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Lady
Zainab (as) Speaks in the Court of Yazid
After the massacre of Imam
Husayn bin 'Ali (a.s.) and his companions at Karbala, the forces of
Yazid bin Mu'awiyah took the children and women of Husayn's caravan as
prisoners. They were taken from Karbala to Kufa and from Kufa to
Damascus, the capital and stronghold of Umayyid power.
In Damascus, the women and
children were presented into the court (darbar) of Yazid. Yazid had
assembled all the dignitaries and officers of his capital for that
occasion. When the prisoners where brought in, they saw that Imam
Husayn's head was at the foot of Yazid's thorn. Yazid was joyfully
reciting some poems in which he openly rejected the Prophethood of
Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w.) and called on his ancestors (who were killed
by the Muslim army in the battle of Badr) to witness the revenge which
he had extracted from the family of the Prophet.
It was under such an
emotionally charged circumstances that Zaynab bin Ali, the courageous
daughter of a courageous father, stood up and gave a very moving speech
in response to Yazid's statements.
In the name of Allah the,
the Beneficent, the Merciful.
All praise is due to Allah, the Lord of the Universe,
Allah's blessings be on His Messenger's Family altogether.
Allah says: "Then the end
of those who do evil deeds is that they reject the verses of Allah and
ridicule them". (Quran 30:10)
Oh Yazid! Do you think
that by making us prisoners in such a way that we are being taken from
one place to another in humiliation - do you think that by this you have
humiliated us in the sight of Allah and have earned respect for
yourself?!
This apparent success of
yours is the result of grandeur of your might and lofty status for which
you are proud…. You feel that you have conquered the whole world and
your affairs are organised and that our domain is now under you control…
And are you forgetting that Allah has said:
"Surely those who have
bought unbelief at the price of faith shall do no harm at all to Allah,
and they shall have a painful chastisement". (Quran 3:177)
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Then Zaynab reminds Yazid
that his grandmother and other relatives came into the fold of Islam
only after the fall of Mecca at the hands of the Muslims. Since
Mecca was taken without any war or bloodshed, legally the entire
inhabitant could have been made the slaves of the Prophet. But the
Prophet, out of his mercy, declared to the people of Mecca that 'I
release you from the bonds of slavery, you are free.' In other
words, Zaynab wanted Yazid to remember that his ancestors were the
'freed slaves' of her grandfather. Look at the courage of Zaynab!
Standing as a prisoner in the court of Yazid, she does not hesitate
to remind him of his reality. |
Is it justice, O son of
the freed slaves!, that you provide your ladies and slave-girls with
hijab, whereas the daughters of the Messenger of God are held prisoners?
You have insulted them by taking away the covers; you have exposed their
faces to the enemies -- from one city to another. Everyone irrespective
of his high or low status stares at their faces. These ladies do not
have their gents or protectors with them.
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Then Zaynab reminds the
audience of the origins of Yazid: his grandmother, Hind (the wife of
Abu Sufyan), had ordered her slave after the battle of Uhud to cut
open the chest of Hamzah, the Prophet's uncle, and chewed upon his
liver to 'quench' her anger for death of her father and brother who
were killed in Badr. |
But, of course, how can we
expect protection from him whose mouth spits out the heart of the pious
people, whose flesh has grown from the blood of martyrs? And why should
he not hate us who is jealous of us and shamefully say: 'I wish my
ancestors had seen me today; they would congratulate me and pray that my
hand would never be weak'. He is saying this while, he is hurting [with
his cane] the teeth of Husayn, the leader of the Youths of Paradise.
Why should he not say
these things -- he who has cursed his feelings and sores by spilling the
blood of Muhammad's family, the stars of the family of 'Abdul Muttalib.
You call your ancestors
hoping that they will answer you. You will be put together with them and
then you will regret and say had my tongue become dumb so that I would
not have said what I said.
O Allah! Give us our
right, and avenge those who have oppressed us; and send your anger upon
those that spilled our blood and killed our protectors
By Allah! O Yazid, by
killing 'Husayn you have not torn but your own skin and you have not cut
but your own flesh. You will be brought to the Prophet with the crimes
of spilling the blood of his children and humiliating his family.
"The oppressors will
know when the time changes [against them]. |