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The Fourth Imam: Ali ibne al-Husain (AS) by Dr. Syed Haider Husain Shamsi
Name: Ali
Title: Zain
al-Abideen
Epithet: Abu
Muhammad
Father: Husain
bin Ali
Mother: Shabar
Bano binte Yazdigard III
Date of Birth: Jamadiul
Awwal, 37 AH (January 6,659 AD)
Place of Birth: Madinah
Progeny: from
Umm Abd Allah binte al-Hasan
One: Muhammad (al-Baqir)
He had many other children
from other wives
Date of Death: Muharram
25, 95 AH (October 20, 713 AD)
He lived to an age of 54
years
Place of Death: Madinah
Place of Burial: Jannatul-Baqi’
THE LIFE OF ALI IBN Al-HUSAIN
FROM BIRTH TO THE TRAGEDY OF KARBALA
Imam Ali Zain al-Abideen was
only two years of age when his
grandfather, Imam Ali (the First
Imam) was killed during prayers
in the month of Ramadhan in the
main mosque of Najaf (near Kufa). He
was a youth of fourteen years
when he saw the life and the
painful death of his uncle Imam
Hasan (the Second Imam). He
was about twenty-three years of
age when he accompanied his
father, Imam Husain (the Third
Imam) and witnessed the events
of the tragedy of Karbala. Before
he finally left his camp, Imam
Husain came to the bedside of
his sick son Ali, and bestowed
the onerous duty of Imamate on
him.
Imam Ali ibn al-Husain survived
the massacre only because he was
physically unable to go out to
the battlefield due to his
sickness. However,
on the next day after the blood
bath of his family and friends,
he was hand tied and put in
shackles, and marched on foot
from the battlefield, first to
Kula and then to Damascus. On
this joumey of painful
suffering, his aunt Zaina binte
Ali ibne Abi Tallb, the sister
of Imam Husain and other
surviving widows and children,
accompanied him.
After Karbala, he lived for
another thirty-four years under
the tyrannical rule of several
Marwanid caliphs who took
personal gratification in
inflicting abuse and torture to
him and his followers.
THE JOURNEY OF THE CAPTIVES
OF KARBALA
The hand-tied captives were not
tongue-tied. Despite
the recent inflections of the
loss of loved ones in the
battlefield, lack of
recuperation from the torturous
thirst and starvation of women
and children, the rag tag
caravan manifested tremendous
courage by defying their
physical difficulties and
continuing to preach the truth
to the on-lookers who had
gathered to line up the caravan
route.
The apparent victors were
pleased with their achievement
of the decimation of the Imam's
carnp. During
their passage through the
streets and bazaars of Kufa, the
eloquent speeches made by the
captive sister of Imam Husain,
and his son Imam All Zain al-Abideen
told their painful story to the
onlookers who had come to line
up the caravan route. When
they learned and realized who
the captives were, they cried
out aloud and openly rebuked the
killers of the family of the
Prophet of Islam. From
then on, the caravan was led to
Damascus via an unfrequented
route to prevent possible
reprisals.
The retelling of the story by
the captives continued every
inch of the way to the palace of
Yazid. This
rendered an extremely valuable
service to the cause of Imam
Husain and made the victors look
aggressors thirsty for the blood
of the Imam and his family. They
were then thrown in prison for a
period of over one-year. Many
children and the weak succumbed
to fatigue and grief throughout
the caravan route as well as
within the prison.
RETURN OF THE CAPTIVES TO
MADINAH
When the caravan of the
survivors arrived in Madinah,
the family and fiiends of the
Imam met and told the events of
the previous year to each other. Some
devotees were so overwhelmed
with grief that they took a trip
to Damascus in 63 AH to protest
against Yazid and his deeds. This
infuriated the tyrant caliph. He
unleashed his Syrian army on to
Madinah under a most ruthless
Umayyad connnander named Muslim
bin Uqba. There
was a bloody battle at Harrah
al-Waqim, a small town just
north of Madinah. Thousands
of Madinan Muslims perished
along with many learned and
respectable elders. After
the battle the soldiers ravaged
the city for three full days,
burning property, and looting
freely homes and businesses. They
drank without any inhibition and
thronged the streets throwing
obscenities on the surviving
residents. Horrible
was the havoc the Syrians played
on life and limb and chaste
womanhood. It
is said that when they departed,
they left many families and the
city in utter ruins.
After the sack of Madinah,
Muslim bin Uqba proceeded to
Makkah to subdue and arrest the
separatist Abd Allah bin Zubayr. However,
on the way Muslim died near the
town of Jaffa, and the command
passed over to Haseen bin Numayr
al-Sakooni. Approaching
Makkah, they occupied the
surrounding hills, and laid
siege to the city for sixty-four
days. They
threw projectiles of fire and
rock on the city causing ruinous
damage to the holy sanctuary. It
was at this time that the news
of the death of Yazid was
received and the siege of Makkah
was lifted. The
tyrant Umayyad captain withdrew
to Damascus. This
gave the much-needed reprieve to
the self-proclaimed caliph of
Makkah, Abd Allah bin Zubayr. He
started to rebuild the holy
mosque and to repair the damages
caused by the Umayyad army.
There was not even a single day
in the life of the Imam after
Karbala that he was seen without
tears in his eyes. He
used to pray to Allah with such
intensity and devotion that he
earned the names of Syed
u's-Sajad, al-Abid and Zain al-Abideen.
THE LIFE OF IMAM ZAIN AL-ABIDEEN
DURING
OTHER UMAYYAD CALIPHS OF HIS
TIME
The tragedy of Karbala brought a
wave of turmoil in the heartland
of the Muslim world as well as
to the house of Abu Sufyan.
After the death of Yazid bin
Muawiyah in 64 AH, the
succession to the throne came to
his son Muawiyah bin Yazid. However,
he declined it. He
considered the Caliphate to have
been usurped by his family, and
refused to have any thing to do
with it. For
forty days, he did not leave his
quarters in the palace. It
is said that he died there with
the cause of death unknown. Marwan
bin Hakam, who had been managing
the govenunent during this
period of lull, declared himself
the next caliph. However,
the caliphate of Marwan was only
short lived. He
died in the year 65 AH and his
son Abd al-Malik became the
Caliph.
After Karbala, there was a
faction of the believers who
felt penitent over their
betrayal of Imam Husain, and
having the Umayyads butcher the
innocent members of his family. This
is known as the Tawwabun movement. They
mustered a force of 16,000
strong under Sulayman bin Surad
and marched towards Syria. The
Umayyad force met them at Ain
ul-Wada on the Euphrates. The
Tawwabun charged with desperate
passion, but perished at the
hands of the superior Syrian
army. Only
a few returned to tell the story
of the disaster.
There were others who were
confused over why Imam Ali Zain
al Abideen was not taking up
arms against the tyranny of the
Umayyads. They
converged towards Muhammade
Hanafia, the pious uncle of the
Imam and wanted him to lead them
against the tyrants. However,
the question over the rightful
successor to Imamate was settled
in favor of Imam Ali Zain al Abideen
the two met for Haj in Makkah. The
separatists were not satisfied
as the Imam refused to take up
arms against the ruler or to
participate in any political
ambition.
The death of Yazid did bring a
new wave of revolution in the
province of Hijaz. Abd
Allah bin Zubayr became more
active in Makkah in pursuit
of his campaign for a separatist movement
which he had started in 64 AH. He
was able to gather support for
his claim from Hijaz, as well as
the provinces of Iraq and Yemen. After
establishing his rule in these
provinces, he started his own
campaign of revenge against the
friends and the family of Imam
Ali on account of the
disposition of his father who
had joined the army of Ayesha in
the battle of The Carnel. The
veterans like the
pious Muhammad Hanafia and Ibne
Abbas, among others, were
arrested for execution. However,
they were salvaged by the short
rule of Muk-htar that had just
been established in Kufa in 64
AH.
After the disaster of Ain
ul-Wada, the Kufans rose again
under Mukhtar bin Abu Ubaid al-Thaqafi. They
sacked the governor of Abd Allah
bin Zubayr and installed
Muk-htar as their caliph. Muk-htar
approached Imam Ali Zain al-Abideen
to endorse his political venture
against the Umayyad tyrants, and
to lead his followers. The
Imam declined his invitation. However,
Mukhtar then turned to Muhammade
Hanafia and was able to enlist
him to be his patron. Thereafter,
in the year 66 AH, in a series
of successful battles, his
forces rounded up the captains
of the Umayyad army who were
responsible for the massacre of
Karbala and the sack of the holy
cities of Madinah and Makkah,
and had them beheaded for their
despicable crimes.
In 67 AH, Abd Allah bin Zubayr
regained control of the province
of Iraq and sent his own brother
Mus'ab bin Zubayr against
Mukhtar. The
city of Kufa was besieged and
taken. Muk-htar
was defeated and killed in
battle.
When Abd al-Malik became the
caliph, Abd Allah bin Zubayr was
fairly established in Hijaz and
Iraq. He
decided to reclaim Hijaz and
Iraq under the Umayyad rule. He
chose Hujaj bin Yusuf as his
right hand commander and
despatched him to Iraq to subdue
the rebel provinces. To
this end, the caliph and his
governor together earned for
themselves the title of the most
cruel and tyrannical rulers in
the history of Islam. Hujaj
achieved his goals by a whole
sale massacre of all those who
claimed any connection with Imam
Ali or his progeny. The
holy city of Makkah was
ransacked once again, and
slaughtered the separatist Abd
Allah bin Zubayr in Makkah in 73
AH. His
head was hung over the main road
leading in andout of the city. Most
Aliyyids and their followers ran
for their lives and escaped to
the relative safety of lands on
the outer periphery of the
kingdom. With
the elimination of Mukhtar in
Iraq, and Abd Allah in Hijaz,
the entire Muslim world once
again came under the rule of a
single Umayyad Caliph. New
conquests started at the Far
West and Far East of the
Caliphate, and the Caliph was
able to attend to the
consolidation of the internal
affairs as well.
However, in the same vein as his
predecessors regarding the
Hashimite clan, the Caliph Abd
al-Malik also kept a watchftd
eye on the hnarn and his family. He
used to call the Imam
periodically to his court in
Damascus. When
Abd'al-Malik died in 86 AH, his
son Walid succeeded him to the
throne.
Walid was also a tyrant 'in his
own ways. For
the next ten years of his rule,
he maintained the tradition of
his predecessors and did not
spare the Imam from his abuse. When
he decreed that the Prophefs
mosque at Madinah be enlarged
the contiguous
grounds were obtained by
evicting the Hashimites from
their homes without
compensation.
The few devout believers that
survived the relentless
persecution of the rules of the
time were grieved at the amount
of abuse thrown at the Imam. Once
some one taunted the Imam while
he was heading to Makkah for Haj,
and said, "You have chosen the
relative ease of the Haj in
favor of the difficulty of
Jihad." The Imam replied, "Only
if I had true believers behind
me, I would change my Haj to
Jihad." Despite the difficult times faced by the hna@ he continued his service to Islam and to all those who sought from him the interpretation of al-Qtwan or the Sunnah of the Prophet. He managed to convey the lessons of the belief and the practice of Islam by a unique medium. He did this through prayers and supplications. These have been collected in the form of a book popularly known asSAHIFAHAS-SAJJADIYYA. An elegant English translation of this book is now available.
THE MARTYRDOM OF IMAM ALI IBN
Al-HUSAIN
Even the very existence of the
pious Imam was considered a
threat by the rulers of his
time. Hisham,
a brother of Abd al-Malik,
poisoned the Imam who died in
Madinah in the year 95 AH, at
the age of 57 years. He
was buried in the graveyard of
Jannat ul-Baqic. Before
his death, the Imam called his
son Muhammad and entrusted the
responsibility of the Imamate to
him.
Although his son Muhammad al-Baqir
fulfilled the needs of the
believers by carrying out the
functions of his assignment with
spectacular brilliance, the
painful death of his father left
a void in the lives of his
companions. People
remembered the Imam for his,
forbearance, piety, patience,
and knowledge, and for the
sufferings he had to endure
throughout his life.
His aunt Zainab, the sister of
Imam Husain, shared the life and
suffering of the Imam. Together
they had turned the tide of
aggression into a lasting lesson
for humanity. Whereas
Imam Husain had laid down his
own life along with that of his
beloved family and friends in
the desert of Karbala, Imam Ali
ibn al-Husain and his aunt
Zainab binte Ali ibne Abi Talib
completed the vital mission of
disseminating the Truth to the
ignorant and confused nation of
the Muslims and their rulers.
AS-SAHIFAHAS-SAJJAIYYA
The Book of as-Saijad
Imam Zain ul-Abideen is also
known as-Sajad. Both
names denote to his constant
prostration in prayers. This
book has another popular name as-Sahifah
al-Kamila as-Sajjadia (Me
Complete or Perfect Book of as-Sajad). The
book contains fifty-four
supplications (and fourteen
addenda), and fifteen munajat (whispered
prayers). Many
supplications were handed down
from the Imam and carried by
oral tradition from generation
to generation. These
were collected in later times by
researchers and added to the
written works. They
are called the Second Sahifa,
through to the Fifth Sahifa. Only
the authoritative chain of
traditions was used for the
addenda in' the subsequent
Sahifas. The
first addenda were appended to
the Sahifa by ash-Shaheed
alAwwal (the
first martyr) Shams ud-Din
Muhammad ibne Makki (d. 786 AH). The
fifteen munajat were
appended by Allama Muhammad
Baqir Majlisi (d.II10 AH). The
Sahifa was updated with addenda
by various authorities in the
same era as Allama Majlisi.
In Islam, supplications have a
pivotal role in all forms of
prayers. The
supplicant first offers his
prayer to Allah, and then
spreads his hands to seek His
bounty and benevolence. The
supplications have the several
names of Allah describing His
various qualities. The
supplicant glorifies Allah and
begs for His forgiveness and
mercy. It
elevates the humble human from
his prayer mat to the ethereal
heights of spirituality.
Imam Ali ibn al-Husain used this
method to reach out to his
followers and preach them on the
Oneness of Allah and His role as
the Creator of all things. He
focused on the role of man in
the universe and his duties to
Allah and his fellow human
beings. He
gives lessons on obedience to
Allah and to fine human behavior
in society.
Many devotees of Ahle Bait used
to attend majalis
(religious gatherings)
held by the Imam. Much
of the collection of his
lectures quotations and
teachings are owed to these
devotees who leamt them by
heart, or wrote them down for safe
keeping and for future
reference.
RISALE-E HUQOOQ
The Testament of Rights
One extremely valuable treatise
has been passed down to the devotees
of Ahle Bait directly from Imam
Zain al-Abideen. This
epistle describes the rights of
man in society. It
accounts for over fifty
circumstance by which the
believer is obligated to observe
the rights of others. To
mention just a few, it starts
with:
-the rights of man toward Allah,
-the rights of prayers,
-the rights of self and the
rights of the parts of one's own
body.
It goes on to enlist:
-The rights of women towards
men,
-the rights of men toward women.
It reminds one towards:
-The rights of children to their
parents and elders,
-the rights of parents and
elders to their children.
Further:
-The rights of students towards
their teachers,
-the rights of the teachers
towards their students.
Further:
-The rights of neighbors,
-the rights of friends
-the rights of adversaries and
foes! |
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