This is the Land(DISCONTINUED)

Part 1

“Abbas ibn Ali, Akber ibn Hussain, Sakina bint Ali” he concluded

The 57 year old suddenly looked a lot older as he stood up and rolled up the long scroll; the list of people who would be coming with him. As he made his way from the mosque to his house, he sighed, knowing at least two places where he was going to get opposition. Sure enough, as soon as he entered the house, his brother Abbas came up to him.

“Your sister wishes to speak with you, master.”

Once again, he wished Abbas would, just once, call him brother, but he stayed silent. He knew it was not was Abbas wanted. He made his way over to a bedroom where he saw his sister, Zainab, pacing frantically. She looked at him pleadingly.

“Is this true? I’m not on the list of the people leaving? Why am I forced to stay behind? What will I have left here?”

**Flashback**

An old man sat beside a young boy, telling him of horrors that he will one day face. The boy was listening with a grave face. Then the man said, “And they will unveil her.” The boy’s heart stopped. He looked up in shock.

“Can’t I do anything grandpa?”

“No,” the man replied with sadness ingrained in his face, “it is necessary.”

**End**

“Zainab, you are a married woman. How can I take you without your husband’s permission?”

Zainab looked up with hope in her eyes and walked out of the room. He sighed, his grandfather was right. It was necessary.

Now, he had to talk with another. He slowly let his footsteps carry him to a sick little girl, sitting with her grandma. The old lady saw him enter and stood up. Her eyes immediately travelled to a little vial of glass upon a shelf, gloom in her eyes.

“Yes Umme Salma, the time is almost here.”

**Flashback**

A young boy walks into a room and sees a woman wringing her hands in distress.

“What is it? What happened?”

“Oh master, my child, I have heard the most horrible news, from your grandfather himself. He said…”

“I know.”

She gasped. “But when?” she asked, hoping in vain that the answer would be never.

He took a little glass vial from the cabinet and opened it. He pointed his finger to someplace far beyond the horizon.

“Look,” he commanded.

She looked. Suddenly, she saw a huge desert landmass rise into her view. She gasped.

“Is that…”

“Yes, that is the place.”

He reached out, and lifted a handful of sand and put it in the vial. He handed it to her.

“When this sand turns to blood, you will know that Hussain is no more.”

**End**

“Sughra,” he whispers quietly.

The girl lifts her head and walks into his embrace. The little seven year old frame began to shake with sobs. He tries to sooth her, but what can he say?

“Why?” she asks him. Not complaining, not accusing, just inquiring.

“Because it is God’s will.”

“Then may I,” she hesitates, “May I keep Ali Asghar? May I keep my baby brother? I will die of loneliness  without my brother and sisters, without you. May I please keep him?”

He slowly shakes his head. As much as it broke his heart, he knew even Ali Asghar had a role to play.