During all this period Medina was immersed in the deathly av a news of the son of Fatima, the daughter of the Messenger of God PBUH. He who had replied in affirmative to the invitation of his friends in Kufa. All of a sudden they heard a proclamation.
“Ali Ibne Husain is coming to Medina along with aunts and sisters.” “
Ali Ibne Husain? His aunts and sisters?
Where is Imam Husain? Where are the uncles of Ali Ibne Husain, brothers and sons of uncles?
The sons of Zehra and children of Abdul Muttalib who are the bright stars on the face of the earth. Where are they? Where are they? Where are they?
The news of martyrdom spread like wild fire and it reached the valley of Uhad and from there to Baqee and Quba. It did not take long before the sound of ladies weeping and crying arose from everywhere
There was no veiled woman in Medina who did not come out of her house crying and lamenting.
Zainab, daughter of Aqeel bin Abi Talib, sister of Muslim came out of their houses with other ladies without their veil, barefooted and lamented.
“If Messenger of God inquires from you that I had left you as adherents of the last faith how have you treated my descendents and children after me? Have you imprisoned some of them? And have you immersed in blood some of them? Had not I asked you in my last will and testament to treat my children well? Is this my reward? That you should treat them thus? What will be your reply to these questions of the Prophet?
One voice of lamentation was heard from a distance,
“O the people who have martyred Husain! May you be given the good news of punishment, torment and calamity on the Day of Judgment. All the denizens of the sky which includes all the prophets, angels and other venerated personalities are cursing you. Suleman, Ibne Daud, Moses and Christ are imprecating you.”
The caravan was forging ahead cutting through the crowd of persons who had surged forth to receive them. In the collective memory of the people of Medina, no other day had been so full of calamity and sadness. The number of mourners and lamenters had never been so large, and so immersed in sorrow, as was witnessed by the people that day.
The people of Medina still remembered the night in Rajab, when the family of the prophet had departed to Mecca. That was the time when their congregation was accorded full deference and regard, The leaders of the young men of paradise were moving in the front line. They were like the full moon and their friends encircling them were, like shining stars. They were going to dethrone Yazeed who was not worthy of being a ruler. ‘5
The caravan had finally returned to Medina after what seemed like an eternity. Time had not left any oppression, injustice and tyranny that had not been perpetrated on them. It was wilderness of death, where the sickle of death viciously cut and destroyed the roots and branches of the family of the Prophet. Except for a few grief stricken ladies and orphaned children, none returned back alive. None of the males or young men returned.
In the Medina, congregations of grief and mournings were held for innumerous days and nights. Heart breaking and soul scratching wailing and lamentation continued for long. The pious earth silently absorbed the tears of grief stricken people.
Now we witness Abdullah Ibne Jafar, husband of Zainab, sitting and receiving condolences of his sons Aun and Mohammed and his cousin Imam Husain and sons of Jafar and other martyrs of the family of Abdul Muttalib. His slave, out of his stupidity, says that this calamity has fallen on us because of Husain.
Abdullah got up and he threw his shoe to hit him and said in anger, “Son of a wretched woman! How dare y you say such words depricating the dignity of Husain! By God, if I had been with him then I too would not moved away from him until I was also murdered. By God, the martyrdom of my sons has eased my misfortune for me.”
After this, the congregation of mourning were organized regularly. The orphan children and the widows of the martyrs used to go to the graveyard Baqee daily, and grieve and lament for the relatives who were martyred in Karbala. The voice of their weeping and beating had so shaken Medina that friends as well enemies used to shed tears on their misery and affliction.
The narrator says that Ummul Baneen daughter of Khazam, wife of Imama Ali used to go to Bagee and used to cry, bewail and weep for her four young sons Abdullah and Jafar, Usman and Abbas who were martyred in Karbala. She used to describe the event in such heart breaking tone that people used to gather around her. One day Marwan Bin Hakam who was the enemy of the family of Abu Talib passed through the place and was so influenced by her grief that he started weeping.
Rabab daughter of Umrul Qais wife of Imam Husain mother of Sakeena and Ali Asghar did not marry again. For years she did not sleep under a roof until she wasted away from grief and sorrow.
Syeda Zainab was not visible in the assembly of mourning. We surmise that she might have spent countless nights in wakefulness and she was resting. But after a while she controled and restrained herself, and got ready to perform a mission.
She had to do more important work than mourning and weeping.
The blood of the martyred brother must not go unpunished. The sacrifice of the venerated martyrs may not go waste.
Aal-e-Qutub Aal-e-Syed Abdullah Shah Ghazi 