Series of How and Why

The caravan of Ahl Al Bayt arrived at the Emirate palace where Ubaydo Allah bin Ziyad (may Allah curse him) was waiting. He called for all of the people, picked up Al Imam Al Husein (a.s) head in his hands while looking at it, smiling and entering a stick in the front teeth . Zayd bin Orqom, who was an old man, said to Obaydo Allah:” Move your stick from these lips. I swear to God, who there is no God other than Him, that I saw the lips of the Prophet Mohammad kissing these lips lots of times”, and he started weeping. So ibn Ziyad answered him:” May Allah make you cry, are you crying for such victory? I swear to God that unless you are an old man who became a dotard, I will behead you”. So Ziyad bin Orqom stood up and left the gathering. [1]

 

Al Tubari narrated that when Ziyad bin Orqom left ibn Ziyad meeting, he assailed and defamed the people of Kufa saying:” O you Arabs, who will become slaves after today, you killed the son of Fatima, and obeyed ibn Murjana who kills your righteous people and enslaves your bad people so you accepted humiliation. Shame on those who accept humiliation. [2]

 

What is worse to mention is that ibn Ziyad wanted through this reaction to increase the people’s fear so that no one of them thinks about revolting against him. Therefore, he spread his poison and tried to show that what he did has a religious background so that people can accept what he's done with Ahl Al Bayt. That is why, when Sayyida Zainab wore her most shoddy clothes, kept herself out of sight and entered into ibn Ziyad, he said to her, after knowing who she is:” Thank God who disgraced you and revealed your speech as false”.

 

It is not a secret that he wanted through this speech to give his heinous act some legitimacy in the eyes of the people. Therefore,  her answer was shocking to him, when she answered him with an answer full of expressive indications: “Praise be to Allah who has honored us with His Messenger, and purified us from impurity. The one who is disgraced is certainly the libertine, and the one who lies is the lewd; and we are not such people."

 

She wanted to show him that he is from an impure offspring, as he is the son of Ziyad, he resembles his father, the son of a thug, and that he is immoral because of the malice of his origin. So he became enraged, and wanted to kill her, an act that no one had done before, even in the pre-Islamic era because killing women is one of the most unsightly customs of the Arabs. So Amro bin Harith said to him: She is a woman, and a woman is not to be blamed for her words. He tried to calm him down and said to her: Praise be to God who healed myself from your tyrants and the disobedient from your family.  Sayyeda Zainab’s heart softened, cried and said: Upon my life! you have killed the old aged men, annihilated my family, and cut off my descendants. If this heals you, then you would be healed”.

 

Then he addressed al Imam Zain Al Abedeen whom he wanted to humiliate too. But when Al Imam answered him with what denied his proof, made his speech false, and disgraced him in front of people, Ibn Ziayd became angry and said: You bear answering me and you have the courage to respond for me, go and cut his neck. Sayyeda Zainab remained close to him, hugged him and said:” O ibn Ziyad, what you have spilled of our blood is enough. I swear to God that I won’t leave him, so if you want to kill him then kill me with him”. So ibn Ziyad looked at her for a while and said:” I am amazed by this family bond! She’s asking to be killed with him. Leave him because I see that he will be busy with something else”, then he left. [3]

 

Through that act, Al Hawraa (a.s) was able to protect Al Imam Zain Al Abedeen (a.s) from being killed, disgrace the people of Kufa, show the rightness of the movement of Al Imam Al Hussein (a.s), and prepare for the movements that followed this tragedy such as the Movement of the Repentants, Al Mokhtar Revolution, and other movements that lead to the end of Bani Umayyah ruling.

 

When ibn Ziyad truth was disgraced and he wasn’t able to falsen the proof of Ahl Al Bayt and failed to get rid of them, he commanded to raise the head of Al Imam Al Hussein (a.s) in the streets of Al Kufa to scare them before sending the caravan to Yazid ibn Muawiya at Damascus.

 

This assures the truth that was narrated by Al Tabari that after the people were gathered in the palace, a speaker addressed people saying:” Thanks God who revealed the truth and its people, gave victory for the commander of the faithful Yazid ibn Mouawiya and his party, to kill the liar, the son of the liar, Al Hussein bin Ali and his followers. So Abdullah bin Afif Al Azdi attacked him; He was one of the followers of Imam Ali (a.s) and he injured one of his eyes in the battle of Al Jamal and Suffin and lost his sight. He told him: O son of Murjanah, the liar and the son of the liar is you and your father, and the one who gave authority to your father and his father. Do you kill the sons of the prophets and talk like the righteous? So ibn Ziyad commanded to cut his neck. [4]

  

[1] Review: Al Irshad, Al Sheikh Al Mufid, part 2, page 115

[2] Al Tabari History, page 230

[3] I’lam Al Warah, page 247

[4] Al Tabari History, part 5, page 231