Lady Zainab (s.a.) in the Day of ‘Ashura’

From early morning, Imam al-Husayn (a) left his tant and saw in front of him innumerable warriors and horsed fill up the desert and unsheathe their swods for shedding his blood. Thus, he asked for a copy of the holy Qur’an to put it on the head and raised his hands upward for supplicating to his Lorrd for seeking His refuge, saying:
O Allah: I trust in You in hard times and confide in you hopefully in tribulations, and in You lie my faith and hope in every misfotune that inflicts me. Many were the griefs that crinkled my heart, were hardly curable, caused my frieds to disappoint me, and made my enemies rejoice (over my helplessness); but when I relegated them -i.e. the griefs- to You and complained about them to You, because I drearily intended You, no one else, You relieved them andhelped .You are certainly the source of all graces, the cause of all favors, and the only intention of aspirations.1
He then decided to deliver a speech before those troops so that they would be full acquainted with the reality of the situation. he rode on, went towards them, and reised his voice with the finest words of wisdom so that most of them, at least, would hear him. He said:2
So then, fie and grief be on you, O group. When you appealed for our help grievouslyand we hurried for you help exhaustingly, you unsheathed agaist us a sword that had been in our right hands and ignited against us the fire that we had struck against your and our cnemy. You therefore formed groups of your enemies although they did not spread justice among you and you lost any hope in them. In addition , you noticed no heresy or new opinion come out of us.
Why did you -woe to you- not leave us when swords were sheathed, malice was hidden, and the decision was not taken? But, you hurried to the sedition like locusts and fell on it like the falling of butterflies (in fire). Damn and away with the idols of the ummah, irregular of the parties, deserters of the Book, expectorants of Shaitan, distorters of the meaning extinguishers of the traditions, avowers of the bastards, and the mockers who divided the Qur’an believing in some parts and rejecting others.
How is it that you are supporting those ones and disappointing us? Yes, why not? by Allah I swear, your disloyalty is expected because it is entwined with your arteries and it recurred in your origins. You therefore are the bitterest fruit that causes its caretaker to choke and gives good taste for its usurper. Allah as their Guarantor. The bastard, son of the bastard, has forced me to choose one of two things -either unsheathing of swords or ignominy. Ignominy is impossible for us. Allah , His Apostle, the (faithful) believers, chaste laps, jealous noses (individuals), and noble souls (personalities) refuse for us to prefer obedience to the mean to the death of the honorable, I am advancing to them with this family despite the alliance of the enemies, their great numbers, and the betrayal of the supporters.
He then recited poetic verses:3
If we defeat, then we’ve been always triumphant
If we’re defeated, we’ve not wonted to impairment
Cowardice is not our manner, but it’s our
Time of death, and others’ time in power
If death is postponed for some, not all
It shall certainly on others fall
It has hence seized my people’s celebrities
As it had terminated the ancient humanities
If kings had remained forever, we’d have too remained
If chiefs had been maintained, we’d have too been maintained
Then say to the gloaters over our grief: wait
You shall for sure encounter the same fate!
By Allah I swear it, you shall not be respited very long; very soon, horses will be ridden, days will revolve around you like millstones, war will flare up, and necks will be decapitated, My father, on the authority of my grandfather, foretold me of it. So, Plan against me without delay. I trust Allah Who is my Lord as well as yours, It is Allah Who controls the destiny of all living creatures. It is my Lord Who knows the right path.
Imam al-Husayn (a) then reised his two ahnds towards the heavens and invoked Allah’s curse upon them, saying:4
O Allah, deprive them of the drops of the heavns, and inflict them with years like those (which occurred in the time) of Prophet Joseph, and set up upon them the man of the (tribe of) Thaqif5 as absolute ruler to belied and disappointed us. youare our Lord on Whom we depend, to Whom we trust, and under Whose control everything lies.
The harem could hear some of these words; they therefore wept and cried, but the Imam (a) asked his brother Al-‘Abbas and his son ‘Ali al-Akbar to order them to stop it.he then continued with such bright word that should have led every deviant to the right path. However, the Umayyad army could not understand the Imam’s words because they were too ignorant to understand anything other than criminality. Rather, they could not say a single word as an answer.
The Imam (a) then addressed to some of them particularly and reminded them of the messages they had sent to him, but they denied the whole matter!
Qays ibn al-Ash’ath then asked the Imam(a) to surrender and submit to the Umayyad government, but the Imam (a), souragerously and steadfastly, refused and declaring his unchangeable situation:
No, by Allah. I will never extend my hands to you like the abject do, and I will never submit to you like slaves do.6
The Imam’s companions, then, spoke similar words before the Umayyad army, but uselessly.
Finally, the Imam (a) decided to advise them again so so that none of them would excuse he had not nown the matter clearly.
At these moment, the conscience of al-Hurr ibn Yazid woke up. He began to think of his destiny if he sould fight against Imam al-husayn 9a) who represented the right party and the true religion of Allah. Finally, he decided to join him. He went to ‘Umar and said, “Do you really want to fight against this man?”
“Yes I do,” answered “Umar, “I want to as intensely as possible.”
“Why do you not respond to his calls and accept one of the options he had offered?” asked al-Hurr.
“I would do it was my right to choose. But the matter is not mine. It is your governor’s,” answered ‘Umar.
Only then al-Hurr realized that ‘Umar was fully ready to fight Imam al-Husayn (a); therefore , he directed towards the Imam (a) and proceeded as he felt sorry for his past deeds against him.
When the Imam (a) conferred upon him with pardon,1 al-Hurr turned the face towards the troops of ‘Umar and went on addressing words of reproach and blame for disappointing the Imam(a). Anyhow, his words did not find any place in their hearts.
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References
1- See al-Nuri al-Tabrasi, Mustadrak al-Wasa’il, vol. 11,p.112, as qouted from Shaykh al-Mufid, al-Irshad.
2- See Ibn Shu’bah al-Harrani, Tuhaf al-‘Uqul; the Masterpieces of the Intellects, p. 282, translated by Badr Shahin, First Edition, Ansariyan Publication, 2001.
3- See Sayyid Muhsin al-Amin al-‘Amili, Lawa’ij al-Ashjan, p.131.
4- See Sayyid Murtada al-‘Askari, Ma’alim al-Madrasatayn, vol. 3, p.101.
5- The man of the tribe of Thaqif is either al-Mukhtar ibn Abu-“Ubaydah al-Thaqafi who led a revolution after the martyrdom of Imam al-Husayn (a) and retaliated upon those who had fought against the Imam (a), or al-hajjaj ibn Yusuf al-Thaqafi who was given a free hand on the people of al-Kufah and, accordingly, ruled them extreme oppressively. However, Shaykh al-Shurayfi, in his book titled Mawsu’at Kamilat al-Imam al-Husayn, p.423, and ‘Abdullah al-Bahrani, in his book titled al-‘Awalim -al-Imam al-Husayn, p. 253, recording this supplication of Imam al-Husayn, adds to it the following statement, “and set up upon them the man of the (tribe of) Thaqif as absolute ruler to kill all of them each according to the sort of his participation (in the battle against the Imam).” Accordingly, the “man of the (tribe of) Thaqif” is al-Mukhatar ibn Abu -‘Ubaydah al-Thaqafi.
6- Shaykh al-Mufid, in his al-Irshad, vol. 2,p.98, this statement is recorded as follows:
“No, by Allah! I will never extend my hands to you like the abject do, and I will never flee like slaves do.”
Adopted from the book : “Lady Zaynab” by : “Ansariyan Publications”

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