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The ruin and confusion brought about
by the atrocious army was so great that Zainab,
the daughter of Ali (a.s.), had great difficulty
in gathering the orphaned children, whom she had
to appease and to appease and console till late
midnight. Ali ibnul Husain (a.s.) says, ''My
aunt Zainab always performed her prayers
standing. But on that night, intense grief and
the extra-ordinary effort of gathering, guarding
and consoling the children and women had made
her so tired that she performed her night
prayers sitting, for she could stand only with
great effort. Late after midnight, she sat
facing the Qiblah and raised her trembling hands
with a voice that spoke of her grief and
fatigue, and yet determination. Allaho akbar!
One can only guess the feelings of this great
daughter of Ali (a.s.) when she spoke to God
during those prayers. Was she complaining of the
destruction and death the oppressive regime had
brought upon the household of the Messenger of
God? Was she pleading with her God to accept all
those sacrifices made by Husain (a.s.) and his
companions for the sake of Islam?
Was she asking God to bestow a greater
determination and strength to this daughter of
Ali (a.s.) and sister of Husain (a.s.) to enable
her to fulfill this mission which had been
brought up to this point by the martyrs and the
most difficult part of which remained for her to
complete? Was she beseeching the Almighty to
give patience and forbearance to the hearts of
the women and children whose sole guardian she
had become? Was she praying that God may take
His revenge from the oppressors and tyrants who
had not heeded the exalted station of the House
of the Prophet and had shed the blood of their
heir of the Prophet?
When we observe the dishonorable deeds of the
evil regime of Yazid against the Household of
the Prophet, there is no need to be surprised,
for the foundations of disrespect and injustice
towards them had been laid a long time before.
The regime of Yazid and Ibn Ziyad was only the
successor of its predecessors. We need not be
surprised at the hideous acts of the agents of
Yazid for the sake of his political power and
position. Don't we know about the conspiracies
which had started even before the death of the
Messenger (s.a.w.a.s.)? Don't we know about the
insulting fashion in which the Prophet (sa.w.a.s.)
himself, on his death bed, was treated by his
so-called 'companions? Had not the dictates of
political conspiracy demanded that Ali's (a.s.)
house be broken into? That his wife and children
be threatened with death? And that Ali (a.s.) be
pulled out of his house with a rope around his
neck? Who was it who cried from outside his
door, By God, I will set fire to his house.''?
If, after Ashura, almost
50 years after the Prophet's (s.a.w.a.s) death,
the women and children of his house hold were
taken prisoner and paraded through the streets
and bazaars of Kufa and Damascus, was not
Fatima(a.s.), the Prophet's beloved daughter,
mistreated and beaten only days after her
father's death? Shall we be surprised when, in
the year 61 A.H., the so - called Muslims of
Kufa, fighting under the
command of Omar ibn Sa'd did not abstain from
burning down the tents which housed the women
and children of the Prophet's House hold, when
the companions of the Prophet, soon after his
death, threatened to burn down the house of Ali
and Fatima (a.s.)? Why must we be surprised at
the looting and pillaging of the tents after the
martyrdom of Husain (a.s.), when we know that
the Prophet's daughter was deprived of her
rights of inheritance and her property
confiscated by the companions of the Prophet
himself? There is no reason to be surprisedat
the daughter of Ali (a.s.) the grandson of Ali (a.s.)
and the women and children of his household
being taken as prisoners from Karbala to Kufa
and from Kufa to Damascus into the presence of
the caliph of Muslims! Was not Ali
(a.s.) himself taken into the presence of an
earlier caliph with a rope clasping his
neck...when the swords came out of their
scabbards threatening his life and that of his
household: either allegiance or...? The same
condition and the same demand and a similar
threat!?
After
Karbala:
The morning of 11th of Muharram dawned and
Zainab took up the mission where Husain ibn Ali
(a.s.) had left it. Husain (a.s.) had played his
part and from this juncture Zainab assumed her
important role in the struggle for Islam, so
that the mission that had reached this point,
with so much sacrifice of noble lives, could be
brought to its fruitful conclusion. It was
possible that even
now, the smallest amount of oversight and
neglect might make the whole venture fruitless
and render the martyrs' sacrifices futile. With
supreme courage and determination, she resolved
not to be overcome by griet and be crushed by
the weight of the tragedies that had befallen
her family, and with the iron will she had
inherited from her father and grandfather was
determined to make the
best use of every opportunity to propagate the
mission of Imam Husain (a.s.) It had remained
for Zainab (a.s.) to utilize every opportunity
to counteract the deceptive propaganda of the
regime, by which it sought the bloodshed of
Husain (a.s.) and his companions, and make the
truth shine forth for people. It was her mission
to dispel the doubts and misunderstandings sown
into the publicmind by the propaganda of the
regime and to make known for the people the
objectives and ideals which lay behind Husain's
martyrdom. Her role was to make people
understand that the oppressive and exploitive
regime had falsely introduced Husain (a.s.) and
his companions to the people as opponents of
Islam and enemies of its progress. She had to
make it known to the people who were ignorant of
the truth that it was the Household of the
Prophet (s.a.w.a.s.), the home of Revelation,
that was the true upholder and the source of the
values and teachings of Islam, for the
protection of which they did not refrain even
from sacrificing their lives and every thing
else they had. The martyrs gave away their lives
and departed from the scene of oppression, but
it remained for the
women and children, in the leadership and
guardianship of this great daughter of Ali (a.s.),
to pursue the most difficult and the most
tormenting part of the mission. Had it not been
for Zainab, we would not have known the
objectives of the qityam of Husain ibn Ali (a.s.).
His aim would have been lost and this event of
great tragedy would have been buried under the
mountain-load of distortions and
misinterpretations-a thing which many have
nevertheless tried to do but have failed
miserably. Thus it was a great responsibility
that lay on Zainab's shoulders-the great woman
who, in addition, was also the kind and
compassionate guardian and leader of this group
of unhappy prisoners in their journey from
Karbala to Kufa, from Kufa to Damascus, from
Damascus to Karbala and
from there to Madina, the home of the Prophet's
family. This job required great strength and
forbearance and qualities which cannot be found
in an ordinary woman.
But Zainab too was no ordinary lady, she was the
daughter of Ali (a.s.) and had been reared by a
mother like Fatima (s.a.)-the same Ali and
Fatima (a.s.) who had spent all their lives in
struggle and had fought their way in the midst
of political crises and conspiracies. Zainab
(a.s.) was a true daughter of her mother, who,
through her active and passive struggle, had
forced the regime of her time to take a
defensive stand and had shown to posterity the
ways of struggle in difficult times as well as
their immense value, a fact to which history
bears testimony! Thus it was Zainab (a.s.), the
daughter of Ali and Fabima (a.s.), the wife of
such a valuable man of renown as Abdullah ibn
Ja'far, and the mother of such brave youthful
martyrs as 'Aun and Muhammad and the beloved
sister of such a man as Imam Husain (a.s.) who
pursued the mission with immense care and wisdom
and who at last brought it to its sublimely
fruitful conclusion. As we have indicated
before, our intention here is not by any means
story-telling. The only objective is to
illuminate the aims and objectives of the qiyam
of Imam Husain (a.s.) Till now, we have
accompanied Husain (a.s.), on
his journey which as we have said, had no other
than a sacred and heavenly objective and
purpose. We have seen how Husain (a.s.)
constantly struggled for the sake of upholding
the sanctity of the laws of Islam and the
survival of its sublime values. We have observed
how he stood up to safeguard the rights of
Muslims and ideals of social justice and human
liberty. From this point, we
shall accompany Zainab (a.s.) in her journey
from Karbala to Madina and see how Zainab
pursued the same ideals as her brother, Imam
Husain (a.s.)
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