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Ali ibn al-Husayn
Zaynul-'Abidin
( Peace be Upon him
)
Name:
'Ali.
Title:
Zaynu'l-'Abidln.
Agnomen: Abu
Muhammad.
Father's name: al-Husayn Sayyidu 'sh-Shuhada'.
Mother's name: Shahr Banu, daughter of Yazdeger III, the King of Persia.
Birth: In Medina, on Saturday, 15th Jumada 'I-ula 36 AH.
Death: Died at the age of 58, in Medina; poisoned by al-Walid ibn 'Abdi
'I-Malik ibn Marwan on 25th Muharram 95 AH; buried in Jannatu 'I-Baqi', in
Medina.
The holy Imam 'Ali Zaynu
'l-'Abidin is the Fourth Apostolic Imam.
His
epithet was Abu Muhammad and was popularly titled as "Zaynu'l-'Abidin".
The
mother of this Holy Imam was the royal personage, Shahr Banu, the daughter of
King Yazdgerd, the last pre-Islamic Ruler of Persia.
Imam Zaynu'l-'Abidin
spent the first two years of his infancy in the lap of his grandfather 'All
ibn Abi Talib and then for twelve years he had the gracious patronage of his
uncle, the second Holy Imam al-Hasan ibn 'All.
In 61 AH, he was present in
Karbala', at the time of the gruesome tragedy of the wholesale massacre of his
father, his uncles, his brothers, his cousins and all the godly comrades of
his father; and suffered a heartless captivity and imprisonment at the hands
of the devilish forces of Yazid.
When Imam Husayn had come for the last time
to his camp to bid goodbye to his family, 'Ali Zaynu 'l-'Abidin was lying
semiconscious in his sickbed and hence he escaped the massacre in Karbala'.
Imam Husayn could only manage a very brief talk with the inmates of his camp
and departed nominating his sick son as Imam.
The Holy Imam Zaynu'l-'Abidin lived
for about thirty-four years after his father and all his life he passed in
prayers and supplication to Allah and in remembrance of his martyred father.
It is for his ever being in prayers to Allah, mostly lying in prayerful
prostration, that this Holy Imam was popularly called "Sajjad".
The knowledge
and piety of this Holy Imam was matchless.
az-Zuhrl, al-Waqid; and Ibn
'Uyaynah say that they could not find any one equal to him in piety and
godliness.
He was so mindful of Allah that whenever he sat for ablution for
prayers, the complexion of his face would change and when he stood at prayer
his body was seen trembling.
When asked why this was, he replied, "Know ye not
before whom I stand in prayer, and with whom I hold discourse?"
Even on the gruesome day of 'Ashura
when Yazid's forces had massacred his father, his kith and kin and his
comrades and had set fire to the camp, this Holy Imam was engrossed in his
supplications to the Lord.
When the brutal forces of Yazid's army had taken
the ladies and children as captives, carrying them seated on the bare back of
the camels, tied in ropes; this Holy Imam, though sick, was put in heavy
chains with iron rings round his neck and his ankles, and was made to walk
barefooted on the thorny plains from Karbala' to Kufah and to Damascus; and
even then this godly soul never was unmindful of his prayers to the Lord and
was always thankful and supplicative to Him.
His charity was unassuming and
hidden.
After his passing away, the people said that hidden charity ended with
the departure of this Holy Imam.
Like his grand-father 'Ali ibn Abi Talib,
'Ali Zaynu'l-'Abidin used to carry on his own back at night bags of flour and
bread for the poor and needy families in Medina and he so maintained hundred
of poor families in the city.
The Holy Imam was not only
hospitable even to his enemies but also used to continually exhort them to the
right path.
Imam Zaynu 'l-'Abidin along with the Ahlu 'I-Bayt passed through
dreadful and very dangerous times, for the aggressions and atrocities of the
tyrant rulers of the age had reached a climax.
There was plunder, pillage, and
murder everywhere.
The teachings of Islam were observed more in their breach.
The heartless tyrant al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf ath-Thaqaf; was threatening every one
who professed allegiance or devotion to the Ahlu 'I-Bayt; and those caught
were mercilessly put to death.
The movement of the Holy Imam was strictly
restricted and his meeting with any person was totally banned.
Spies were
employed to trace out the adherents of the Ahlu 'I-Bayt.
Practically every
house was searched and every family scrutinized.
Imam Zaynu 'l-'Abidin was not given
the time to offer his prayers peacefully, nor could he deliver any sermons.
This God's Vicegerent on earth therefore, adopted a third course which proved
to be very beneficial to his followers.
This was in compiling supplicative
prayers for the daily use of man in his endeavour to approach the Almighty
Lord.
The invaluable collection of his edited prayers are known as as-Sahifah
al-Kdmilah or as-Sahifah as-Sajjddiyyah; it is known also as az-Zabur (Psalm)
of Al Muhammad The collection is an invaluable treasury of wonderfully
effective supplications to the Lord in inimitably beautiful language.
Only
those who have ever come across those supplications would know the excellence
and the beneficial effect of these prayers.
Through these prayers the Imam
gave all the necessary guidance to the faithful during his seclusion.
On the
25th of Muharram 95 AH when he was in Medina, al-Walid ibn 'Abdi 'l-Malik ibn
Marwan, the then ruler got this Holy Imam martyred by poison.
The funeral
prayers for this Holy Imam were conducted by his son the Fifth Imam, Muhammad
al-Baqir and his body was laid to rest in the cemetery of Jannatu 'l-Baqi' in
Medina.
Allamah Tabatabai writes:
Imam Sajjad ('Ali ibn al-Husayn
entitled Zaynu'l-'Abidin and Sajjad) was the son of the Third Imam and his
wife, the queen among women, the daughter of Yazdgerd the King of Iran.
IIe
was the only son of Imam Husayn to survive, for his other three brothers 'Ali
Akbar, aged twenty-five, five-year-old Ja'far and 'Ali al-Asghar (or
'Abdullah) who was a suckling baby were martyred during the event of Karbala'.
The Imam had also accompanied his father on the journey that terminated
fatally in Karbala', but because of severe illness and the inability to carry
arms or participate in fighting he was prevented from taking part in the holy
war and being martyred.
So he was sent with the womenfolk to Damascus.
After
spending a period in imprisonment he was sent with honour to Medina because
Yazid wanted to conciliate public opinion.
But for a second time, by the order
of the Umayyad caliph, 'Abdu 'l-Malik, he was chained and sent from Medina to
Damascus and then again returned to Medina.
The Fourth Imam, upon returning to
Medina, retired from public life completely, closed the door of his house to
strangers and spent his time in worship.
He was in con- tact only with the
elite among the Shi'ites such as Abu Hamzah ath-Thumali, Abu Khalid Kabuli and
the like.
The elite disseminated among the Shi'ah the religious sciences they
learned from the Imam.
In this way Shi'ism spread considerably and showed its
effects during the Imamate of the Fifth Imam.
Among the works of the Fourth
Imam is a book called Sahifah Sajjadiyyah.
It consists of fifty-seven prayers
concerning the most sublime Divine sciences and is known as "The Psalm of the
Household of the Prophet.
" The Fourth Imam died (according to some Shl'ite
traditions poisoned by al-Walid ibn 'Abdi 'l-Malik ibn Marwan through the
instigation of the Umayyad caliph Hisham) in 95/712 after thirty-five years of
Imamate.
al-Imam 'Ali ibn al-Husayn, peace
be Upon him, said:
Refrain from lying in all things,
big or small, in seriousness or in jest.
For when one starts lying in petty
matters, soon he will have the audacity to lie in important matters
(also).
A man need not fear Allah except on
account of his own sins, and should place his hopes only with his Lord.
When
about something one does not know, one should not be ashamed of having to
learn about it.
And patience is to faith what the head is to the body; one who
does not have patience also lacks faith.
(A Brief History of The Fourteen Infallibles, p.
111-116)
