Imam Zayn al-Abidin – Karbala, Damascus and His Life

Türkçe · Deutsch · English

Who is Imam Zayn al-Abidin?

Born	658 CE (36 AH), Medina
Martyred	719, Medina (al-Baqi)
Age	61
Father	Imam Husayn
Mother	Şehribanu (Shahrbanu)
Wife	Fatma

Since historians give differing dates for the births and deaths of all the Imams, we cannot regard the dates given here as certain. The differences are not large, but they amount to a few years. God knows the truth.

Historians also give differing numbers for his children. I find, however, the figure on page 78 of Abdülbaki Gölpınarlı’s book On İki İmam (The Twelve Imams), published by Der Yayınları – eleven sons and five daughters, or ten sons and seven daughters – more credible than the other, exaggerated numbers.

Imam Zayn al-Abidin at Karbala

History tells us that Imam Zayn al-Abidin did not take part in the battle of Karbala for two reasons. First, because he was ill. Second, because his father Imam Husayn said: “O my son, light of my eyes! You are now gravely ill, and for the time being martyrdom is not permitted to you. For if you too are martyred, the lineage of my grandfather Muhammad Mustafa and my father Ali al-Murtaza, and this religion of Islam, will come to an end. For the Ehl-i Beyt of my grandfather, the Prophet Muhammad, and for Islam to continue, you must live. That is also the reason for your illness.”

Imam Zayn al-Abidin said: “O Father, how can you deprive me of drinking the draught of martyrdom! And then how shall I see your noble face?” His father Husayn replied: “O son, in the assembly of affliction your turn to drink the draught of martyrdom has not yet come. The cupbearer of death has not put you on his list. A day will come when you too will be entered on that list and will follow.”

Husayn seated his son Zayn al-Abidin before him and told him that he would hand over to him the material and spiritual trusts he held from his grandfather Muhammad Mustafa and his father Ali al-Murtaza. The trusts he gave were these:

• The original Qur’anic verses revealed by inspiration, which had been arranged in order in the time of the Prophet Muhammad but had not yet been made into a book. Their collection was called “Kelamullah” (the Word of God); this he gave him.
• He gave him the Mushaf-ı Cifr (the Book), which had belonged to his mother Fatima al-Zahra, had been given to her by her father, the Prophet Muhammad, and contained very precious knowledge.

Imam Husayn said: “O light of my eyes, never stray from the path of patience, for patience is the nature of the Imams and the friends of God (evliya). The line of the Imams will continue through you. O piece of my heart! O light of my eyes! You will remain as the token of Muhammad Mustafa and Ali al-Murtaza. You will carry on the Muslim religion they brought without ever deviating from it or staining it. Our lineage will continue through you. To future generations you will teach the Islam that our grandfather and our father brought and practised. Just as this people of denial have now gone astray, tomorrow they will also stray from the religion. Never follow them, and do not believe them. Sadly, from now on they will draw Islam as a cover over their religion of the old age of ignorance (cahiliye), and, how bitter, they will carry this on under the name of the Islam that the Prophet Muhammad and Ali brought. Shortly I shall take your greetings to my grandfather and my father.” Once more he pressed his son Zayn al-Abidin to his breast and, sorrowful but with the impetus that the ardour of martyrdom gave him, mounted his horse and rode out onto the battlefield.

Before Yazid in Damascus

After Imam Husayn was martyred at Karbala, the tyrant Ibn Ziyad (İbni Ziyad) had Imam Zayn al-Abidin, Mother Zeynep (Zeynep Ana) and all the other surviving women and children mounted, stripped, on camels together with the severed heads, and sent to Damascus (Şam). When Imam Zayn al-Abidin was brought before Yazid in Damascus, Yazid asked: “Who is this young man?” On receiving the answer that he was the son of Imam Husayn, he shouted: “Why did you not kill him?” At that moment Mother Zeynep prevented it with great courage.

Yazid imprisoned Imam Zayn in the church built earlier by the Romans, known today in Damascus as the Muaviye Mosque, on condition that he speak with no one. At the same time, the arrival in Damascus of the women and children of the Ehl-i Beyt and of the severed heads in a wretched state had plunged the people who carried love for the Ehl-i Beyt in their hearts into the deepest mourning. Among those who saw this, agitation and commotion began. How could it be that from the minarets prayers and blessings (salat and salavat) were being called upon the Prophet Muhammad and his Ehl-i Beyt, while below lay the severed heads of his grandchildren and tears flowed like a flood? What kind of faith is this? What kind of belief? What kind of conscience?

As the accursed Beşir, son of Melik, brought the Imam’s sacred head on a tray before the accursed Yazid, he recited the following poem:

“Oysaki onun babası ve soyu insanlığın onuru ve kutsalıyken, ben bu insanların en hayırlısını öldürüp başını sana getirdim.”
“Though his father and his line are the honour and the sanctity of mankind, I have killed the best of these people and brought you his head.”

These words in praise of Husayn and his lineage angered Yazid, who deserved to be cursed. Yazid said: “O Beşir, since you knew that Imam Husayn was so holy, why did you kill him?” Meanwhile, hearing the voices around him growing louder, he had Beşir killed on the spot to calm the situation. He ordered: “Bring the captives you have brought before me.”

They brought Imam Zayn al-Abidin, Mother Zeynep, Ümmi Gülsüm (Umm Kulthum) and the other women and children before him. As soon as Mother Zeynep and Ümmi Gülsüm saw the severed head of Imam Husayn before the accursed Yazid, they cried out and began to weep. When the accursed Yazid saw Imam Zayn al-Abidin, he asked: “Who is this young man?” They answered: “It is Ali, the son of Imam Husayn.” Hearing this, the accursed Yazid ordered: “Kill him too!”

At that moment Mother Zeynep and Ümmü Gülsüm cried out: “O godless, faithless, merciless tyrant! Apart from this innocent one, no one is left in the house (ocak) of the Prophet. Ah, you tyrant! What kind of enmity is this, what cruelty is this? Hear, O our grandfather, intercessor for the worlds! They have killed your grandson Husayn, and they want to wipe out his lineage!” They lamented and wailed so that many of the people present wept and rose up against Yazid’s order. Seeing this, the accursed Yazid was seized by fear and, albeit unwillingly, gave up killing Imam Zayn al-Abidin.

Seeing the reaction of those around him, the accursed Yazid, in order to clear himself, summoned the commanders who had fought at Karbala and had brought the severed heads and the women and children, and asked: “Who cut off Husayn’s head?” Whomever he asked, he received the answer: “It was not I.” When it was the turn of the accursed, damned Şimir (Shimr), he received this answer from Şimir:

“O Padishah of the World! I am not Husayn’s killer.” When Yazid asked, “Then who is?”, Şimir replied: “Whoever caused these battles and gave order after order – ‘take his oath of allegiance or kill him’ – he is the killer.” This answer drove the accursed Yazid beside himself, for its meaning was: “You gave the order, so you are the killer.” The accursed Yazid flew into a frenzied rage at this answer. Right there and then he had the damned Şimir’s hands and arms bound and imprisoned him.

Then the accursed Yazid said to Imam Zayn al-Abidin: “O Ali! Do you see? Had your father Husayn not mounted the pulpits, delivered sermons and claimed that he was more exalted and powerful than I, he would not have come to this. My state and my power crushed him.”

Imam Zayn al-Abidin answered to this effect: “O Yazid! Was the structure of the pulpits handed down from my ancestors or from yours? Did we establish the lawful order of the sermon, or did you? He who prospers through oppression comes to a ruinous end.” While they were talking, the sound of a military band was heard; trumpets were blown and drums beaten. At that moment Yazid’s son, the young Muaviye, boasted: “O Ali, these sounds are the sounds of my father’s reign.” Imam Zayn al-Abidin replied: “Be patient a little; the truth will soon come out.” When the sound of the trumpets ended, the muezzins’ cries of “Allahu Akbar” from the minarets rang out everywhere. The Imam turned to Yazid’s son and said: “O son of Yazid! What you hear now is the voice of our father and our grandfather, and this voice will continue until the Day of Judgement. It never changes; it is inviolable and eternal. The voice of your reign is fleeting.”

His sermon in the Umayyad Mosque

At that point a preacher mounted the pulpit and delivered a eulogy praising the family of Ebu Sufyan (Abu Sufyan). Then he began to revile the Ehl-i Beyt with slanderous falsehoods and insults, whereupon the Imam said to Yazid: “Bring this troublemaker down and allow me to mount the pulpit and deliver the sermon (hutbe).” Yazid did not permit it. But when the notables and scholars of Damascus insisted that they wanted to hear the Imam speak, the accursed Yazid was obliged by their insistence to give permission.

When His Holiness Imam Zayn al-Abidin mounted the pulpit, he first gave thanks and praise to God. He invoked blessings upon his forefather Muhammad Mustafa. He described the massacre of the Ehl-i Beyt at Karbala and gave a very moving speech. At the end of the speech he declared: “O people of Damascus! So that you may be enlightened, I am telling you who I am. I am the heir of Muhammad Mustafa. I am the grandson of Ali al-Murtaza. I am the darling of Fatima. I am the son of Husayn of Karbala. The rank of the Imamate has been bestowed on me by my father. The spiritual caliphate is my inheritance from my grandfather Muhammad Mustafa.” As the muezzin was invoking blessings, the Imam turned: “O Yazid! This Prophet upon whom you invoke blessings – is he your grandfather or mine?”

Yazid was no longer in a position to answer these words; he ordered everyone to go to the palace together and hatched a cunning plan. On reaching the palace he gathered the notables and scholars of Damascus and, in their presence, made speeches insulting and cursing the officers who had come from Karbala. So that Imam Zayn al-Abidin might take revenge for his father, he had Şimir killed by the hand of Imam Zayn al-Abidin. With this devilish idea he tried to prove to the people that he bore no guilt in this affair. On going to his palace, Yazid carried out the plan he had devised exactly. In his own view, he had thereby cleared himself before the people. According to some sources, however, Şimir was caught while Muhtar (al-Mukhtar) was waging his struggle to avenge Karbala, and was killed by a man from Basra.

The return to Medina and his final years

Yazid must have been impressed by Imam Zayn al-Abidin’s mature, reasoned and wise words, for he asked: “O Ali, you have taken revenge on your father’s killer; what else do you want from me?” Imam Zayn al-Abidin replied: “O Yazid! Send us to our homeland, Medina, so that we may continue our lives where my grandfather lies. I want nothing else from you.”

Yazid, cursed by God, wishing to clear himself of the cruelty he had inflicted on the Prophet’s lineage and as a show for the people, wanted to give the women of the Ehl-i Beyt a section of his own palace, but Ümmü Gülsüm and Mother Zeynep did not accept. They preferred to stay in another house, far from Yazid’s palace. The burial of the 16 severed heads of the family (ocak) of the Ehl-i Beyt brought from Karbala was carried out personally by Imam Zayn al-Abidin, Mother Zeynep and Ümmü Gülsüm.

After the burials were completed, Imam Zayn al-Abidin informed Yazid that they wished to go to Medina. Yazid sent the family of the Ehl-i Beyt to Medina under the command of Noman, son of Beşir. The women of the Ehl-i Beyt who came to Medina, with cries and lamentation, described in all its nakedness what had happened at Karbala to the people of Medina, to Muhammed Hanifiye (Muhammad ibn al-Hanafiyya), who had remained in Medina and had not joined the departure with Husayn, and to the children of Imam Hasan. The people of Medina were profoundly moved by what they heard and rose up against Yazid. Osman, the governor of Medina and grandson of Abu Sufyan, reported the situation to Yazid. Yazid ordered Mother Zeynep to be exiled to Egypt. By Yazid’s order Mother Zeynep was exiled to Cairo, the capital of Egypt. But the revolt grew and grew. The governor Osman was forced to flee Medina.

The people turned to Imam Zayn al-Abidin to pledge allegiance to him. The Imam had seen at Karbala a few months earlier how faithless and two-faced these people were. For this reason he did not accept the offer of the people of Medina. Seeing that the people insisted, he left Medina and settled in the village of “Yen bu” (Yanbu). He devoted his life to learning and worship.

Imam Zayn al-Abidin left six treatises (risale, books). The most important among them are “Es-Sahifet’ül Kâmile” and “Sahife-i Seccadiye” (al-Sahifa al-Sajjadiyya). When we look at many history books, Imam Zayn al-Abidin had 18 sons and 16 daughters. Among them the Imamate was conferred on Imam Muhammad al-Baqir; the others continued his lineage as seyyids.

Imam Zayn al-Abidin was poisoned and martyred in the time of the Umayyad caliph Velid (al-Walid), son of Abdülmelik (Abd al-Malik).

Source: Seyit Derviş Tur, Erkânname – Aleviliğin İslam Yorumu ve Alevi Erkânları (The Alevi Interpretation of Islam and Alevi Rites), expanded 3rd edition (ISBN 975-6791-52-7).

Translated from the Turkish original by Seyit Derviş Tur.