Martyrdom of Imam Zayn al-Abedin (AS)
Oct 05, 2018 05:35 UTC
Condolences to you on a poignant day of the Islamic calendar. Today is the 25th of the month of Muharram, on which in the year 95 AH, 34 years after the heartrending tragedy of Karbala, its survivor and universalization of the message of Imam Husain (AS), departed from the mortal world as a result of a fatal dose of poison given to him by the Omayyad regime.
He was Imam Zayn al-Abedin (AS), the great-grandson and 4th Infallible Heir of Prophet Muhammad (SAWA). Before we present you a special feature on his life and times, please listen to a passage from his sermon when despite being a prisoner, he introduced himself in the following words to the people of Kufa.
“I am the son of the person who was beheaded on the bank of the Euphrates although he had not shed the blood or usurped the right of anyone. I am the son of the person who was attacked by a huge number of people and martyred when he was no longer capable of fighting and had fallen on the ground owing to weakness. It is a sufficient honour for us that our blood was shed, our property was looted, we were insulted and our women and children were made prisoners.”
The identity of the person and the tragic events to which he is referring in these words is obvious. He was the son and successor of the Immortal Martyr Karbala, Imam Husain (AS), who despite being hailed by his grandfather the Prophet as the “Beacon of Light”, the “Ark of Salvation”, and one of the two “Leaders of the Youth of Paradise” – the other being Imam Hasan (AS) – was martyred in the state of acute thirst beside the fresh flowing waters of the River Euphrates, along with at least seven of his brothers, two of his sons, five of his nephews, some of his cousins, and several of his companions.
Named Ali (AS) in honour of his grandfather, the Commander of the Faithful, Imam Ali ibn Abi Taleb (AS), the proverbial piety and devotion to God Almighty of the 4th Imam, earned him the epithets “Zayn al-Abedin” (or Ornament of the Pious) and “Seyyed as-Sajedin” (or Chief of the Worshippers).
Born in 38 AH in Medina to the virtuous Princess of Persia, Shahrbanu (peace upon her) who died in childbirth, he was present in Karbala as a 23-year old bedridden sick youth, along with his wife – Fatema (peace upon her), the daughter of his uncle Imam Hasan (AS).
His imamate started on the tragic evening of Ashura amidst the flames of the burning encampment of the Ahl al-Bayt, and the head of the martyrs mounted on lances by the Godless Omayyad hordes, who the next day clasped him in chains and fetters, and took him to Kufa, along with the noble ladies and children of the Prophet’s Household tied in ropes.
It was in this city, when people lined the streets in amusement as the Caravan of the Noble Captives approached that Imam Zayn al-Abedin (AS) delivered a brief but moving sermon to introduce himself and to make the Kufans realize the consequences of their sin in inviting his father to Iraq, then treacherously betraying Imam Husain (AS) to the forces of Yazid.
His sermon brought memories to the elders of the eloquent sermon of his grandmother, the Noblest-ever lady, Hazrat Fatema Zahra (peace upon her), who half-a-century earlier in Medina, following the usurpation of the right of political leadership of her husband, Imam Ali (AS), the Prophet’s divinely-designated vicegerent, had exposed the wrong done to the Blessed Ahl al-Bayt.
In continuation of his memorable sermon to the people of Kufa, Imam Zayn al-Abedin (AS) further said:
“O people! I put you on your oath to tell me in the Name of Allah, whether you know that at one time you wrote letters to my father and then deceived him. You made firm promises with him and then rose to fight against him. May Allah destroy you, may you reap the harvest of your misdeeds in both the worlds, and may you be disgraced for the indecent policy which you have adopted. How will you face the Prophet of Allah when you are brought before him on the Day of Judgment and with which eyes will you look at him? At that time the Holy Prophet will tell you: “You have killed my children and behaved towards me dishonourably. You are not my followers”.
On hearing these words, the people were move to tears, but they could do nothing since they were groaning under the jackboots of the oppressive Omayyad regime. The 4th Imam along with the noble women and children of the Prophet’s Household was taken to Damascus to the court of the tyrant Yazid, whose unjust rule was exposed.
The 4th Imam, following release from captivity in Damascus, where he shamed Yazid in the front of the whole court through another historic sermon, returned to his hometown Medina. For the next 34 years, he embarked on the gargantuan task of piecing together the tattered fabric of the Islamic shari’ah and safeguarding from distortion the genuine teachings, practice, and behaviour (Sunnah and Sirah) of his great-grandfather Prophet Muhammad (blessings of God upon him and his progeny).
Through his expounding of the tenets of Islam, through his elaborating of rights (including the rights of our own bodily organs upon us), and through his munajaat (or whispered prayers) and supplications to God Almighty, whose contents range from the fundamentals of faith and moral virtues to scientific issues, he bequeathed to humanity a treasure trove of guidance for success in life and salvation in afterlife.
His period of imamate was a critical situation, in view of the tussle for power between Abdullah ibn Zubair and the Omayyads. Both were hostile to him and the Bani Hashem Clan. Both wanted to wipe out the followers of the Ahl al-Bayt, especially after the two uprisings in Iraq to avenge the blood of Imam Husain (AS) – the uprising of the “Tawwabin” (Penitents) led by Sulaiman ibn Surrad Khuzai, and the uprising of Mukhtar ibn Abu Obaidah, who managed to bring to justice the main killers of the Prophet’s grandson.
In 95 AH (corresponding to 713 AD), Imam Zayn al-Abedin (AS) was martyred through a fatal dose of poison given by Waleed I, the self-styled caliph of the Omayyad usurper regime, but not before he had delivered the followers of the Ahl al-Bayt from the thorniest periods of their lives – Abdullah bin Zubayr’s 10-year rule in Hijaz, the Omayyad usurper Abdul-Malik’s regaining of power in Damascus, and his tyrannical governor Hajjaj’s twenty-year rule of terror in Iraq.
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