AL-HUDA
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the Message Continues ... 3/48
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The Role of Zainab binte Ali (a)
courtesy: Ali Hassan Jarchvi, CA
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? 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 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 |
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