IMAM AL-HUSSEIN (A.S)’S SEVERED HEAD: An excerpt from “Karbala & Beyond”.

Yazeed ordered al-Hussein’s head to be brought to him. He put it in a gold washbowl. The women were behind him. Sukayna and Fatima stood and tried anxiously to steal a look at it as Yazeed kept hiding it from them. When they did see it, they burst in tears. He then permitted people to enter to see him. Yazeed took a rod and kept hitting al-Hussein’s lips with it saying: “A day for a day: this day is (in revenge) for Badr”.  The he cited these verses by al-Haseen ibn al-Hamam:

“To be fair to us our folks never did dare,

 so swords dripping with blood were to them fair;

 We split the heads of men dear to us,

 For they severed their ties and did oppress”.

Abu Barzah al-Aslami said,  “I bear witness that I saw the Prophet (saww) kissing his lips and those of his brother al-Hassan (a.s) and say to them: ‘You are the masters of the youths of Paradise; may Allah fight whoever fights you; may He curse him and prepare hell for him, and what an evil refuge it is!’”. Yazeed became angry and ordered him to be dragged out of his courtroom.

A Christian messenger sent by emperor Caesar was present there; he said to Yazeed: “We have in some islands the hoof of the donkey upon which Jesus rode, and we make a pilgrimage to it every year from all lands and offer Nadhr to it in as much regard as you hold your sacred books; So I bear witness that you are wrongdoers”. This statement enraged Yazeed who ordered him to be killed. The messenger stood up, walked to the head, kissed it and pronounced Kalimah. At that moment when that messengers head was cut off, everyone heard a loud and fluent voice saying, La hawla wala quwwata illa billah! (There is neither power nor might except in Allah).

The head was taken out of the court and hung for three days on the mansion’s gate. When Hind daughter of ‘Amr bin Suhayl, Yazeed’s wife, saw the head on her house’s door with divine light emanating from it, its blood still fresh and had not yet dried, and it was emitting a sweet fragrance, she entered Yazeed’s court without any veil crying, “The head of the son of the daughter of the Messenger of Allah is on our door!” Yazeed stood up, covered her and said, “Mourn him, O Hind, for  he is the reason why Banu Hashim are grieving. Ubaydullah ibn Ziyad hastily killed him”.

Yazeed ordered the heads to be hung on the gates and on the Umayyad Mosque, and his order was carried out. Marwan (ibn al-Hakam) was very happy about al-Hussein (a.s) being killed, so he composed poetry lines  and kept hitting al-Hussein’s face with a rod.

Mulla Mujaheedali Sheriff

mulla@almahdi.org.uk