Chapter Five

The Kaaba of Afflictions

Worship in the Darkness of the Night

مُتَهَجِّدًا فِي الظُّلَمِ

Worshipping in the darkness of the night.

— A passage from Ziyarat al-Nāḥiyah al-Muqaddasah

Among the noble qualities and virtues of the Deputy of Zahrāʾ, Lady Zaynab al-Kubrā (p), was her unwavering devotion to worship—especially her diligence in performing the night prayer (Ṣalāt al-Layl) and the recommended prayers.

Her dedication to worship was so profound that her Imam, Sayyid al-Shuhadāʾ, Imam Hussein (p), would say to her:

“Remember us in your night prayers.”

On the Day of Ashura, as Sayyid al-Shuhadāʾ (p) bade farewell to his sister, he said:

يَا أُخْتِي لَا تَنْسَيْنِي فِي نَافِلَةِ اللَّيْلِ

“O my sister!

Do not forget me in your night prayers.”

Imam al-Sajjad (p) said:

“My aunt would continually stand in the prayer niche, engaged in prayer and supplication, while her tears flowed without ceasing.”

السَّلَامُ عَلَيْكِ يَا تَالِيَ الْمَعْصُومِ

Peace be upon you, O one who stands in rank of the Infallible Imam.

The Seal of the Messengers (p), speaking of the virtue of weeping for Aqilah of Banī Hāshim, Lady Zaynab (p), said:

مَنْ بَكَى عَلَيْهَا وَعَلَى مَصَائِبِهَا

كَانَ لَهُ أَجْرُ مَنْ بَكَى عَلَى الْحَسَنِ وَالْحُسَيْنِ

“The reward of one who weeps for her and for her afflictions is like the reward of one who has wept for Hasan and Hussein (p).”

The Thirst of the Children

وَلَا رَاقَبُوا فِيكَ آثَامًا،

فِي قَتْلِهِمْ أَوْلِيَاءَكَ،

وَنَهْبِهِمْ رِحَالَكَ

“…And in killing your loved ones and plundering your provisions, they felt no fear of the consequences of their sins.”

— A passage from Ziyarat al-Nāḥiyah al-Muqaddasah

Lady Sukaynah (p) relates:

“On the ninth of Muḥarram, I was overcome by thirst.

I went to the tent of my aunt, Lady Zaynab (p), hoping that there might be some water there.

When I entered, I saw nearly twenty young girls gathered around my aunt, all pleading for water.

The nursing infant was also in Lady Zaynab’s (p) arms, while his little tongue moved from the intensity of his thirst...

But there was no water.

My aunt was deeply distressed.

At one moment she would sit down, and the next she would rise again...

As I witnessed these scenes, my throat tightened with grief, and I remained silent, lest my aunt become aware of my own anguish...

Lady Zaynab (p) searched through every tent, yet no water could be found...”

The Sister Whose Soul Found Refuge in Her Brother

تُدِيرُ طَرْفًا خَفِيًّا إِلَى رَحْلِكَ وَبَيْتِكَ،

وَقَدْ شُغِلَتْ بِنَفْسِكَ عَنْ وَلَدِكَ وَأَهَالِيكَ

— A passage from Ziyarat al-Nāḥiyah al-Muqaddasah

And then...

A sister whose very soul found its refuge in the presence of her brother...

Such a covenant could never be broken.

At the moment that she saw from the hill the very soul of her life in the killing field below... she remained faithful to her covenant.

And at the moment when Hussein (p), from the killing field, looked through half-closed eyes and saw the very soul of his life upon the hill...

And what passed over the Master who was the very embodiment of protective honor...

How his heart was torn—one eye fixed upon the tents, and the other upon the battlefield...

And what must he have endured at that moment, amid the deadly struggle, when his gaze fell upon his sister...

She ran, without pausing for even a single moment...

Her cloak fell beneath her feet...

And she became, for Hussein (p), what Zahrāʾ had been for Ali (p) in the streets of Madinah...

History once again summarized the final moments of the Lady Aqilah in her patience.

She stood watching beside the door...

She remained beside the bed of her father with his wounded head...

And beside the basin of her brother, she was a sister.

The Final Farewell

And there, where she kissed the severed vein of her brother...

Wherever Hussein (p) was, she had no existence apart from her Hussein.

السَّلَامُ عَلَى الْأَعْضَاءِ الْمُقَطَّعَاتِ

Peace be upon the scattered limbs.

From atop the hill, the beloved aunt descended, bowing, until she reached Hussein (p)...

So that she might inscribe the station of prostration upon the tablet of eternity.

The scattered limbs of her brother became the most sacred verse of prostration for Lady Zaynab (p).

How breathtaking was the sister’s prostration upon the dust that bore her brother’s blessed throat...

The world has never witnessed such a congregational prayer—

the lips of a sister upon the veins of her brother...

And to this day, the world still cannot comprehend

that between Zaynab and her Hussein,

there was one final farewell.

The Journey of Captivity

وَصُفِّدُوا فِي الْحَدِيدِ

فَوْقَ أَقْتَابِ الْمَطِيَّاتِ،

تَلْفَحُ وُجُوهَهُمْ حَرُّ الْهَاجِرَاتِ،

يُسَاقُونَ فِي الْبَرَارِي وَالْفَلَوَاتِ،

أَيْدِيهِمْ مَغْلُولَةٌ إِلَى الْأَعْنَاقِ،

يُطَافُ بِهِمْ فِي الْأَسْوَاقِ

Bound in iron chains and shackles,

they were fastened upon the saddles of the camels.

The scorching heat of the midday sun burned their faces.

Across deserts and barren plains,

they were driven onward.

Their hands were chained to their necks,

and they were paraded through the marketplaces.

— A passage from Ziyarat al-Nāḥiyah al-Muqaddasah

The Protective Honor of Banī Hāshim

From the day the Lady of Madinah (p) opened her eyes to this world, her maḥrams surrounded her like butterflies around a flame, lest the eyes of a non-maḥram behold the light of Ali.

Then came the day when another Ali would take his aunt’s hand to help her mount her steed.

There was Abbas (p), and Abbas (p).

There was Qasim (p), and Qasim (p).

And...

But alas for that moment when:

وَدَارَتْ عَلَيْهَا رَحَى الْكَوَارِثِ وَالْبَلَاءِ يَوْمَ كَرْبَلَاء

The crushing trials and afflictions of Karbala surrounded her from every direction.

Alas for that moment when, in a heart-rending voice, you declared:

“O my beloved brother!

O helper of my brother!

O my Aba al-Faḍl!

You were the one who helped me mount my steed when I departed from Madinah.”

Peace be upon the grief-stricken Lady whose beloved brother, the standard-bearer of Karbala, Abbas (p), she addressed with these words.

The Protective Honor of Banī Hāshim Was Tied to Aqilah of Banī Hāshim (p)

Yaḥyā al-Māzinī narrates:

“For many years, I was a neighbor of Imam Ali (p).

Our home was near the house in which Lady Zaynab (p) resided.

By Allah, throughout all those years, I never saw Lady Zaynab (p) leave her home, nor did I ever hear her voice from within it.

Whenever she wished to visit the blessed grave of her grandfather, the Messenger of Allah (p), she would leave her home at night.

Imam Hasan (p) would walk on her right,

Imam Hussein (p) on her left,

and Amir al-Mu’minin (p) would walk ahead of her.

When Lady Zaynab (p) approached the blessed grave of the Messenger of Allah (p), Imam Ali (p) would go ahead and dim the light of the lamp that burned above the Prophet’s grave.

Imam al-Mujtaba (p) asked his father the reason for doing so.

Amir al-Mu’minin (p) replied:

‘I fear that someone may have come to visit, and that his gaze might fall upon your sister, Zaynab.’”

Peace Be Upon Those Blessed Teeth That Were Struck with a Reed Cane

السَّلَامُ عَلَى الثَّغْرِ الْمَقْرُوعِ بِالْقَضِيبِ

Peace be upon those blessed teeth that were struck with a reed cane.

— A passage from Ziyarat al-Nāḥiyah al-Muqaddasah

When the captives of the Family of Allah arrived in Syria, together with the blessed head of Imam Hussein (p) and the heads of his companions, they were brought before Yazid (la).

A royal court and celebration of victory had been arranged by Yazid (la), attended by the leaders and dignitaries of various religions, Arab tribes, and the people of Syria.

After the repeated insults directed at the sanctity of the Household of Allah, and after Yazid (la) continually desecrated the blessed head by striking the blessed lips with a reed cane, the Noble Lady of Banī Hāshim, Lady Zaynab al-Kubrā (p), rose to her feet.

With her radiant words and the eloquence inherited from Ali (p), she delivered a fiery sermon that forever shattered any illusion of Umayyad victory.

She exposed them and their descendants to disgrace, transformed Yazid’s (la) royal court into a gathering of mourning for Hussein (p), and so utterly shook the palace of disbelief and tyranny that the Umayyad oppressors and their descendants have remained disgraced before the world to this very day.

“Is This Justice, O Son of the Freed Ones?”

Then, in the midst of Yazid’s (la) court, at the height of dignity and majesty, she addressed the accursed Yazid with these words:

أَمِنَ الْعَدْلِ يَا ابْنَ الطُّلَقَاءِ؟!

“Is this justice, O son of the freed ones?!”

With these words, she exposed the rootless lineage of the accursed tree of Banī Umayyah and the killers of Aba Abdillah al-Hussein (p).

She revealed to the people that they were all descendants of those who had been set free by her grandfather, the Messenger of Allah (p), on the day of the Conquest of Makkah, when he pardoned the accursed Abu Sufyan and granted him his freedom.

The sermon of Lady Zaynab al-Kubrā (p) stands as one of the most remarkable and powerful examples of exposing falsehood.

She delivered it with unwavering resolve and majesty, with the voice of Amir al-Mu’minin Ali (p) and the dignity of al-Ṣiddīqah al-Kubrā (p), so powerfully that it brought the entire court of the accursed Yazid to its knees.

Lady Zaynab’s Rebuke of Yazid

...while he turned toward the blessed teeth of Sayyid al-Shuhadāʾ, the Master of the Youth of Paradise (p), and struck those blessed teeth with his cane.

Then Lady Zaynab (p) declared:

وَلَئِنْ جَرَّتْ عَلَيَّ الدَّوَاهِي مُخَاطَبَتَكَ،

إِنِّي لَأَسْتَصْغِرُ قَدْرَكَ

“Though the calamities of time have compelled me to speak to you, I regard you as too insignificant to address.”

وَأَسْتَعْظِمُ تَقْرِيعَكَ

وَأَسْتَكْثِرُ تَوْبِيخَكَ

“Yet I recognize the enormity of your vileness, and I rebuke you with the severest reproach.”