In the aftermath of the tragic battle of Karbala, came the night of tenth of Moharram the Shaam e Ghareebaan. That night, the sky was red like blood. It was the hardest night for the family of the Prophet. In the emptiness of the desert, they faced...
The captives caravan marched on and on through the deserts of Mesopotamia. It was the 13th of Muharram. The guards were instructed to let loose their worst treatment on the helpless ladies and ailing Imam Zainul Abideen a.s, who was following the caravan on foot.
Due to sheer exhaustion, he used to fall down at every step, because a heavy chain was put around his neck and feet, which made marching most difficult for him, particularly in the condition he was. Every time he stumbled and fell, some guard of the Yazidian force would jump down from his horse and mercilessly whip him.
Rất tiếc! Hình ảnh này không tuân theo hướng dẫn nội dung. Để tiếp tục đăng tải, vui lòng xóa hoặc tải lên một hình ảnh khác.
The march through the Syrian desert was a cruel ordeal for Imam Zainul Abideen(a.s). At the night the caravan used to stop for a few hours, when the guards used to indulge in feasting and merry-making, giving the least possible food and water to the prisoners bearly enough to sustain them. One night, they rested in the mountain-top hermitage of a recluse, who had devoted his life to prayers and meditation.
Shimr gave the heads of the martyrs to him for safekeeping. Just one look at the face of Imam Husayn convinced the hermit that it was the head of a saint. He took it with him and keeping it near his bed, retired to sleep. At night he dreamt that all the Prophets and angels had descended from heaven to keep a watch over the head. He woke up from his sleep, startled and baffled as to what he should do.
He decided to ask the leader of the guard about the identity of the persons whom they had beheaded and whose family they had taken prisoners. Rushing out of the monastery, he woke up Shimr and demanded to know who the martyrs were.
When Shimr told him that grandson of Prophet Muhammad(S.W.A.S), who had defied the authority of the rule of Yazid Ibn Muawiah, and refused to give his hand in bayt to Yazid had been killed by the army of Yazid and they were carrying the heads of all the persons who had been killed in Kerbala, the hermit was shocked beyond words.
Recovering himself, he said: "You cursed people, do you realise that you have committed the most heinous crime by beheading your own Prophet's grandson, who undoubtedly was a great saint? fie upon you, coward, that not satisfied with what you have done, you are so brutally treating his innocent ladies and children and subjecting them to such atrocities.!"
These words of the hermit enraged Shimr, who had even otherwise lost his temper with him for waking him up from sleep in the dead of night. with one sweep of his sword, he chopped off the hermit's head. This brute had little regard of the Prophet'injunctions and orders, granting fullest protection to those who had retired from the world and dedicated their lives to prayers and penance. When the life of the Prophet's own grandson was not spared by this brute, what regard could he be expected to have for the commands of Prophet?
With hurried marches, the captives' caravan reached the city of Damascus. On reaching the gates of the fortress surrounding the city, the caravan was halted and a courier was sent to inform Yazid about their arrival and to seek his permission to lead the captives to the court.
For one full hour, in the blazing heat of the sun, the ladies and children were made to wait near the door of the city with throngs of people coming over to see them from close quarters. Many of them did not know who they were.
They had a faint idea that some prince had risen against the authority of Yazid and had been defeated in a skirmish with the forces of Yazid. They were told that all the dependents of the prince had been taken prisoners and were being taken before the Khalif to receive whatever chastisement he considered necessary for them in keeping with the gravity of their leader's crime against the ruler and his undisputed authority. It appeared that Yazid, who had received a discreet hint from Obeidullah Ibne-Ziad about the scene in his court at Kufa, was afraid to make known the identity of the prisoners in Damascus, although he and his father had complete sway over the people for at least a quarter of a century. In hurried consultations with his confidants, Yazid had decided that, till the prisoners were brought into the court, their identity should not be disclosed.
.......................TO BE CONTINUED IN NEXT PART.....................
upcoming :
TO KNOW HOW BRAVELY BIBI ZAINAB (a.s) FACED THE DHULM OF YAZID, ANSWERED HIM AND HUMILIATED HIM IN HIS OWN COURT.
BIBI ZAINAB( a.s) sermons in the court of Yazid teaches us Jihad against oppressors, stay tuned for knowing all this and more.
