Freedom, justice, humanity, virtue are the words associated with Karbala and uprising of Imam Hussein (A.S) and his dearest sister Lady Zainab (A.S). Karbala is standing till these days upon two strong pillars: the uprising of Imam Hussein (A.S) and the resistance of Zainab(A.S) against tyrant of the time. Zainab (A.S) is like a shining sun in the history of Islam, a brave woman whose life teaches the women how to play a significant role in the destiny of their own and that of the society. After the martyrdom of her brother and her two sons, she said: “0 my Lord! Accept our humble sacrifice to you.” But this is not the end of her devotion for the sake of Islam. Imam Hussein (A.S) and his companions were martyred, but Lady Zainab (A.S) didn’t give up, she stood up against oppression as strong as her brother. She gathered all the women and children and cared for them. She was their guardian and protector, when they were enslaved by the accursed Yazid and taken from town to town.
Lady Zainab’s sublime Speech in the court of Yazid is a brilliant historical document of freedom and humanity in Islam. Here you can read some parts of Lady Zainab’s speech in the court of Yazid as an example of outstanding speech. In her speech, she exposed Yazid’s treachery and revealed the true personality of Imam Hussein (A.S).
Lady Zainab’s mission contained certain stages: The first is, when she arrived in Kufa to make the people who betrayed Imam Hussein feel ashamed and miserable. The second stage of her mission was executed in the court of Ibn Ziyad. And the next stage of Zainab’s mission was to destroy Yazid by her eloquent speech. After she saw Yazid disrespecting the head of her brother with a cane. She stood and said: “Praise be to Allah, the Lord of the worlds and blessings on my grandfather, the Chief of divine prophets.
O Yazid, Allah says, and his word is true, that: “Then the fate of those who committed misdeeds was that they denied the signs of Allah and they used to deride them.” [30:10]
O Yazid, do you believe that you have succeeded in closing the sky and the earth for us and that we have become your captives, just because we have been brought before you in a row and that you have secured control over us? Do you believe that we have been afflicted with insult and dishonor by Allah and that you have been given honor and respect by Him? You have become boastful of this apparent victory that you have secured and you have started feeling jubilant and proud over this prestige and honor. You think that you have achieved worldly good, which your affairs have become stabilized and our faith has fallen into your hands. Wait for a while. Do not be so joyful.
Have you forgotten Allah’s saying: “Let the faithless not suppose that the respite that We grant them is good for their souls: We give them respite only that they may increase in sin, and there is a humiliating punishment forthem.” (3:178)
O son of freed slaves, is this your justice that you keep your own daughters and slave maids veiled, while the daughters of the Prophet of Allah are being paraded from place to place exposed. You have dishonored us by unveiling our heads. Your men take us from town to town, where all sorts of people, whether they be residents of the hills or of riversides have been looking at us. The near as well as the remote ones, the poor as well as the rich, the low as well as the high – all casting their glances at us while our position is such that there is no male relative of ours to render us help or support.
O Yazid, whatever you have done proves your revolt against Allah and your denial of His Prophet and of the Book and Sunnah that the Holy Prophet (PBUH) brought from Allah. Your deeds should not cause amazement, because one whose ancestors chewed the livers of the martyrs, whose flesh grew up on virtuous people, who fought against the Chief of divine prophets, who mobilized parties for fighting against him and drew swords against him, should conspicuously excel all in unbelief, sinfulness, excesses, and enmity against Allah and His Prophet (PBUH).
Remember that the evil deeds and sinful actions that you have committed are the result of disbelief and old rancor you bear because of your ancestors who were killed in Badr.
One who cast his glance of enmity, malice and rancor upon us does not lag behind in practicing enmity against us. He proves his disbelief, declares it with his tongue and jubilantly proclaims: ’I have killed the sons of the Prophet of Allah and made his progeny captive,’ and wishes that his ancestors had lived to see his achievement and to have exclaimed, “O Yazid, may your hands not lose their strength, you have wreaked good vengeance on our behalf.”
O Yazid, you are striking the lips of Imam Hussein with your stick in front of this crowd, while these very lips used to be kissed by the Prophet of Allah. By killing Hussein ibn Ali (A..S) you have gained nearness to the state of your unbelieving ancestors. You proclaim your deed with pride, and if they were to see you, they would approve of your action and pray that Allah may not paralyze your arms. O Yazid! If you had heart enough to take account of your nefarious deeds, you yourself would surely wish your arms to be paralyzed and severed from your elbow, and you would wish that your parents had not given birth to you, because you would know that Allah has become displeased with you. Allah, Grant us our rights. Avenge us on those who have oppressed us.
O Yazid! You did what you wished, but remember that you have cut your own skin and your own flesh to pieces. Soon you will be brought before the Holy Prophet. You will be overburdened, with the weight of your sins committed by shedding the blood of his progeny and by dishonoring his family. The place to which you will be taken will be before all the members of his family. The oppressed will be avenged and the oppressors will be punished.
O Yazid ! It does not seem for you to swell with joy after slaying the Prophet’s progeny. ’Reckon not those who are killed in Allah’s way as dead; nay, they are alive and are provided sustenance from their Lord; rejoicing in what Allah has given them out of His grace...”(3:169-170).
Allah is sufficient to deal with you. The Messenger of Allah is your antagonist and Hazrat Jibra’il (Gabriel) is our support and help against you. Those who have made you the head of state and burdened the Muslims with your leadership will soon find out what awaits them. The end of all tyrants is agony.
O Yazid. I speak not to you, thus to warn you of the severe chastisement, for you so that you should be regretful, for you are one of those whose hearts are hardened, whose souls arerebellious and whose bodies are busy in Allah’s disobedience, while they are under the curse of the Prophet of Allah. You are from among those in whose heart Shaytan (Satan) has made his abode and has been breeding young ones.
How amazing it is that the virtuous people, sons of the divine prophets and vicegerents are killed at the hands of liberated slaves, evil-doers and sinners. Our blood is shed by their hands and our flesh serves as food for them. We feel grieved for those whose bodies are lying enshrouded and unburied in the battlefield, wounded with arrows.
O Yazid, if you consider our defeat as your achievement, then you will have to pay its price. Allah commits not injustice to His servants. Our reliance is on Allah. He alone is our Relief Protection, and in Him alone do we repose our hope.
You may contrive and try however much you can. By Him, Who honored us with Revelation, the Book and Prophet hood, you cannot achieve our status, nor reach our position, nor can you affect our mention, nor remove from yourself that shame and dishonor that is now your lot, because of perpetrating tyranny and oppression on us. Your word now is weak and your days are counted. Beware of the day when the announcer would announce the curse of Allah on the oppressors and the unjust.
Praise be to Allah Who gave good end to His friends and granted them success in their aims, and thereafter called them back to His Mercy, Pleasure and Bliss, while you hurled yourself into evil and mischief by committing injustice against them. We pray to Allah to favor us with full recompense through them and grant us the good of caliphate and Imamate. Surely Allah is Kind and the Most Merciful over His creatures.”
As you see, the origin of the reform movement was Hussein (A.S), while its preservation belongs to Zainab (A.S). So, who could decide that which one is mightier? The Word or the Sword?
But may be it is better to say that history witnesses that “The Word and the Sword have completed each other.”
In order to get familiar with the invaluable role of the women in Imam Hussein’s movement, you could get familiar with those women who sacrificed their best, their son, husband and their own lives for freedom and justice to be presented by Islam.
