Introduction
Verily we have killed `Ali and the sons of `Ali
with indian swords and with spears
And imprisoned their women like the turks
and struck them and what a struck it was
[indian swords were known for Arabs for the their sharpness and quality]
You've drawn your destiny with your jaws O dishonored sayer!! You've been proud for killing people that Allah had purified and cleansed, so shut up and sit like a dog like your father did!! Every person will get in return what his hands do. Did you envy us? Woe to you! For what Allah preferred us upon you? What is our sin if life got into our raging sea, and your sea is calm and can't cover even a beetle. That is the favor of Allah that is given to anyone He desires, and whoever that Allah had never made a light for him he shall not have a light.
Then the voices raised out loud with cries and weeping, and they said: stop O daughter of the purified, you have burned our hearts and set the fire to our insides. So she went silent.
Then Um-Kalthoom bent `Ali (PUH) preached in that day behind her veil and raised her voice with crying and she said: O people of Kufa, evil to you, why did you let down Husayn and killed him, and plundered his fortunes, and imprisoned his women. Woe to you and may Allah destroy you!! What sin you have commited, and what burden you have taken over your back, and what blood did you shed, and what a dignified woman you've targeted and what children you've plundered and what fortune you have taken. You've killed the best men after the prophet (PUH), and the mercy was taken out from your hearts, and verily the party of Allah shall be the winner, and the party of the devil shall be the loser, and then she said:
You've killed my brother, woe to your mothers
you shall be rewarded with a blazing hell
You've shed bloods that Allah prohibited
and Quran prohibited and then Mohammed
Then the people wept out loud and cried, and the women spread their hairs and put the dust over their heads and scratched their faces and slapped their cheeks and prayed for the woes and punishments. The men also cried, and such numbers of mourners was never seen before.
Then Zaynul-`Abideen [`Ali ben Al-Husayn, 4th imam] made a sign with his hand to make them silence and they went silent, and then stood up, and he praised Allah and blessed the prophet (PUH) and then said: O people, who knew me verily he knew me, and who doesn't know then I shall identify myself for him, I am `Ali ben Al-Husayn ben `Ali ben Abi Tálib (PUH). I am the son of him whose veil was broken and his fortunes were plundered, and his money was taken and his children were imprisoned. I am the son of the one who was slain on the banks of Al-Forát, for no sin or a crime. I am the son of him who was killed and was patient, and that is enough for my pride. O people, I ask you by Allah, do you know that you've written to my father, and then tricked him, and sworn the fealty to him and made the covenant to him and then let him down and killed him?? Woe to you then for what you have done to yourselves, and evil is your thinking! By what eye (look) you shall look at the prophet of Allah?! When he shall say to you: you've killed my Household and broken my veils, then verily you are not from my nation. Then the voices of the people went out loud with cries from all the directions and they said to each other: Verily you are doomed and you don't know, and then he (PUH) said: may the mercy of Allah be upon him who accepts my advice and saved my will for the sake of Allah, and His prophet, and his Household, verily we have a good example in the prophet of Allah.
Then all of them said: we are all, O son of the prophet of Allah, saviors for you and desire no one but you, so command us with your orders may Allah have mercy upon you, for verily we are fighters for those who fight you, and we are peace with whom who make peace with you, and we shall fight Yazeed and make ourselves free from those who wronged you and wronged us. Then he (PUH) said: Allah fobids! O you treacherous, verily there is veil between yourselves and the lusts of yourselves, do you want to come to me like you did with my fathers before?? No, by the God of the dancers (the planets), the wound is not yet cured, my father, may blessings of Allah be upon him, was killed yesterday with his Household, and I didn't forget how bereaved is the prophet of Allah and my father and the children of my father, and his sadness is in my mouth and his bitterness is in my throat and his adversities are running through my chest. My request shall be that you shall not be with us nor against us, and then he (PUH) said:
No wonder Al-Husayn got killed, for his father
was even better than Husayn and more generous
So O people of Kufa don't be happy
for what happened to Husayn for that was more awful
Slain on the banks of the river may my soul be a ransom for him
may the reward of who killed him shall be the hell
Then he said: we've accepted that from you, a head by a head, thus nothing for us and nothing for you (of revenge).
The narrator said: then, Ibn Ziyád sat in the palace and gave a general permission for the people and the head of Al-Husayn was brought and was put before him, so he looked at it and smiled and he had a lash in his hand, so then he began to hit with it the lips of Al-Husayn and say: verily he had a nice looking mouth. Then he said: verily the white hair came so fast to you O Abá `Abdilláh! A day for the day of Badr, and there was in the court Anas ben Málik who cried and said: he (Al-Husayn) is the most like the prophet of Allah (PUH) and verily he was handsome, and beside him there was Zayd ben Arqam, one of the companions of the prophet of Allah and he was an old man, and when he saw that he was hitting his lips he said to him: get your lash away from these two lips, by Allah who there is no other god but Him, verily I saw the prophet kiss these lips so much. Then he started to weep, and Ibn Ziyád said to him: may Allah make your eyes cry, do you cry for the relief of Allah? By Allah, if you were not an old man with senility, I would order for you to be beheaded, so then Zayd ben Arqam got up from the court and said: O people, you are the slaves now after this day, you've killed the son of Fatima and made the son of Morjánah [Ibn Ziyád] a ruler for you, by Allah he shall kill the good of you and make slaves out of your devilish ones, and far may he be who accepts the humiliation. Then he said: O Ibn Ziyád, I shall talk to you such a talk that is harder than this, I've seen the prophet of Allah (PUH) sitting Al-Hasan (PUH) on his right thigh and Husayn (PUH) on his left thigh and then he put his hand on their heads and then said: Allahoma, verily I make them deposits for You and for the rest of the believers. So how was the deposit of the prophet of Allah with you O Ibn Ziyád?
Then, the women of Al-Husayn were entered with the children to the court of Ibn Ziyád, and Zaynab bent `Ali sat in a corner in a disguise, and he asked about her and been told that this is Zaynab the daughter of Fatima, the daughter of the prophet of Allah (PUH), so he came to her and said: praise be to Allah that He defamed you and killed you and showed your lies, and Zaynab then said: praise be to Allah who dignified us with His prophet Mohammed (PUH) and cleansed us, it is but the wrong-doer that shall be defamed and the lies of the unchaste shall be exposed, and we not those. Then Ibn Ziyád said: how do you see the deed of Allah with your brother and his Household?? She replied: I didn't see anything more beautiful, these are people that death was destined upon them and to their graves they went. And verily Allah well make both of you meet each other, and the debate shall go on against you, and wait to see who shall be paralyzed then? May your mother bereave you O son of Morjánah. The narrator said: then Ibn Ziyád went mad and almost got her beaten! But `Amr ben Horayth said to him: she is a woman and the woman is not to be taken for what she says! Then Ibn Ziyád said: Allah had cured my heart from your tyrant, Al-Husayn, and the revolutionists of his Household, and then she said: by my life, you've killed my old man and cut off my branch, and knocked off my roots, and if that is your cure then you had it, and then Ibn Ziyád said: by my life, she's a poet, and her father was too, and then she said: O Ibn Ziyád, what a woman (like me) has to do with poetry, verily I have something that keeps me busy away from poetry, but it is a breath of my chest for what you said.
Then, Ibn Ziyád looked at `Ali ben Al-Husayn and said: who is this? And they told him that this is `Ali ben Al-Husayn, and he said: did not Allah kill `Ali? Then `Ali answered: I had a brother who was called `Ali ben Al-Husayn who was killed by the crowds, he replied: no but Allah killed him, but `Ali (PUH) said: Allah receiveth (men's) souls at the time of their death, and then Ibn Ziyád said: and you dare to reply back? Take him and behead him, and when his aunt Zaynab heard that, she hugged him and said: O Ibn Ziyád, stop from our blood shed for you left no one of us, and if you decided to kill him, then kill me before him, and then Ibn Ziyád looked at her and him for some time and then said: I wonder for such tie of kinship, by Allah, I think she desires to be killed with him, so leave him and I shall decide later.
Then `Ali ben Al-Husayn (PUH) said to his aunt: be silent my aunt until I talk to him, and then he stood before Ibn Ziyád and said: are you threatening me by killing O Ibn Ziyád? Didn't you know martyrdom is a habit of ours and Allah favored that for us, and then Ibn Ziyád ordered to carry `Ali ben Al-Husayn to some room beside the great mosque, and then Zaynab bent `Ali said: no arabian woman shall enter before us, unless she was a maid or a slave, for verily they were taken hostages like us.
Then Ibn Ziyád ordered to take the head of Al-Husayn and tour it around in the roads of Kufa.
Then, Ibn Ziyád went up the pulpit, and praised Allah and said in some of his speech: praise to Allah who showed the truth and its people, and nourished the prince of the believers Yazeed and his party, and killed the liar, the son of the liar and his followers.
While in that situation, `Abdulláh ben `Afeef Al-Azdi stood up, and he was one of the shiites and a great worshipper, and his left eye was gone in the battle of Jamal [battle of imam `Ali and `Á'ishah, the wife of the prophet, after which, imam `Ali won], and his right eye was gone at the day of Siffeen [a battle of imam `Ali and Mo`áwiyah the father of Yazeed, after which imam `Ali won], and he used to remain in the great mosque and pray there until night time, so he said: O son of Morjánah, verily the liar is you and your father, and the one who used you and his father O enemy of Allah! Do you kill the children of the prophets and talk with such a speech on the pulpits of the muslims?? Then Ibn Ziyád got angry and said: who is that talking to me? He replied: I am the one who talks O enemy of Allah! Do you kill the purified Household which Allah cleansed and made clean, and claim that you are a muslim, Alas! Any helper! Where are the sons of Mohájireen and Ansár? [Mohájireen: immigrants from Mecca to Medina, Ansár: inhabitants of Medina who nourished the prophet when he immigrated], they should take the revenge from you and from your tyrant, the damned the son of the damned, who was damned by the prophet Mohammed (PUH).
He said (the narrator): the anger of Ibn Ziyád increased until his veins blowed up and said: get him! And the soldiers came from all directions to take him, but the nobles of the tribe of Azd of his cousins stood up and freed him from the soldiers, and got him out from the mosque's door and took him back to his house, and then Ibn Ziyád said: go to that blind man, the blind man of Azd, may Allah make his heart blind as well, and get him for me.
So they went to him, and when Azd tribe knew about that they gathered with the tribes of Yemen to protect their man, and Ibn Ziyád got the tidings about that and he gathered the tribes of Modhar under Mohammed ben Al-Ash`ath, and he ordered him to fight the people, and they fought against each other severely, until a group of Arabs got killed, and the fellows of Ibn Ziyád reached the house of `Abdulláh ben `Afeef, and they broke the door and got into the house, and his daughter shouted: the people came from where you were afraid! He said: don't be afraid, get me the sword, and so she did and he started to defend himself. Then he daughter said: O father how I wish that I was a man to fight before you against those wicked men, the killers of the purified Household.
The people started to rotate around him from all directions, while he was defending himself, and no one could get him, and whenever they come to him from one direction, she (his daughter) would say: O father they're coming from that direction, until they out numbered him and surrounded him, and his daughter then said: Alas! What humiliation! My father is surrounded and he has no one to nourish him, so he started to rotate his sword and say:
And they kept on like that until they got him, and then he was carried and got into the court of Ibn Ziyád, and when he saw him he said: praise to Allah who disappointed you! `Abdulláh ben `Afeef said then: O enemy of Allah by what did He disappoint me? Then Ibn Ziyád said: O enemy of Allah, what do you say about `Uthmán ben `Affán [3rd caliph]? He replied: O slave of Bani `Iláj, O son of Morjánah, and he cursed him and said: what is the matter between you and `Uthmán?? whether he sinned or made a favor, and whether he made good or bad, verily Allah is the Carer for His creation, and He shall judge among them and `Uthmán with just and truth. But ask me about your father and you, and about Yazeed and his father? Then Ibn Ziyád said: by Allah I shall not ask you about anything else, and you shall taste death severely!
Then, `Abdulláh ben `Afeef said: praise to Allah the God of the creations, verily I was asking Allah to make me a martyr before your mother delivered you, and I asked Allah to make that by the most evil creature and the most behated one by Him, and when my sightness was taken away I was despaired of being a martyr, and now - praise to Allah - who made me have it after being despaired about it, and made me know the answer of my old pray, so then Ibn Ziyád said: behead him, and so they did and he was crucified in the moorland.
The narrator said: and `Ubaydilláh ben Ziyád wrote a letter to Yazeed ben Mo`áwiyah telling him about the killing of Al-Huysan (PUH) with his Household, and when the letter reached Yazeed, he replied back ordering him to bring the head of Al-Husayn and the heads of those who got killed him with him, with the children and the women.
Ibn Al-Jawzi [a historian] said: and the people toured them, and whenever they would settle down in some place they would take the head out from a chest that was made for it, and put it on a spear and guard him all night until the time of moving, and then they return it back to the chest and move, and they settled in some places, and in one of these places there was an abbey with a monk, so they took the head from the chest as usual and put it on a spear and got it guarded, and they supported the spear with the abbey of the christian man, and when it was midnight, the monk saw a light from the place of the head to the sky, so he went to the people and said: who are you? They said: we are the fellows of Ibn Ziyád, then he said: whose head is this? They replied: this is the head of Al-Husayn ben `Ali ben Abi Tálib, the son of Fatima the daughter of the prophet, he said: this is the head of the son of the daughter of your own prophet?! They said: yes, he said: evil people are you! If the Messiah had a son we would make our eyes a home for him, and then he said: do you accept some deal? They said: and what is that? He said: I have 10 thousands Dirham [currency of that time], you shall take it and give me the head to be with me this night and when you want to leave you shall take it back? They said: no harm with that!
So, they gave him the head and he gave them the money, and the monk took the head and washed it and put perfumes on it and left it with him, and put it on his thigh, and cried all night, and when the morning appeared, he said: O head, I have nothing but myself, and verily I testify that there is no other god but Allah, and your grandfather Mohammed is the messenger of Allah, and I testify that I am one of your followers. Then he left the abbey and worked on serving the Household (PUT).
Then the people toured with the head of Al-Husayn and the heads of his Household, with the prisoners of women and children, and when they were close to Damascus, Um-Kalthoom got closer to Shimr who was among them and said to him: I have a request for you!! He said: and what is your request of daughter of `Ali?? She said: if you got into the town then take us in such a road that has less people, and tell them to get the heads out and away from us, for verily we've been ashamed for how much they looked at us and we are in such condition, so he ordered to answer her request and to put the heads on the spears among the prisoners as to oppose her request and he took a road with lot of people until they reached the gate of Damascus, and then an old man came and got closer to the women of Al-Husayn (PUH) and said: praise be to Allah who killed you and destroyed you and made a relief for the lands from your men and helped the prince of the believers Yazeed against you!
Then `Ali ben Al-Husayn said: O old man, did you read Quran? He replied: yes. Then he said: did you know this phrase "I ask of you no fee therefor, save lovingkindness among kinsfolk"? The old man replied: yes, I read that. Then `Ali (PUH) said: then we are the kinsfolk O old man. Then, did you read in chapter of Bani Israel [The Israelites, chapter 17 of Quran] "Give the kinsman his due" ?? Then the old man replied: yes I did read that. Then `Ali ben Al-Husayn said: then verily we are the kinsmen O old man. Did you read "And know that whatever ye take as spoils, lo! a fifth thereof is for Allah, and for the messenger and for the kinsman..."? The man replied: yes. Then `Ali ben Al-Husayn said: we are the kinsmen. Did you read "Allah's wish is but to remove uncleanness far from you, O Folk of the Household, and cleanse you with a thorough cleansing"? The old man said: I read that. Then `Ali (PUH) said: we are the Household that was mentioned in the phrase of purification. Then the old man remained regret for what he said, and then looked at Zaynul-`Abideen (`Ali ben Al-Husayn) and said: by Allah, you are them??
The imam said: we are verily them with no doubt, by the rights of our grandfather the messenger of Allah verily we are them, and then the old man started to cry and he threw his turban away and raised his head to the sky and said: Allahoma verily we make ourselves free from the enemy of the Household of Mohammed, whether it was a human or Djinn. Then he said: is there a way to repent? He (`Ali) replied: yes, if you repented, then Allah shall forgive you and you are with us! He said: I am repenting. The tidings of the old man then reached Yazeed ben Mo`áwiyah, and he ordered for him to be killed.
Sahl ben Sa`d Al-Sá`idi said: I was out for the holy house (in Jerusalem) and when I reached the middle of Shám [Damascus], I found out a city with rivers going through it and many trees and the curtains were hanged and the people were happy and their women played the tambourines and the drums. So I said to myself: there is no single festival for the people of Damascus that we don't know. Then, I saw some people talking to each other so I said: O people, do you have in Damascus a festival that we don't know?? They replied: O old man, verily we see you a nomad and a stranger (from here), so I said: I am Sahl ben Sa`d, and I've seen the prophet of Allah (PUH), they replied: O Sahl, you don't wonder for the sky that it doesn't rain blood and the earth doesn't sink with its people?!! I said: and why is that?! They replied: this is the head of Al-Husayn, the Household of Mohammed (PUH) is being driven from the lands of Iraq!! I said: Alas! what a wonder! The head of Al-Husayn is being gifted and the people are happy? I asked then: from what gate shall they pass? And they pointed out to a gate that is called Bábul-Sá`át [The gate (door) of hours, so called for the many hours that the Household spent there many hours to get into the court of Yazeed]. And in that situation, I saw the banners follow each other, and then I saw a knight with a flag that has no top and on the top of it was there a head that looked almost similar to the face of the prophet of Allah (PUH). Then after that I saw women riding camels with no saddles, so I got closer to one of their children and said: O maid, who are you? She said: I am Sokaynah the daughter of Al-Husayn. Then I said to her: do you need anything? I am Sahl ben Sa`d, one of those who saw your grandfather the prophet of Allah (PUH) and heard his speech. She said: O Sahl, tell the carrier of the head to put the head in front of us, so the people would get busy looking at it instead of looking at the daughters of the prophet of Allah (PUH).
He said: then I got closer to the carrier and said to him: would you do me a favor for 400 dinars? He said: and what is that? I said then: make the head in front of the harem, and so he did and I paid him what I've promised.
Al-Zohari said: and when the heads arrived, and Yazeed at that time was on a watch-tower over Jayroon, and he heard a crow's sound, and said to himself:
Then, the Household of Al-Husayn and the women were entered to the court of Yazeed ben Mo`áwiyah and they were tied with robes, and when they all got in there, and in that situation, `Ali ben Al-Husayn (PUH) said: by Allah O Yazeed, what do you think the prophet of Allah would say if he saw us in this situation?
Then Yazeed ordered to cut off the robes and he asked for a file and started to file the cuffs that were on the neck of imam Zaynul-`Ábideen [`Ali ben Al-Husayn] (PUH).
When they removed the cuffs from his neck, the blood gushed out from his neck. Ibn Al-Atheer [a historian] said in his book Al-Kámil: and a syrian man (who was in the court) looked at Fatima the daughter Al-Huysan and said to Yazeed: give me this maid, and Fatima said (later on): at that time I got shocked and I thought this is allowed for them, and I took the clothes of my aunt Zaynab and said: Alas! my aunt! I was made an orphan and now to be used?? Then Zaynab said: no, and this wicked has no dignity. She knew that this will never happen, so she looked to the syrian man and said: by Allah you've lied and been wicked, and by Allah this is not to be for you or for him [meaning Yazeed]. Then Yazeed got angry and said: by Allah you've lied, I am able to do so if I wanted to!!
She said: no by Allah, Allah did not make that for you unless you've been out from this religion, and then Yazeed got angry even more and said: do you talk to me in that way? Verily who got out from this religion is your father and your brother, and Zaynab said: by the religion of Allah, and the religion of my father, and the religion of my brother, you've been guided with your grandfather and your father, if you were a muslim!!
He said: you've lied O enemy of Allah, and she replied: you are a prince that curse with unjust and succeed with your might, then as if he was embarrased and went silent.
Then the syrian man got back again to his request and Yazeed then said to him: stop it, may Allah give you a mortal fate. Then the syrian man asked: who is this maid? Yazeed said: this is Fatima the daughter of Al-Huysan and that is Zaynab the daughter of `Ali ben Abi Tálib (PUH). The syrian man then said: Al-Husayn the son of Fatima? And `Ali ben Abi Tálib?!! He replied: yes, and then the syrian man said: may Allah damn you O yazeed, do you kill the Household of your prophet and imprison their children, by Allah I thought they are from the romans, then Yazeed said: by Allah I shall make you follow them, and then he ordered to behead him.
Then Yazeed ordered to bring the head of Al-Husayn, and he put it in front of him in a tub made of gold, and the women were behind him, then Sokaynah and Fatima tried to get a sight of the head and Yazeed was covering it away from them, and when they saw it they shouted out loud and cried.
Then Yazeed gave a general permission for the people to come into the court, and Yazeed took his rod and started to hit the lips of Al-Husayn and say: a day for the day of Badr, and then said:
Our people denied to be just with us
so rods in our faith full of blood were just
Courage of men that were mighty for us
was shut off and they were the most unjust
Then, Yahyá ben Al-Hakam -the brother of Marwán- who was sitting there said:
Verily, the head beside the river's bank is more close in relation
rather than Ibn Ziyád, the slave of the dirty lineage
Somayyah now is has a lineage in many numbers
and today the Household of the Chosen has no lineage
Then Yazeed struck him on his chest and said: shut up, may you have no mother.
And as for Zaynab, when she saw the head of her brother, she took her pocket and torn it and then called with a sad voice that shaked the hearts: Alas! Husayn! O beloved of the prophet, O son of Mecca and Miná [a village around Mecca], O son of Fatima Al-Zahrá'.
Then Yazeed started to sing and say:
Wish if my ancestors in Badr testified
the fear of Khazraj from the swords' beats
Verily they would be glad and happy
then say O Yazeed don't ever stop
We've killed the bravest of their masters
and made it equal to Badr's day and it was
Verily I am not from the tribe of Khondof
if I didn't take revenge from Ahmad for what he did
Háshim played with the throne and thus,
no tidings were brought and nor inspiration
[Ahmad is another version of Mohammed]
And while he was singing this poem, suddenly the voice of Zaynab shocked his hearings, for she didn't see anyone who would answer Yazeed ben Mo`áwiyah, so she stood up and said: praise to Allah the God of the worlds, and blessings of Allah on His prophet and his Household. Truely Allah had said: Then evil was the consequence to those who dealt in evil, because they denied the revelations of Allah and made a mock of them. O Yazeed, did you think, when you've turned the corners of the earth and the horizons of the sky over us and made hostages driven like the prisoners of war, did you think that we are behated by Allah and He liked you, and that was for how dangerous you are in His eyes, so you raised your nose and looked at the tip of your cloak (with pride) in happiness, when you saw the life is assured for you and the matters are done good for you, and when our fortune and might been away from your way. Just wait, did you forget Allah's saying: And let not those who disbelieve imagine that the rein We give them bodeth good unto their souls. We only give them rein that they may grow in sinfulness. And theirs will be a shameful doom. Is it fair O son of Tolaqá' [Tolaqá' : freed men, a group of men got captured in the day of Badr and the prophet released them, and Yazeed's ancestors were among them], is it fair that you put your harem behind the veils while you drive the daughters of the prophet like prisoners, and you've broken their veils and showed their faces, and the enemies got them toured from one town to another, and people talk about them, while their faces are looked at by the near and the far, and the mean and the noble, with no man from their household, and no protector. How it is possible to look at him who chewed the livers of the faithful and his meat grown up with the blood of the martyrs? And how is it possible that he wouldn't hate us severely, the Household, who looked at us with the eyes of envy and hatred, and then you say as easy as it could be:
Verily they would be glad and happy
then say O Yazeed don't ever stop
while you bend on the lips of Abá `Abdilláh, the lord of youth of paradise, and you hit it with your rod. How come you don't say that? And you've severed the wound and knocked off the origins by shedding the bloods of the Household of Mohammed (PUH), and the stars of earth, from the Household of `Abdul-Mottalib [the grandfather of the prophet], and you call your ancestors as if you were calling them, and verily you shall follow them soon, and then you will wish if you've been paralyzed and muted, and never said what you've said and never did what you've done. Allahoma, take our rights, and take revenge from those who wronged us, and let Your wrath befall upon those who shed our bloods and killed our protectors. By Allah, you've severed your skin only, and you've cut your own meat, and you shall meet the prophet of Allah (PUH) with what you've put on your back of the blood of his Household and of what veils you've broken for his daughters, after Allah gathers them all together and take their rights. Think not of those, who are slain in the way of Allah, as dead. Nay, they are living. With their Lord they have provision, and Allah is enough Judge, and Mohammed (PUH) is enough for an opponent, and Gabriel is enough for being a support, and he who advised you with evil and made you rule of the muslims' necks how evil is to be for the wrong-doers and whoever shall be in an evil place and with the weakest army. And though destiny made me talk to you, verily I see you small in my eyes and not worthy even to my rebuke, but the eyes are full of tears and the chests are full of agony. Alas! What a wonder for killing the party of Allah the Chosen, by the party of satan the free, and these are the hands, they are dropping from our bloods, and these are the mouths, they are getting from our meats, and these are the purified corpses, they are visited by the wolves and hyenas, and if you stood against us you shall find us a fierce enemy, at a time when you only see what you've done by your own hands, and verily your God is not an unjust for His bondmen. Thus, to Allah shall be the complaint, and He shall help. Then, trick your tricks, and walk along your path, and do your best, by Allah you shall never erase our mention, and never kill our inspiration, and never reach our level, and its shame shall never leave you, and what is your opinion but to doom? And what are your days but numbers? And what are your gatherings (men) but to be separated? At the day when the caller shall call and say: may the damnation of Allah befall upon the wrong-doers. Then praise to Allah the Lord of the worlds who judged for our first with happiness and forgiveness, and to our last with martyrdom and mercy, and we shall ask Allah to complete their rewards and add more for them, and make it easy for us verily He is Merciful and Beloved, and Allah is our Judge and He is Dependable.
Then Yazeed said:
O cry that praise the criers
death is easy for the mourners
Then, a christian man who was a messenger from caesar to Yazeed looked around and said: we have in some islands, the trace of the hoof of the donkey that Jesus used to ride and we make pilgrimage there every year from all around the lands and the vows are made there, and we glorify it like you glorify your own books, and verily I testify that you are wrong-doers.
Then Yazeed got angry for this saying and ordered to kill him, so he stood up and went to the head and kissed it and said the two testimonies [the two testimonies required to enter into Islam].
Then Yazeed took our the head from the court and hanged it on the gate of the palace for 3 days, and when Hind bent `Amr, Yazeed's wife, heard about that, she went to him uncovering her head with bare feet and with no veils, to the court of Yazeed, and she said: O Yazeed, the head of the son of the daughter of the prophet is on our gate? Then Yazeed went to her and covered her and said to her: O Hind, he is the scream of the hashimites!! Ibn Ziyád just got him.
Then Yazeed ben Mo`áwiyah went to the mosque and ordered the preacher to go up the pulpit and curse `Ali and Al-Husayn while `Ali ben Al-Husayn was attendant, and the preacher did that, and then `Ali ben Al-Husayn: woe to you O preacher! you've bought the satisfaction of the created with the wrath of the Creator, so prepare your seat that is made of fire.
Then, `Ali ben Al-Husayn said to Yazeed: do you allow me to go up those sticks (the pulpit) and talk some words that gets the satisfaction of Allah and for these people the rewards? But Yazeed denied to allow him, and the people said then: allow him to go on the pulpit so that we may hear something from him, and he replied: if he went up there he wouldn't come down unless with my defame and the defame of Abu-Sufyán's household!! They said: and what can this kid say? He said: he is from a household that was given the wisdom!! But they insisted and insisted until he allowed him to go up the pulpit, so then he (`Ali ben Al-Husayn) praised Allah and blessed the prophet of Allah, and he said a speech that made the eyes go on with tears and filled the hearts with fear, and he said: O people, I warn you against this life and what is in it, for it is a vanishing place and a moving one, that moves with its people from one situation to another. Verily, the passing old centuries have vanished the old nations who were longer in lives more than you and made more traces than you did; they were all vanished by the hands of time, and conquered by the snakes and the worms, all of them were destroyed by this life like if they were not its people. The dust have eaten their meat, and removed their beauty and wasted their organs and changed their colors, and they were grinded by the hands of time. Do you wish to live after them? Allah forbids!! Verily you shall follow them, so chase after what is left of your ages with the good deeds, like I can see you moving from your palaces to your graves filled with unhappiness, and how many by Allah there was a dead man that got his regret in complete, when there is no help for those who regret and those who wrong. They found what they did, and what they had was presented, and what they did was in front of their eyes and your Lord do not wrong anyone. They are verily in the homes of the adversities sleeping, and in the camps of the deads are laying, and waiting for the cry of the judgement day, and the falling of the great events day "that He may reward those who do evil with that which they have done, and reward those who do good with goodness."
Then he said: O people, we are given six and preferred by seven: we are given the wisdom and clemency and forgiveness and eloquence and bravery and the love in the hearts of the believers. And we are preferred by: from us the prophet of Allah, and from us the Righteous [imam `Ali] and Al-Tayyár [Tayyár: the flying man, a title for Ja`far the brother of imam `Ali, because he lost his both hands in war], and from us the lion of Allah and His prophet [Hamzah the prophet's uncle], and from us the two septs of this nation [the grandsons of the prophet], and from us shall be the Guider of this nation [imam Al-Mahdi, the last imam for twelvers shiites].
Who knew me then he knew me, and who did not know me then I shall tell him my lineage and ancestry: O people, I am the son of Mecca and Miná, I am the son of Zamzam and Safá [Zamzam is a spring in Mecca and Safá is a mountain there], I am the son of him who took the Zakat by the edges of his cloak, I am the son of the best man who wore clothes, I am the son of the best man who wore sandals and walked with bare feet, I am the son of the best man who toured and walked (in pilgrimage), I am the son of the best man who did pilgrimage, I am the son of him who was carried by Al-Boráq in the air [Al-Boráq: a creature that carried the prophet in his ascending to heavens], I am the son of him who was carried by night from the Holy Mosque (Mecca) to the Aqsá mosque (Jerusalem), I am the son of him who Gabriel carried him to lote-tree of the utmost boundary, I am the son of him who drew nigh and came down till he was (distant) two bows' length or even nearer, I am the son of him who prayed with the angels of heaven two bows, I am the son of him who got the inspiration of The Glorified, I am the son of Mohammed the Chosen.
I am the son of `Ali Al-Mortadhá, I am the son of him who struck the noses of the creations until they said no other god save but Allah, I am the son of him who struck with two swords before the prophet of Allah, and stabbed with two spears, and immigrated the two immigrations, and sworn fealty for two times, and fought in Badr and Hunayn, and never disbelieved in Allah for a blink of an eye.
I am the son of the best of the faithful men, and the heir of the prophets, and the fighter of the disbelievers, and the bee of the believers, and the light of the Mojáhideen (fighters), and the crown of the criers and the best of the worshippers and the most patient one, and the best of prayers from the Household of Táhá and Yaseen, that is the prophet of the Lord of the worlds.
I am the son of him who is supported by Gabriel, that is nourished by Michael, I am the son of him the protector of the muslims, and the killer of the heretics and those who break the oaths and the unjust, and the fighter for those who took his rights by force, and the most proud one who walked from the whole of Qoraysh, and the first one to answer Allah and His prophet from the believers, and the first one (in worshipping), and the breaker of the aggressors, and the terminator of the disbelievers, and the arrow of Allah against the hypocrites, and the tongue of wisdom of the worshippers, and the nourisher of the religion of Allah and the viceroy of the commands of Allah, and the garden of wisdom of Allah and the holder of His sciences (wisdoms).
Forgiver and with bright face, gatherer of goodness and purified, mighty and satisfied, brave with courage, patient and fasting, the cutter of the lineages and the terminator of the parties (of the disbelievers).
The most brave, and with the firmest feet, and with the strongest will and with the hardest power, a brave lion, that grinds them in the war when the swords are raised and the reins are close, a grinding like the stone mill and threw them away like the winds do to the grains, the lion of Hijáz, and the ram of Iraq.
From Mecca and Medina, fought in Badr and Uhud, an immigrant (to Medina), from Arabs he is their master and in the war he is the lion, and the father of the two septs (grandsons), Al-Hasan and Al-Husayn, that is my grandfather `Ali ben Abi Tálib.
Then he said: I am the son of Fatima Al-Zahrá', I am the son of the lady of the women, I am the son of Khadeejah Al-Kobrá [the prophet's wife].
I am the son of him who was killed with unjust
I am the son of him whose head was cut from its back
I am the son of him who died of thirst
I am the son of him who was laid down in Karbala
I am the son of him whose cloak and turban were stolen
I am the son of him whom the angels of heaven cried upon
I am the son of him whom the djinn cried upon on earth and the birds as well in air
I am the son of him whose head is presented on the tops of spears
I am the son of him whose harem are toured from Iraq to Damascus
So he kept saying I am, I am, until the people went on crying and weeping and Yazeed afraid that will lead to riot so he ordered the caller for the prayer to call. Thus, when the caller said: Allahu Akbar [Allah is Greater], `Ali ben Al-Husayn said: nothing is greater than Allah, you've made great a Great One who is not to be measured. When the caller said: Ash-hado an lá iláha illá Allah [verily I testify there is no other god but Allah], `Ali ben Al-Husayn then said: my hair and my skin and my bones and meat and my blood all testified with it. When the caller said: Ash-hado anna Mohammadan rasool Allah [verily I testify that Mohammed is the prophet of Allah], here he looked from the pulpit to Yazeed and said: this Mohammed, is he my or your grandfather O Yazeed? If you claimed he is your grandfather then verily you've lied, and if you said he is my grandfather then why did you kill his Household?
Then Zaynul-`Ábideen got down from the pulpit, and all of those who were in the mosque departed and gathered around Zaynul-`Ábideen.
Then, when Yazeed got afraid of the riot and the reversal of the matter, he ordered to fasten the exit of imam Zaynul-`Ábideen and the children from Damascus to their homeland and did what they wanted, and ordered Al-No`mán ben Basheer and other folks to go along with them to Medina with easiness.
When Zaynul-`Ábideen knew about the acceptance of Yazeed, he asked from Yazeed to give him back all of the heads to bury them in their own places, and Yazeed didn't dare to refuse, so he gave him back the head of Al-Husayn with the rest of the heads of his Household and companions, and he buried them with the bodies (as it is mentioned in the book of Habeeb Al-Siyar).
The narrator said: and when they went out of Damascus to Medina, they made their way passing through the lands of Iraq, and when they got closer, they said to the guide: pass us through to the land of Karbala.
When they reached the location, they found Jábir ben `Abdulláh Al-Ansári and some folk from the hashimite, and some men from the Household of the prophet and they all came to visit the grave of Al-Husayn (PUH), and they all came at one time and the met each other the cries and weeping and slapping the faces and they made a mourning for some days.
As reported from `Atiyyah Al-`Oofi that he said: I went out with Jábir ben `Abdulláh Al-Ansári to visit the grave of Al-Husayn (PUH), and when we arrived at Karbala, Jábir went to the bank of Al-Forát and made a wash and then wear a cloth around his waist, and wore another cloth, and then opened a pocket with some perfume and got some of it on his body, and then he walked to the holy grave with bare feet, and didn't step one step without mentioning the name of Allah, and when he reached the grave he said: make me touch it [he was a blind man]. `Atiyyah said: then I made him touch the grave, and then he fell down on the grave and went in a coma, so I sprankled some water on him, and when he woke up, he said: O Husayn -three times- and then said: a beloved one that doesn't answer his lover!! Then he said: and how shall you answer?? With your blood of the neck dropping down on your back, and your head was separated from your body. Verily I testify that you are the son of the best of the prophets, and the son of the master of viceroys, and the son of him who is the ally to faithfulness and the son of the guidance, and the fifth of the people of the cover (cloak) [the story of the cover, a story in which the prophet Mohammed gathered his daughter and `Ali and their sons under one cloak and he was one of them and the prophet prayed for them], and the son of the master of the virtuous and the son of Fatima the lady of the women.
Why you shouldn't be like this? While you were feeded by the master of the prophets and grown in the laps of the virtuous, and sucked from the breast of faith, and weaned by Islam.
So, purified you are alive and purified you are in death, but the hearts of the believers are not good about your death, and not doubtful about your living. Thus, may the peace of Allah and His blessings be upon you, and I testify that you've gone on the path of your brother, Yahyá ben Zakariyyá [John the son of Zachary, Zacharias].
Then he looked around the grave and said: peace upon you O souls that gathered around Al-Husayn (PUH) and settled in his place. Verily I testify that you've done the prayers, and gave the Zakat, and ordered with goodness and prohibited the evil (deeds) and fought against the disbelievers and worshipped Allah until the truth had been showed for you. By Him who sent Mohammed (PUH) with the truth, we've been with you in what you've been through.
`Atiyyah said: then I said to Jábir: and how is that? and we didn't go into a single valley, and didn't go on the top of a single mountain, and we didn't hit with a single sword, and the people had their heads separated from their bodies and the children were made orphans and their wives were made widows?? Then he said to me: O `Atiyyah, I've heard my beloved the prophet of Allah (PUH) saying once: he who loved some people he shall be gathered with them, and he who loved the deeds of some people he shall be gathered with them. By Him who sent Mohammed (PUH) with the truth, my will and the wills of my companions was to go after what Al-Husayn was after with his companions.
`Atiyyah said: and while we were talking in that situation, we saw blackness that arrived at us from the direction of Damascus, and then I said: O Jábir, I see a great blackness that is coming to us from Damascus, then Jábir looked to his slave and said to him: go and see what is this blackness? If they were the fellows of `Ubaydilláh ben Ziyád then get back to us so that we may find a shelter, and if that was my lord and master Zaynul-`Ábideen then you are free for the sake of Allah.
Then the slave went and came back in a hurry and slapping his slave and say: stand up O Jábir and receive the harem of the prophet of Allah, this is my master and my lord `Ali ben Al-Husayn (PUH) had arrived with his aunts and his sisters, then Jábir stood up and walked with bare feet and uncovering his head and got closer to Zaynul-`Ábideen, and the imam said: are you Jábir? He replied: yes, O son of the prophet of Allah. Then he said: O Jábir, verily here our men were killed, and our children were slain, and our women were taken prisoners and our tents were burnt. And like I can hear Zaynab saying:
O settlers in Karbala do you have the tidings
about our dead people and what are their banners
What is the condition of a corpse of a dead man in your lands
that remained for three days with no single visitor
By Allah have you buried it in the ground
and did its remains got into the grave?
Then she went to the grave of her brother Abá `Abdilláh Al-Husayn (PUH) weeping and crying, while the daughters of the prophet were moving from the grave of Abá `Abdilláh to the grave of Abul-Fadhl Al-`Abbás (PUH).
Then the household remained for 3 days in the land Karbala, and after that they headed to Medina. And when they got closer to Medina, they settled down there and imam Zaynul-`Ábideen looked at Bishr ben Haðlam and said to him: O Bishr, may Allah have mercy upon your father, verily he was a poet, so are you able to say some? He replied: yes O son of the prophet of Allah, I am verily a poet, and he (PUH) said: then go to Medina and mourn Abá `Abdilláh Al-Husayn.
Bishr said: then I tode my horse, and ran until I got into Medina, and when I reached the mosque of the prophet of Allah, I raised my voice with weeping and said:
O people of Yathrib [Medina] no settling for you in it
Al-Husayn had been killed so cry in abundance
The body is in Karbala covered with blood
and his head on the spears go on circles
Then I said: O people of Medina, this is `Ali ben Al-Husayn with his aunts and sisters got into your vicinity and settled down in your space and I am his messenger to you to let you know his place.
He (Bishr) said: and no single noble woman stayed in her home, and all of them went out slapping their faces and praying for the punishment, and I've seen criers as much as it was in that day, and no bitter day more than that day after the death of the prophet (PUH), and I heard a maid crying for Al-Husayn and say:
Mourner mourned my master and hurt me
and made me sick a moruner who mourned him and shocked me
Thus, my eyes, cry a lot and pour the tears
and be generous with the tears after your tears altogether
Over the son of the prophet of Allah and the son of his viceroy
though even he is far in lands that are far away from us
Then she said: O mourner, you've renewed our sadness about Abá `Abdilláh (PUH) and hurt our wounds that were never healed, so who are you may Allah have mercy upon you, so I said: I am Bishr ben Halðam, came from my lord `Ali ben Al-Husayn (PUH) and he settled down in that location, with the children of Abá `Abdilláh Al-Husayn (PUH) and his women. He continued: then they left me and went to meet him so I struck my horse to get back to them, and I've found the people taken seats along the roads and the streets, so I got down from my horse and passed through the necks of people until I got closer to the tent and `Ali ben Al-Husayn was inside, then he went out holding a kerchief wiping his tears, and behind him was his servant with a chair. So, he put it down for him, and he sat down and couldn't hold his tears, and the people raised their voices with tears and cries and gave solace from every corner, and that spot got condensed with the noise, and then he signed with his hand to let them go silence, and so they did, then he said: Praise be to Allah, Lord of the Worlds, Master of the Day of Judgment, the Initiator of the whole creations, who got far and raised up in high heavens, and got closer and knew the secrets, we shall praise Him for the great adversities and the troubles of time, and pains of disasters and for the bitterness of matters and the greatness of the troubles. O people, verily Allah had -and praise to Him- tested us with great troubles, and a hole in Islam that is great, Abá `Abdilláh was killed with his Household, and his women were imprisoned with his children, and his head was toured around the lands over the pikes, and this is the trouble that nothing is like it. O people, who of your men will be glad after killing him, or what heart shall not be sad for him, or what eye shall keep the tear from falling?? Verily, the seven heavens cried for his death, and seas cried with its waves, and the heavens with its corners, and the earth with its lands, and the trees with its branches, and the whales in the depth of the sea, and the closer angels, and the rest of the folks of heavens. O people, what heart wouldn't be broken for his death? Or what heart doesn't miss him, or what hearing that doesn't go deaf after hearing about such hole in Islam? O people, we've became banished and scattered in all lands like the children of turks or Kabul, for no crime we did, and no mistake we committed and no change in laws of Islam we did, and we've never heard about such a thing amont our ancestors, verily this is only an innovation. By Allah, if the prophet of Allah (PUH) went to fight them as much as he advised them about us, they wouldn't do much more than this. Verily we are to Allah and we shall be back to Him. What a great adversity, and what painful one is it, and what a horrible one is it, and we shall depend on Allah for what befell us, verily He is Great and a revenge Taker.
Then Zaynul-`Abideen went to Medina and found it like ghosts town and its people mourning, and found the houses of his family empty, and mourning about its inhabitants.
As for the daughters of the prophet (PUH), they went to the house of Abá `Abdilláh Al-Husayn (PUH). Then Um-Kalthoom called and said:
City of our grandfather don't accept us
verily we came with sadness and losses
We've been out from you in numbers
and came back with no men or sons