After Kerbala ... ; Zaynab

After Kerbala ... ; Zaynab
By : Syed Zafar Abbas Naqvi

The morning of 11th Muharram dawned as Zaynab took up the responsibilities where Husayn bin Ali (a) had left them. Husayn (a) had played his part and from this juncture Zaynab assumed her important role in the struggle for Islam, so that the mission that had reached this point, with so much sacrifice of noble lives, could be brought to its' fruitful conclusion. It was possible that even now, the smallest amount of oversight and neglect might make the whole venture fruitless and render the martyrs sacrifices' futile.

With supreme courage and determination, she resolved not to be overcome by grief and be crushed by the weight of the tragedies that had befallen her family, and with the iron she had inherited from her father and her grandfather was determined to make the best use of every opportunity to propagate the mission of Imam Husayn (a).

Her role was to make people understand that the oppressive and exploitive regime had falsely introduced Husayn (a) and his companions to the people as opponents of Islam and enemies of its progress. She had to make it known to the people who were ignorant of the truth that it was the Household of the Prophet (s), the Home of revelation that was the true upholder and source of the values and teachings of Islam, for the protection of which they did not even refrain even from sacrificing their lives and everything else they had. The martyrs gave away their lives and departed from the scene of oppression, but it remained for the women and the children, in the leadership and guardianship of this great daughter of Ali (a), to pursue the most difficult and the most tormenting part of the mission.

Had it not been for Zaynab (a), we would not have known the objectives of the qiyam of Husayn b. Ali (a). His aim would have been lost and this event of great tragedy would have been buried under the mountain load of distortions and misinterpretations - a thing which many have tried to do but have failed miserably. Thus it was the responsibility that lay on Zaynab's shoulders - the great woman who, in addition, was also the kind and compassionate leader of this group of unhappy prisoners in their journey from Karbala to Kufa, from Kufa to Shaam (Damascus), from Damascus to Karbala and from there to Madinah, the home of the Prophet's family.

The job required great strength and forbearance and qualities which cannot be found in an ordinary woman. But Zaynab was no ordinary lady; she was the daughter of Ali (a) and had been reared by a mother like Fatimah (a) - the same Ali and Fatimah (a) who had spent all their lives in struggle and had fought their way in midst of political crises and conspiracies. Zaynab (a) was a true daughter of her mother, who through her active and passive struggle, had forced the regime of her time to take a defensive stand and had shown to posterity the ways of struggle in difficult times as well as their immense value, a fact to which history bears testimony!

Thus it was Zaynab (a), the wife of such a valuable man of renown as Abdullah b. Ja'fer, and the mother of such youthful martyrs such as 'Aun and Muhammad, and the beloved sister of such a man as Imam Husayn (a), who pursued the mission with immense care and wisdom and who at last brought it to its' sublimely fruitful conclusion.