas travelled to Medina to learn about the Islamic values. As years passed, the knowledge thus given started to bear fruits. The number of Islamic scholars multiplied and increased considerably.
In the meantime Muaweya, unabashedly elected to disregard the terms of his treaty with Imam Hasan. a) He sent secret agents to terrorize, kidnap, or even kill innocent people specially those who were loyal to Ahlul Bayt. b) Instead of helping the needy with the public treasury, Muaweya's governors and their surrogates used the public treasury for personal use, freely and excessively as they wished. c) Freedom suddenly died, and dictatorship took its place. d) Muaweya gathered a very large number of collaborators who unabashedly would do any thing for money.
MUAWEYA'S PLOT TO POISON IMAM HASAN:
It was Muaweya's ardent desire to impose his son Yazid (who had been named after his uncle) upon the Muslims by making him the succeeding Khalifa, despite the fact that Yazid was the playboy of the time, with many evil habits including gambling, heavy drinking, and indulgence in the pleasures of the flesh. But the peace agreement would not permit Muaweya to appoint Yazid as his successor, (According to the agreement Imam Hasan would immediately become Khalifa upon Muaweya's death). Therefore, it was obvious to Muaweya that, if Hasan did not outlive him, Muaweya could do as he pleased. Thus Muaweya planned to kill Imam Hasan in order to pave the way for his son Yazid to be his successor.
Muaweya sent one of his agents to contact Imam Hasan's wife Joda who was the daughter of Al-Ash'ath (once a secret agent for Muaweya against Imam Ali in the Battle of Siffin). Joda was asked a small favor, i.e., to put a little poison in Hasan's food, and in return Muaweya would give her a large sum of money and also make her wife of his son Yazid. She found the offer too attractive to ignore, and foolishly agreed to accept it. A few days later, she mixed poison in honey and gave it to the Imam. As soon as the Imam took the poisoned honey he became seriously ill. Sensing that his death was imminent, the Imam designated his brother Husain to be the third Imam. Although Imam Hasan knew he was poisoned, he did not reveal that to anyone but to his brother Husain.
One thing Hasan had wished was to have his burial by the side of his grandfather, Prophet Muhammad . Imam Husain made all the arrangements to fulfill that wish but Muaweya's governor over Medina did not let that happen and used military force to stop it. Imam Hasan was 47 year old when he died of poisoning.
Medina was never the same without Imam Hasan. Everyone missed him dearly. People at first did not believe Muaweya poisoned Imam Hasan, but soon found out the truth.
When Husain was designated as the 3rd Imam he was 46 years old. Imam Husain carried on with his mission of teaching Islam as before. A large number of people kept coming to see him and to learn from him. This process continued for several years when people began to hear an ugly rumor that Muaweya wanted his son, Yazid, to succeed him.
MUAWEYA DESIGNATES YAZID AS SUCCESSOR:
Muaweya began a campaign to introduce Monarchy into the structure of Islam. To have Monarchy, by force or otherwise is alien to Islam, an innovation in religion, simply not acceptable. Everyone knew that, for Islam does not subscribe to any form of Royalty through inheritance or Monarchy. In Islam it is supposed to be Shura.
Nevertheless, Muaweya sent his agents to the prominent members of the communities to obtain allegiance of loyalty to his son Yazid. But Yazid was evil, of the drinking type, incompetent, contemptible, and a pleasure-seeking person. People knew that. So the people protested vigorously. There was anger everywhere. Emotions went sky high. To calm people down, at least temporarily, Muaweya decided to send his son Yazid to Mecca for the pilgrimage. Yes, Yazid did go to Mecca but only after taking alcohol with him as well as a chorus of girls for his entertainment.
MUAWEYA DIES
Muaweya was getting older day by day. At the age of 75, he became seriously ill. He was nearing death. He lay weak and lifeless as if something was choking and strangling him. He felt tortured and tormented, and continuously cried for mercy. He was in terrible pain. He wanted to die but death would not come close to him. His conscience tormented him for the calamities that he brought upon the Islamic Ummah specially Ahlul Bayt. Muaweya suffered in agony for many many days. His suffering continued until he breathed his last. At the time of his death, the 30 year old Yazid was nowhere near him, he had gone for fun on a hunting trip.
(Please note that Muaweya's brother was by the name of Yazid, and he had named his son after his brother.)
YAZID BECOMES RULER:
Upon Muaweya's death, Yazid, 30 years old, managed to impose himself on the people and become the Khalifa. At first people refused to accept him as a representative of the Prophet and Islamic Ummah, but Yazid approached people in mosques for their favors. Like his father Muaweya, Yazid used all possible means like bribery, coercion, pressure, threats, and force to receive the people's acceptance of him as the legitimate ruler. Many people were worried, threats to their lives and livelihood was too menacing, so they grudgingly and reluctantly gave in. But, Imam Husain and his family (who practiced Islam in its true sense), did not give in. As the true representative of Prophet Muhammad , Husain flatly refused accepting Yazid either as a Khalifa or a leader of Islam. Despite Yazid's intimidating military power the Imam stood firm in his resolve and chose to challenge Benu Umayya's authorities.
Yazid commissioned Waleed Ibn Ut'ba, his Governor over Medina, to ask for Imam Husain's allegiance of loyalty or else upon refusal, his head. Waleed invited Husain to a meeting for the purpose. Imam Husain did not give his word at the meeting and decided to leave Medina along with his family to proceed to Mecca. When Husain reached Mecca he received 12,000 letters from Kufa urging him to go to Kufa to be their leader, and be the Khalifa. Imam sent an emissary, his cousin Muslim Ibn Aqeel, to Kufa to ascertain first-hand information about the situation in Iraq. In the mean time Yazid spread a network of informants and secret agents in Mecca to assassinate the Imam during pilgrimage. Imam learned about the spies, and carefully evaluated the situation in Mecca. Imam Husain knew that Yazid son of Muaweya had no regard for Islamic values and teachings, that he would do anything to enforce his tyrannical rule. Imam Husain also knew that giving allegiance of loyalty to an imposter like Yazid would certainly place Islam at great jeopardy. Therefore he decided to leave Mecca for Kufa to prepare for a confrontation with Yazid and his forces.
Many friends and relatives urged Imam Husain not to go to Kufa, but he insisted on going. Imam Husain, along with family, friends, and companions began the journey toward Kufa (1,100 miles) in a long caravan in the blistering heat of summer.
ON THE WAY TO KARBALA:
During the early phase of the journey the caravan met Al-Farazdaq (a famous poet) at a place called al-Sifah. Al-Farazdaq advised the Imam not to go to Kufa because though people's hearts were with him (Imam), their swords would be against him. But the Imam continued with the journey, and he received the first letter from his emissary Muslim Ibn Aqeel with good news. The letter indicated that the people were more than ready to welcome the Imam in Kufa and were looking forward to his leadership. Imam Husain decided to send another emissary to Kufa with a message. The caravan kept proceeding toward Kufa. Many days passed but the Imam did not receive any more responses from Muslim Ibn Aqeel.
In Kufa Muslim Bin Aqeel with the help of Mukhtar Al-Thaqafi and Hani Ibn Urwah continued to hold secret meetings with the supporters of the Imam. Within a short time the gatherings started to gain momentum. Yazid through his spies and informants learned about Muslim's successes in Kufa. He appointed the tyrant Ubaidullah Ibn Ziyad to replace al-Nu'man Ibn al-Basheer as Governor of Kufa.
Meanwhile, as Husain's caravan got closer to its destination (Kufa), coming to a place called Zubalah, Imam Husain unexpectedly received shocking news. The shocking news was about Muslim Ibn Aqeel and the person who provided him shelter, Hani's Ibn Urwah, both of whom were arrested and beheaded by the Governor Ibn Ziyad. Mukhtar was also arrested and imprisoned and tortured by Ibn Ziyad.
Imam Husain gathered his companions and disclosed to them about the bad news, and said, "Our Shi'a have deserted us, those of you who prefer to leave us may do so freely and without guilt." Becoming scared, some companions left the caravan. Imam Husain continued with the journey along with close companions and family members until he was face to face with 1,000 horsemen led by Hur al-Riyahi representing the enemy. The enemy army blocked the camps of Imam Husain from advancing. Tension started to rise between the two. The Imam addressed the enemy explaining to them his motives for going to Kufa, that it was in response to the invitation of the people. He even showed them a bagful of letters he received from Kufa. Hur said that he and his men were not the writers of those letters. Imam told them that if they did not like him to advance with the journey, he was prepared to return to Hijaz. Hur replied, "We are commissioned to follow you until we take you to Governor Ibn Ziyad, and suggested to the Imam to go towards a station which is neither Kufa nor Medina." Imam Husain found the proposal fair and turned the caravan away from Kufa. Hur and his army marched parallel to the Imam. The two sides reached a village called Nainawa where Ibn Ziyad's messenger (Yazid's governor over Kufa) delivered a message to Hur. The message read, " ...force Husain to a halt. But let him stop in an open space, without vegetation or water." Hur conveyed the contents of the letter to Imam Husain. The Imam, his family and companions defiantly resumed their journey and reached a place where another enemy force blocked their move and forced them to stop. When Imam Husain learned that the place was called Karbala, he felt he reached the destination and ordered his camp to be setup. That day was 2nd of Muharram, Hijri 61.
KARBALA:
Upon learning that his army had succeeded to lay a siege around the Imam's camp, Governor Ibn Ziyad sent additional military units to Karbala and appointed Umar Ibn Sa'ad in charge. Imam Husain opened a dialogue with Umar Ibn Sa'ad and convinced him to lift the siege so that the Imam with his family and companions could leave Iraq. Umar Ibn Sa'ad liked the Imam's proposal and sent a message to Governor Ibn Ziyad notifying him about the results of the talks with Imam Husain. Ibn Ziyad also found the Imam's proposal acceptable. However before agreeing to it officially, Shimr Bin Dhil-Jawshan, opposed it strongly. As a result Ziyad wrote a letter to Umar Ibn Sa'ad commanding him to either go to war with Imam Husain or be relieved of his duties as commander of the army and Shimr would not only replace him but despatch Ibn Sa'ad's head to Kufa.
Umar Ibn bin Sa'ad got the letter. After pondering over the consequences he decided to fight Imam Husain. On the 7th day of Muharram he moved his troops closer to the camp and began to surround the Husaini camp. Ibn Sa'ad laid a blockade around the camp to cut it off from access to the river Euphrates, to deprive it of water in a move to force them to surrender.
Two days later, (on the 9th of Muharram), the enemy's military forces closed in on the camp of Imam Husain. Imam asked his brother, Abbas, to talk to Ibn Sa'ad and request a delay of the aggression by one night. Umar Ibn Sa'ad agreed to the demand. He ordered his troops to delay the aggression till next morning. Imam Husain and his pious companions spent that night in prayers. During the night the Imam told the companions, " ....the enemy is interested in none but me, me alone. I'll be most delighted to permit each and every one of you to go back, and I urge you to do so...." All companions screamed in response, "By Allah, never, never! We will either live with you or die together with you."
ASHURAA:
Finally, the day of Ashuraa dawned upon the soil of Karbala. It was the day when Jihad would be in full bloom, blood would be shed, 72 innocent lives would be sacrificed, and a decisive battle would be won to save Islam and the Ummah.
It had been a few days since the water supply was cut off by the enemy. Children were crying for water, the women were desperate for water, Zainul-Abideen, the son of Imam Husain was sick with fever. The suffering from the thirst was too painful to bear. And despite this, not a single person in the camp made any complaints or even questioned the mission of Imam Husain. Each member supported the Imam wholeheartedly and enthusiastically.
Next morning Imam Husain went out of the camp and saw Umar Ibn Sa'ad mobilizing his troops to start the hostility. He stared at the intimidating army, and as large as it was Imam Husain showed no signs of compromise. Imam Husain raised his hands in prayer:
"O Allah! It is Thee in whom I trust amid all grief. You are my hope amid all violence. Thou are my refuge and provision in everything that happens to me. How many grievances weaken the heart, leaving me with no means to handle them, during which friend deserts me, and enemy rejoices in it. I lay it before Thee and complain of it to Thee, because of my desire in Thee, Thee alone. You relieve me of it and remove it from me. Thou are the Master of all Grace, the Essence of Goodness, and the Ultimate Resort of all Desire."
Before the actual engagement was to take place, Hur, the previous commander of the enemy force, felt his conscience violently stirring, he was in turmoil. Upon realizing the gravity of the situation, he suddenly broke away from Umar Ibn Sa'ad's camp (along with two others). They rushed toward Imam Husain to join his camp. Hur's heart was jumping with joy, his mind relieved of an agonizing tension. Hur's defection worried Umar Ibn Sa'ad very much, lest others do the same and defect. So Umar Ibn Sa'ad threw an arrow in the air to indicate the start of the battle. This was the outset of a catastrophe and a tragic event that Muaweya had once conceived to happen.
THE BATTLE:
Imam Husain's supporters insisted on being the first to fight. Therefore, they took the brunt of the enemy attack. The battle was ferocious. Within a short time the Imam's supporters slay a large number of the enemy fighters, they were on the offensive and the enemy on the defensive. This caused apprehension and confusion in the enemy military, the 72 of Husain's against the 5,000 of the enemy (some say 30,000) being on the defensive. So worried and nervous, the enemy commander-in-chief ordered his army not only to set fire to the Imam's tents (which were occupied mostly by frightened females and children), but at the same time reinforced his fighters with more troops.
The heroes began to fall, they were men of valor welcoming martyrdom, they fell one after another, for the enemy was overwhelming in number. By noon time the Imam stopped the fight to perform the Salat. By this time those left were mainly his family and a few supporters. They performed the Salat together. Two supporters were guarding the performers of Salat. The enemy was standing still, watching!! When Salat was finished one of the guards fell dead; there were 17 arrows in his back.
Ali Akbar, Husain's son obtained permission to fight and dashed toward the enemy. He engaged them in fierce fighting, falling on them like thunder, slaying numerous fighters. He continued to move forward, deep inside the enemy. The enemy was overpowering in number, it overwhelmed him cutting him with swords and spears, and his body became nothing but wounds gushing blood, until he died. Imam Husain rushed to the area and picked up the wounded limp body and brought it to the appalled camp. His sister and others in the camp were horrified and shocked at the scene.
Abbas and five other brothers of Imam Husain went to fight. They also engaged the enemy in a fierce fighting, almost doing the impossible. Abbas went toward the river to bring some water for the thirsty children. While he was returning on his horse with the water, he was attacked by a large horde of the enemy, overwhelming and severely wounding him. As much as he tried Abbas could not save the water, he fell from his horse to breath his last.
Next to the battle field went the sons of Imam Hasan and Zainab and their cousins (about 17 of them). They were all in their teens but each stood bravely, believing in the mission, facing a formidable enemy, and showed no less enthusiasm in their quest to embrace the martyrdom.
HUSAIN AND HIS BABY:
By the afternoon 70 brave persons had sacrificed their lives in Karbala to save Islam. All had fought under nerve racking conditions, severe thirst, dehydration, exhaustion, and agonizing feeling of what would happen to the family of the Prophet afterwards. Husain endured all that and more, for he saw all his beloved ones brutally cut to pieces, including children. Remaining the only one, Imam Husain was to face the enemy head on. Precisely at that moment Imam Husain heard his baby crying incessantly, agonizing because of the thirst. Imam Husain's love for his family was unbound, especially for a suffering baby. He held the six months old baby, his youngest son (Ali Asghar) in his arms, and appealed to the enemy fighters for some water for the baby. Imam wanted to awaken their conscience and stir their human feelings but the stone-hearted enemy, instead of giving water, zoomed an arrow toward the agonizing baby and killed him instantly. Imam Husain was shocked. He felt an unbearable wave of pain. The sight of the limp baby in his arms was agonizingly painful. He filled his palm with the blood of the baby, and threw it upwards toward the sky, complaining to Allah,
"O' Allah, O' my Lord! My consolation is the fact that Thou in Thine Majesty are witnessing what I am going through."
HUSAIN BY HIMSELF:
Imam Husain was alone, one man against thousands. He took them on, fighting them bravely, and kept fighting, receiving many wounds in the process. Thousands of enemy fighters were surrounding him but none dared to move toward him. The silence was broken when Shimr screamed for an attack, then screamed again, threatening, and in response they attacked collectively, and one sword fell on Imam Husain's left wrist and deeply cut his left hand. The blood gushed like a fountain. Another sword was soon to follow and it hit his upper back. Imam Husain felt numb as he fell to the ground, bleeding profusely. He was near the point of shock, even though staggering he tried to stand by leaning on his sword. Then he received the fatal blow.
It was at this point, that Shimr whose mother was a disbeliever, came forward and severed Imam Husain's noble head from the body, the noble head kissed often by the Prophet ! Shimr and others had the audacity to carry it on the tip of a spear to Yazid, 600 miles away!
Umar Ibn Sa'ad ordered the horsemen to trample upon the supine bodies of Imam Husain and all others killed, to disfigure them even further, as if the wounds, the bloodied bodies, and the headless forms were not enough.
For three days the exposed bodies of the martyrs were left lying in the desert of Karbala. Afterwards, the people of the tribe of Bani-Asad, who were not far away from the battle field, helped bury them.
Umar Ibn Sa'ad and his forces (representing Benu Umayya) took the women and children as prisoners in shackles, put them on camels, and proceeded in a caravan from Karbala to Kufa. At the forefront of the procession were the heads of Imam Husain and his followers on the tip of spears. The scene was both grotesque and pathetic. This was the leftover of the beloved family of Prophet Muhammad , in such a deplorable unimaginable condition, all caused by people who called themselves Muslims!
LESSONS FROM THE TRAGEDY Of KARBALA:
Karbala is the cruelest tragedy humanity has ever seen. Yet, the startling (though appalling) events in Karbala proved like a powerful volcano that shook the very foundation of Muslims, it stirred their consciousness, ignorant or learned alike. For sincere Muslims, Karbala turned into a triumph. The tragic event became the very beacon of light to always remind Muslims to practice Islam honestly and sincerely, to do what is right irrespective of consequences, and fear no one except Allah.
On the other hand, Yazid never achieved what he and his father had planned to achieve, for within three years, Allah's wrath fell upon him, causing him to die at the age of 33 years. And within a few decades the rule of Benu Umayya crumbled and came to an end. The tragedy of Karbala taught humanity a lesson that standing for the truth and fighting unto death for it is more honorable and valuable than submitting to the wrongful, especially when the survival of Islam is at stake.
THE END
Sources:
1. "Friday Sermons", by Rafiq H. Naqvi
2. "Muharram Speeches", by Amir M. Faizi
3. "Ahlul Bayt", and "Al-Khulafaa Al-Rashidoon", by Dr A.S. Hashim
4. "Ahlul Bait", by Al-Balagh Foundation Iran 1993
***
KARBALA - CHAIN OF EVENTS
by: Ramzan Sabir
The events of Karbala reflect the collision of the good versus the evil, the virtuous versus the wicked, the collision of Imam Husain (the head of virtue) versus Yazid (the head of impiety). Husain was a revolutionary person, a righteous man, the religious authority, the Imam of Muslim Ummah. As the representative of his grandfather Prophet Muhammad , Imam Husain's main concern was to safeguard and protect Islam and guide fellow Muslims. On the other hand, the staying power of the rulers (Muaweya and his son Yazid) depended solely on the might of the sword. They used brute force to rule over the Muslim empire even by all possible illicit means.
Imam Husain as head of Ahlul Bayt never recognized Muaweya nor his followers. Before him Imam Ali had fought battles against Muaweya because Muaweya continuously violated the Islamic principles. Imam Hasan had to swallow the bitter pill of making a peace agreement with Muaweya, in order to safeguard the security of the Ummah which was at stake. When Yazid son of Muaweya declared himself as a ruler over the Ummah, he demanded Imam Husain's allegiance of loyalty. Imam Husain on his part flatly rejected Yazid's rule and behavior, for there was no way Yazid could represent Islam, it would be blasphemy. But Yazid, the tyrant ruler over the Ummah, was adamant in his demand, and tension between the two parties increased day by day.
Imam Husain was quick to realize that giving allegiance of loyalty to Yazid would serve no purpose but to jeopardize the survival of Islam. To safeguard and protect Islam, therefore, the Imam had no choice but to confront and collide with Yazid's rulership irrespective of consequences. Since Yazid had ordered his commanders to seize the Imam's allegiance of loyalty at any cost, even by brutal force, the commanders had to assemble a relatively large army, surrounding Imam Husain's camp in a desert called Karbala. Then they cut off the basic necessities to the camp, including access to water. The camp consisted of Imam Husain, his family, friends, and companions, all of whom stood fast and firmly with him. These braves would rather face death for the noble cause of Islam, than submit to the outrageous tyranny and the un-Islamic ways of Yazid.
Thus, Karbala proved to be a clash involving Islamic truths versus falsehood, right versus wrong, belief versus disbelief, the oppressed versus the oppressor, faith against brute force. Karbala was about standing in the face of oppression, regardless no matter the cost. Thus, in Karbala, Husain the 57 year old grandson of Prophet Muhammad , sacrificed his totality and all he had, for one goal. This goal was to let the truth triumph over falsehood eventually, and he did that brilliantly. His goal was to foil the plan that Muaweya had expertly developed for his son, Yazid, which was to establish a permanent Benu Umayya rulership over the Muslim Ummah (even by sacrificing the Islamic principles), but doing it in the name of Islam. Brilliantly, Imam Husain succeeded in foiling this plan and he exposed the disreputable nature of Benu Umayya though this was at the expense of his life.
WHO WAS MUAWEYA?
Muaweya was son of Abu Sufyan, a leader of Benu Umayya clan which was one of the clans of Quraish tribes. Muaweya grew up in a family known to be cunning, worldly, materialistic, and power hungry. Muaweya became Muslim only when Prophet Muhammad triumphed over Mecca. Those who became Muslim in this manner were called Tulaqaa', (a term scornfully used for the disbelievers who became Muslims to save their lives). Muaweya, his father Abu Sufyan, his mother Hind, and his brother Yazid son of Abu Sufyan were all Tulaqaa'; Muaweya never forgot this stigma for the rest of his life; he could never shake it from his mind, thus a feeling of malicious vengeance always existed in his heart. Muaweya's character and aspirations were entirely opposite to that of his sister, Umm Habiba, who was one of the wives of the Holy Prophet . Unlike Muaweya, Umm Habiba was a sincere believer and a pious person.
Omar, the second Khalifa, appointed Muaweya's brother, Yazid son of Abu Sufyan, as the Governor of Syria when the Muslims captured that territory from the Byzantines. Within a few years, Yazid son of Abu Sufyan died of a disease, and Omar appointed Muaweya in his brother's place as the Governor. Upon coming to power, Muaweya took advantage of the rich public treasury of Syria using it personally to buy favors and influence people. Thus he built a large base of support among some tribes, almost to the fanatic level. He used this to his advantage in later years to form a network of informants (spies) against Ahlul Bayt and their devotees.
JAMAL CONFRONTATION:
When Imam Ali became Khalifa, he decided to remove Muaweya immediately, notwithstanding Muaweya's strong base of support. At that time, Muaweya had been the governor of Syria, Palestine, and Jordan for 17 years. Muaweya became defiant, he refused to obey Ali's orders. Brazen and unabashed, he even declined to recognize Ali or give allegiance of loyalty to him. Also in defiance, Muaweya established a parallel government in Greater Syria, and started a campaign of treacherous accusations and malicious rumors against Imam Ali. He falsely blamed Imam Ali for the killing of Uthman, the third Khalifa, and urged people to take up arms against the Imam. He spread these notorious accusations constantly to incite an uprising against Ali.
At the same time A'isha, the Prophet's widow, became highly vocal against Imam Ali. She called for taking revenge for the blood of Uthman. As a result, a party of 3,000 insurgents supported by Sahaaba (Companions) such as Talha and Zubair, along with A'isha headed toward Basrah. The insurgents upon reaching Basrah clashed with the local authorities and finally occupied a portion of Basrah. Soon after the occupation these insurgents spread a reign of terror among the people, killing no less than 600 local Muslims, pilfering the treasury and stealing the arms supplies of the armory.
As a Khalifa in charge, Imam Ali could not ignore the situation, he had to act and restore peace and order. He ordered his forces to proceed to Basrah. As the Imam's forces reached near Basrah, Imam Ali tried to persuade the insurgents led by A'isha, Zubair and Talha to change their minds and avoid confrontation, but he did not succeed. A battle broke out though Zubair elected not to fight. Talha was wounded then bled to death. Thousands of people lost their lives. A'isha fell down from the camel after it was disabled; but luckily she was not hurt. Imam Ali asked Muhammad ibn Abu Bakr, (A'isha's brother), to take A'isha to Basrah for a few days, and from there to escort her to Medina with full honor and dignity. Upon leaving Basrah Hasan and Husain accompanied the Prophet's widow for some distance before bidding her farewell. Imam Ali stayed in Basrah for a few weeks to restore law and order. He compensated for the dead, and decided to forgive and absolve all who fought against him, exactly as the Prophet had done when he triumphed over Mecca 40 years earlier.
BATTLE OF SIFFIN:
Upon returning to Kufa, Imam Ali immediately prepared for the anticipated clash with Muaweya. The defying Muaweya continued to violate the Islamic principles by personally using the public treasury for espionage and buying peoples' loyalty. The people of Syria fully believed him and the in false picture he presented. Ultimately this resulted in a confrontation called Battle of Siffin when the troops of the two sides met at Siffin. The battle saw ferocious fighting for nine days when Muaweya's forces were near collapse. His troops were fleeing and in disarray, and their retreat was in massive disorder, running helter skelter. Muaweya, alarmed, tense, and frightened, preparing to run away, when he learned of a clever trick. The trick was indecent and unbecoming, it was to make the Holy Quran as an instrument and exploit it, to use it as a tool to his advantage. Muaweya seized on this immediately and commanded his fighters to raise 500 Holy Qurans on tips of spears, in order to stun the troops of Imam Ali. As jolting as it was, this maneuver did break the onslaught and the momentum of Ali's fighters, for they were very pious men. But Imam Ali was quick to recognize this deceit, he knew how deceptive Muaweya was, and now that being near collapse, Muaweya wanted to save his neck at the expense of the Quran itself.
With that in mind, Ali urged his generals not to halt, but to keep fighting since victory was almost at hand. Alas, Ali's generals and fighters were in shock, for the sight of the Holy Quran high on spear heads was startling to say the least. They could not take it. Not willing to fight, they wanted to accept Muaweya's offer to halt the fighting and negotiate instead. The termination of the battle in this manner and the consequences thereof proved to be disastrous to say the least, especially for Ahlul Bayt and Islam.
It is said that there was a conspiracy between Amr Ibnil Aas of Muaweya's side, and Ash'ath Ibn Qais, a General in Imam Ali's camp, who was working as a spy against Ali, secretly working as an agent for Muaweya. In this battle 45,000 men lost their lives in Muaweya's camp, and about 25,000 in Ali's camp. Many men of high caliber from both sides died, especially Ammar Ibn Yasir, the great Companion of the Prophet , who was 90 years old and fought on Imam Ali's side against Muaweya.
AFTER SIFFIN:
Imam Ali's generals, who stopped the battle to negotiate with Muaweya, did not pick the right person for the negotiation. They unyieldingly refused to accept Imam Ali's choice, instead they picked Kufa's Governor, Abu-Musa Ash'ari, an incompetent Governor who had been previously dismissed from office by Imam Ali. Muaweya appointed Amr Ibnil Aas, a shrewd and cunning man, to be his representative in the negotiation. Negotiation between the two sides did not take place for about one year.
When the two negotiators came face to face, it was clear that Ash'ari's capability was no match for his opponent Ibnil Aas. In the negotiations, Ash'ari proposed that, both Muaweya and Imam Ali were to abdicate and to let the people hold election for the Khilaafah. Amr Ibnil Aas, a deceptive man at best, quickly agreed to Ash'ari's proposal and asked Ash'ari to first announce the agreement. Ash'ari stood up and announced, "O people, we have agreed not to consider Ali or Muaweya for Khilaafah. You may choose or elect whomever you think is fit." The cunning Amr Ibnil Aas stood up next to say, "O people! I won't consider Ali for the Khilaafah. But Muaweya, in my opinion, is the person for that office!" Upon hearing this (and feeling deceived), the people screamed disapprovingly, an uproar was the result. Imam Ali's camp was in shock, they were double-crossed, deceived and lied to, they felt deeply cut. Amr's double crossing and deception was simply beyond their imagination. They left the place bewildered and utterly disappointed. Because of this a large group of Imam Ali's supporters defected to form a separate group called Kharijies, meaning the Outsiders.
The Khariji became fanatically opposed to Imam Ali and Muaweya. Some of their members met secretly in Mecca and drew a plan to assassinate Ali in Kufa, Muaweya in Syria, and Amr Ibnil Aas in Egypt. Three fanatics took the responsibility, they were to attack their victims in the morning, the same day, as the would-be victims were going to the mosque to lead the morning salat. Ibn Muljim attacked and fatally wounded Imam Ali, whereas Muaweya escaped with a light wound of his buttock. Amr Ibnil Aas was ill that day and his replacement was killed by the Khariji. Imam Ali, in wounded condition, conferred the Imamah and the reign of the Islamic nation to his 37 years old son Hasan.
PEACE AGREEMENT BETWEEN IMAM HASAN AND MUAWEYA:
Imam Hasan faced extremely difficult conditions from the start. He observed that fear, anxiety and much distress were ever present in Kufa, Basrah, Medina and other towns. The anxiety, uncertainty and insecurity were caused by Muaweya's ill dealing of sincere Muslims. Muaweya had spread secret agents all over to defame Ahlul Bayt. Imam Hasan knew that his father Imam Ali had stood like a lion in all difficulties and fought battles against Muaweya, but these confrontations had resulted in heavy casualties on both sides. A mass scale family devastation was visible everywhere. Considering all circumstances, Imam Hasan discussed the matter with his brother Husain and other relatives. He revealed to them that in order to end the bloodshed and to provide a reasonable safety and security to the Ummah, he would make a peace agreement with Muaweya and abdicate until after Muaweya's death. After a few days of careful consideration, Imam Hasan accepted an agreement as per the terms dictated by the Imam and agreed to by Muaweya. Four noteworthy terms of this agreement were:
People of Syria, Iraq, Hijaz, Yemen and other places shall enjoy amnesty against persecution, Friends and companions of Imam Ali and all their women and children shall be protected from all dangers, Muaweya is to immediately stop the use of abusive language with reference to Ahlul Bayt (cursing Imam Ali) after Salat of Jumu'a), and Muaweya shall not appoint anyone as his successor.
Once the treaty was signed, Imam Hasan and brother Husain moved out of Kufa and settled in Medina. Over there both Imams lost no time in holding nightly meetings for Islamic discussions. The nightly meetings proved very successful and gained tremendous popularity. More people started to attend, to hear the Imams give of their fountain of knowledge on Islam and humanity. The reputation of these meetings began to fly to far away places. People from as far away as Egypt, Iraq, Yemen, and other distant areas travelled to Medina to learn about the Islamic values. As years passed, the knowledge thus given started to bear fruits. The number of Islamic scholars multiplied and increased considerably.
In the meantime Muaweya, unabashedly elected to disregard the terms of his treaty with Imam Hasan. a) He sent secret agents to terrorize, kidnap, or even kill innocent people specially those who were loyal to Ahlul Bayt. b) Instead of helping the needy with the public treasury, Muaweya's governors and their surrogates used the public treasury for personal use, freely and excessively as they wished. c) Freedom suddenly died, and dictatorship took its place. d) Muaweya gathered a very large number of collaborators who unabashedly would do any thing for money.
MUAWEYA'S PLOT TO POISON IMAM HASAN:
It was Muaweya's ardent desire to impose his son Yazid (who had been named after his uncle) upon the Muslims by making him the succeeding Khalifa, despite the fact that Yazid was the playboy of the time, with many evil habits including gambling, heavy drinking, and indulgence in the pleasures of the flesh. But the peace agreement would not permit Muaweya to appoint Yazid as his successor, (According to the agreement Imam Hasan would immediately become Khalifa upon Muaweya's death). Therefore, it was obvious to Muaweya that, if Hasan did not outlive him, Muaweya could do as he pleased. Thus Muaweya planned to kill Imam Hasan in order to pave the way for his son Yazid to be his successor.
Muaweya sent one of his agents to contact Imam Hasan's wife Joda who was the daughter of Al-Ash'ath (once a secret agent for Muaweya against Imam Ali in the Battle of Siffin). Joda was asked a small favor, i.e., to put a little poison in Hasan's food, and in return Muaweya would give her a large sum of money and also make her wife of his son Yazid. She found the offer too attractive to ignore, and foolishly agreed to accept it. A few days later, she mixed poison in honey and gave it to the Imam. As soon as the Imam took the poisoned honey he became seriously ill. Sensing that his death was imminent, the Imam designated his brother Husain to be the third Imam. Although Imam Hasan knew he was poisoned, he did not reveal that to anyone but to his brother Husain.
One thing Hasan had wished was to have his burial by the side of his grandfather, Prophet Muhammad . Imam Husain made all the arrangements to fulfill that wish but Muaweya's governor over Medina did not let that happen and used military force to stop it. Imam Hasan was 47 year old when he died of poisoning.
Medina was never the same without Imam Hasan. Everyone missed him dearly. People at first did not believe Muaweya poisoned Imam Hasan, but soon found out the truth.
When Husain was designated as the 3rd Imam he was 46 years old. Imam Husain carried on with his mission of teaching Islam as before. A large number of people kept coming to see him and to learn from him. This process continued for several years when people began to hear an ugly rumor that Muaweya wanted his son, Yazid, to succeed him.
MUAWEYA DESIGNATES YAZID AS SUCCESSOR:
Muaweya began a campaign to introduce Monarchy into the structure of Islam. To have Monarchy, by force or otherwise is alien to Islam, an innovation in religion, simply not acceptable. Everyone knew that, for Islam does not subscribe to any form of Royalty through inheritance or Monarchy. In Islam it is supposed to be Shura.
Nevertheless, Muaweya sent his agents to the prominent members of the communities to obtain allegiance of loyalty to his son Yazid. But Yazid was evil, of the drinking type, incompetent, contemptible, and a pleasure-seeking person. People knew that. So the people protested vigorously. There was anger everywhere. Emotions went sky high. To calm people down, at least temporarily, Muaweya decided to send his son Yazid to Mecca for the pilgrimage. Yes, Yazid did go to Mecca but only after taking alcohol with him as well as a chorus of girls for his entertainment.
MUAWEYA DIES
Muaweya was getting older day by day. At the age of 75, he became seriously ill. He was nearing death. He lay weak and lifeless as if something was choking and strangling him. He felt tortured and tormented, and continuously cried for mercy. He was in terrible pain. He wanted to die but death would not come close to him. His conscience tormented him for the calamities that he brought upon the Islamic Ummah specially Ahlul Bayt. Muaweya suffered in agony for many many days. His suffering continued until he breathed his last. At the time of his death, the 30 year old Yazid was nowhere near him, he had gone for fun on a hunting trip.
(Please note that Muaweya's brother was by the name of Yazid, and he had named his son after his brother.)
YAZID BECOMES RULER:
Upon Muaweya's death, Yazid, 30 years old, managed to impose himself on the people and become the Khalifa. At first people refused to accept him as a representative of the Prophet and Islamic Ummah, but Yazid approached people in mosques for their favors. Like his father Muaweya, Yazid used all possible means like bribery, coercion, pressure, threats, and force to receive the people's acceptance of him as the legitimate ruler. Many people were worried, threats to their lives and livelihood was too menacing, so they grudgingly and reluctantly gave in. But, Imam Husain and his family (who practiced Islam in its true sense), did not give in. As the true representative of Prophet Muhammad , Husain flatly refused accepting Yazid either as a Khalifa or a leader of Islam. Despite Yazid's intimidating military power the Imam stood firm in his resolve and chose to challenge Benu Umayya's authorities.
Yazid commissioned Waleed Ibn Ut'ba, his Governor over Medina, to ask for Imam Husain's allegiance of loyalty or else upon refusal, his head. Waleed invited Husain to a meeting for the purpose. Imam Husain did not give his word at the meeting and decided to leave Medina along with his family to proceed to Mecca. When Husain reached Mecca he received 12,000 letters from Kufa urging him to go to Kufa to be their leader, and be the Khalifa. Imam sent an emissary, his cousin Muslim Ibn Aqeel, to Kufa to ascertain first-hand information about the situation in Iraq. In the mean time Yazid spread a network of informants and secret agents in Mecca to assassinate the Imam during pilgrimage. Imam learned about the spies, and carefully evaluated the situation in Mecca. Imam Husain knew that Yazid son of Muaweya had no regard for Islamic values and teachings, that he would do anything to enforce his tyrannical rule. Imam Husain also knew that giving allegiance of loyalty to an imposter like Yazid would certainly place Islam at great jeopardy. Therefore he decided to leave Mecca for Kufa to prepare for a confrontation with Yazid and his forces.
Many friends and relatives urged Imam Husain not to go to Kufa, but he insisted on going. Imam Husain, along with family, friends, and companions began the journey toward Kufa (1,100 miles) in a long caravan in the blistering heat of summer.
ON THE WAY TO KARBALA:
During the early phase of the journey the caravan met Al-Farazdaq (a famous poet) at a place called al-Sifah. Al-Farazdaq advised the Imam not to go to Kufa because though people's hearts were with him (Imam), their swords would be against him. But the Imam continued with the journey, and he received the first letter from his emissary Muslim Ibn Aqeel with good news. The letter indicated that the people were more than ready to welcome the Imam in Kufa and were looking forward to his leadership. Imam Husain decided to send another emissary to Kufa with a message. The caravan kept proceeding toward Kufa. Many days passed but the Imam did not receive any more responses from Muslim Ibn Aqeel.
In Kufa Muslim Bin Aqeel with the help of Mukhtar Al-Thaqafi and Hani Ibn Urwah continued to hold secret meetings with the supporters of the Imam. Within a short time the gatherings started to gain momentum. Yazid through his spies and informants learned about Muslim's successes in Kufa. He appointed the tyrant Ubaidullah Ibn Ziyad to replace al-Nu'man Ibn al-Basheer as Governor of Kufa.
Meanwhile, as Husain's caravan got closer to its destination (Kufa), coming to a place called Zubalah, Imam Husain unexpectedly received shocking news. The shocking news was about Muslim Ibn Aqeel and the person who provided him shelter, Hani's Ibn Urwah, both of whom were arrested and beheaded by the Governor Ibn Ziyad. Mukhtar was also arrested and imprisoned and tortured by Ibn Ziyad.
Imam Husain gathered his companions and disclosed to them about the bad news, and said, "Our Shi'a have deserted us, those of you who prefer to leave us may do so freely and without guilt." Becoming scared, some companions left the caravan. Imam Husain continued with the journey along with close companions and family members until he was face to face with 1,000 horsemen led by Hur al-Riyahi representing the enemy. The enemy army blocked the camps of Imam Husain from advancing. Tension started to rise between the two. The Imam addressed the enemy explaining to them his motives for going to Kufa, that it was in response to the invitation of the people. He even showed them a bagful of letters he received from Kufa. Hur said that he and his men were not the writers of those letters. Imam told them that if they did not like him to advance with the journey, he was prepared to return to Hijaz. Hur replied, "We are commissioned to follow you until we take you to Governor Ibn Ziyad, and suggested to the Imam to go towards a station which is neither Kufa nor Medina." Imam Husain found the proposal fair and turned the caravan away from Kufa. Hur and his army marched parallel to the Imam. The two sides reached a village called Nainawa where Ibn Ziyad's messenger (Yazid's governor over Kufa) delivered a message to Hur. The message read, " ...force Husain to a halt. But let him stop in an open space, without vegetation or water." Hur conveyed the contents of the letter to Imam Husain. The Imam, his family and companions defiantly resumed their journey and reached a place where another enemy force blocked their move and forced them to stop. When Imam Husain learned that the place was called Karbala, he felt he reached the destination and ordered his camp to be setup. That day was 2nd of Muharram, Hijri 61.
KARBALA:
Upon learning that his army had succeeded to lay a siege around the Imam's camp, Governor Ibn Ziyad sent additional military units to Karbala and appointed Umar Ibn Sa'ad in charge. Imam Husain opened a dialogue with Umar Ibn Sa'ad and convinced him to lift the siege so that the Imam with his family and companions could leave Iraq. Umar Ibn Sa'ad liked the Imam's proposal and sent a message to Governor Ibn Ziyad notifying him about the results of the talks with Imam Husain. Ibn Ziyad also found the Imam's proposal acceptable. However before agreeing to it officially, Shimr Bin Dhil-Jawshan, opposed it strongly. As a result Ziyad wrote a letter to Umar Ibn Sa'ad commanding him to either go to war with Imam Husain or be relieved of his duties as commander of the army and Shimr would not only replace him but despatch Ibn Sa'ad's head to Kufa.
Umar Ibn bin Sa'ad got the letter. After pondering over the consequences he decided to fight Imam Husain. On the 7th day of Muharram he moved his troops closer to the camp and began to surround the Husaini camp. Ibn Sa'ad laid a blockade around the camp to cut it off from access to the river Euphrates, to deprive it of water in a move to force them to surrender.
Two days later, (on the 9th of Muharram), the enemy's military forces closed in on the camp of Imam Husain. Imam asked his brother, Abbas, to talk to Ibn Sa'ad and request a delay of the aggression by one night. Umar Ibn Sa'ad agreed to the demand. He ordered his troops to delay the aggression till next morning. Imam Husain and his pious companions spent that night in prayers. During the night the Imam told the companions, " ....the enemy is interested in none but me, me alone. I'll be most delighted to permit each and every one of you to go back, and I urge you to do so...." All companions screamed in response, "By Allah, never, never! We will either live with you or die together with you."
ASHURAA:
Finally, the day of Ashuraa dawned upon the soil of Karbala. It was the day when Jihad would be in full bloom, blood would be shed, 72 innocent lives would be sacrificed, and a decisive battle would be won to save Islam and the Ummah.
It had been a few days since the water supply was cut off by the enemy. Children were crying for water, the women were desperate for water, Zainul-Abideen, the son of Imam Husain was sick with fever. The suffering from the thirst was too painful to bear. And despite this, not a single person in the camp made any complaints or even questioned the mission of Imam Husain. Each member supported the Imam wholeheartedly and enthusiastically.
Next morning Imam Husain went out of the camp and saw Umar Ibn Sa'ad mobilizing his troops to start the hostility. He stared at the intimidating army, and as large as it was Imam Husain showed no signs of compromise. Imam Husain raised his hands in prayer:
"O Allah! It is Thee in whom I trust amid all grief. You are my hope amid all violence. Thou are my refuge and provision in everything that happens to me. How many grievances weaken the heart, leaving me with no means to handle them, during which friend deserts me, and enemy rejoices in it. I lay it before Thee and complain of it to Thee, because of my desire in Thee, Thee alone. You relieve me of it and remove it from me. Thou are the Master of all Grace, the Essence of Goodness, and the Ultimate Resort of all Desire."
Before the actual engagement was to take place, Hur, the previous commander of the enemy force, felt his conscience violently stirring, he was in turmoil. Upon realizing the gravity of the situation, he suddenly broke away from Umar Ibn Sa'ad's camp (along with two others). They rushed toward Imam Husain to join his camp. Hur's heart was jumping with joy, his mind relieved of an agonizing tension. Hur's defection worried Umar Ibn Sa'ad very much, lest others do the same and defect. So Umar Ibn Sa'ad threw an arrow in the air to indicate the start of the battle. This was the outset of a catastrophe and a tragic event that Muaweya had once conceived to happen.
THE BATTLE:
Imam Husain's supporters insisted on being the first to fight. Therefore, they took the brunt of the enemy attack. The battle was ferocious. Within a short time the Imam's supporters slay a large number of the enemy fighters, they were on the offensive and the enemy on the defensive. This caused apprehension and confusion in the enemy military, the 72 of Husain's against the 5,000 of the enemy (some say 30,000) being on the defensive. So worried and nervous, the enemy commander-in-chief ordered his army not only to set fire to the Imam's tents (which were occupied mostly by frightened females and children), but at the same time reinforced his fighters with more troops.
The heroes began to fall, they were men of valor welcoming martyrdom, they fell one after another, for the enemy was overwhelming in number. By noon time the Imam stopped the fight to perform the Salat. By this time those left were mainly his family and a few supporters. They performed the Salat together. Two supporters were guarding the performers of Salat. The enemy was standing still, watching!! When Salat was finished one of the guards fell dead; there were 17 arrows in his back.
Ali Akbar, Husain's son obtained permission to fight and dashed toward the enemy. He engaged them in fierce fighting, falling on them like thunder, slaying numerous fighters. He continued to move forward, deep inside the enemy. The enemy was overpowering in number, it overwhelmed him cutting him with swords and spears, and his body became nothing but wounds gushing blood, until he died. Imam Husain rushed to the area and picked up the wounded limp body and brought it to the appalled camp. His sister and others in the camp were horrified and shocked at the scene.
Abbas and five other brothers of Imam Husain went to fight. They also engaged the enemy in a fierce fighting, almost doing the impossible. Abbas went toward the river to bring some water for the thirsty children. While he was returning on his horse with the water, he was attacked by a large horde of the enemy, overwhelming and severely wounding him. As much as he tried Abbas could not save the water, he fell from his horse to breath his last.
Next to the battle field went the sons of Imam Hasan and Zainab and their cousins (about 17 of them). They were all in their teens but each stood bravely, believing in the mission, facing a formidable enemy, and showed no less enthusiasm in their quest to embrace the martyrdom.
HUSAIN AND HIS BABY:
By the afternoon 70 brave persons had sacrificed their lives in Karbala to save Islam. All had fought under nerve racking conditions, severe thirst, dehydration, exhaustion, and agonizing feeling of what would happen to the family of the Prophet afterwards. Husain endured all that and more, for he saw all his beloved ones brutally cut to pieces, including children. Remaining the only one, Imam Husain was to face the enemy head on. Precisely at that moment Imam Husain heard his baby crying incessantly, agonizing because of the thirst. Imam Husain's love for his family was unbound, especially for a suffering baby. He held the six months old baby, his youngest son (Ali Asghar) in his arms, and appealed to the enemy fighters for some water for the baby. Imam wanted to awaken their conscience and stir their human feelings but the stone-hearted enemy, instead of giving water, zoomed an arrow toward the agonizing baby and killed him instantly. Imam Husain was shocked. He felt an unbearable wave of pain. The sight of the limp baby in his arms was agonizingly painful. He filled his palm with the blood of the baby, and threw it upwards toward the sky, complaining to Allah,
"O' Allah, O' my Lord! My consolation is the fact that Thou in Thine Majesty are witnessing what I am going through."
HUSAIN BY HIMSELF:
Imam Husain was alone, one man against thousands. He took them on, fighting them bravely, and kept fighting, receiving many wounds in the process. Thousands of enemy fighters were surrounding him but none dared to move toward him. The silence was broken when Shimr screamed for an attack, then screamed again, threatening, and in response they attacked collectively, and one sword fell on Imam Husain's left wrist and deeply cut his left hand. The blood gushed like a fountain. Another sword was soon to follow and it hit his upper back. Imam Husain felt numb as he fell to the ground, bleeding profusely. He was near the point of shock, even though staggering he tried to stand by leaning on his sword. Then he received the fatal blow.
It was at this point, that Shimr whose mother was a disbeliever, came forward and severed Imam Husain's noble head from the body, the noble head kissed often by the Prophet ! Shimr and others had the audacity to carry it on the tip of a spear to Yazid, 600 miles away!
Umar Ibn Sa'ad ordered the horsemen to trample upon the supine bodies of Imam Husain and all others killed, to disfigure them even further, as if the wounds, the bloodied bodies, and the headless forms were not enough.
For three days the exposed bodies of the martyrs were left lying in the desert of Karbala. Afterwards, the people of the tribe of Bani-Asad, who were not far away from the battle field, helped bury them.
Umar Ibn Sa'ad and his forces (representing Benu Umayya) took the women and children as prisoners in shackles, put them on camels, and proceeded in a caravan from Karbala to Kufa. At the forefront of the procession were the heads of Imam Husain and his followers on the tip of spears. The scene was both grotesque and pathetic. This was the leftover of the beloved family of Prophet Muhammad , in such a deplorable unimaginable condition, all caused by people who called themselves Muslims!
LESSONS FROM THE TRAGEDY Of KARBALA:
Karbala is the cruelest tragedy humanity has ever seen. Yet, the startling (though appalling) events in Karbala proved like a powerful volcano that shook the very foundation of Muslims, it stirred their consciousness, ignorant or learned alike. For sincere Muslims, Karbala turned into a triumph. The tragic event became the very beacon of light to always remind Muslims to practice Islam honestly and sincerely, to do what is right irrespective of consequences, and fear no one except Allah.
On the other hand, Yazid never achieved what he and his father had planned to achieve, for within three years, Allah's wrath fell upon him, causing him to die at the age of 33 years. And within a few decades the rule of Benu Umayya crumbled and came to an end. The tragedy of Karbala taught humanity a lesson that standing for the truth and fighting unto death for it is more honorable and valuable than submitting to the wrongful, especially when the survival of Islam is at stake.
THE END
Sources:
1. "Friday Sermons", by Rafiq H. Naqvi
2. "Muharram Speeches", by Amir M. Faizi
3. "Ahlul Bayt", and "Al-Khulafaa Al-Rashidoon", by Dr A.S. Hashim
4. "Ahlul Bait", by Al-Balagh Foundation Iran 1993
***
Life of Zainab
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The Victory of Truth: The Life of Zaynab bint Ali
By M. H. Bilgrami (1986)
Introduction
This is the story of the victory of truth. It is the story of a unique woman whose own fate was inextricably bound with the historical events of Karbala that have impressed upon mankind the true reality of living Islam.
It was on the plains of Karbala that the conflict between Imam Husayn, 'alayhi 'salam, and the pretender to the caliphate, Yazid ibn Mu'awiya, was waged in battle. Imam Husayn had steadfastly refused to pay homage to Yazid and acknowledge him as leader of the Muslim world. It was no secret that Yazid flagrantly flaunted the laws of Islam and even publicly derided its beliefs. His claim to the caliphate bore no legitimacy or acceptability in the eyes of Imam Husayn, 'alayhi 'salam.
It would be facile and dishonest to consider their confrontation as but an isolated instance of power-jockeying in the early days of Islam. The issue on which they clashed is one that continues to be a source of needless antagonism among Muslims today, and that is: What manner of man has the right to rule the Muslim world, or indeed, mankind? Could Muslims be ruled by one integrated, complementary set of laws rooted in the knowledge of Allah ta'ala's supreme tawhid (unity), or by a power that seeks to elevate temporal values to hard and fast law at the cost of allegiance to the Sole Source of all creation?
This story unfolds through the life of Zaynab Kubrah, grand-daughter of the Holy Prophet, salla'llahu 'alayhi wa alihi wa sallam, daughter of Hadrat Fatima and Imam Ali, 'alayhim as-salam. From what we know of her actions and speeches, it is clear that in her was reflected the divine prophetic light that was her heritage.
In writing on Zaynab bint Ali, 'alayha 's-salam, we must first bear in mind an unalterable fact: that is, despite the efforts of numerous biographers, very little actual recorded historical fact is available about her. Even the exact dates of her birth, death, marriage, or number of children, cannot be ascertained with complete confidence.
Oral tradition about Zaynab [a.s.] has gradually evolved to a point-of subjective elaboration and emotional hyperbola that have eventually clouded her real persona and the context from which we have come to know her.
Indeed, the romantic mythology that now shrouds both her and her brother Imam Husayn [a.s.] seems to distance us from wanting to understand what they really stood for and what their actions really meant, both in the context of their afflicted times and throughout all times, present and future.
It is not necessary however to dig up as many facts or versions of her life as are available in order to perceive her purity and the strategic importance of her contribution. Though the information may be little, it is enough. The fact that we remember her at all is sufficient to rekindle our understanding of the intimate ideals for which life is worth serving. This book seeks to let these facts speak for themselves. The conclusions to be drawn are implicit to any reader whose heart and mind are available and receptive to the essence of submission.
According to the shari'ah (revealed law) of Allah women are hidden treasures, neither to be displayed nor advertised. Theirs is a subtle, fundamental and discreet domain. Imam Ali, 'alayhi 's-salam, once asked Hadrat Fatima, 'alayha 's-salam, "Ma khayru 'n-nisa (who are the best among women)?"
She replied, "La yarina 'r-rijala wa la yarunahunna (those who do not see men nor are seen by them)."
This then is another reason why so little is known about Zaynab [a.s.] or any other women throughout the history of Islam. But this rule can only apply if all the other elements of a pure Muslim society are equal. If the application of the divinely directed formula is chaotic and imbalanced, then that is the time when a woman feels compelled to emerge into the open arena. This is the situation in which Zaynab [a.s.] found herself. After Karbala no one was left that had the courage to stand up to tyranny, speak the truth, and submit to the consequences.
Thus what we know of her is only because of exceptional circumstances. A twist in history created the conditions that forced Zaynab [a.s] to declare, not herself, but the truth. It is through her extraordinary handling of the wretched trials she endured that we have caught glimpses of the untold depths of her courage, forbearance, patience and submission to the decree of Allah. It is partly through her that the prophetic legacy was rescued from being eclipsed by the ever-present shadows of kufr (denial of Truth), and it is in this light that we must forever remember her and take inspiration and guidance from her example.
Angelic Appellation
It was five years after the Muslims had accompanied the Prophet [s.a.w.] and his family in the migration (hijrah) to Medina, when the Holy Prophet's daughter, Hadrat Fatima [a.s.], gave birth to a little girl. When her father, Imam Ali [a.s.], saw his daughter for the first time Imam Husayn [a.s.], who was then almost three years old, was with him. The boy exclaimed in delight, "O father, Allah has given me a sister." At those words Imam Ali [a.s.] began to weep, and when Husayn [a.s.] asked why he was crying so, his father answered that he would soon come to know. Fatima [a.s.] and Ali [a.s.] did not name their child until a few days after her birth, for they awaited the Prophet's return from a journey so that he could propose the name.
When finally the baby girl was brought before him he held her in his lap and kissed her. The Angel Jibra'il came to him and conveyed the name that was to be hers, and then he began to weep.
The Prophet [s.a.w.] asked why Jibra'il wept and he answered, "O Prophet of Allah, from early on in life this girl will remain entangled in tribulations and trials in this world.- First she will weep over your separation (from this world); thereafter she will bemoan the loss of her mother, then her father, and then her brother Hasan. After all this she will be confronted with the trials of the land of Karbala and the tribulations of that lonely desert, as a result of which her hair will turn grey and her back will be bent."
When the members of the family heard this prophecy they all broke down in tears. Imam Husayn [a.s.] now understood why earlier his father had also wept. Then the Prophet [s.a.w.] named her Zaynab [a.s.].
When the news of Zaynab's birth reached Salman al-Farsi, he went to Ali [a.s.] to congratulate him. But instead of seeing him happy and rejoicing he saw Ali [a.s.] shed tears, and he too was apprised of the events of Karbala and the hardships that were to befall Zaynab [a.s.].
One day, when Zaynab [a.s.] was about five years old, she had a strange and terrible dream. A violent wind arose in the city and darkened the earth and the sky. The little girl was tossed hither and thither, and suddenly she found herself stuck in the branches of a huge tree. But the wind was so strong that it uprooted the tree. Zaynab [a.s.] caught hold of a branch but that broke. In a panic she grabbed two twigs but these too gave way and she was left falling with no support.
Then she woke up. When she told her grandfather, the Prophet [s.a.w.], about this dream he wept bitterly and said, "O my daughter that tree is me who is shortly going to leave this world.
The branches are your father Ali and your mother Fatima Zahra, and the twigs are your brothers Hasan and Husayn. They will all depart this world before you do, and you will suffer their separation and loss."
Growing Up in Medina
Zaynab [a.s.] shared with her brothers and sister the extraordinary position of having such examples to look up to, emulate and learn from, as her grandfather, the Prophet of Allah [s.a.w.], her mother Fatima [a.s.], daughter of the Prophet, and her father Imam Ali [a.s.], cousin-brother of the Prophet.
In the pure environment that enveloped her, she absorbed the teachings of Islam that her grandfather imparted and after him her father. Here too she learnt to master all household skills with great proficiency. She had barely attained the tender age of seven when her beloved mother passed away. Her mother's death had closely followed her cherished grandfather's passing away. Some time later Imam Ali [a.s ] married Umm ul-Banin, whose devotion and pledge encouraged Zaynab [a.s.] in her learning.
Whilst still a young girl she was fully able to care for and be responsible for the running of her father's household. As much as she cared for the comforts and ease of her brothers and sisters, in her own wants she was frugal and unstintingly generous to the poor, homeless and parentless.
After her marriage her husband is reported as having said, "Zaynab is the best housewife."
From very early on she developed an unbreakable bond of attachment to her brother Imam Husayn [a.s.]. At times, when as a baby in her mother's arms she could not be pacified and made to stop crying, she would quieten down upon being held by her brother, and there she would sit quietly gazing at his face. Before she would pray she used to first cast a glance at the face of her beloved brother.
One day Fatima [a.s.] mentioned the intensity of her daughter's love for Imam Husayn [a.s.] to the Prophet [s.a.w.]. He breathed a deep sigh and said with moistened eyes, "My dear child.
This child of mine, Zaynab, would be confronted with a thousand and one calamities and face serious hardships in Karbala."
Womanhood
Zaynab [as.] grew into a fine statured young woman. Of her physical appearance little is known.
When the tragedy of Karbala befell her in her mid-fifties she was forced to go out uncovered. It was then that some people remarked that she appeared as a 'shining sun' and a 'piece of the moon'.
In her character she reflected the best attributes of those who raised her. In sobriety and serenity she was likened to Umm ul-Mu'minin Khadija, her grandmother [a.s.]; in chastity and modesty to her mother Fatima Zahra [a.s.]; in eloquence to her father Ali [a.s.]; in forbearance and patience to her brother Imam Hasan [a.s.]; and in bravery and tranquility of the heart to Imam Husayn [a.s.]. Her face reflected her father's awe and her grandfather's reverence.
When the time came for marriage, she was married in a simple ceremony to her first cousin, Abdullah ibn Ja'far Tayyar. Abdullah had been brought up under the direct care of the Prophet [s.a.w.]. After his death, Imam Ali [a.s.] became his supporter and guardian until he came of age. He grew up to be a handsome youth with pleasing manners and was known for his sincere hospitality to guests and selfless generosity to the poor and needy.
Together this young couple had five children, of whom four were sons, Ali, Aun, Muhammad, and Abbas, and one daughter, Umm Kulthum.
In Medina it was Zaynab's practise to hold regular meetings for women in which she shared her knowledge and taught them the precepts of the Deen of Islam as laid out in the Holy Qur'an. Her gatherings were well and regularly attended. She was able to impart the teachings with such clarity and eloquence that she became known as Fasihah (skillfully fluent) and Balighah (intensely eloquent).
In the thirty-seventh year A.H. (after Hijrah), Imam Ali [a.s.] moved to Kufa to finally take up his rightful position as khalifah. He was accompanied by his daughter Zaynab [a.s.] and her husband.
Her reputation as an inspiring teacher among the women had preceded her. There too women would throng to her daily sittings where they all benefited from her erudition, wisdom and scholarship in the exegesis of the Qur'an.
The depth and certainty of her knowledge earned her the name given to her by her nephew, Imam Ali Zayn ul-Abidin [a.s.], of 'Alimah Ghayr Mu'allamah, she who has knowledge without being taught.
Zaynab [a.s.] was also nicknamed Zahidah (abstemious) and 'Abidah (devoted) because of her abstemiousness and piety. She found little of interest in worldly adornments, always preferring the bliss and comfort of the Next World over that of this world. She used to say that for her the life of this world was as a resting place to relieve fatigue along a journey. Humble and of high morals, her main concern was to strive to please Allah and in doing so she avoided anything which was the least bit doubtful.
Assassination
On the night before Friday the 19th of Ramadan in the fortieth year after hijrah, Imam Ali [a.s.] went to the central mosque for prayers. Shortly after the adhan (call to prayer), Zaynab [a.s.] heard a heart-rending cry. Soon the cries came nearer to her house and she realised that they were bringing her the news of her father's assassination. Ibn Muljim had struck Imam Ali [a.s.] a fatal blow while he was in the defenceless state of sajdah (devotional prostration). Mortally wounded, he was carried back home on the shoulders of his followers.
There was to be no recovery from this wound. On the twenty-first night of Ramadan Imam Ali [a.s.] died, leaving his two sons and daughter to witness and face his enemies' misguided lust for power and revenge.
Rendezvous with Fate - Karbala
When Zaynab [a.s.] learnt of her brother's proposed journey to Kufa she begged her husband to give her leave to accompany her brother. Abdullah pointed out that such a journey was fraught with difficulties and hardship. Zaynab [a.s.] insisted, saying, "My mother did not leave me behind to watch from afar as recreation the day when my brother is all alone, surrounded by enemies with no friend or supporter. You know that for fifty-five years my brother and I have never been separated. Now is the time of our old age and the closing period of our lives. If I leave him now, how shall I be able to face my mother, who at the time of her death had willed, 'Zaynab, after me you are both mother and sister for Husayn [a.s.]'? It is obligatory for me to stay with you, but if I do not go with him at this time, I shall not be able to bear the separation." Abdullah himself had wanted to accompany the Imam, but since he had been weakened by illness, he gave her permission to go on this destined journey. With her he sent two of their sons. Zaynab [a.s.] had been prepared all her life for what was written for her and her brother. She preferred to face the trials of Karbala than to ever be separated from him.
Having decided to leave, Imam Husayn [a.s.] ordered that litters be prepared for the ladies of his family. Abu'l-Fadl Abbas, his half-brother (for they shared the same father), helped Zaynab [a.s.] and her sister Umm Kulthum into their litter. They were followed by two young girls, Fatima Kubra and Sakina, daughters of Imam Husayn [a.s.].
After the first day of their journey, the party camped at Khuzaymiyyah for the night. While Zaynab [a.s.] was seeing to her brother's comfort, he said to her, "What will come to pass has long since been decreed."
When later on their journey, they reached Ruhayma, they found their way blocked by Hur ibn Yazid Riyahi. Sakina saw what had happened and when she told Zaynab [a.s.], Zaynab wept and said to her, "Would that the enemy killed all of us rather than slay my brother."
When Imam Husayn [a.s.] heard of his sister's distress, he went to her tent and she said to him, "O my brother, talk to them. Tell them about your nearness to the Holy Prophet and of your kinship with him." Imam Husayn [a.s.] replied, ''O sister! I spoke to them at length. I tried to convince them but they are so immersed in misguidance and obsessed with greed that they cannot set aside their evil intentions. They will not rest till they have killed me and seen me rolling around in my blood. O sister, I advise you to patiently endure the forthcoming troubles. My grandfather the Holy Prophet had told me of my martyrdom, and his foretellings cannot be untrue."
Imam Husayn's [a.s.] party reached Karbala on the second of Muharram. But the supporters that had originally invited him to Kufa were no longer his to command. Having got wind of their intentions, Yazid appointed Ibn Ziyad, governor of Kufa, to carry out orders to subvert their plans, and this they had achieved successfully. With the Imam's following cunningly eliminated, forces were sent to meet him near Karbala.
The tents were pitched and at night Imam Husayn [a.s.] sat cleaning his sword and reciting couplets forecasting his doom. His son Zayn ul-Abidin [a.s.] listened quietly but in sorrow. When Zaynab [a.s.] heard him she could not restrain her tears. She went to her brother and prayed that death would overtake her. Imam Husayn [a.s.] urged her not to let Shaytan deprive her of her power of fortitude. She asked whether she might be killed in his place, and when she heard his negative reply she fainted. When she came to, her brother said, "Everything is mortal. The final word lies with Allah and to Him is the return. My father and grandfather were better men than I but where are they now? Their example is the standard for me and for all Muslims."
So saying he bade her be patient and not to weep over his death or shed tears or beat her cheeks. He then took her to the tent of his son Ali Zayn ul-Abidin [a.s.] and left her there. But Zaynab [a.s.] was not to be consoled, and from this time came to be known as Baakiyah (one who weeps).
On the eve of the tenth day of Muharram, Imam Husayn [a.s.] addressed his followers, the Ansar and the Bani Hashim. It had become clear that this was to be a battle unto death. He therefore released them from any obligation to remain by his side, and let them know that no grudge would be held against them were they to turn away from the coming decisive battle and return to safety.
There was now no doubt about the slaughter that was to come. Despite the heavy burden of knowing this insurmountable fact, Zaynab [a.s.] maintained her tranquility through constant prayer and remembrance of the ultimate cause for which their lives were being sacrificed.
On the insistence of Shimr, Umar ibn Sa'd prepared to attack Imam Husayn's dwindled forces.
When Zaynab [a.s.] heard the battle-cries of their approaching troops she ran to her brother's tent and found that he had fallen asleep while cleaning his sword. She stood there quietly for a moment. He woke up, and seeing her said that he had just had a dream in which he saw his grandfather, the Holy Prophet [s.a.w.], his father Ali [a.s.], his mother Fatima [a.s.], and his brother Hasan [a.s.] telling him that he would soon join them. Seeing how distressed Zaynab [a.s.] was on hearing these words, he said to her, "The blessings of Allah are upon you. Do not worry about the troubles these wretched people will cause."
Sacrifice - Karbala
The tenth day of Muharram, 'Ashura, dawned. Before going into battle Imam Husayn [a.s.] went into the tent of his son Zayn ul-Abidin [a.s.] who was lying ill on a sheep's skin, too weak to join his father in battle. He was being tended to by his aunt Zaynab [a.s.]. Husayn [a.s.] bade him farewell, saying, "My son, you are the best and purest of my children. After me you will be my successor and deputy. Take care of these women and children during captivity and the rigours of travel. Console them. My son, convey to my friends my Salam (greetings of peace) and tell them their Imam has been killed away from his home and that they should mourn for me."
Sighing deeply, he turned to Zaynab [a.s.] and the other women of the Bani Hashim and said, "Take heed and remember that this my son is my successor and Imam and is to be obeyed by everyone." Then to Zaynab [a.s.] he said, "After killing me my enemies would take off the clothes from my body. Therefore please bring me some old and tattered dress to wear so that they might not undress me and leave me naked." Zaynab [a.s.] did as he requested.
That same day, Zaynab [a.s.] brought to him her two sons Aun and Mohammed and said to him, "O my brother, if women were permitted to fight I would have courted death to save you. But it is not allowed. Accept therefore the sacrifice of my two sons."
The bloody battle raged all day. One by one Imam Husayn's sons, kinsmen and supporters were butchered on the battlefield. When Zaynab's sons were killed she bore their death with fortitude.
She did not come out of her tent, nor did she loudly lament for she did not wish to cause grief or shame to her brother. But when the corpse of Ali Akbar [a.s.] (the son of Imam Husayn [a.s.] was brought to the tents of the women Zaynab [a.s.] was distraught. Oblivious of her veil she came out of her tent and clasped the body saying, "O my son, would that I had become blind, or had been buried beneath the ground so as not to have seen this day."
Their enemies did not even give them access to any water that might soothe their parched throats. Their water supplies had long since been finished. When the Imam was taking his final leave of the ladies, Zaynab [a.s.] asked that he try to get a little water for his dehydrated infant son Ali Asghar [a.s.].
The Imam took him in his arms and went to beseech Umar ibn Sa'd for water for the innocent child. But his request fell on deaf ears and stone hearts. Instead, an arrow pierced the child's neck, killing him instantly. Imam Husayn [a.s.] returned with the child still in his arms, himself spattered with his son's blood. Zaynab [a.s.] took the small corpse from her brother and pressing it close to her chest lamented pitifully the heavy toll on life that the injustices of the enemy extracted.
The fateful day wore on. Husayn [a.s.] was wounded so many times until eventually he fell off his horse. His enemies surrounded him and attacked him with swords and spears. When Zaynab [a.s.] saw his agony from her tent door she went on to the field of battle and approaching the Imam, she said, "O my brother, my master, would that the sky fell down on the earth and the mountains toppled to the ground." Then she turned to Umar ibn Sa'd and said, "O Sa'd, Husayn is being butchered and you are only watching." Hearing this his eyes filled with tears, but he made no reply.
Then Zaynab addressed the others of the army: "Is there no Muslim among you who could help the grandson of the Prophet of Allah?" And then the fighting came to an end. Seventy-three brave men had faced four thousand, and after the bloody encounter was over none of the Imam's supporters were left alive. The Imam's body was trampled by his enemies' horses, his head was severed, and even the tattered cloth with which he had hoped to preserve his modesty was snatched off him.
At the moment of the Imam's death, Hadrat Jibra'il proclaimed: "Beware, Husayn has been murdered in Karbala."
Upon hearing this Zaynab [a.s] rushed to Imam Zayn ul-Abidin [a.s.] and told him about the tragedy that had just occurred. At his asking she raised the curtain of the tent door for him and looking towards the battlefield, he exclaimed: "My Aunt, my father has been killed, and with him the spring of generosity and honour too has come to an end. Inform the women and ask them to conduct themselves with patience and forbearance; let them be prepared to be plundered and taken captive."
Now the enemy came to the women's tents. Umar ibn Sa'd gave the order to loot.
Barging in, they plundered what they could and set the tents on fire. They beat the women with their swords and snatched away their veils. Imam Zayn ul-Abidin's bedding was ripped from beneath him and he was left lying feeble, weak and unable to move. Both Sakina's and Fatima's earrings were wrenched from their ears, making them bleed.
While the tents burned away Zaynab [a.s.] gathered the young women and went to find Imam Ali Zayn ul-Abidin [a.s.]. Finding that he had not been killed, Shimr had come to behead him. Zaynab [a.s.] threw herself on her sick nephew to protect him and Shimr was stopped from carrying out his evil intention.
Most of the women and the children had fled into the open in terror. As night fell Zaynab [a.s.] collected them all together, but could not find Sakina, daughter of Husayn [a.s.]. She was greatly perturbed and called on her dead brother to tell her where the girl was. A voice replied, "O my sister, my daughter is with me." Sakina had slipped away to where the body of her dead father lay. Zaynab [a.s.] found her there clinging to his body and brought the orphaned child back.
Eloquent Defiance - Kufa
The next day the members of the Prophet's family were made to leave for Kufa to be presented to Ibn Ziyad. Among the prisoners were Zaynab [a.s.], her sister Umm Kulthum [a.s.], other women of the Bani Hashim, Imam Zayn ul-Abidin [a.s.], three young sons of Imam Hasan [a.s.] and other daughters of Imam Husayn. When, on their way, they reached the battlefield, a heart-rending sight met their eyes. The bodies of the martyrs lay naked on the burning sand, covered with dust and blood. The enemy had not buried them, although they had buried their own dead.
Seeing this scene of carnage, Imam Ali [a.s.] was so affected that he appeared to be on the verge of death himself. Noticing his state, Zaynab [a.s.] said to him, "O you who are a reminder of my grandfather and father. What has happened to you for I see that you are about to lose your life."
He replied "Dear Aunt, how can I be otherwise when I see that the bodies of my father, uncle, brothers and cousins are lying on the ground neglected while their clothes have been removed and there is no arrangement for shrouding and burying them." Zaynab [a.s.] then also openly lamented the murder of her beloved brother and their imprisonment.
Umar ibn Sa'd had entrusted the severed heads of Husayn [a.s.], his sons, and other martyrs, to different tribal chiefs so that on the way people would see that various tribes had taken part in the battle and none would dare to interrupt their march. The captives were made to ride on camels without saddles, their faces unveiled for all the world to see, while ahead of them their captors gleefully carried the chopped off heads of their loved ones impaled on spears.
Kufa was then regarded as the principal city of Islam. Ali [a.s.] had made it his capital during his caliphate and here Zaynab [a.s.] and Umm Kulthum had once lived respected and loved. Now they came to this city of their memories as captives.
It was night when they arrived at the city, and the palace of Ibn Ziyad was shut, so they were made to camp outside. When he was informed of their arrival the next day he ordered that a great function should take place to which all would be invited without distinction. The head of Imam Husayn [a.s.] was to be placed on a gold tray near the court chair, and the heads of the other martyrs were also to be displayed. The people of Kufa were told that some tribe had committed aggression against the Muslims, but the Muslims had secured victory and because of this there was to be a celebration.
Festively dressed and in anticipation of joyful celebrations the people poured into the streets and market place and the music of victory was heard as the captives arrived. But there were a few who guessed the truth, and they looked on with downcast eyes. One woman, on recognising Zaynab [a.s.] and her retinue of unveiled women, ran into her house and brought them all head covers and sheets with which to cover their bodies. But they were not allowed to preserve their modesty and the enemy guards snatched them away.
When Zaynab [a.s.] saw some of the men and women who had realised what had really happened weeping and wailing she bade them be quiet and spoke to them with piercing eloquence and insight, "Praise be to Allah and blessings be on my grandfather Muhammad and his purified and chosen progeny."
"So now, O people who deceive, forsake and contrive, it is you who weep. May Allah not stop your tears and may your chests burn incessantly with the fire of grief and sorrow. Your example is that of a woman who assiduously prepares a strong rope and then untwines it herself, wasting her own hard labour."
"You swear such false oaths which bear no truthfulness at all. Beware that you have nothing except vain talk, false pride, mischief, malice, evil, rancour, falsehood, and sycophancy. Beware that your position is that of slave-maids and purchased girls who are but the meanest beings."
"Your hearts are full of enmity and rancour. You are like the vegetation that grows on filthy soil and is yet green, or like the mortar applied unto graves."
"You should know that you have perpetrated a very morbid deed and that have prepared evil provision for your next life, because of which Allah's anger is against you and His wrath would fall upon you."
"Now you are crying aloud and wailing over my brother! Yes, cry, because it behoves you to cry. Yes, weep profusely and laugh less, because you have earned the shame of killing the Imam of the age. The stain of his blood is now on your clothes and you cannot remove it, nor can you secure acquittal from the charge of killing the son of the last Prophet of Allah, the Chief of the youths in Paradise. You have killed a person who was your support, the knower of the Sunnah and the ultimate arbitrator at the time of your mutual disputations. He was the basis of your talks and actions. He was your place of refuge in the event of hardship."
"Know that you have been guilty of the most heinous crime in the world and have prepared the worst provision for the Day of Judgement. Curses be upon you and may destruction overtake you. Your efforts have gone wasted and you have been ruined. You have transacted a losing trade. You have become the victim of Allah's wrath and have fallen into ignominy and degradation."
"O people of Kufa, woe upon you. Do you realise which piece of Muhammad's heart you have severed, which pledge you have broken, whose blood you have shed and whose honour you have desecrated? You have certainly committed such a crime because of which the sky may fall down on the earth, the earth may crack and mountains crumble to pieces. By killing your Imam you have committed a singularly evil act of rebellious behaviour and heedlessness towards dignity. In view of all these acts would you wonder if blood should rain down from the sky? In any case you should mind that the chastisement of the Next World will be severe. At that juncture there will be no one to help you. Do not regard the time and opportunity given you by Allah as small and unimportant, and do not be satisfied with it because if Allah is not quick in acting it does not imply that He is unable. For Him there is no fear that the time of vengeance is passing away. Allah is certainly keeping watch over you."
People wept, putting their fingers in their mouths and biting them. Without appealing to sentiments of pity, she exposed to them the reality of their selves and their evil deeds. The eyes that had previously been raised in expectation of celebration were now downcast with shame by the truthful force of her speech.
Zaynab [a.s.] entered the government palace with which she was so familiar. In the great audience hall her father had dispensed justice during his caliphate. Her sons had played there and her brothers had been accorded great respect by the people there. Although she was shabbily dressed, and her head was uncovered, she entered with awe-inspiring dignity and took her place in silence. Ibn Ziyad was amazed at her boldness and enquired who she was. Zaynab [a.s.] did not reply, and it was left to one of her slaves to inform him of her identity. Enraged because of her apparently haughty behaviour, Ibn Ziyad addressed her, "Allah be praised! Your brother and your kinsmen are dead and their false claims have come to nought." Zaynab [a.s.] replied, "It was Allah's wish that they should be martyred, and they met their deaths bravely. If this was your heart's desire then you must indeed be content today. But you have killed those whom the Holy Prophet[s.a.w.] held upon his knee when they were children, and, whose play filled him with joy. Soon you will stand with them before Allah and they will demand justice. Beware the day of reckoning."
And it seemed to all that heard that she spoke with the voice of Ali [a.s.], her father. Angrily, Ibn Ziyad turned to a young man and enquired who he was. The youth replied, "I am Ali, son of Husayn." Ibn Ziyad was amazed that he was still alive, and ordered that he should be killed. But Zaynab [a.s.] intervened and said that if the boy was to be killed then she should be killed with him. Ibn Ziyad was moved by her love and allowed the young Imam to live.
Chains were then put around him, and a ring around his neck; then he was permitted to remain with the women.
The family of the Holy Prophet [s.a.w.] were then kept prisoner in a house near the central mosque. There they were kept locked in and under guard, and none save slave-maids were able to visit them.
The day after their arrival Ibn Ziyad wrote to Yazid informing him about the killing of Husayn [a.s.] and the capture of his womenfolk. Yazid replied that the captives be sent to him in Damascus along with the heads of the martyrs. After about a month and seven days in Kufa they were made to set off for Damascus with a large escort of horsemen and footmen of the army so that none should intercept their journey. With their steely-hearted escort the caravan left Kufa on the eighteenth day of Safar. The women suffered untold hardships on their journey to Damascus, which was no less than six hundred miles away. Their journey took them through many villages and towns, among them Karbala, Ba'albeck, Musal and Hums. They were made to travel unveiled, on unsaddled camels like slaves, and the heads of the menfolk were carried on spears before them. In some of the towns crowds flocked to jeer at them, but if it happened that they were to pass through some place where the people were friendly towards the family of the Holy Prophet [s.a.w.], they came out to fight the Yazidites. They therefore were very often forced to take other routes involving long diversions, and the camels were made to run faster so as to cover the extra distance. The captives were harshly treated by their escort, and many of the children perished from the rigours of the journey.
After about twenty-eight days, on the sixteenth of Rabi' ul-Awwal, the caravan reached Damascus.
The Victory of Truth - Damascus
When they reached the outskirts of Damascus they were made to halt. Yazid was informed of their arrival and he fixed a date for their entry into the city.
On the morning of the appointed day, the members of the family of the Holy Prophet [s.a.w.] were led into Damascus. They were tied with ropes and herded together like goats. If anyone stumbled she was whipped. The city streets had been decorated and the sound of music filled the air. People came out in throngs wearing festive clothes and rejoiced when they saw the procession, preceded as always by the heads of the martyrs. Bearing themselves with dignity and self-respect, the prisoners were paraded through Damascus. Zaynab [a.s.] even cast aside the offerings of food that some of them out of compassion offered them.
The son of an enemy of the Prophet [s.a.w.] who had waged war with Imam Ali [a.s.] was among the crowds. When he saw Imam Zayn ul-Abidin [a.s.] he jeeringly asked him who was now victorious. In reply the Imam said: "If you wish to find out who has been victorious, do so when it is time for prayer and the Adhan and Iqamat are recited."
In this manner the captives were paraded until the afternoon when they reached the palace of Yazid. There he was seated on his throne and was much pleased when he saw the forty-four bound captives arrive. The head of Husayn was then brought to him on a golden tray. He struck the Imam's teeth with his stick and said: "O Husayn! You have paid the price of your revolt."
When Zaynab [a.s.] and her companions saw this show of arrogance they burst into tears and there were many present who were ashamed. But Yazid carried on gloating over his victory. He said to his subjects: "My ancestors who were killed at Badr have been avenged today. Now it is clear that the Bani Hashim had just staged a play to gain power and there was never any divine revelation."
Zaynab [a.s.] however was not afraid. She drew herself up and boldly said for all to hear: "Praise be to Allah, the Lord of the worlds and blessings on my grandfather, the Chief of divine prophets."
"O Yazid, Allah says, and his word is true, that: 'Then evil was the end of those who did evil because they rejected the communications of Allah and used to mock them' [30:10]."
"O Yazid, do you believe that you have succeeded in closing the sky and the earth for us and that we have become your captives just because we have been brought before you in a row and that you have secured control over us? Do you believe that we have been afflicted with insult and dishonour by Allah and that you have been given honour and respect by Him? You have become boastful of this apparent victory that you have secured and you have started feeling jubilant and proud over this prestige and honour. You think that you have achieved worldly good, that your affairs have become stabilised and our rule has fallen into your hands. Wait for a while. Do not be so joyful. Have you forgotten Allah's saying: 'The unbelievers should not carry the impression that the time allowed to them by us is good for them. Surely we give them time so that they may increase their evil deeds, and eventually they will be given insulting chastisement' [3:178]."
"O son of freed slaves, is this your justice that you keep your own daughters and slave maids veiled while the daughters of the Prophet of Allah are being paraded from place to place exposed."
"You have dishonoured us by unveiling our faces. Your men take us from town to town where all sorts of people, whether they be residents of the hills or of riversides have been looking at us."
"The near as well as the remote ones, the poor as well as the rich, the low as well as the high - all casting their glances at us while our position is such that there is no male relative of ours to render us help or support."
"O Yazid, whatever you have done proves your revolt against Allah and your denial of His Prophet [s.a.w.] and of the Book and Sunnah that the Holy Prophet [s.a.w.] brought from Allah. Your deeds should not cause amazement because one whose ancestors chewed the livers of the martyrs, whose flesh grew up on virtuous people, who fought against the Chief of divine prophets, who mobilised parties for fighting against him and drew swords against him, should conspicuously excel all Arabs in unbelief, sinfulness, excesses, and enmity against Allah and His Prophet [s.a.w.]."
"Remember that the evil deeds and sinful actions that you have committed are the result of unbelief and old rancour you bear because of your ancestors who were killed in Badr."
"One who cast his glance of enmity, malice and rancour upon us does not lag behind in practising enmity against us. He proves his unbelief, declares it with his tongue and jubilantly proclaims: 'I have killed the sons of the Prophet [s.a.w.] of Allah and made his progeny captive,' and wishes that his ancestors had lived to see his achievement and to have exclaimed, 'O Yazid, may your hands not lose their strength, you have wreaked good vengeance on our behalf.'"
"O Yazid, you are striking the lips of Imam Husayn with your stick in front of this crowd while these very lips used to be kissed by the Prophet [s.a.w.] of Allah, and yet your face reflects pleasure and happiness."
"By my life, by killing the chief of youths of Paradise, the son of the chief of Arabs (Ali [a.s.]) and the shining sun of the progeny of Abd ul-Muttalib, you have deepened our wound and uprooted us completely."
"By killing Husayn ibn Ali [a.s.] you have gained nearness to the state of your unbelieving ancestors. You proclaim your deed with pride and if they were to see you they would approve of your action and pray that Allah may not paralyse your arms."
"O Yazid! If you had heart enough to take account of your nefarious deeds, you yourself would surely wish your arms to be paralysed and severed from your elbow and you would wish that your parents had not given birth to you because you would know that Allah has become displeased with you. Allah, Grant us our rights. Avenge those who have oppressed us."
"O Yazid! you did what you wished, but remember that you have cut your own skin and your own flesh to pieces. Soon you will be brought before the Holy Prophet. You will be overburdened with the weight of your sins committed by shedding the blood of his progeny and by dishonouring his family. The place to which you will be taken will be before all the members of his family. The oppressed will be avenged and the enemies will be punished."
"O Yazid ! It is not seeming for you to swell with joy after slaying the Prophet's progeny. 'Reckon not those who are killed in Allah's way as dead; nay, they are alive and are provided sustenance from their Lord; rejoicing in what Allah has given them out of His grace' [3:169-170]."
"Allah is sufficient to deal with you. The Messenger of Allah is your antagonist and Hadrat Jibra'il is our support and help against you."
"Those who have made you the head of state and burdened the Muslims with your leadership will soon find out what awaits them. The end of all tyrants is agony."
"O Yazid. I speak not to you thus to warn you of the severe chastisement in store for you so that you should be regretful for you are one of those whose hearts are hardened, souls are rebellious and whose bodies are busy in Allah's disobedience while they are under the curse of the Prophet of Allah. You are from among those in whose heart Shaytan has made his abode and has been breeding young ones."
"How amazing it is that the virtuous people, sons of the divine prophets and vicegerents are killed at the hands of liberated slaves, evil-doers and sinners. Our blood is shed by their hands and our flesh serves as food for them. We feel grieved for those whose bodies are lying unshrouded and unburied in the battlefield, wounded with arrows."
"O Yazid, if you consider our defeat as your achievement then you will have to pay its price."
"Allah commits not injustice to His servants. Our reliance is on Allah. He alone is our Relief and place of Protection, and in Him alone do we repose our hope."
"You may contrive and try however much you can. By Him who honoured us with revelation, the Book and Prophethood, you cannot achieve our status, nor reach our position, nor can you effect our mention, nor remove from yourself that shame and dishonour that is now your lot because of perpetrating excess and oppression on us. Your word now is weak and your days are counted. Beware of the day when the announcer would announce the curse of Allah on the oppressors and the unjust."
"Praise be to Allah who gave good end to His friends and granted them success in their aims, and thereafter called them back to His Mercy, Pleasure and Bliss, while you hurled yourself into evil and mischief by committing injustice against them. We pray to Allah to favour us with full recompense through them and grant us the good of Khilafat and Imamat. Surely Allah is Kind and the Most Merciful over His creatures."
Among the gathering was a red haired Syrian who saw Fatima Kubra, daughter of Imam Husayn and asked Yazid to give her to him. When the girl heard this she clung to Zaynab [a.s.] and started to weep. She feared that now after the loss of her father she was to be made a slave girl.
Zaynab [a.s.] was not afraid. She turned to Yazid and told him that he had neither right nor authority to give the young girl away like that, at which he bristled, retorting that he could do so.
Zaynab [a.s.] riposted, "You are abusing me because of your authority and power." At this Yazid was shamed into silence. To the Syrian she said: "My the curse of Allah be upon you. May hell be your eternal abode. May your eyes be blinded and your limbs paralysed." Immediately paralysis gripped the man and he fell to the ground dead.
Yazid was so enraged with Zaynab bold defiance of his authority that he might have ordered her killed had not Abdullah ibn Umar ibn Aas intervened and begged that no notice be taken of her harsh words since she had suffered much grief and hardship and was broken-hearted.
Imam Zayn ul-Abidin [a.s.] would also have suffered death at the hands of Yazid on account of his fearless speech, had not Zaynab [a.s.] saved his life by begging Yazid to slay her also along with the boy. Yazid was moved by her love for the boy and spared his life. But death nevertheless took its toll. Sakina, daughter of Imam Husayn, died in captivity in Damascus at the age of four and was buried there.
Through Zaynab's bold and fearless speeches and from the word that spread as a result of their journey, people came to know of the events of Karbala and their hearts were stirred. The continued captivity and humiliation of the family of the Prophet of Allah was bringing their cause to the attention of an ever increasing number of people. Word came to Yazid that there was turmoil and unrest in the realm and he decided to release the captives.
When it seemed to him that the Ahl ul-Bayt had been adequately humiliated, and upon the urgings of certain people who were alert to the public's growing dissension upon learning the truth, Yazid sent for Imam Zayn ul-Abidin [a.s.]. He informed him of his impending release and asked if he wished for anything. The youth said he would have to consult his aunt Zaynab [a.s.].
Arrangements were made and she arrived, properly veiled. She asked, "O Yazid, since the day our leader and our chief Husayn was butchered we have not had any opportunity to mourn for him."
A large house was therefore provided for them in the residential sector of Damascus and here Zaynab [a.s.] held her first gathering for the mourning and remembrance (majlis-e-aza) of Imam Husayn. The women of the Quraysh and Bani Hashim arrived clad in black, with their heads uncovered, weeping wretchedly.
Imam Zayn ul-Abidin [a.s.] sat on the carpet of Imam Husayn and then Zaynab [a.s.] told the women of Syria what had befallen them. They shed tears and mourned. They had not known about the events of Karbala and Kufa, but when they went home they told their menfolk.
Gradually illusions of Yazid's good intentions were dispelled. It was fear of revolt that caused Yazid to release the members of the family of the Holy Prophet [s.a.w.].
Epilogue
lt was her destiny to proclaim to the world the sacrifices made by Imam Husayn and the other members of the family of the Holy Prophet [s.a.w.] for the cause of Islam. She exposed the evil deeds of Ibn Ziyad and Yazid with courage and fearlessness. Had it not been for her the sacrifice of Karbala might have faded into oblivion. She endured physical pain and mental torture with fortitude and was a source of strength to all around her. The sorrow and grief she expressed was an outpouring of her intense humanity. Never did she rebel against the destiny decreed by Allah. The strength of her submission was divine, yet her lamentation poignantly human.
The spirit of Zaynab [a.s.] will live forever. Her courage, forbearance, and submission will continue to inspire those who hear her story for all time to come.
Notes
Nasikh ul-Tawarikh by Mirza Abbas Quli Khan, published by Kitab forooshi-e Islami, Tehran, 1346 (Iranian calender) is acknowledged to be the most comprehensive and accurate collection of information pertaining to the life of Zaynab bint Ali [a.s.]
The exact date of her birth is uncertain; however the most widely accepted dates are the first of Sha'ban or the fifth of Jamadi ul-Awwal of the fifth or sixth year A.H., or the ninth of Ramadan in the ninth year A.H. p.45-6 ibid. p.68 ibid. Zaynab is thought to mean 'she who weeps excessively', and other linguistic sources state that it once meant a good looking or smelling tree. The name might also possibly be a compound of the two Arabic words, zayn (beauty) and ab (father).
Not only is the date of her death uncertain but so is the place: she is variously thought to be buried (most popularly) in Damascus, but also in Medina and Cairo. There are two explanations given as to how she came to be buried in Damascus: one being that some time after their return Yazid once again sent his forces to attack them, this time at Medina, and she and other members of her family were taken as prisoners of war to Damascus where she died; another being that because of a famine that swept through Medina, her husband temporarily moved his family to a village near Damascus, and it was there while praying in a garden that Zaynab [a.s.] was accidentally but fatally struck by a gardener's spade, or fell victim to a serious illness from which she never recovered. The anniversary of her death is observed on the following dates: 11th or 21st of Jamadi uth-thani, the 24th of Safar, or the 16th of Dhu'l-Hijjah.
Ziyarat
The following ziyarat (verbal salutation) for Bibi Zaynab [a.s.] is traditionally recited to obtain divine blessing while visiting her shrine (in this case, in Damascus, Syria). It can also be recited at any other time in remembrance of the example of courage and submission that she presented to the world, particularly on the acknowledged days of her birth, death, and during the month of Muharram.
Peace be upon you, O' daughter of the Chief of prophets.
Peace be upon you, O' daughter of the Master of the sanctuary and the banner.
Peace be upon you, O' daughter of him who was made to ascend to (highest) heaven and reached the station of two bows' length (to Allah) or even closer.
Peace be upon you, O' daughter of the Leader of the pious.
Peace be upon you, O' daughter of the support of the sincere friends (of Allah).
Peace be upon you. O' daughter of the Leader of the Deen.
Peace be upon you, O' daughter of the Commander of the faithful.
Peace be upon you, O' daughter of him who struck with the sword of two blades.
Peace be upon you, O' daughter of him who prayed towards the two qiblahs [Jerusalem, then Mecca].
Peace be upon you, O' daughter of Muhammad, the chosen.
Peace be upon you, O' daughter of Ali, the content (with the decree of Allah).
Peace be upon you, O' daughter of Fatima, the radiant.
Peace be upon you, O' daughter of Khadija, the elder.
Peace be upon you, O' righteous one, pleasing (to Allah).
Peace be upon you, O' learned, rightly guided one.
Peace be upon you, O' generous, noble one.
Peace be upon you, O' pious, pure one.
Peace be upon you, O' you who were thoroughly tested by sufferance like Husayn, the oppressed.
Peace be upon you, O' you who were kept far from your home.
Peace be upon you, O' you who were held captive in cities.
Peace be upon you, O' daughter of the greatest endeared friend of Allah.
Peace be upon you, O' sister of the glorified friend of Allah.
Peace be upon you, O' aunt of the revered friend of Allah.
Peace be upon you, O' sister of misfortunes, Sayyida Zaynab, and may the mercy and blessings of Allah be upon you.
THE END
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The Victory of Truth: The Life of Zaynab bint Ali
By M. H. Bilgrami (1986)
Introduction
This is the story of the victory of truth. It is the story of a unique woman whose own fate was inextricably bound with the historical events of Karbala that have impressed upon mankind the true reality of living Islam.
It was on the plains of Karbala that the conflict between Imam Husayn, 'alayhi 'salam, and the pretender to the caliphate, Yazid ibn Mu'awiya, was waged in battle. Imam Husayn had steadfastly refused to pay homage to Yazid and acknowledge him as leader of the Muslim world. It was no secret that Yazid flagrantly flaunted the laws of Islam and even publicly derided its beliefs. His claim to the caliphate bore no legitimacy or acceptability in the eyes of Imam Husayn, 'alayhi 'salam.
It would be facile and dishonest to consider their confrontation as but an isolated instance of power-jockeying in the early days of Islam. The issue on which they clashed is one that continues to be a source of needless antagonism among Muslims today, and that is: What manner of man has the right to rule the Muslim world, or indeed, mankind? Could Muslims be ruled by one integrated, complementary set of laws rooted in the knowledge of Allah ta'ala's supreme tawhid (unity), or by a power that seeks to elevate temporal values to hard and fast law at the cost of allegiance to the Sole Source of all creation?
This story unfolds through the life of Zaynab Kubrah, grand-daughter of the Holy Prophet, salla'llahu 'alayhi wa alihi wa sallam, daughter of Hadrat Fatima and Imam Ali, 'alayhim as-salam. From what we know of her actions and speeches, it is clear that in her was reflected the divine prophetic light that was her heritage.
In writing on Zaynab bint Ali, 'alayha 's-salam, we must first bear in mind an unalterable fact: that is, despite the efforts of numerous biographers, very little actual recorded historical fact is available about her. Even the exact dates of her birth, death, marriage, or number of children, cannot be ascertained with complete confidence.
Oral tradition about Zaynab [a.s.] has gradually evolved to a point-of subjective elaboration and emotional hyperbola that have eventually clouded her real persona and the context from which we have come to know her.
Indeed, the romantic mythology that now shrouds both her and her brother Imam Husayn [a.s.] seems to distance us from wanting to understand what they really stood for and what their actions really meant, both in the context of their afflicted times and throughout all times, present and future.
It is not necessary however to dig up as many facts or versions of her life as are available in order to perceive her purity and the strategic importance of her contribution. Though the information may be little, it is enough. The fact that we remember her at all is sufficient to rekindle our understanding of the intimate ideals for which life is worth serving. This book seeks to let these facts speak for themselves. The conclusions to be drawn are implicit to any reader whose heart and mind are available and receptive to the essence of submission.
According to the shari'ah (revealed law) of Allah women are hidden treasures, neither to be displayed nor advertised. Theirs is a subtle, fundamental and discreet domain. Imam Ali, 'alayhi 's-salam, once asked Hadrat Fatima, 'alayha 's-salam, "Ma khayru 'n-nisa (who are the best among women)?"
She replied, "La yarina 'r-rijala wa la yarunahunna (those who do not see men nor are seen by them)."
This then is another reason why so little is known about Zaynab [a.s.] or any other women throughout the history of Islam. But this rule can only apply if all the other elements of a pure Muslim society are equal. If the application of the divinely directed formula is chaotic and imbalanced, then that is the time when a woman feels compelled to emerge into the open arena. This is the situation in which Zaynab [a.s.] found herself. After Karbala no one was left that had the courage to stand up to tyranny, speak the truth, and submit to the consequences.
Thus what we know of her is only because of exceptional circumstances. A twist in history created the conditions that forced Zaynab [a.s] to declare, not herself, but the truth. It is through her extraordinary handling of the wretched trials she endured that we have caught glimpses of the untold depths of her courage, forbearance, patience and submission to the decree of Allah. It is partly through her that the prophetic legacy was rescued from being eclipsed by the ever-present shadows of kufr (denial of Truth), and it is in this light that we must forever remember her and take inspiration and guidance from her example.
Angelic Appellation
It was five years after the Muslims had accompanied the Prophet [s.a.w.] and his family in the migration (hijrah) to Medina, when the Holy Prophet's daughter, Hadrat Fatima [a.s.], gave birth to a little girl. When her father, Imam Ali [a.s.], saw his daughter for the first time Imam Husayn [a.s.], who was then almost three years old, was with him. The boy exclaimed in delight, "O father, Allah has given me a sister." At those words Imam Ali [a.s.] began to weep, and when Husayn [a.s.] asked why he was crying so, his father answered that he would soon come to know. Fatima [a.s.] and Ali [a.s.] did not name their child until a few days after her birth, for they awaited the Prophet's return from a journey so that he could propose the name.
When finally the baby girl was brought before him he held her in his lap and kissed her. The Angel Jibra'il came to him and conveyed the name that was to be hers, and then he began to weep.
The Prophet [s.a.w.] asked why Jibra'il wept and he answered, "O Prophet of Allah, from early on in life this girl will remain entangled in tribulations and trials in this world.- First she will weep over your separation (from this world); thereafter she will bemoan the loss of her mother, then her father, and then her brother Hasan. After all this she will be confronted with the trials of the land of Karbala and the tribulations of that lonely desert, as a result of which her hair will turn grey and her back will be bent."
When the members of the family heard this prophecy they all broke down in tears. Imam Husayn [a.s.] now understood why earlier his father had also wept. Then the Prophet [s.a.w.] named her Zaynab [a.s.].
When the news of Zaynab's birth reached Salman al-Farsi, he went to Ali [a.s.] to congratulate him. But instead of seeing him happy and rejoicing he saw Ali [a.s.] shed tears, and he too was apprised of the events of Karbala and the hardships that were to befall Zaynab [a.s.].
One day, when Zaynab [a.s.] was about five years old, she had a strange and terrible dream. A violent wind arose in the city and darkened the earth and the sky. The little girl was tossed hither and thither, and suddenly she found herself stuck in the branches of a huge tree. But the wind was so strong that it uprooted the tree. Zaynab [a.s.] caught hold of a branch but that broke. In a panic she grabbed two twigs but these too gave way and she was left falling with no support.
Then she woke up. When she told her grandfather, the Prophet [s.a.w.], about this dream he wept bitterly and said, "O my daughter that tree is me who is shortly going to leave this world.
The branches are your father Ali and your mother Fatima Zahra, and the twigs are your brothers Hasan and Husayn. They will all depart this world before you do, and you will suffer their separation and loss."
Growing Up in Medina
Zaynab [a.s.] shared with her brothers and sister the extraordinary position of having such examples to look up to, emulate and learn from, as her grandfather, the Prophet of Allah [s.a.w.], her mother Fatima [a.s.], daughter of the Prophet, and her father Imam Ali [a.s.], cousin-brother of the Prophet.
In the pure environment that enveloped her, she absorbed the teachings of Islam that her grandfather imparted and after him her father. Here too she learnt to master all household skills with great proficiency. She had barely attained the tender age of seven when her beloved mother passed away. Her mother's death had closely followed her cherished grandfather's passing away. Some time later Imam Ali [a.s ] married Umm ul-Banin, whose devotion and pledge encouraged Zaynab [a.s.] in her learning.
Whilst still a young girl she was fully able to care for and be responsible for the running of her father's household. As much as she cared for the comforts and ease of her brothers and sisters, in her own wants she was frugal and unstintingly generous to the poor, homeless and parentless.
After her marriage her husband is reported as having said, "Zaynab is the best housewife."
From very early on she developed an unbreakable bond of attachment to her brother Imam Husayn [a.s.]. At times, when as a baby in her mother's arms she could not be pacified and made to stop crying, she would quieten down upon being held by her brother, and there she would sit quietly gazing at his face. Before she would pray she used to first cast a glance at the face of her beloved brother.
One day Fatima [a.s.] mentioned the intensity of her daughter's love for Imam Husayn [a.s.] to the Prophet [s.a.w.]. He breathed a deep sigh and said with moistened eyes, "My dear child.
This child of mine, Zaynab, would be confronted with a thousand and one calamities and face serious hardships in Karbala."
Womanhood
Zaynab [as.] grew into a fine statured young woman. Of her physical appearance little is known.
When the tragedy of Karbala befell her in her mid-fifties she was forced to go out uncovered. It was then that some people remarked that she appeared as a 'shining sun' and a 'piece of the moon'.
In her character she reflected the best attributes of those who raised her. In sobriety and serenity she was likened to Umm ul-Mu'minin Khadija, her grandmother [a.s.]; in chastity and modesty to her mother Fatima Zahra [a.s.]; in eloquence to her father Ali [a.s.]; in forbearance and patience to her brother Imam Hasan [a.s.]; and in bravery and tranquility of the heart to Imam Husayn [a.s.]. Her face reflected her father's awe and her grandfather's reverence.
When the time came for marriage, she was married in a simple ceremony to her first cousin, Abdullah ibn Ja'far Tayyar. Abdullah had been brought up under the direct care of the Prophet [s.a.w.]. After his death, Imam Ali [a.s.] became his supporter and guardian until he came of age. He grew up to be a handsome youth with pleasing manners and was known for his sincere hospitality to guests and selfless generosity to the poor and needy.
Together this young couple had five children, of whom four were sons, Ali, Aun, Muhammad, and Abbas, and one daughter, Umm Kulthum.
In Medina it was Zaynab's practise to hold regular meetings for women in which she shared her knowledge and taught them the precepts of the Deen of Islam as laid out in the Holy Qur'an. Her gatherings were well and regularly attended. She was able to impart the teachings with such clarity and eloquence that she became known as Fasihah (skillfully fluent) and Balighah (intensely eloquent).
In the thirty-seventh year A.H. (after Hijrah), Imam Ali [a.s.] moved to Kufa to finally take up his rightful position as khalifah. He was accompanied by his daughter Zaynab [a.s.] and her husband.
Her reputation as an inspiring teacher among the women had preceded her. There too women would throng to her daily sittings where they all benefited from her erudition, wisdom and scholarship in the exegesis of the Qur'an.
The depth and certainty of her knowledge earned her the name given to her by her nephew, Imam Ali Zayn ul-Abidin [a.s.], of 'Alimah Ghayr Mu'allamah, she who has knowledge without being taught.
Zaynab [a.s.] was also nicknamed Zahidah (abstemious) and 'Abidah (devoted) because of her abstemiousness and piety. She found little of interest in worldly adornments, always preferring the bliss and comfort of the Next World over that of this world. She used to say that for her the life of this world was as a resting place to relieve fatigue along a journey. Humble and of high morals, her main concern was to strive to please Allah and in doing so she avoided anything which was the least bit doubtful.
Assassination
On the night before Friday the 19th of Ramadan in the fortieth year after hijrah, Imam Ali [a.s.] went to the central mosque for prayers. Shortly after the adhan (call to prayer), Zaynab [a.s.] heard a heart-rending cry. Soon the cries came nearer to her house and she realised that they were bringing her the news of her father's assassination. Ibn Muljim had struck Imam Ali [a.s.] a fatal blow while he was in the defenceless state of sajdah (devotional prostration). Mortally wounded, he was carried back home on the shoulders of his followers.
There was to be no recovery from this wound. On the twenty-first night of Ramadan Imam Ali [a.s.] died, leaving his two sons and daughter to witness and face his enemies' misguided lust for power and revenge.
Rendezvous with Fate - Karbala
When Zaynab [a.s.] learnt of her brother's proposed journey to Kufa she begged her husband to give her leave to accompany her brother. Abdullah pointed out that such a journey was fraught with difficulties and hardship. Zaynab [a.s.] insisted, saying, "My mother did not leave me behind to watch from afar as recreation the day when my brother is all alone, surrounded by enemies with no friend or supporter. You know that for fifty-five years my brother and I have never been separated. Now is the time of our old age and the closing period of our lives. If I leave him now, how shall I be able to face my mother, who at the time of her death had willed, 'Zaynab, after me you are both mother and sister for Husayn [a.s.]'? It is obligatory for me to stay with you, but if I do not go with him at this time, I shall not be able to bear the separation." Abdullah himself had wanted to accompany the Imam, but since he had been weakened by illness, he gave her permission to go on this destined journey. With her he sent two of their sons. Zaynab [a.s.] had been prepared all her life for what was written for her and her brother. She preferred to face the trials of Karbala than to ever be separated from him.
Having decided to leave, Imam Husayn [a.s.] ordered that litters be prepared for the ladies of his family. Abu'l-Fadl Abbas, his half-brother (for they shared the same father), helped Zaynab [a.s.] and her sister Umm Kulthum into their litter. They were followed by two young girls, Fatima Kubra and Sakina, daughters of Imam Husayn [a.s.].
After the first day of their journey, the party camped at Khuzaymiyyah for the night. While Zaynab [a.s.] was seeing to her brother's comfort, he said to her, "What will come to pass has long since been decreed."
When later on their journey, they reached Ruhayma, they found their way blocked by Hur ibn Yazid Riyahi. Sakina saw what had happened and when she told Zaynab [a.s.], Zaynab wept and said to her, "Would that the enemy killed all of us rather than slay my brother."
When Imam Husayn [a.s.] heard of his sister's distress, he went to her tent and she said to him, "O my brother, talk to them. Tell them about your nearness to the Holy Prophet and of your kinship with him." Imam Husayn [a.s.] replied, ''O sister! I spoke to them at length. I tried to convince them but they are so immersed in misguidance and obsessed with greed that they cannot set aside their evil intentions. They will not rest till they have killed me and seen me rolling around in my blood. O sister, I advise you to patiently endure the forthcoming troubles. My grandfather the Holy Prophet had told me of my martyrdom, and his foretellings cannot be untrue."
Imam Husayn's [a.s.] party reached Karbala on the second of Muharram. But the supporters that had originally invited him to Kufa were no longer his to command. Having got wind of their intentions, Yazid appointed Ibn Ziyad, governor of Kufa, to carry out orders to subvert their plans, and this they had achieved successfully. With the Imam's following cunningly eliminated, forces were sent to meet him near Karbala.
The tents were pitched and at night Imam Husayn [a.s.] sat cleaning his sword and reciting couplets forecasting his doom. His son Zayn ul-Abidin [a.s.] listened quietly but in sorrow. When Zaynab [a.s.] heard him she could not restrain her tears. She went to her brother and prayed that death would overtake her. Imam Husayn [a.s.] urged her not to let Shaytan deprive her of her power of fortitude. She asked whether she might be killed in his place, and when she heard his negative reply she fainted. When she came to, her brother said, "Everything is mortal. The final word lies with Allah and to Him is the return. My father and grandfather were better men than I but where are they now? Their example is the standard for me and for all Muslims."
So saying he bade her be patient and not to weep over his death or shed tears or beat her cheeks. He then took her to the tent of his son Ali Zayn ul-Abidin [a.s.] and left her there. But Zaynab [a.s.] was not to be consoled, and from this time came to be known as Baakiyah (one who weeps).
On the eve of the tenth day of Muharram, Imam Husayn [a.s.] addressed his followers, the Ansar and the Bani Hashim. It had become clear that this was to be a battle unto death. He therefore released them from any obligation to remain by his side, and let them know that no grudge would be held against them were they to turn away from the coming decisive battle and return to safety.
There was now no doubt about the slaughter that was to come. Despite the heavy burden of knowing this insurmountable fact, Zaynab [a.s.] maintained her tranquility through constant prayer and remembrance of the ultimate cause for which their lives were being sacrificed.
On the insistence of Shimr, Umar ibn Sa'd prepared to attack Imam Husayn's dwindled forces.
When Zaynab [a.s.] heard the battle-cries of their approaching troops she ran to her brother's tent and found that he had fallen asleep while cleaning his sword. She stood there quietly for a moment. He woke up, and seeing her said that he had just had a dream in which he saw his grandfather, the Holy Prophet [s.a.w.], his father Ali [a.s.], his mother Fatima [a.s.], and his brother Hasan [a.s.] telling him that he would soon join them. Seeing how distressed Zaynab [a.s.] was on hearing these words, he said to her, "The blessings of Allah are upon you. Do not worry about the troubles these wretched people will cause."
Sacrifice - Karbala
The tenth day of Muharram, 'Ashura, dawned. Before going into battle Imam Husayn [a.s.] went into the tent of his son Zayn ul-Abidin [a.s.] who was lying ill on a sheep's skin, too weak to join his father in battle. He was being tended to by his aunt Zaynab [a.s.]. Husayn [a.s.] bade him farewell, saying, "My son, you are the best and purest of my children. After me you will be my successor and deputy. Take care of these women and children during captivity and the rigours of travel. Console them. My son, convey to my friends my Salam (greetings of peace) and tell them their Imam has been killed away from his home and that they should mourn for me."
Sighing deeply, he turned to Zaynab [a.s.] and the other women of the Bani Hashim and said, "Take heed and remember that this my son is my successor and Imam and is to be obeyed by everyone." Then to Zaynab [a.s.] he said, "After killing me my enemies would take off the clothes from my body. Therefore please bring me some old and tattered dress to wear so that they might not undress me and leave me naked." Zaynab [a.s.] did as he requested.
That same day, Zaynab [a.s.] brought to him her two sons Aun and Mohammed and said to him, "O my brother, if women were permitted to fight I would have courted death to save you. But it is not allowed. Accept therefore the sacrifice of my two sons."
The bloody battle raged all day. One by one Imam Husayn's sons, kinsmen and supporters were butchered on the battlefield. When Zaynab's sons were killed she bore their death with fortitude.
She did not come out of her tent, nor did she loudly lament for she did not wish to cause grief or shame to her brother. But when the corpse of Ali Akbar [a.s.] (the son of Imam Husayn [a.s.] was brought to the tents of the women Zaynab [a.s.] was distraught. Oblivious of her veil she came out of her tent and clasped the body saying, "O my son, would that I had become blind, or had been buried beneath the ground so as not to have seen this day."
Their enemies did not even give them access to any water that might soothe their parched throats. Their water supplies had long since been finished. When the Imam was taking his final leave of the ladies, Zaynab [a.s.] asked that he try to get a little water for his dehydrated infant son Ali Asghar [a.s.].
The Imam took him in his arms and went to beseech Umar ibn Sa'd for water for the innocent child. But his request fell on deaf ears and stone hearts. Instead, an arrow pierced the child's neck, killing him instantly. Imam Husayn [a.s.] returned with the child still in his arms, himself spattered with his son's blood. Zaynab [a.s.] took the small corpse from her brother and pressing it close to her chest lamented pitifully the heavy toll on life that the injustices of the enemy extracted.
The fateful day wore on. Husayn [a.s.] was wounded so many times until eventually he fell off his horse. His enemies surrounded him and attacked him with swords and spears. When Zaynab [a.s.] saw his agony from her tent door she went on to the field of battle and approaching the Imam, she said, "O my brother, my master, would that the sky fell down on the earth and the mountains toppled to the ground." Then she turned to Umar ibn Sa'd and said, "O Sa'd, Husayn is being butchered and you are only watching." Hearing this his eyes filled with tears, but he made no reply.
Then Zaynab addressed the others of the army: "Is there no Muslim among you who could help the grandson of the Prophet of Allah?" And then the fighting came to an end. Seventy-three brave men had faced four thousand, and after the bloody encounter was over none of the Imam's supporters were left alive. The Imam's body was trampled by his enemies' horses, his head was severed, and even the tattered cloth with which he had hoped to preserve his modesty was snatched off him.
At the moment of the Imam's death, Hadrat Jibra'il proclaimed: "Beware, Husayn has been murdered in Karbala."
Upon hearing this Zaynab [a.s] rushed to Imam Zayn ul-Abidin [a.s.] and told him about the tragedy that had just occurred. At his asking she raised the curtain of the tent door for him and looking towards the battlefield, he exclaimed: "My Aunt, my father has been killed, and with him the spring of generosity and honour too has come to an end. Inform the women and ask them to conduct themselves with patience and forbearance; let them be prepared to be plundered and taken captive."
Now the enemy came to the women's tents. Umar ibn Sa'd gave the order to loot.
Barging in, they plundered what they could and set the tents on fire. They beat the women with their swords and snatched away their veils. Imam Zayn ul-Abidin's bedding was ripped from beneath him and he was left lying feeble, weak and unable to move. Both Sakina's and Fatima's earrings were wrenched from their ears, making them bleed.
While the tents burned away Zaynab [a.s.] gathered the young women and went to find Imam Ali Zayn ul-Abidin [a.s.]. Finding that he had not been killed, Shimr had come to behead him. Zaynab [a.s.] threw herself on her sick nephew to protect him and Shimr was stopped from carrying out his evil intention.
Most of the women and the children had fled into the open in terror. As night fell Zaynab [a.s.] collected them all together, but could not find Sakina, daughter of Husayn [a.s.]. She was greatly perturbed and called on her dead brother to tell her where the girl was. A voice replied, "O my sister, my daughter is with me." Sakina had slipped away to where the body of her dead father lay. Zaynab [a.s.] found her there clinging to his body and brought the orphaned child back.
Eloquent Defiance - Kufa
The next day the members of the Prophet's family were made to leave for Kufa to be presented to Ibn Ziyad. Among the prisoners were Zaynab [a.s.], her sister Umm Kulthum [a.s.], other women of the Bani Hashim, Imam Zayn ul-Abidin [a.s.], three young sons of Imam Hasan [a.s.] and other daughters of Imam Husayn. When, on their way, they reached the battlefield, a heart-rending sight met their eyes. The bodies of the martyrs lay naked on the burning sand, covered with dust and blood. The enemy had not buried them, although they had buried their own dead.
Seeing this scene of carnage, Imam Ali [a.s.] was so affected that he appeared to be on the verge of death himself. Noticing his state, Zaynab [a.s.] said to him, "O you who are a reminder of my grandfather and father. What has happened to you for I see that you are about to lose your life."
He replied "Dear Aunt, how can I be otherwise when I see that the bodies of my father, uncle, brothers and cousins are lying on the ground neglected while their clothes have been removed and there is no arrangement for shrouding and burying them." Zaynab [a.s.] then also openly lamented the murder of her beloved brother and their imprisonment.
Umar ibn Sa'd had entrusted the severed heads of Husayn [a.s.], his sons, and other martyrs, to different tribal chiefs so that on the way people would see that various tribes had taken part in the battle and none would dare to interrupt their march. The captives were made to ride on camels without saddles, their faces unveiled for all the world to see, while ahead of them their captors gleefully carried the chopped off heads of their loved ones impaled on spears.
Kufa was then regarded as the principal city of Islam. Ali [a.s.] had made it his capital during his caliphate and here Zaynab [a.s.] and Umm Kulthum had once lived respected and loved. Now they came to this city of their memories as captives.
It was night when they arrived at the city, and the palace of Ibn Ziyad was shut, so they were made to camp outside. When he was informed of their arrival the next day he ordered that a great function should take place to which all would be invited without distinction. The head of Imam Husayn [a.s.] was to be placed on a gold tray near the court chair, and the heads of the other martyrs were also to be displayed. The people of Kufa were told that some tribe had committed aggression against the Muslims, but the Muslims had secured victory and because of this there was to be a celebration.
Festively dressed and in anticipation of joyful celebrations the people poured into the streets and market place and the music of victory was heard as the captives arrived. But there were a few who guessed the truth, and they looked on with downcast eyes. One woman, on recognising Zaynab [a.s.] and her retinue of unveiled women, ran into her house and brought them all head covers and sheets with which to cover their bodies. But they were not allowed to preserve their modesty and the enemy guards snatched them away.
When Zaynab [a.s.] saw some of the men and women who had realised what had really happened weeping and wailing she bade them be quiet and spoke to them with piercing eloquence and insight, "Praise be to Allah and blessings be on my grandfather Muhammad and his purified and chosen progeny."
"So now, O people who deceive, forsake and contrive, it is you who weep. May Allah not stop your tears and may your chests burn incessantly with the fire of grief and sorrow. Your example is that of a woman who assiduously prepares a strong rope and then untwines it herself, wasting her own hard labour."
"You swear such false oaths which bear no truthfulness at all. Beware that you have nothing except vain talk, false pride, mischief, malice, evil, rancour, falsehood, and sycophancy. Beware that your position is that of slave-maids and purchased girls who are but the meanest beings."
"Your hearts are full of enmity and rancour. You are like the vegetation that grows on filthy soil and is yet green, or like the mortar applied unto graves."
"You should know that you have perpetrated a very morbid deed and that have prepared evil provision for your next life, because of which Allah's anger is against you and His wrath would fall upon you."
"Now you are crying aloud and wailing over my brother! Yes, cry, because it behoves you to cry. Yes, weep profusely and laugh less, because you have earned the shame of killing the Imam of the age. The stain of his blood is now on your clothes and you cannot remove it, nor can you secure acquittal from the charge of killing the son of the last Prophet of Allah, the Chief of the youths in Paradise. You have killed a person who was your support, the knower of the Sunnah and the ultimate arbitrator at the time of your mutual disputations. He was the basis of your talks and actions. He was your place of refuge in the event of hardship."
"Know that you have been guilty of the most heinous crime in the world and have prepared the worst provision for the Day of Judgement. Curses be upon you and may destruction overtake you. Your efforts have gone wasted and you have been ruined. You have transacted a losing trade. You have become the victim of Allah's wrath and have fallen into ignominy and degradation."
"O people of Kufa, woe upon you. Do you realise which piece of Muhammad's heart you have severed, which pledge you have broken, whose blood you have shed and whose honour you have desecrated? You have certainly committed such a crime because of which the sky may fall down on the earth, the earth may crack and mountains crumble to pieces. By killing your Imam you have committed a singularly evil act of rebellious behaviour and heedlessness towards dignity. In view of all these acts would you wonder if blood should rain down from the sky? In any case you should mind that the chastisement of the Next World will be severe. At that juncture there will be no one to help you. Do not regard the time and opportunity given you by Allah as small and unimportant, and do not be satisfied with it because if Allah is not quick in acting it does not imply that He is unable. For Him there is no fear that the time of vengeance is passing away. Allah is certainly keeping watch over you."
People wept, putting their fingers in their mouths and biting them. Without appealing to sentiments of pity, she exposed to them the reality of their selves and their evil deeds. The eyes that had previously been raised in expectation of celebration were now downcast with shame by the truthful force of her speech.
Zaynab [a.s.] entered the government palace with which she was so familiar. In the great audience hall her father had dispensed justice during his caliphate. Her sons had played there and her brothers had been accorded great respect by the people there. Although she was shabbily dressed, and her head was uncovered, she entered with awe-inspiring dignity and took her place in silence. Ibn Ziyad was amazed at her boldness and enquired who she was. Zaynab [a.s.] did not reply, and it was left to one of her slaves to inform him of her identity. Enraged because of her apparently haughty behaviour, Ibn Ziyad addressed her, "Allah be praised! Your brother and your kinsmen are dead and their false claims have come to nought." Zaynab [a.s.] replied, "It was Allah's wish that they should be martyred, and they met their deaths bravely. If this was your heart's desire then you must indeed be content today. But you have killed those whom the Holy Prophet[s.a.w.] held upon his knee when they were children, and, whose play filled him with joy. Soon you will stand with them before Allah and they will demand justice. Beware the day of reckoning."
And it seemed to all that heard that she spoke with the voice of Ali [a.s.], her father. Angrily, Ibn Ziyad turned to a young man and enquired who he was. The youth replied, "I am Ali, son of Husayn." Ibn Ziyad was amazed that he was still alive, and ordered that he should be killed. But Zaynab [a.s.] intervened and said that if the boy was to be killed then she should be killed with him. Ibn Ziyad was moved by her love and allowed the young Imam to live.
Chains were then put around him, and a ring around his neck; then he was permitted to remain with the women.
The family of the Holy Prophet [s.a.w.] were then kept prisoner in a house near the central mosque. There they were kept locked in and under guard, and none save slave-maids were able to visit them.
The day after their arrival Ibn Ziyad wrote to Yazid informing him about the killing of Husayn [a.s.] and the capture of his womenfolk. Yazid replied that the captives be sent to him in Damascus along with the heads of the martyrs. After about a month and seven days in Kufa they were made to set off for Damascus with a large escort of horsemen and footmen of the army so that none should intercept their journey. With their steely-hearted escort the caravan left Kufa on the eighteenth day of Safar. The women suffered untold hardships on their journey to Damascus, which was no less than six hundred miles away. Their journey took them through many villages and towns, among them Karbala, Ba'albeck, Musal and Hums. They were made to travel unveiled, on unsaddled camels like slaves, and the heads of the menfolk were carried on spears before them. In some of the towns crowds flocked to jeer at them, but if it happened that they were to pass through some place where the people were friendly towards the family of the Holy Prophet [s.a.w.], they came out to fight the Yazidites. They therefore were very often forced to take other routes involving long diversions, and the camels were made to run faster so as to cover the extra distance. The captives were harshly treated by their escort, and many of the children perished from the rigours of the journey.
After about twenty-eight days, on the sixteenth of Rabi' ul-Awwal, the caravan reached Damascus.
The Victory of Truth - Damascus
When they reached the outskirts of Damascus they were made to halt. Yazid was informed of their arrival and he fixed a date for their entry into the city.
On the morning of the appointed day, the members of the family of the Holy Prophet [s.a.w.] were led into Damascus. They were tied with ropes and herded together like goats. If anyone stumbled she was whipped. The city streets had been decorated and the sound of music filled the air. People came out in throngs wearing festive clothes and rejoiced when they saw the procession, preceded as always by the heads of the martyrs. Bearing themselves with dignity and self-respect, the prisoners were paraded through Damascus. Zaynab [a.s.] even cast aside the offerings of food that some of them out of compassion offered them.
The son of an enemy of the Prophet [s.a.w.] who had waged war with Imam Ali [a.s.] was among the crowds. When he saw Imam Zayn ul-Abidin [a.s.] he jeeringly asked him who was now victorious. In reply the Imam said: "If you wish to find out who has been victorious, do so when it is time for prayer and the Adhan and Iqamat are recited."
In this manner the captives were paraded until the afternoon when they reached the palace of Yazid. There he was seated on his throne and was much pleased when he saw the forty-four bound captives arrive. The head of Husayn was then brought to him on a golden tray. He struck the Imam's teeth with his stick and said: "O Husayn! You have paid the price of your revolt."
When Zaynab [a.s.] and her companions saw this show of arrogance they burst into tears and there were many present who were ashamed. But Yazid carried on gloating over his victory. He said to his subjects: "My ancestors who were killed at Badr have been avenged today. Now it is clear that the Bani Hashim had just staged a play to gain power and there was never any divine revelation."
Zaynab [a.s.] however was not afraid. She drew herself up and boldly said for all to hear: "Praise be to Allah, the Lord of the worlds and blessings on my grandfather, the Chief of divine prophets."
"O Yazid, Allah says, and his word is true, that: 'Then evil was the end of those who did evil because they rejected the communications of Allah and used to mock them' [30:10]."
"O Yazid, do you believe that you have succeeded in closing the sky and the earth for us and that we have become your captives just because we have been brought before you in a row and that you have secured control over us? Do you believe that we have been afflicted with insult and dishonour by Allah and that you have been given honour and respect by Him? You have become boastful of this apparent victory that you have secured and you have started feeling jubilant and proud over this prestige and honour. You think that you have achieved worldly good, that your affairs have become stabilised and our rule has fallen into your hands. Wait for a while. Do not be so joyful. Have you forgotten Allah's saying: 'The unbelievers should not carry the impression that the time allowed to them by us is good for them. Surely we give them time so that they may increase their evil deeds, and eventually they will be given insulting chastisement' [3:178]."
"O son of freed slaves, is this your justice that you keep your own daughters and slave maids veiled while the daughters of the Prophet of Allah are being paraded from place to place exposed."
"You have dishonoured us by unveiling our faces. Your men take us from town to town where all sorts of people, whether they be residents of the hills or of riversides have been looking at us."
"The near as well as the remote ones, the poor as well as the rich, the low as well as the high - all casting their glances at us while our position is such that there is no male relative of ours to render us help or support."
"O Yazid, whatever you have done proves your revolt against Allah and your denial of His Prophet [s.a.w.] and of the Book and Sunnah that the Holy Prophet [s.a.w.] brought from Allah. Your deeds should not cause amazement because one whose ancestors chewed the livers of the martyrs, whose flesh grew up on virtuous people, who fought against the Chief of divine prophets, who mobilised parties for fighting against him and drew swords against him, should conspicuously excel all Arabs in unbelief, sinfulness, excesses, and enmity against Allah and His Prophet [s.a.w.]."
"Remember that the evil deeds and sinful actions that you have committed are the result of unbelief and old rancour you bear because of your ancestors who were killed in Badr."
"One who cast his glance of enmity, malice and rancour upon us does not lag behind in practising enmity against us. He proves his unbelief, declares it with his tongue and jubilantly proclaims: 'I have killed the sons of the Prophet [s.a.w.] of Allah and made his progeny captive,' and wishes that his ancestors had lived to see his achievement and to have exclaimed, 'O Yazid, may your hands not lose their strength, you have wreaked good vengeance on our behalf.'"
"O Yazid, you are striking the lips of Imam Husayn with your stick in front of this crowd while these very lips used to be kissed by the Prophet [s.a.w.] of Allah, and yet your face reflects pleasure and happiness."
"By my life, by killing the chief of youths of Paradise, the son of the chief of Arabs (Ali [a.s.]) and the shining sun of the progeny of Abd ul-Muttalib, you have deepened our wound and uprooted us completely."
"By killing Husayn ibn Ali [a.s.] you have gained nearness to the state of your unbelieving ancestors. You proclaim your deed with pride and if they were to see you they would approve of your action and pray that Allah may not paralyse your arms."
"O Yazid! If you had heart enough to take account of your nefarious deeds, you yourself would surely wish your arms to be paralysed and severed from your elbow and you would wish that your parents had not given birth to you because you would know that Allah has become displeased with you. Allah, Grant us our rights. Avenge those who have oppressed us."
"O Yazid! you did what you wished, but remember that you have cut your own skin and your own flesh to pieces. Soon you will be brought before the Holy Prophet. You will be overburdened with the weight of your sins committed by shedding the blood of his progeny and by dishonouring his family. The place to which you will be taken will be before all the members of his family. The oppressed will be avenged and the enemies will be punished."
"O Yazid ! It is not seeming for you to swell with joy after slaying the Prophet's progeny. 'Reckon not those who are killed in Allah's way as dead; nay, they are alive and are provided sustenance from their Lord; rejoicing in what Allah has given them out of His grace' [3:169-170]."
"Allah is sufficient to deal with you. The Messenger of Allah is your antagonist and Hadrat Jibra'il is our support and help against you."
"Those who have made you the head of state and burdened the Muslims with your leadership will soon find out what awaits them. The end of all tyrants is agony."
"O Yazid. I speak not to you thus to warn you of the severe chastisement in store for you so that you should be regretful for you are one of those whose hearts are hardened, souls are rebellious and whose bodies are busy in Allah's disobedience while they are under the curse of the Prophet of Allah. You are from among those in whose heart Shaytan has made his abode and has been breeding young ones."
"How amazing it is that the virtuous people, sons of the divine prophets and vicegerents are killed at the hands of liberated slaves, evil-doers and sinners. Our blood is shed by their hands and our flesh serves as food for them. We feel grieved for those whose bodies are lying unshrouded and unburied in the battlefield, wounded with arrows."
"O Yazid, if you consider our defeat as your achievement then you will have to pay its price."
"Allah commits not injustice to His servants. Our reliance is on Allah. He alone is our Relief and place of Protection, and in Him alone do we repose our hope."
"You may contrive and try however much you can. By Him who honoured us with revelation, the Book and Prophethood, you cannot achieve our status, nor reach our position, nor can you effect our mention, nor remove from yourself that shame and dishonour that is now your lot because of perpetrating excess and oppression on us. Your word now is weak and your days are counted. Beware of the day when the announcer would announce the curse of Allah on the oppressors and the unjust."
"Praise be to Allah who gave good end to His friends and granted them success in their aims, and thereafter called them back to His Mercy, Pleasure and Bliss, while you hurled yourself into evil and mischief by committing injustice against them. We pray to Allah to favour us with full recompense through them and grant us the good of Khilafat and Imamat. Surely Allah is Kind and the Most Merciful over His creatures."
Among the gathering was a red haired Syrian who saw Fatima Kubra, daughter of Imam Husayn and asked Yazid to give her to him. When the girl heard this she clung to Zaynab [a.s.] and started to weep. She feared that now after the loss of her father she was to be made a slave girl.
Zaynab [a.s.] was not afraid. She turned to Yazid and told him that he had neither right nor authority to give the young girl away like that, at which he bristled, retorting that he could do so.
Zaynab [a.s.] riposted, "You are abusing me because of your authority and power." At this Yazid was shamed into silence. To the Syrian she said: "My the curse of Allah be upon you. May hell be your eternal abode. May your eyes be blinded and your limbs paralysed." Immediately paralysis gripped the man and he fell to the ground dead.
Yazid was so enraged with Zaynab bold defiance of his authority that he might have ordered her killed had not Abdullah ibn Umar ibn Aas intervened and begged that no notice be taken of her harsh words since she had suffered much grief and hardship and was broken-hearted.
Imam Zayn ul-Abidin [a.s.] would also have suffered death at the hands of Yazid on account of his fearless speech, had not Zaynab [a.s.] saved his life by begging Yazid to slay her also along with the boy. Yazid was moved by her love for the boy and spared his life. But death nevertheless took its toll. Sakina, daughter of Imam Husayn, died in captivity in Damascus at the age of four and was buried there.
Through Zaynab's bold and fearless speeches and from the word that spread as a result of their journey, people came to know of the events of Karbala and their hearts were stirred. The continued captivity and humiliation of the family of the Prophet of Allah was bringing their cause to the attention of an ever increasing number of people. Word came to Yazid that there was turmoil and unrest in the realm and he decided to release the captives.
When it seemed to him that the Ahl ul-Bayt had been adequately humiliated, and upon the urgings of certain people who were alert to the public's growing dissension upon learning the truth, Yazid sent for Imam Zayn ul-Abidin [a.s.]. He informed him of his impending release and asked if he wished for anything. The youth said he would have to consult his aunt Zaynab [a.s.].
Arrangements were made and she arrived, properly veiled. She asked, "O Yazid, since the day our leader and our chief Husayn was butchered we have not had any opportunity to mourn for him."
A large house was therefore provided for them in the residential sector of Damascus and here Zaynab [a.s.] held her first gathering for the mourning and remembrance (majlis-e-aza) of Imam Husayn. The women of the Quraysh and Bani Hashim arrived clad in black, with their heads uncovered, weeping wretchedly.
Imam Zayn ul-Abidin [a.s.] sat on the carpet of Imam Husayn and then Zaynab [a.s.] told the women of Syria what had befallen them. They shed tears and mourned. They had not known about the events of Karbala and Kufa, but when they went home they told their menfolk.
Gradually illusions of Yazid's good intentions were dispelled. It was fear of revolt that caused Yazid to release the members of the family of the Holy Prophet [s.a.w.].
Epilogue
lt was her destiny to proclaim to the world the sacrifices made by Imam Husayn and the other members of the family of the Holy Prophet [s.a.w.] for the cause of Islam. She exposed the evil deeds of Ibn Ziyad and Yazid with courage and fearlessness. Had it not been for her the sacrifice of Karbala might have faded into oblivion. She endured physical pain and mental torture with fortitude and was a source of strength to all around her. The sorrow and grief she expressed was an outpouring of her intense humanity. Never did she rebel against the destiny decreed by Allah. The strength of her submission was divine, yet her lamentation poignantly human.
The spirit of Zaynab [a.s.] will live forever. Her courage, forbearance, and submission will continue to inspire those who hear her story for all time to come.
Notes
Nasikh ul-Tawarikh by Mirza Abbas Quli Khan, published by Kitab forooshi-e Islami, Tehran, 1346 (Iranian calender) is acknowledged to be the most comprehensive and accurate collection of information pertaining to the life of Zaynab bint Ali [a.s.]
The exact date of her birth is uncertain; however the most widely accepted dates are the first of Sha'ban or the fifth of Jamadi ul-Awwal of the fifth or sixth year A.H., or the ninth of Ramadan in the ninth year A.H. p.45-6 ibid. p.68 ibid. Zaynab is thought to mean 'she who weeps excessively', and other linguistic sources state that it once meant a good looking or smelling tree. The name might also possibly be a compound of the two Arabic words, zayn (beauty) and ab (father).
Not only is the date of her death uncertain but so is the place: she is variously thought to be buried (most popularly) in Damascus, but also in Medina and Cairo. There are two explanations given as to how she came to be buried in Damascus: one being that some time after their return Yazid once again sent his forces to attack them, this time at Medina, and she and other members of her family were taken as prisoners of war to Damascus where she died; another being that because of a famine that swept through Medina, her husband temporarily moved his family to a village near Damascus, and it was there while praying in a garden that Zaynab [a.s.] was accidentally but fatally struck by a gardener's spade, or fell victim to a serious illness from which she never recovered. The anniversary of her death is observed on the following dates: 11th or 21st of Jamadi uth-thani, the 24th of Safar, or the 16th of Dhu'l-Hijjah.
Ziyarat
The following ziyarat (verbal salutation) for Bibi Zaynab [a.s.] is traditionally recited to obtain divine blessing while visiting her shrine (in this case, in Damascus, Syria). It can also be recited at any other time in remembrance of the example of courage and submission that she presented to the world, particularly on the acknowledged days of her birth, death, and during the month of Muharram.
Peace be upon you, O' daughter of the Chief of prophets.
Peace be upon you, O' daughter of the Master of the sanctuary and the banner.
Peace be upon you, O' daughter of him who was made to ascend to (highest) heaven and reached the station of two bows' length (to Allah) or even closer.
Peace be upon you, O' daughter of the Leader of the pious.
Peace be upon you, O' daughter of the support of the sincere friends (of Allah).
Peace be upon you. O' daughter of the Leader of the Deen.
Peace be upon you, O' daughter of the Commander of the faithful.
Peace be upon you, O' daughter of him who struck with the sword of two blades.
Peace be upon you, O' daughter of him who prayed towards the two qiblahs [Jerusalem, then Mecca].
Peace be upon you, O' daughter of Muhammad, the chosen.
Peace be upon you, O' daughter of Ali, the content (with the decree of Allah).
Peace be upon you, O' daughter of Fatima, the radiant.
Peace be upon you, O' daughter of Khadija, the elder.
Peace be upon you, O' righteous one, pleasing (to Allah).
Peace be upon you, O' learned, rightly guided one.
Peace be upon you, O' generous, noble one.
Peace be upon you, O' pious, pure one.
Peace be upon you, O' you who were thoroughly tested by sufferance like Husayn, the oppressed.
Peace be upon you, O' you who were kept far from your home.
Peace be upon you, O' you who were held captive in cities.
Peace be upon you, O' daughter of the greatest endeared friend of Allah.
Peace be upon you, O' sister of the glorified friend of Allah.
Peace be upon you, O' aunt of the revered friend of Allah.
Peace be upon you, O' sister of misfortunes, Sayyida Zaynab, and may the mercy and blessings of Allah be upon you.
THE END
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