Chapter Two

The Matchless Devotees

Peace be upon the companions of Imam Hussein (p)!

Those who were the embodiment of devotion for their Imam of the Time, and their battle cry was summed up in a single declaration:

وَاللَّهِ لَا نُفَارِقُكَ

By Allah! We shall never abandon you.

Whenever love is spoken of in the universe, the first name that comes to mind is that of Imam Aba Abdillah al-Hussein (p). Thus, the most beautiful expression of love in all existence is the resounding cry:

“Labbayka yā Sayyidī wa Mawlāy”

offered in answer to the call:

“Hal min nāṣirin yanṣurunī?”

The companions of Imam Hussein (p) were those who became the confidants of the Husseini sanctuary and remained forever in the presence of their Beloved.

The voice of their love—their declaration of devotion and their readiness to sacrifice their lives for their Imam of the Time—has remained as an everlasting echo beneath the revolving dome of the heavens.

It is as though these verses of Ḥāfiẓ are a poetic rendering of the passages in Ziyarat al-Nāḥiyah al-Muqaddasah concerning the martyrs of Karbala:

Whoever became a confidant of the heart remained within the Beloved’s sanctuary;

But whoever failed to understand this remained lost in denial.

Nothing have I found more beautiful than the voice of love,

A remembrance that endures beneath this revolving dome of heaven.

Muslim ibn Awsajah

After the young men of Banu Hashim, Muslim ibn Awsajah was the first among the companions of Karbala to attain the honor of martyrdom.

On the night of Ashura, he rose to renew his pledge of allegiance to his Imam, saying:

“By Allah, I will not leave this land until I have broken my spear in the chest of the enemy, and with my sword, so long as its hilt remains in my hand, I will strike them down.

If my sword should leave my hand, I will fight those hard-hearted ones with stones.

I shall never abandon you.

Like a moth circling its flame, I will remain around you until I die with you and before you.”

One of the greatest wonders of history is that when only the faintest breath of life remained within him, and his lifelong companion Habib ibn Muẓāhir came to his side, Muslim raised both hands toward the Imam and then entrusted Habib with a single final testament:

أُوصِيكَ بِهَذَا، فَقَاتِلْ دُونَهُ حَتَّى تَمُوتَ

I entrust you only with this Master.

Never leave his side.

Fight in his defense until you give your life for him.

Then his noble soul ascended to the highest heavens.

Saʿd ibn ʿAbdullāh

Saʿd ibn ʿAbdullāh was the martyr of the noon prayer on the Day of Ashura.

He was among the first to declare to his Imam:

“O son of the Messenger of Allah (p)!

By Allah, we shall never cease supporting you until the Lord of the worlds knows that, in the absence of His Messenger, we have fulfilled his right and the right of his family.

By Allah, if I were to be killed, then brought back to life, then burned and reduced to ashes seventy times, with my ashes scattered to the wind, I still would not abandon your support.

How could I refrain from fighting when my death leads only to everlasting honor?”

At noon on the Day of Ashura, while Imam Hussein (p) was performing the Ẓuhr prayer, Saʿd shielded the Imam’s blessed body from every direction, offering himself as a barrier against the shower of arrows until the prayer was completed.

By then, his chest had been pierced by thirteen arrows.

Gathering the last of his strength, he turned to the Imam and asked:

يَا ابْنَ رَسُولِ اللَّهِ أَوَفَيْتُ؟

“O son of the Messenger of Allah (p)! Have I fulfilled my covenant?”

The night before, he had pledged that he would willingly be burned seventy times, reduced to ashes, rise again, and repeat the sacrifice for the sake of his Imam of the Age.

Yet this had been only the first time.

That is why, with anxious concern, he asked:

“My Master, are you pleased with me?”

The essence and highest aspiration of the companions was to remain faithful to the covenant they had made with their Imam.

Bishr ibn ʿAmr al-Ḥaḍramī

In the midst of the fierce battle on the Day of Ashura, Bishr ibn ʿAmr al-Ḥaḍramī received news that the enemies had captured his beloved son.

As soon as Imam Hussein (p) heard the news, he immediately released him from his pledge of allegiance and said:

“You are released from your pledge to me.

Go and do all that you can to secure your son’s freedom.”

Bishr replied:

“May the beasts of the wilderness devour me alive if I should leave you, abandon you while your companions are so few, and then have to ask passing caravans for news of you.

Never shall such a thing happen.”

Nāfiʿ ibn Hilāl

Nāfiʿ ibn Hilāl was one of the newlyweds of Karbala.

He had come to the battlefield accompanied by his wife.

The Imam said to him:

“Nāfiʿ! Your wife is anxious, and I do not wish for the two of you to be separated in the prime of your lives.

If you wish, take your wife and leave this desert.”

But Nāfiʿ replied:

“O beloved son of the Messenger of Allah (p)!

If I were to abandon you in your time of hardship and return to my own comfort and worldly pleasures, what answer would I give your grandfather, the Messenger of Allah (p), on the Day of Resurrection?”

During the nights, Nāfiʿ would patrol among the tents as one of the Imam’s guards.

There he came to realize the deep concern of Lady ʿAqīlah Khātūn (p) for the loneliness of her beloved brother.

Unable to bear even a moment of his Lady’s anxiety, he went to Habib ibn Muẓāhir and informed him of what had happened.

Then, together with all the companions, they knelt before their Lady and in the presence of that noble Lady of all the worlds, once again renewed their pledge of allegiance to their Imam.

Habib ibn Muẓāhir

The story of the devotion of the venerable Habib ibn Muẓāhir to his Imam of the Age, Imam Aba Abdillah al-Hussein (p), is unforgettable.

Among the companions, he sacrificed his life for Hussein (p) twice.

The first time was in his childhood, when he longed for the blessed countenance of Hussein (p).

The second time was when he was an eighty-year-old man.

When his Imam summoned him with the words:

فَاقْدَمْ إِلَيْنَا عَاجِلًا

“Come to us without delay.”

Habib immediately understood the meaning of the message.

He set out for Karbala, and in the end, he surrendered his soul in the service of his Master.

Thus, he became worthy of the noble tribute:

لِلَّهِ دَرُّكَ يَا حَبِيبُ

May Allah reward you abundantly, O Habib.

The Standard-Bearer of the Companions

The fitting conclusion to the lamentation of the companions is the lamentation of the Standard-Bearer of the companions of Imam Hussein (p):

ثُمَّ ادْخُلْ فَانْكَبَّ عَلَى الْقَبْرِ

“Then enter the burial place, and cast yourself upon his grave.”

After learning from the companions the meaning of devotion to one’s Imam, all who stand tall in faith can do nothing but fall upon the pure earth of his resting place—

at the blessed resting place of Abbas ibn Amir al-Mu’minin (p),

the Standard-Bearer of Karbala,

and the leader and exemplar of the companions of Imam Hussein (p).

أَشْهَدُ أَنَّكَ لَمْ تَهِنْ وَلَمْ تَنْكُلْ،

وَأَنَّكَ مَضَيْتَ عَلَى بَصِيرَةٍ مِنْ أَمْرِكَ،

مُقْتَدِيًا بِالصَّالِحِينَ،

وَمُتَّبِعًا لِلنَّبِيِّينَ،

فَجَمَعَ اللَّهُ بَيْنَنَا وَبَيْنَكَ

وَبَيْنَ رَسُولِهِ وَأَوْلِيَائِهِ

فِي مَنَازِلِ الْمُخْبِتِينَ،

فَإِنَّهُ أَرْحَمُ الرَّاحِمِينَ.