Imam Husain’s Grief and Faithfulness of His Companions
After the retreat of forces, Imam Husain (radiyallahu ‘anh) addressed the assembly of his supporters:
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“Alhamdulillah. I am grateful to Him in an hour of distress as well as in comfort. I am thankful to Allah Who bestowed Nubuwwah on our family; gave understanding of the Holy Qur’ân; favored us with the knowledge of Deen; and blessed us with the faculties of seeing, hearing, and of taking a lesson. Thereafter, O People, I am not aware if there are persons who are better than my colleagues or more sympathetic and comforter than my Ahli-Bayt. O people! May Allah reward thee. I believe that tomorrow will be the final day of decision between me and those of the enemies. After a deep consideration, I have come to the conclusion that you should disperse quietly. After taking my life, the enemy would not bother about others. Hence I advise you to disperse along with my family members.”*
On hearing this all of the Ahli-Bayt were extremely aggrieved. Hazrat Abbas (radiyallahu ‘anh) said: “Why is it so? Do you want that we should survive after your death? Allah may not keep us alive to see that day.
The relatives of Hazrat Muslim bin Aqil (radiyallahu ‘anh) were advised to go back, as Hazrat Muslim’s murder was too big a sacrifice.
They unanimously replied, “If we disperse, people will accuse of that we deserted our Sheikh, leader, and cousin. They will criticize that we never threw an arrow, never used the spear, nor wielded the sword. Never! We shall never do it. We would sacrifice our property, life, and progeny. We shall fight along with you. We shall meet the same fat as yours. Allah may not keep us alive after you quite the world.”
Imam Husain’s other companions also stood up and emphatically assured him of the cooperation at the risk of their life. Muslim bin ‘Ausja Asdi stood up and said: “Should we leave you alone? By Allah, we should never leave you alone. I shall pierce my spear in the chests of enemies. I shall wield the sword and in case I was de-sworded I shall throw stones on the enemies so long as death embraces me.”
Sa’d bin Abdullah al-Hanafi said: “By Allah, I shall not leave you alone unless they kill me, burn me in fire and reduce me to ashes and blew it in the air. I am ready to meet the same fate seventy times till I diminish in your support.”
Zaheer said: “By Allah, I am ready to be cut by a saw a thousand times than to leave you alone. I shall be fortunate if I shall be able to save you and members of your family at the cost of my life.
Morbid Anxiety of Hazrat Zainab
Hazrat Imam Ali bin Husain Zain-ul-‘Abidin (radiyallahu ‘anh) reported that the very night of the following morning when my father was assassinated I was ailing and my aunt Hazrat Zainab1 (radiyallahu ‘anha) was looking after me; suddenly my father called his colleagues inside his tent. At that time the slave of Hazrat Abu Dharr Gheffari (radiyallahu ‘anh) named Hawi was smearing the sword and my father was reciting the following verses:
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“O world! How deceitful friend thou are. How many people are killed day and night by your hand. But the time does not spare any one and never accepts compensation and everything is in the control of Allah. Every living creature is aheading towards death.”*
Hazrat Imam Husain (radiyallahu ‘anh) repeated these verses four times. My heart was filled with grief. Tears were about to tumble down from my eyes by I stopped them.
From the march of events Imam Husain’s ailing son, Ali Zain-ul-‘Abidin came to the conclusion that the calamity was inevitable. When Imam Husain’s sister, Sayyidah Zainab (radiyallahu ‘anha) came to know about it, she started shrieking and crying. Imam Husain tried to pacify her with exhortation, “What is all this sister? I am afraid our faith and endurance are overpowered by our passions and devilish forces.” Sayyidah Zainab replied how could she control herself when Imam Husain (radiyallahu ‘anh) was killing himself with his own hands. Imam Husain (radiyallahu ‘anh) answered that such was Allah’s Will. This reply added much to Sayyidah Zainab’s distress and she went out of control due to excessive grief. Witnessing this, Imam Husain (radiyallahu ‘anh) made a lengthy speech on Sabr (patience and perseverance). He observed:
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“Sister! Fear from Allah. Take solace from Allah’s Mercy. Death is destined for each and every living being. Even those living in heaven cannot lead an eternal life. When every thing is mortal in this world, why so much distress and grief with the thought of death. For every Muslim, the life of the Holy Nabi (Sallallahu ‘alayhi wa Sallam) provides the perfect model. What does this model teach us? It teaches us to have forbearance and perseverance. It also teaches us to rely on Allah and to reconcile ourselves to the Will of Allah Ta’ala. We should not deviate from that teaching.”*