Zainab Radiyallaahu Anha, bint Ali Radiyallaahu?

Hazrat Zainab Radiyallaahu Anha,

Who was Bibi Zainab Radiyallaahu Anha, bint Ali   Radiyallaahu?

Zainab Radiyallaahu Anha was the third child of Ali ibn Abi Talib Radiyallaahu Anhu and Bibi Fatima Zahra Radiyallaahu Anha.

She was born in Medina and was named by Prophet Muhammad sallallaahu-alaihi-wasallam after her eldest aunt, then deceased.

Zainab means an ornament or an adornment of her father. Allah (SWT) gave this name to her through His messenger who was alive at the time of her birth. Her titles were:

 Siddiqa: meaning the truthful one.

Sabirah: meaning the patient one.

Aqeelatu: Bani Hashim meaning the most intelligent of Bani Hashim

Zainab Radiyallaahu Anha lost her mother Bibi Fatima Radiyallaahu Anha   when she was only three years old and she grew extremely close to her full brothers,

Hasan and Husain Radiyallaahu Anhuma.

Zainab Radiyallaahu Anha was born in the year 5 A.H., and was brought up in the arms of personalities like the Prophet Muhammad sallallaahu-alaihi-wasallam) And Ali Bin Abi Talib Radiyallaahu Anhu.

             

She is the daughter of Ali Bin Abi Talib Radiyallaahu Anhu,.(one of the most powerful and influential heroes of Prophet Muhammad sallallaahu-alaihi-wasallam) 's army, would rule the Muslim Empire as the last of the Four Rightly-Guided Caliphs and would garner himself a place as one of the greatest  heroes in the history of Islam.) And her mother Fatima Radiyallaahu Anha bint Prophet Muhammad sallallaahu-alaihi-wasallam (talking about Fatima Radiyallaahu Anha,) as a mother

Is inseparable from talking about the Masters of Heaven's Youth, Imam Hassan Radiyallaahu Anhu and Imam Hussein Radiyallaahu Anhu and their sister,

Zainab Radiyallaahu Anha, The mother of calamities).

 Hazrat Zainab Radiyallaahu Anha. Was one of the most knowledgeable Muslim women?

She obtained her knowledge from Prophet Muhammad sallallaahu-alaihi-wasallam) and when Hazrat Ali Radiyallaahu Anhu, moved to Kufa,

The women there sought his permission through their husbands to allow them to acquire knowledge from Hazrat Zainab Radiyallaahu Anha,.

She became known as ‘The Wise Lady of the Hashim Clan’ (Aqeelat-al-Bani Hashim).

Hazrat Zainab Radiyallaahu Anha was one of the Muslim women who proved that women were as intelligent and capable as any man.

Her intelligence was without any comparison and no male could match up with her knowledge and wisdom.

Imam Ali Zayn-ul-Abideen (RA) gave her the name ‘Alimah Ghair Mualimmah’ which would roughly mean ‘scholar without a teacher’.

Her brothers Imam Hasan Radiyallaahu Anhu, and Imam Husain Radiyallaahu Anhu respected her and her knowledge a lot.

She had an active role in society and would teach the women of Medina about Islam and imparted to them her knowledge of the Quran and Islam.

Her ability to teach with clarity became well known for which she was further given the titles ‘Baligah’ and ‘Fasihah’ meaning ‘intensely eloquent’ and ‘skillfully fluent’.

Her life was devoted to the Muslim community and she did not show any attachment to the material gains even though her husband was a wealthy man.

She led a modest life without the luxuries and only the necessities.

  

        Her nursing career

Her nursing career started with treating her mother (Fatima Radiyallaahu Anha, bint Prophet Muhammad sallallaahu-alaihi-wasallam).) During her illness, in the year: 40 A.H.,

She also nursed her father Ali Bin Abi Talib Radiyallaahu Anhu who was struck on the head by Ibn-e-Muljam Muradi, until the last moment of his life.

In the year 50 A.H. she treated her brother Hassan Radiyallaahu Anhu who was severely poisoned until he reached martyrdom.

  Battle of Karbala, -Hazrat Zainab Radiyallaahu Anha was right beside him. This was the tragic incident of Karbala which the Muslim world remembers till today.

 Each person in that incident played and important part and Hazrat Zainab Radiyallaahu Anha was a woman who sacrificed both her sons and prayed to Allah

Subhanahu WA Ta’aala (GOD) to accept this humble sacrifice.

Such were the people of thought and wisdom and their love for Allah Subhanahu WA Ta’aala (GOD) and His religion was so great that nothing could ever compare to it.

In the year 61 A.H. during the battle of Karbala, she attended the battle as a Great and Brave Lady who accompanied her brother Hussein Radiyallaahu Anhu.

She was involved in encouraging the injured people, family of the martyrs and also taking care of the children and the remaining members of the families.

In the meantime, she nursed her nephew Ali ibn-al-Hussein (R.A.) who was very sick during the battle of Karbala and his son Muhammad ibn-Ali-al-Baqir (R.A.).

This Great Lady with her patience and sincere dedication nursed not only her mother, but 5 Imams R.A. (Subhan'Allah) and recorded her capability in the History of Islam.

Life: of Hazrat Zainab Radiyallaahu Anha. Teaches the Muslims till today that their main cause in this world should be to strive in the path of Allah Subhanahu WA Ta’aala (GOD)

And thus although she knew her sons would be martyred,

She supported them when they were preparing to fight against the army of Yazid.

After the Martyrdoms of Ashura

After the massacre of Imam Hussein bin 'Ali Radiyallaahu Anhuma and his companions at Karbala, the forces of Yazid bin Muawiyah took the children and women of Hussein’s Radiyallaahu Anhu caravan as prisoners. They were taken from Karbala to Kufa and from Kufa to Damascus, the capital and stronghold of Umayyad power.

In the Court of Yazid

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 Hussein’s head was at the foot of Yazid's thorn.

Yazid was joyfully reciting some poems in which he openly rejected the Prophet hood of  Prophet Muhammad sallallaahu-alaihi-wasallam 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 emotionally charged circumstances that Zainab Radiyallaahu Anha. Bint Ali Radiyallaahu Anhu, 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 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 organized 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)

Then Zainab Radiyallaahu Anha 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, Zainab Radiyallaahu Anha wanted Yazid to remember that his ancestors were the 'freed slaves' of her grandfather.

Look at the courage of Zainab Radiyallaahu Anha! Standing as a prisoner in the court of Yazid, she does not hesitate to remind him of his reality.

Is it justice, O son of the freed slaves!, that you provide your ladies and slave-girls with Hijaab, 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.

Then Zainab Radiyallaahu Anha 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 Hamza, 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.

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 Hussein, 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 'Hussein 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.

Sayidina Zainab (Radiyallaahu Anha) possessed vast knowledge of divinely laws. She was a Mufassir of the Holy Qur’an and also a Muhadditha who related and explained the prophetic narrations. She was considered to be the most authentic source of hadith during her life.

She is a metaphor for the defiance of the oppressed against the oppressor, the victory of truth against falsehood.  It is through her extraordinary handling of the trials in Karbala, Kufa, and Sham (modern day Syria), she endured that we have caught glimpses of the untold depths of her courage, forbearance, patience and submission to the decree of Allah (swt).

It was Zainab’s (Radiyallaahu Anha) destiny to proclaim to the world the sacrifices made by Imam Husain (R.A) and the other members of the family of the Holy Prophet (saw) for the cause of Islam. She exposed the evil deeds of Ibn Zaid and Yazid with courage and fearlessness. She endured physical pain and mental torture with fortitude and was a source of strength to all around her and never once did she rebel against the destiny decreed by Allah. The strength of her submission was divine, yet her lamentation poignantly human.

We feel sad that we weren't around the Prophet Muhammad sallallaahu-alaihi-wasallam but really we should be grateful Allah Subhanahu WA Ta’aala (GOD) didn't place these test of the Sahabi upon us,

Surely we would be the greatest of cowards..!!

All were equal in their own special ways.

All would sacrifice their live for the Prophet Muhammad sallallaahu-alaihi-wasallam

All would sacrifice their lives for Islam.

Thus no comparisons all were simply amazing.

"The sin which makes you sad and repentant is more liked by Allah than the good deed which turns you arrogant"

Imam Ali Radiyallaahu Anhu)

May Allah Subhanahu WA Ta’aala (GOD) make our efforts sincere and keep us all on the straight path...........

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