THE STORY OF KARBALA - PART 7
MARTYRDOM OF ALI AKBAR

Among the Companions of Husayn was a man named Hajjaj bin Masrooq. He was Husayn's Mu'azzin. Every time Husayn would stop at a stopping place and the time of a prayer of the day would arrive, Hajjaj bin Masrooq would recite the Azan and then Husayn would lead the prayers. This procedure continued in Makkah as well as in Karbala for eight days. When the morning of Ashoora came, Husayn did not ask Hajjaj bin Masrooq to do the Azan, instead he asked his 18 year old son, Ali, to do the Azan.
One of the great Urdu poets has captured the scene of Ali Akbar's Azan in one of his Marthiyas. Professor Matthews of London University has translated thos elines in English verse. We present here those lines of poetry for our readers:

  Then suddenly the dawn's white light came in;
To lead the prayer the King came from his throne.
All stood behind the Lord of men and Jinn;
Ali Akbar called the prayer in Hasna's tone.
The eyes of everyone were filled with tears.
As if Prophet's voice  fell in their ears.

The birds fell silent; trees in ecstasy
Rocked to an' fro; their buds and fruit sand praise.
The towns and deserts joined in harmony,
And ocean-beasts emerged to hear their lays.
The darling of Shabbir to all lent weight;
O'er land and sea they cried:"Our God is great.'

The women fo the King wept bitter tears;
While Bano of renown stood silently,
Zainab repeated blessings with her prayers:
'My muezzin, I give my life to thee!'
They call in praise of God; O hear their joy!
As beautiful as Joseph is my boy.

He reads from the Qur'an; what majesty!
His grandsire once for speaking held the prize.
Ah, may his voice remain eternally!
The strains of David, who was called The Wise!
Thos emelodies like petals of flower!
A nightingale chirps in the Prophet's bower.

         Ali Akbar looked like the Prophet, in looks, in speaking and in everything else. By asking Ali Akbar to do the Azan, Husayn was sending a message to his enemy - Remember, who we are? What you are doing?

When all his companions had fought and had laid their lives in the battlefield, Husayn now asked his eighteen year old son, Ali to proceed to fight. Ali Akbar is the first martyr from the family of Banu Hashim at Karbala.
Ali who looked like the Prophet Muhammad, came out of his tent attired in Muham-mad's cloak and turban.  The scene of Ali's departure from his tent has been described by eyewitness reporters from among Yazeed's army in most touching and pathetic terms, and recorded in books of history. 

When his son was thus proceeding towards the battlefield, Husayn paused and pointing his finger to the heavens, said: 'Allah ! Be witness to the fact that now I am sending my son to be sacrificed who looked exactly like your Prophet in appearance, in speaking, in walking and in temperament and character. When we wanted to see your Prophet, we used to look at him.'

Ali the son of Husayn fought valian-tly, killed a number of enemy soldiers and rushed back to his father, who was watching his son fight with pride and admiration.  Ali said to his father:

' O father, is there any water to drink, you would really see me fight if I could get just one drink of water.'

Husayn looked at his son helplessly and cried and said:

` O my son, proceed to paradise where your grand-father is waiting to greet you with drinks of eternal bliss.'


Ali returned to the battlefield with a new determination. Umar Ibn S'ad sent one of his senior commanders named Tariq Ibn Sheeth to go and finish off cAli Akbar. Tariq was fully covered in armour. He came pointing his big lance towards Ali Akbar with great speed. Ali Akbar quickly moved out of his way and pushed his own lance through Tariq's chest. Tariq fell from his horse. Ali Akbar trampled him under his horse. Tariq's son was watching this. He came in a rage attacking Ali Akbar but soon, he too was killed. Tariq's second son, Talha came and held Ali Akbar by the collar. Ali Akbar put his arm round Talha's neck and crushed it. Talha dropped from his horse. The enemy was stunned. Umar Ibn S'ad was perturbed. He sent another experienced commander to attack Ali Akbar who was also killed very quickly. Umar now had no choice but to use the most cowardly tactic of ordering two units of swordsmen, of one thousand each, under the command of two senior officers to attack Ali Akbar from his left as well as from his right at the same time.  But  Ali Akbar kept both groups at bay for a while.

Finally, one of the comma-nders in Yazeed's army, who  was known to be an expert in throwing the lance, sneaked behind Ali Akbar, aimed his lance at Ali from a distance and threw it with great force, which hit Ali in the back and pierced through his chest.  Ali fell from his horse and called out to his father.  Husayn rushed to his dying son's side.  He saw his son in great pain, the broken blade of the lance stuck in his chest and bleeding profusely.  Husayn dis-played a courage and strength unparalleled in human history. He pulled the blade out and saw his eighteen-year old breath his last.  Husayn called all the remaining Hashimi young men and brought the dead body with their help and placed it near his camp.

Thank you for reading.

sincerely,

Syed-Mohsin Naquvi