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.
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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.
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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].
Source: convert to islam
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