The Arrival Of Ahl Al-Bayt At Madina
When the caravan reached the outskirts of Madina the Imam (‘a) ordered for a halt. The tents of the ladies were pitched. The whole journey passed in extreme agony and grief; a fully thriving family had been ruined.
It is a moment to think and recall, when the caravan had set out from Madina the full family was there, the respected Imam (‘a) was there, Abbas (‘a) was there, Ali Akber was there; Qasim was there, Aun and Muhammad were there, it is becoming very difficult for me to take more names as I am moved to tears, my voice afflicted.
You may just imagine as to how to narrate that when they had left Madina there was also a baby of six months cheering in his mother's lap who was now in eternal sleep underneath the hot sand of Karbala.
Mother's lap is deserted she is in the caravan helplessly looking hither and thither, her pathetic condition only be known to the parents. Cruel people always remain cruel. 1
After they reached very near to Madina the Imam asked Nu’man Ibn Basheer. “Your father was a poet do you have any interest in poetry?”
He replied: “Yes! I am a poet too:”
The Imam said: “Narrate the story of Husayn Ibn Ali (‘a).”
Nu’man obeyed, bareheaded and in aggrieved condition he entered Madina of the Prophet (S) and in painful but loud voice recited the following elegy in the by lanes of Madina and announced the arrival of the caravan.
“O people of Madina! Madina is no place to live any more. Husayn (‘a) has been slain. I weep tears to mourn him. His body lies soaked in blood in Karbala. His head was exhibited on the point of the spear”.
Hearing these words, the people of Madina left their houses and ran towards the caravan. Umm al-Mu’mineen Umm Salama, Umm al-Baneen widow of Hazrat Ali (‘a), mother of Hazrat Abbas with other women of Abdul Mutlalib's family proceeded towards the caravan waillng “Wa Husayna Wa Husayna!”. Their sobbing was more and more and on seeing Imam Zayn al-Abidin (‘a) there was heart breaking wail and cry.
What may have befallen on that daughter of Imam Husayn (as) (Fatimah Sughra) who could not accompany the Imam and stayed back in Madina, there is a tremor in her hands, eyes full or tears, heart sinking; I have no words to describe her condition but, however, I write below what the Imam (‘a) said:
“Oh people! We were put to great hardships. The wall of Islam has cracked. Imam Husayn (‘a) and his companions have been slain. His family was made captive. The heads were put on the spear points and exhibited throughout the land. No catastrophe could be as severe as this. Oh people! who among you can be happy after the martyrdom of Husayn (‘a) and which heart will not weep and bleed for him”?
“Listen! O'people! the seven skies wept on the martyrdom of Husayn (‘a), the seas and their waves mourned him, the earth wept for him, the trees and their branches mourned him, the fishes and other sea animals mourned him, the angels and all the creatures of the skies mourned him there is no heart that is not mourning and weeping him2?”
The caravan entered the city and when the houses of the Prophet (S) came into sight Hazrat Umm Kulthoom started reciting this elegy:
“Oh My ancestors' city or Madina! do not welcome us for we have come here with grief and hardships. When we had left you, we had our men and children with us and now we have come back in a state of mourning and despair and befriended only by Allah”.
We wail and weep. We are the ones who were taken from one city to another to be exhibited bareheaded on bare backs of camel. We are the daughters of the Aale Yasin and Taha. We are those who bear hardships with endurance. “We weep for those who were our leaders. Be it known to you, Oh grandfather! that your Husayn (‘a) has been slain”.
The events are full of pathos. I have no strength to describe and feel that my readers too have no strength to go through the details. Women and children stayed there recounting their miseries while Syed Al-Sajjad (‘a) went straight to the grave of the Prophet (phuh).
Syed Al-Sajjad (‘A) On The Grave Of The Prophet (S)
Tarikhe Al Khamees says:
“Imam Zayn al-Abidin (‘a) went straight to the grave of the Prophet (S) after the caravan of Ahl al-Bayt entered Madina. He put his head on the grave and said:
“Oh grandfather! Oh leader of the apostles of Allah! your favourite son Husayn (‘a) has been martyred. Oh grandfather! your Husayn (‘a) was killed hungry and thirsty on the bank of Euphrates. Your progeny has been ruined. Oh grandfather! I was imprisoned and your Ahl al-Bayt were taken around bareheaded. We cannot count on fingers the hardships we have passed through3“.
Bibi Zaynab (‘A) In The City Of The Prophet (S)
Bibi Zaynab could not find peace even after her return in Madina. She was haunted by the memories of the loved ones including her sons who were martyred hungry and thirsty in Karbala.
She was always sad, sometimes recalling the severed arms of Abbas, sometimes the spear lanced into Akbar's chest, sometimes Qasim's body trampled by horses, sometimes smiling face of the baby Air Asghar; sometimes imagining Aun's coming of age and sometimes the prime of youth of Muhammad.
She remembered Hazrat Muslim rolled down from the roof of “Darul Ammara”, sometimes the small dead bodies of tender aged sons of Muslim fighting and flowing against the stormy waves of the river; sometimes Muslim Ibn Ausaja, sometimes she remembered Habib Ibn Mazahir; sometimes Zuhair Ibn Qain and sometimes Abdullah Ibn Umair.
Sometimes she remembered Husayn (‘a) coming from the horse back to the earth, sometimes coming of his horse to the tents without Husayn (‘a); sometimes Sham Al-Ghariban, cry and sighs of the innocent children; sometimes their presence in the court of Ibn Ziyad and sometimes waiting for hours in the court of Yazid; sometimes dark and suffocating cells of the prison; sometimes falling walls of dilapidated prison; sometimes happy and populated house of Madina, sometimes tomb of the Prophet; sometimes unburied and unshrouded bodies of martyrs on the burning sand of Karbala and sometimes thirsty Sakina running towards battlefield with “Kuza” (earthen pot) in her hand.
The shock the grief ends the hardship were the reasons which made the granddaughter of the Prophet and daughter of Ali (‘a) the most aggrieved person. The condition was such that Bibi Zaynab looked like a lifeless skeleton as if there was no existence of soul in her body.
Bibi Zaynab made her house, that is, the house of Abdullah Ibn Ja’far at-Tayyar a “house of mourning” and spent her days and nights in walling, crying and weeping and so did the other women dressed in black robe. In short, the house of the Prophet (S) turned into a “mourning house”.
There was a little peace in the house of the prophet (S) when Ameer Mukhtar in 66/67 Hijra sent the heads of ‘Ubaidullah Ibn Ziyad. ‘‘Umar Ibn Sa’d and some other murderers to Imam Zayn al-Abidin (‘a) but it was only when Bibi Zaynab had already left this world She died as a grief-stricken woman on 15th Rajab 62 Hijra.
- 1. فِي قُلُوبِهِمْ مَرَضٌ فَزَادَهُمُ اللَّهُ مَرَضًا ۖ وَلَهُمْ عَذَابٌ أَلِيمٌ بِمَا كَانُوا يَكْذِبُونَ
In their heart there is one specific sickness and God has aggravated it further and they will be put to a grievous punishment because they were liars. (2:10). - 2. Maqtal Abi Mahknaf, Page188, Nasikh-Al-Tawareekh, Vol-4, page-286.
- 3. Maqtal Abi Mahknaf, Page143.