Journey from Karbala to Madina

Chapter 4

The dungeon in which the ladies and children of the house of Prophet Muhammad were kept in captivity was more gloomy after Sayyeda Sakina was buried in one corner. So long as she was alive, she used to stand near the grating which opened on the street to get some fresh air and relief from suffocating closeness of the prison atmosphere. Many of the ladies who used to pass by would listen to her tale of woes and join her in her tears of agony. As there was no water in the prison, Imam Zainul Abideen a.s performed tayammum and buried her in same clothes that she was wearing. When he was laying the young child in the grave, two hands raised from the grave telling "give my beloved sakina to me," and took her to eternal bliss.

After the death of Sayeda Sakina, the people of Syria started to question Yazid about the prisoners. Often the passers-by used to hear the prayers offered to Almighty Allah by the captives at all hours of the day and night. Sometimes the prayers were chocked by the sobs and cries of mothers who would recollect the death of their beloved children. A day dawned when the guards were told that the Queen of Damascus would visit the prisoners. The guards started questioning one another about the possible reason for the Queen to visit the prisoners as she had never done so before. The guards had warned the prisoners not to disclose anything to the Queen. With ushers announcing her arrival, Hinda entered the cell accompanied by a few ladies. When she entered the cell, she saw some ladies praying and in one corner, and when she saw a small grave, was very perplexed. She enquired from them about their family and questioned them about the cause of their sufferings as she could see untold agonies from their faces.

Hinda went over to Sayeda Zaynab and addressing her said"I have come to visit you today to learn something from you about the reason of sufferings. For a long time, I have been trying to find out who you all are, from what place you come and why are you subjected to such hardship."

Pausing for a while she continued " My husband (YAZID)tells me that I should not concern myself with the affairs of his Government. But I have been often dreaming of lady Fatima, daughters of our beloved Prophet, in a sorrowful state that I find it impossible to rest in peace. she has been wailing about her children in my dreams".

These words of Hinda made Zaynab cry with grief. She could see that Queen Hinda, who not so long ago had been one of her constant companions in the days of her father, could not recognize her. Sayeda Zaynab was sitting with her head bowed down all this while. She now looked towards Hinda and told her that it was the ladies of the house of the Prophet of Islam whom her husband, Yazid, had made captives and that the family of Bani Hashim had been mercilessly slaughtered in KARBALA before her eyes. She also narrated to her the sufferings Sayada Sakina endured ever since Imam Husayn had been martyred and told her that she had been now relieved from her sufferings and was sleeping in the small grave in the corner of the prison.

Recounting these sufferings of Sayeda Sakina everybody started crying including Hinda. Sayeda Zaynab told Hinda how the little flower of their family was mercilessly slapped, how her ear-rings were snatched away cruelly, tearing her ear-lobes the wound of which kept on bleeding till the last and how her young body had become blue because of injuries sustained by her when repeatedly when used to fall from the bare-back camel she was made to ride during the march from Kerbala to Damascus.

To be continued ..................

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