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THE BRAVERY OF ABDULLAH
BIN ‘AFEEF AL-AZDI
When the people of the household of Muhammad (saww)
were imprisoned in Kufa, Ibn Ziyad – the governor of Yazeed ibn
Mu’awiya made a speech, in which he said, “The liar of liars,
Husayn, was killed”.
Abdullah ibn
‘Afeef al-Azdi, an old and blind man interrupted him and said,
“You are the liar of liars! You kill the children of the Prophet and
you call yourself a Muslim?”
Ibn Ziyad became angry and ordered his guards to
imprison Abdullah. That night, many of his tribesmen went and
forcibly freed him. When Ibn Ziyad found out what had happened, he
sent troops to go to Abdullah’s house and burn it down.
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As the
captured prisoners entered into Kufa and were being led to the castle of
Ubaydullah Ibn Ziyad, people gathered on the streets to see who the
prisoners were. A woman came by and asked,
“Who are you?” They replied,
“We
are the prisoners from the household of Prophet Muhammad (saww).”
Looking at
the plight of small children, people began to sympathise and gave food.
Zaynab (as) and Umm Kulthoom (as), the courageous daughters of ‘Ali bin
Abi Talib (as) took the food from the kids and gave them back saying:
“O
People! We belong to the household of Muhammad. Sadaqah (Alms) are
forbidden upon us.”
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AZADARI & THE AHLUL-BAYT (A.S.)
The Ma'soom Imams (as) held
Azadari or mourning programs on the day of Aashura, and in fact the
Imams of the Ahlul-Bayt (as) encouraged others to continue to hold such
programs to commemorate the martyrdom of Imam Husayn (as) in various
forms and styles of remembrance be it those which are obligatory, or
those that are Mustahab or permissible, for this day is like no other
day.
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THE
STORY OF KARBALA - PART 14
WHAT DOES KARBALA TEACH US
Husayn had shown by his acts as well as his various discourses during
the seven days of Muharram at Karbala, that this conflict was much more
universal in nature, and that he knew that he was going to live for ever
through his martyrdom.
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THE STORY OF KARBALA - PART
13
THE TREK FROM KOOFA TO DAMASCUS
After displaying the prisoners
in his own court, Ibn Ziyad ordered that the prisnors should be taken to
Damascus. As the caravan was leaving Koofa, people had gethered on the
roof-tops to watch the prisoners. At every stop Zaynab and other ladies
of the House of the Prophet would address the people and tell them what
had happened. Many people did not know who was actually killed and who
the prisoners were. This way, Husayn's message was being broadcast by
his survivors. There were signs of a revolt. People were outraged at
this blatant oppression and wrongdoing. In many places along the route
to Damascus, villagers would confront the Umayyad soldiers and many
skirmishes took place. Due to this, the commanders decided to take the
caravan on a deserted road and push it hard so that they could end the
journey quickly. Camels were pushed beyond their speed. There were
sixty-four prisoners, of whom there were forty nursing mothers. All of
them lost their babies as the camels would shake violently. Zaynul
Abideen was so sick that he could not stay safely on the back of a
running camel. His feet were tied round the belly of his camel. When he
arrived in Damascus, flesh from his thighs was exposed and he had been
bleeding from his wounds all the way.
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THE STORY OF KARBALA - PART
12
THE PRISONERS IN KOOFA
On the 12th of
Muharram, the prisoners arrived in Koofa. The victorious Umayyad
army entered the city with a lot of pomp and circumstance. The prisoners
and the severed heads of Husayn and his Companions were being displayed
with great pride. People sat on roof-tops and watched as the caravan
passed through the main thoroughfare of Koofa. Mothers were throwing
dates and pieces of bread after doing sadaqa over their children.
Husayn's children were so hungry and thirsty that they would take those
dates and pieces of bread and start eating them. Husayn's sisters,
Zaynab and Umm-e-Kulthoom would take the food away from the children and
throw it away saying: 'O people of Koofa ! We are the family of the
Prophet of Islam, sadaqa is prohibited to us.'
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THE STORY OF KARBALA - PART
11
Shaam-e-Ghareeban, the Imam was being introduced as tents burnt
During the time of Madinah, Sura Ahzab (chapter 33 was revealed). There
are many different topics discussed in this Sura of the Qur'an. One of
those topics is the requirement of Hijab for Muslim women. The specific
verse we want to quote here is as follows:
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THE STORY OF KARBALA - PART 10
THE END OF THE BATTLE
Husayn came
back to his tent and went to see his ailing 24 year old son, also known
as Ali (Zaynul Abid-een) who was in high fever. Zaynul cAbideen
had no idea what had passed over his father. He opened his eyes
and looked at Husayn. When Husayn told him that all male members
of the family were already killed in battle, he stood up in emotion and
asked for his sword so that he could also go and fight. But the
fever was so high that he could not stand and passed out immediately.
Husayn went to see his children, wives and sisters to bid farewell.
He came out of the tent, mounted his horse and fell on the enemy troops
ferociously. Historians have recorded that Husayn was fighting and
killing the enemy soldiers left, right and centre; and he kept saying:
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Now it was only Husayn and his half-brother Abbas left. Abbas asked for
permission to fight. Husayn wept and asked Abbas if he could go and fetch
water for the children, knowing very well what would be the result of that.
Abbas picked up a dry water-skin, took a lance in one hand and the standard
in the other and thus rode towards the river. Abbas was so tall that his
feet very nearly touched the ground while riding and he could be seen from a
distance among the enemy troops.
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THE STORY OF KARBALA - PART 8
THE MARTYRDOM OF AWN AND MUHAMMAD (ZAYNAB.s TWO SONS) AND OF QASIM IBN
HASAN
Zaynab,
Husayn's sister, now exhorted her two sons Awn and Muhammad, to go and
fight. They were the sons of Abdullah Ibn Jafar. While Awn was Zaynab's
own son, Muhammad was her step-son. When Husayn tried to stop them,
Zaynab explained that it was their father's express wish that they would
be sacrificed for Islam, if such a situation did arise. Both brothers
went and fought bravely and were killed. It is reported that when Husayn
brought their remains back to his camp Zaynab neither lamented nor wept.
Although, she had wept and lamented for Husayn's son cAli Akbar.
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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:
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THE STORY OF KARBALA - PART 6
THE FIRST MASSIVE ATTACK, HABEEB BIN MUZAHIR AND ZUHR PRAYER
The
pressure in Husayn's camp was building up. The children were
crying for water. As the Sun rose higher, the desert heat became
more intense by the minute. The children's cries were now reaching
the tents of Husayn's companions, who were although set on laying their
lives for the Prophet's grandson and for the Islamic principles, they
were also very angry at this inhuman behaviour of Yazeed's troops and
were approaching Husayn to allow them to fight.
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While Husayn was proceeding towards Koofa, several hundred people joined
him at various places.
Some, because they knew who Husayn
was, while others, just out of curiosity. It was this second group of
people who were first to leave Husayn, when they saw that things were
not, after all, that favourable for the grandson of the prophet of
Islam.
However, all of these people
were admittedly, Muslims. Among them was a young man named Wahab Ibn
Abdullah Kalbi. Kalb was a very large tribe and many of them had stayed
Christians, as the prophet had allowed after the event of Mubahala in
the later part of the Madinan period.
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THE STORY OF KARBALA - PART 4
THE MORNING OF ASHOORA, THE DEFECTION OF HURR
Husayn and his
companions had spent the night in prayers. Early morning, they came out
of their tents and assembled to offer the morning prayers behind Husayn.
Husayn asked his son Ali (Akbar) to recite the AZAN (official call for
prayers). The significance of this is that Husayn's son looked exactly
like the Prophet Muhammad (pbh) in appearance and that the AZAN has a
sentence in it meaning:
" I testify to Muhammad being a God-sent Prophet"
which is said twice.
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KARABAL NOW: Karbala, the city, lies 55 miles southwest of
Baghdad, in Iraq. Karbala is also the capital of the so called
muhafizah, or a governate, of the same name. Visitors travel by road
from Baghdad to Karbala. Karbala, the muhafizah, is 22,000 sq. miles in
area, extending from the banks of the river Euphrates in the east to the
Saudi Arabian border in the west. It is a flat region with some date
plantation in the east.
KARBALA THEN: In those days, Karbala was a collection of small
villages, among them were: Naynawah, Ghazariyya, Saqiyya and Mariyya.
The largest village used to be Ghazariyya. There were many tribes who
lived there, the largest one was Banu Asad.
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THE
STORY OF KARBALA - PART 2
MUSLIM BIN AQEEL AND HURR
When
Waleed asked Husayn for Yazeed's Ba'ya (allegiance to one's authority),
Husayn very diplomatically refused to do that. The next morning Husayn
left Madinah with nineteen male and twelve female members of his family
and a number of children. First he headed towards Makkah. He
left Madinah on the 28th day of Rajab in the 60th year of Hijra.
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THE STORY OF KARBALA - PART 1
A BRIEF REVIEW OF EVETS STARTING FROM THE DEMISE OF THE PROPHET AND THE
ENTHRONEMENT OF YAZEED TO KHILAFAT
The Prophet of Islam (pbh)
passed away in the 11th year of Hijra. Imam Husayn was only seven
years old at that time. Abu Bakr became the first Khaleefa after
Muhammad amid some confusion, disagreements and political manoeuvering.
The ruling party at this point in time felt politically insecure in view
of the way they had taken power. It was, therefore, necessary to control
all those areas where trouble was expected. One of those areas was the
family of Banu Hashim, the Prophet's own people. The central figure
there was the surviving daughter, Fatima Zahra. While the politicians
were busy securing their hold on the community, the family of Banu
Hashim were busy performing the funeral rites of the Prophet.
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