The Prisoners Meet Yazid

The prisoners were ordered to go to Yazid's main hall, and they were all tied together with one long rope. While they were marched towards the castle, they were beaten if they did not go fast.

When they entered the castle and were in Yazid's presence, Sajjad asked Yazid "What do you think the Prophet of God would say if he sees us in this situation?"

The people started to cry and Yazid ordered the rope to be cut. The head of Imam Husayn was in front of him. He looked at Nu'man Ibn Bashir and said, "Praise God that He killed him."

Nu'man replied, "Mu'awiyah, your father, did not want to have Husayn killed."

Yazid answered, "That was before Husayn's movement. If Husayn had started his movement before, my father Mu'awiyah would have killed him."

Then Yazid faced Sajjad and said, "What do you think of what God has done to your father, Husayn''
Sajjad replied, "I saw what God has written."

Yazid consulted with his advisors about killing Sajjad and most of them agreed to having him killed.
Sajjad said, "O, Yazid! These people are deceiving you. Unlike the people of Pharaoh did when he asked them about Moses and Aaron. They said, 'Leave Moses and Aaron, because the children of Prophets should not be killed."'

Yazid thought and pondered, then Sajjad asked him for permission to speak. Yazid said, "You may speak, but do not talk any nonsense."

Sajjad said, "I am in a position in which I can not talk nonsense. What would you think if the Prophet sees us in this position?"

Yazid ordered Sajjad's chains to be removed, then faced his royal announcers, and told them to praise Mu'awiyah and humiliate Husayn. When they continued cursing 'Ali and Husayn, Sajjad interrupted them and yelled, "You are trying to please humans against God. You are going to end up in Hell!"

Then Sajjad said calmly, "O, Yazid! Let me go stand in the same place as this man (the announcer) and say what would please God and what would benefit these people."

Yazid refused, but the people insisted on allowing him. The people persisted, and Yazid did not want to anger the people, so he allowed it.

Sajjad said, "Praise God Who has no beginning, Who is eternal. No one was before Him and no one will be after Him. He will remain after the destruction of the whole world.

O, people! We are given six characteristics and we were honored by seven. We are given knowledge, patience, generosity, eloquence, bravery, and love in the hearts of believers; and we are honored that the Prophet is from our family, the friend, Siddiq Tayyar, the Lion of God and the lion of the Messenger, and the two grandsons of this nation. O, people! Who knows me knows me, and who does not know me, I will tell him who I am in genealogy and character.

O, people! I am the son of Mecca and Mina. I am the son of Zamzam and Safa. I am the son of the one who carried the Black Stone with his robe. I am the son of the best of those who wear clothes [are civilized]. I am the son of the best of those who made Tawaf [circumambulating the Ka'bah] and Sa'y [walking between Mount Safa and Mount Marwa, as one of the Hajj pilgrimage rite]. I am the son of the man who rode the Buraq [winged horse] to the end of the horizon, and reached his Lord, and was two bow's shots away from Him. I am the son of the one who prayed with the angels. I am the son of the one who received the revelation. I am the son of the one who fought with the Prophet of God at the battles of Badr and Hunayn and he ['Ali] did not disbelieve in God even for the blink of an eye. I am the son of the best of believers and the heir of the Prophets and the leader of Muslims, the knight of fighters, the father of Hasan and Husayn, 'Ali son of Abi Talib. I am the son of Fatimah al-Zahra', the leader of women, and the great Khadijah. I am the son of the one who was killed and covered with blood. I am the son of the one who was killed in Karbala'. I am the son of the one for whom the Jinn cried, and even the birds on the wind."

When Sajjad said this, people yelled and wailed in an uproar of grief.
Yazid began to fear that the situation would escalate, so he ordered the Muezzin 1 to recite the azan 2 even though it was not prayer time.

The Muezzin yelled, "Allahu Akbar! (God is great)" and Sajjad said, "God is greater and more honored than anything I fear!"

Then the Muezzin said, "Ashhadu anla ilaha ilallah [I bear witness that there is no god besides Allah]" and Sajjad said, "Yes, I bear witness with everyone who witnesses that there is no god but Him!"
When the Muezzin said, "Ashhadu anna Muhammadan rasulullah [I bear witness that MuHammad is the Messenger of God]", Sajjad said to the Muezzin, "I ask you by the right of Muhammad to be silent for one minute!"

He faced Yazid and said, "This Messenger of God, is he your grandfather or my grandfather? If you say he is your grandfather, people who are present and all people will know you are a liar, and if you say he is my grandfather, then why did you kill my father unjustly? Why did you loot his wealth? Why did you capture his women? On the Day of Judgment my grandfather will be against you."

Yazid interrupted Sajjad and yelled at the Muezzin to start the prayer, even though it was not time. Some left to pray and others simply left the scene.

Then, he asked for the head of Imam Husayn to be brought to him in a golden washbasin. The women of the family of the Prophet wanted to see what is in the basin, but Yazid did not want them to. When he uncovered it and they saw the head, everyone cried. Yazid ordered others to enter the room. He took his stick, hit the lips of Imam Husayn, and said,

"Now I am getting even for the battle of Badr!" And then recited some poetry.

One of his people yelled that 'Al al-Mustafa' (the family of Heavenly Selected-Prophet Mu¦ammad) are cut into pieces. Yazid hit him in his chest, told him to shut up, and cursed him, saying, "You have no mother!"

Another stood up and asked Yazid to give him Fatimah, daughter of Husayn, as a gift. Fatimah became very scared and clung tightly to Zaynab.

Zaynab raised her voice and said, "Impossible! You cannot have this!" Yazid replied, "If I want it, I can ...

Zaynab said to him, "If you do not believe in our religion, you can."

Yazid barked at her, "Your father and your brother were not of our religion!"

Zaynab said, "It was by the religion of God, my grandfather, and my father, that you and your father became Muslims!"

Yazid screamed, "You are a liar and an enemy of God!"

Zaynab said, "You are governor. You curse us unjustly and you govern by force."

The man repeated his request for the daughter of Husayn as a gift. Yazid yelled at him, cursed him, and then said to everyone:

"I wish my ancestors were here to see
How their enemies are in fear.
They would be happy
And they would tell me: Yazid, you did a good job!
We have taken their heads, and gotten even
For the battle of Badr.
The Hashim (family of the Prophet Mu¦ammad] played with politics.
There is no revelation and no Messenger.
They lied just to get the leadership.
I am not from my tribe
If I do not take revenge on the descendants of Ahmad."

When Zaynab heard Yazid, she said, "Praises to God and the Messenger of God," and quoted:

"Then, the end result of those who have done evil was evil, because they denied the signs of God, and mocked them." 3

Then she continued, "O, Yazid! You think you have turned the whole world against us, and you have driven us like slaves. You think that you have honor, and you are important. You are holding your nose high, and you are happy, for the world is easy for you, and your kingdom is secure. But, you just wait and see!

Have you forgotten the saying of God: 'And let not those who disbelieve think that whatever we increase for them is the best for them. Indeed, We increase for them so they increase in sin, and they have a humiliating punishment?' 4

Is it just, O, son of Talaqa,5 to honor your slaves and drive the children of the Prophet as slaves? You exposed their privacy and exposed their faces. You paraded them from city to city. They had no one to protect them and everyone, near or far, examining their faces! What can we expect from a descendant of those who tried to eat the livers of the righteous people 6 whose flesh grows from the blood of martyrs. What can we expect from someone who grew up with hatred of the Prophet's family?"

Then, she quoted his poem and said, "While hitting the lips of the son of the Messenger of God, how could you say such a thing? Someone like you has to say such things, while you shed the blood of the descendants of Muhammad and the stars of the family of 'Abdul Muttalib. You call your ancestors. Indeed, you will soon go the same way as them. Indeed, you will wish you were mute and did not say what you said and did not do what you did.

O, God! Secure our rights and take revenge on those who treated us unjustly who shed our blood and killed our protectors. O, Yazid, you have not cut anything but your own skin. You have not chopped anything but your own flesh. Indeed, you will face Prophet Muhammad by what you have shed, the blood of his descendants and humiliated his honor!" Then she quoted: "Do not think of those who have been killed in the way of God as dead. No. They are alive, with their Lord, and bestowed blessings." 7

"And God is the best Judge and Muhammad is the plaintiff and (Archangel) Gabriel is the supporter. And those who made you come to power over Muslims will know what a worse alternative they have chosen and what a weak army they have.

Though it is hard for me to speak to you, I belittle you. It is hard for me to look in your face, but the eyes are weeping and the chests are tight.

O! The wonder of wonders is that the party of God, the honored are killed by the party of Satan, those who were given freedom by the Prophet. Their hands are dripping with our blood, their mouths are filled with our flesh, and the bodies of the righteous are scattered on the ground. You took us as prisoners as gains of the war, but soon you will be the loser, when you enter the Judgment of God. We have only Him as our protector. Do whatever you want and plan and scheme whatever you want.
But, by God you cannot eradicate our memory, and you cannot eradicate the revelation (of God) and the shame of this will not leave you. Your view is in vain, and your days are numbered, and your groups will be scattered, on a day in which a caller will call and announce the curse of God on those who are unjust. Praised be the Lord, the One who gave the first of us forgiveness and the last of us martyrdom. And we ask Almighty God to complete the reward for them, and increase for them, and make us the successful ones. Indeed, He is merciful and kind, and God is sufficient, and the Best Protector.

LATER...

The historian al-Bayruni says:

"These actions taken against the Imam were not done to any nation in the world. Using all cheap means possible, such as killing by sword, spearing, catapults, and running the horses on the bodies of the victims."

After the massacre at Karbala', 'Umar Ibn Sa'd, the leader of the army, asked the governor, Ibn Ziyad, for the written promise to make him governor of the city of Ray. Ibn Ziyad said he lost it.
One year after the death of Yazid, Mukhtar revolted against Ibn Ziyad and killed all those who participated in killing Imam Husayn, such as Harmalah ibn Kahil, Shimr ibn dhil-Jawshan, and eighteen thousand others who participated in the massacre at Karbala'. Mukhtar ordered then to be killed by cruel and unusual methods of painful torture and death.

Mukhtar did not kill 'Umar Ibn Sa'd, but he ordered the women of the city to sit by the door of his house and cry and wail every night. They did this, and after some time, he became crazy.

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1. Muezzin is caller for prayer.

2. Azan is the call to prayer.

3. The Holy Qur'an; Sura of ar-Room 30:10.

4. The Holy Qur'an; Sura of Aal-Imran 3: 178.

5. People of Koreish ( The Propheti's rivals) allied each other against Prophet Mohammad and showed him various sorts of bitterness that obliged him to flee his hometown. When God gave him victory against them, they were quite sure he would revenge himself upon them. He said nothing to them but, 'what do you think Iam going to do with you? 'Only the good, for you are a noble brother and son of a noble brother', answered they, He said: 'I will repeat the same wording of my brother Joseph the prophet : (Today, you are not condemned.) Go you are released (Tulaqa).

6. Aftrer the Battle of Uhud, Hind-wife of Abu Sufya and Yazid's grandmother tried to eat the liver of Hamza Ibn 'Abdul Muttalib (Prophet Muhammed's uncle) after he had been martyred in tha battle.

7. The Holy Qur'an; Sura of Aal -Imran 3: 169

Adapted from the book: "Karbala & Ashura" by: "Ali Hussain Jalali"