Chapter Seven

The Martyr in the Father’s Embrace

The Tragedy of the Six-Month-Old Infant

The tragedy of the six-month-old infant of our Master, Aba Abdillah al-Hussein (p), is a lament so heartrending that it shook even the hearts of the enemy and became the beginning of a transformation within them.

It speaks of a wound whose magnitude is equal to an entire Ashura.

هُوَ عَلَى أَبِيهِ أَعْظَمُ الْكُرُوبِ

His martyrdom set the noble heart of the Imam ablaze to such an extent that he regarded this single calamity as equal to all the tribulations of Karbala combined.

It has been narrated that he said:

لَيْتَكُمْ فِي يَوْمِ عَاشُورَا جَمِيعًا تَنْظُرُونِي

كَيْفَ اسْتَسْقَيْتُ لِطِفْلِي ثُمَّ هُمْ لَمْ يَرْحَمُونِي

وَسَقَوْهُ سَهْمَ بَغْيٍ عِوَضَ الْمَاءِ الْمَعِينِ

يَا لَرُزْءٍ وَمُصَابٍ هَدَّ أَرْكَانَ الْحَجُونِ

وَيْلَهُمْ قَدْ جَرَحُوا قَلْبَ رَسُولِ الثَّقَلَيْنِ

فَالْعَنُوهُمْ مَا اسْتَطَعْتُمْ شِيعَتِي فِي كُلِّ حِينٍ

“Would that all of you had seen me on the Day of Ashura,

when I asked for water for my infant, yet they showed him no mercy.

Instead of clear water, they gave him an arrow of oppression.

What a tragedy and calamity—one that shook the very pillars of al-Hajun.

Woe to them! They wounded the heart of the Messenger of the two worlds.

So curse them whenever you are able, O my Shiʿah, at every moment.”

A Calamity That Could Shatter Mountains

The martyrdom of the six-month-old prince (p) upon the blessed hands of the Imam was a calamity so immense that it could have shattered and reduced mountains to dust.

The Imam’s blessed words in mourning his nursing infant bring to mind the noble verse of the Qur’an:

لَوْ أَنْزَلْنَا هَذَا الْقُرْآنَ عَلَى جَبَلٍ

لَرَأَيْتَهُ خَاشِعًا مُتَصَدِّعًا مِنْ خَشْيَةِ اللَّهِ

“If We had sent down this Qur’an upon a mountain, you would surely have seen it humbled and torn apart out of fear of Allah.”

O blood-stained tulip, what a blazing grief you bear.

You set hearts aflame until the Day of Resurrection,

O Asghar.

You are that Great Sacrifice through whom the Qur’an found its living voice.

O radiant manifestation of the inner meaning of the verses of the Book,

O Asghar.

When Allah asks about the rights of His Messenger and his Household on the Day of Judgment,

I do not know what answer this nation will give,

O Asghar.

صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْكَ وَعَلَى وَلَدِكَ

عَلَى الْأَصْغَرِ الَّذِي فُجِعْتَ بِهِ

And may the peace of Allah be upon you, our Master, O Hussein (p),

and upon your nursing infant, Ali al-Asghar (p),

whose martyrdom brought upon you a most grievous affliction.

Peace Be Upon Abdullah ibn al-Hussein (p)

السَّلَامُ عَلَى عَبْدِ اللَّهِ بْنِ الْحُسَيْنِ،

الطِّفْلِ الرَّضِيعِ،

وَالْمَرْمِيِّ الصَّرِيعِ،

الْمُتَشَحِّطِ دَمًا،

الْمُصَعَّدِ دَمُهُ فِي السَّمَاءِ،

الْمَذْبُوحِ بِالسَّهْمِ فِي حِجْرِ أَبِيهِ،

لَعَنَ اللَّهُ رَامِيَهُ حَرْمَلَةَ بْنَ كَاهِلٍ الْأَسَدِيَّ وَذَوِيهِ

Peace be upon Abdullah ibn al-Hussein (p)—

the nursing infant struck by an arrow,

fallen upon the earth, drenched in his own blood,

whose blood was cast toward the heavens,

and who was beheaded by an arrow while resting in the blessed arms of his father.

May Allah curse Hurmalah ibn Kāhil al-Asadī and his companions who shot him with that arrow.

— A passage from Ziyarat al-Nāḥiyah al-Muqaddasah, The Martyrs of Karbala

The She-Camel of Prophet Ṣāliḥ (p)

When the people of Prophet Ṣāliḥ (p) resolved to hamstring the she-camel, they first allowed her to drink water together with her young before they struck her down.

But those accursed men martyred Hussein (p) and his nursing infant, Ali al-Asghar (p), while they were overcome with thirst.

The Mother of Moses (p)

وَأَوْحَيْنَا إِلَى أُمِّ مُوسَى أَنْ أَرْضِعِيهِ

فَإِذَا خِفْتِ عَلَيْهِ فَأَلْقِيهِ فِي الْيَمِّ

وَلَا تَخَافِي وَلَا تَحْزَنِي

إِنَّا رَادُّوهُ إِلَيْكِ

وَجَاعِلُوهُ مِنَ الْمُرْسَلِينَ

Allah, the Exalted, revealed to the mother of Moses (p), commanding her to nurse her infant and then cast him into the river without the slightest fear or anxiety, assuring her that He would return him safely to her.

But Lady Rubab (p) entrusted her nursing infant to Sayyid al-Shuhadāʾ, Imam Hussein (p), without him having been given even a single drop of milk to drink,

and those accursed men martyred him with a poisoned three-pronged arrow.

وَالَهْفَاهُ عَلَى الطِّفْلِ خُضِّبَ بِدِمَائِهِ!

وَأَسَفَاهُ عَلَى رَضِيعٍ فَطَمَتْهُ سِهَامُ الْأَعْدَاءِ!

وَاحَسْرَتَاهُ عَلَى قَرِيحَةِ الْجَفْنِ وَالْأَحْشَاءِ!

Alas for the infant whose body was stained with his own blood!

Alas for the nursing child whom the arrows of the enemy weaned!

Alas for the wounded eyes and hearts overcome with grief!

Lady Hajar (p) and Prophet Ishmael (p)

When Lady Hajar (p) saw the crimson mark upon the throat of her son, Prophet Ishmael (p), she could bear it no longer and surrendered her soul to her Creator three days later.

But what can be said of the heart-rending grief of Lady Rubab (p) at the moment when her eyes fell upon the severed, blood-soaked throat of her beloved son, Ali al-Asghar (p).

The Infant as a Living Proof

Abdullah, the son of Maryam, daughter of ʿImrān (p), spoke while still in his mother’s arms, serving both as Allah’s proof against the Jews of his time and as a comfort to his mother’s grieving heart.

But, O my lonely grandfather, Hussein (p)—

at midday on the tenth of Muḥarram, you stood alone,

holding your nursing infant in your blessed arms.

Perhaps it was your hope that if the verses of the Qur’an had failed to soften the hearts of the enemy,

then this living, speaking proof would complete the argument against them.

You reminded them that this child, too, was:

“the one who most closely resembled the Messenger of Allah (p).”

Your little Ali was burning with thirst when the poisoned three-pronged arrow struck the pure whiteness of his blessed throat.

The beloved infant gently opened his eyes for a final moment,

looked upon your blessed face,

smiled,

and then departed from this world.

And you remained—

bearing forever the unbearable sorrow of the final smile of your beloved child.

History Repeated Itself

وَمَا رَمَيْتَ إِذْ رَمَيْتَ

“And you did not throw when you threw.”

وَإِذَا الْمَوْءُودَةُ سُئِلَتْ

بِأَيِّ ذَنْبٍ قُتِلَتْ

“And when the buried-alive child is asked:

For what sin was she killed?”

The son of Lady Fatimah (p)—the noble daughter of the final Messenger of Allah (p)—was martyred in his mother’s womb at the hands of the people of Saqīfah.

History repeated itself.

The son of Hussein (p), the grandson of the noble daughter of the final Messenger of Allah (p), was once again martyred—

this time in his father’s arms—

at the hands of the people of Saqīfah.

May Allah’s curse be upon them all.

O Mahdi, O al-Muntaqim

O Mahdi!

O my lonely Master!

The cry of:

أَيْنَ الْمُنْتَقِمُ؟

“Ayna al-Muntaqim?”

“Where is the Avenger?”

has echoed throughout the pages of history,

in the hope that, with your sword of perfect justice,

you will eradicate evil at its very roots

and avenge these wrongs.

O al-Muntaqim,

take vengeance.