The Queen of Karbala

🌼🔆🌼Zaynab’s Life and Power🌼🔆🌼

🌹🔅☘️ بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمنِ الرَّحيمِ ☘️🔅🌹

🔅🌹 “Women’s Mission in Creation”  “The Constellation of Pure Women”  “Zaynab Is Zaynab” “The Absent Beauty”  “Zaynab’s Grandeur,” and more … An abridged account with an addendum       1403.08.17    Ali Saei (Abdullah Meshkat) 110.141(903)  🌹🔅

🔅🌼A brief overview of the map and geography of the discussion: “The Queen of Karbala” 🌼🔅

🌊 The Station of Zaynab al-Kubra 

Zaynab al-Kubra, daughter of the boundless sea, is a child of heaven. Who can truly know Zaynab al-Kubra? She is the very light made manifest in Fatimah’s soul, the very life of Fatimah. Fatimah was martyred, and through Zaynab al-Kubra’s presence, her martyrdom spread throughout existence. O God, make Zaynab, the daughter of Ali, known to us; she is the adornment of the Gate of Knowledge. How can Zaynab be known? Without doubt, the world lives by Zaynab’s life: were it not for Zaynab, this Zaynab-like spirit and vitality would not be felt in all existence.

🌸 Zaynab, Giver of Life to the World 

Through Zaynab, God bestowed Zaynab-like life upon the world. Without her, the world would have lost its strength and diminished. Through her worship, devotion, and beautiful patience, Zaynab gave the world a new life. Zaynab is the dignity and honor of women everywhere; she was the one who revealed to the world a magnificent display of the signs of womanhood in all existence.

🌺 Women Are God’s Signs 

Women are signs of God, and Zaynab al-Kubra is the interpreter of these signs.

🔥 Zaynab and Satan 

Who is Zaynab? She is the one who brought Satan to his knees. Zaynab thwarted all of Satan’s temptations and provocations.

✨ The Adornment of Worship 

Zaynab is the adornment of worship.

👑 Zaynab, Queen of Karbala 

Who is Zaynab? She is God’s special envoy, the vanquisher of anguish, pain, and calamity. She is a heroine descended from the family of Muhammad.

⚔️ Facing the Greatest Calamities 

The greatest calamities have no rival, yet Zaynab overcame them. She is the most beautiful manifestation of nobility and piety. Zaynab brought suffering to its knees and made calamity mourn; she absorbed every affliction into herself. Her station is exalted beyond measure.

🌿 A Model for Women 

Zaynab gave women a life of dignity and pride. She is a model for all women, a banner reaching as high as the distance of two bows. She was the keeper of the veils over the magnificent scenes of her mother, Fatimah, and her father, Ali al-Murtada.

⏳ Zaynab’s Patience 

Zaynab wore patience to its old age and gave the earth a Zaynab-like life.

🌼 Zaynab’s Lofty Spirit 

How can one behold Zaynab’s pure spirit? She gave Karbala a Zaynab-like spirit, granted this world a pure soul and redoubled strength, and made the world more resistant to Satan’s schemes and guile. Zaynab is an embrace of tenderness and affection, a world of embrace that holds all creation within it. Though people may not know it, the world draws sustenance from Zaynab; just as we draw sustenance from the cosmos, we feel its effects even if we do not perceive it. If we stop breathing, our entire being collapses; and if we do not draw sustenance from Zaynab’s spirit, if we do not breathe its pure air, the color and luster of our worship will fade.

🌍 Drawing Sustenance from the Cosmos 

Human beings draw sustenance from the whole cosmos, and the cosmos from human beings. Every person is sustenance for another. We draw sustenance from Zaynab’s light, from the water of life, and from the exalted waves flowing through existence. Does the world turn for no reason? No. We are afloat within this world, finding ourselves at every moment in new coordinates and a new scene. Each moment brings us new sustenance as we pass through galaxies and nebulae at an unimaginable speed. The whole universe, out of love for God, glorifies and remembers Him; every particle and galaxy calls upon Him in the language of its own love.

🌌 Drawing Sustenance from the Prophet’s Household 

Every moment, we find ourselves in a new state and a new circumstance, and fresh effects appear within us. With all this nourishment, why can’t we sense it? Because we do not have just one dimension, but thousands, each continually being nourished and transformed. When the veil is lifted from our faces, our inner reality will be revealed, and the outcome of all this nourishment will become clear.

🐟 Like a fish in the depths of the sea 

Like fish in the sea, we open and close our mouths, perhaps unaware of the water and food around us, yet they are what keep us alive. We, too, have lives within lives that give us vitality and a living spirit.

🌼 Zaynab’s way of life and the power to change 

Zaynab’s way of life is like this, too. Once we understand it, who knows how far we might go? We are changing and transforming at every moment, and we must pay close attention to what nourishes us.

🌸 Women as role models in Zaynab’s way of life 

If women do not take this way of life as their model, they will become captives of the world. Zaynab is the child of the distance of two bow-lengths, and even the noble Gabriel cannot behold her highest horizon. It is a pity for women to turn away from Zaynab and become captives of this base world. They must bind themselves to Zaynab so they can escape the world’s chains and the bondage of the lower self, and create beauty without equal.

 Why does God not lift the veil from the faces of believing women? Because if He did, there would be no trial, and the difference between believer and hypocrite would be plain. Zaynab is a precious jewel who has welcomed God’s light into her heart with love and acceptance.

💎 Zaynab, welcoming the divine light 

The purity that lies within Zaynab’s heart as a precious jewel has made her a source of light that draws lovers to her. Zaynab turns God’s light beautifully within herself and has cultivated noble virtues, until she has become a vision of moral excellence and a pearl of God.

🌠 Comparing oneself with Zaynab 

Not every woman has the right to compare herself with Zaynab; until she has set foot on Zaynab’s path, she cannot claim that right. Zaynab’s mind is occupied with God and the One she worships, while some have turned themselves into the world’s and Satan’s playthings. Zaynab is a sign of God’s beauty; if she is a woman, then how can the world’s captives be compared with her? Zaynab is the interpreter of the sign of believing women.

🌌 Zaynab and the unseen world 

Zaynab has both visible and invisible realities; we have not even seen what is visible of her, let alone what is unseen.

Can we be like Zaynab? 

Look at your aspirations and you will discover whether you can become like Zaynab. Our stature is as tall as our aspirations: if they reach no higher than the world, then we are small and base. “My God, You are my Paradise, my joy, my beauty, and my everything.”

🌌 Heavenly aspirations 

From the heavens, we should expect the celestial spheres, not dust. Our life is not confined to this world; with God lie delights beyond it. The pleasures of this world are a testing ground, while true delight lies beyond it. God awaits us, and worldly enjoyment is limited; whoever chooses the pleasures of this world will be deprived of the joy of the Hereafter.

🙏 Attaining Zaynab’s state 

Let us strive to attain Zaynab’s state, and ask God to grant us even a little of her sensibility, so that we may look at the world through it. Let us worship God with this sensibility, behold Husayn, and see everything from Zaynab’s perspective. In this state, we will distance ourselves from all that is other than God.

🌸 Measuring our inner virtues 

To assess ourselves, we must measure our standing against the degrees of Zaynab’s spiritual rank and consider the nature and extent of the noble virtues within us. Each virtue, combined with the others, creates a unique vision of us; and the interplay of these visions gives rise to a new personality in the world of being.

🌼 Zaynab, learned without being taught 

Zaynab is discerning, a woman of knowledge who learned without a teacher, and perceptive, needing no one to explain things to her. She is the deputy of Fatima and Sajjad; queen of the world and of souls, the wise lady of the Banu Hashim, and partner in the martyrdom. Zaynab is both the Zaynab of her father and the head of her father. If we are to describe her, we must say: Zaynab is Zaynab. I know of no higher praise. She is a woman of gnosis, devoted worship, and perfection. Whoever follows Zaynab joins the constellation of pure women. Zaynab’s immense power of attraction has created a constellation of holy, pure women, whose beauty and virtues have shone forth in this world.

🌟 A Woman’s Special Mission 

Woman has a special mission from God, and every human being has duties toward themselves, their fellow human beings, other creatures, and the whole universe. But each person also has a unique, particular mission, directly connected to their Lord. Zaynab fulfilled this special mission to perfection and became the pride of women and of her mother, Eve. By following the path of truth, she thwarted the forbidden tree.

🌱 Purity and Righteous Deeds 

Whoever avoids the forbidden tree will come to know pure pleasures. Faith must be joined with righteous deeds. Amid the tribulations of Karbala, Zaynab cultivated worship—a worship that secures the survival and stability of the universe.

🌄 The Highest Horizon of Zaynab’s Righteous Deeds 

Who can attain Zaynab’s way of life? This learned and God-fearing lady shines like the sun. If only women could attain the pure life of Zaynab, and know its delight and joy. Were they to taste this life for even a moment, they would flee the fleeting pleasures of the world and find their way to Zaynab’s light.

💫 Zaynab and a Mission Beyond Jihad 

Zaynab showed that a woman can fulfill a mission that goes beyond jihad. Husayn knew well whom he was taking into the heart of Ashura’s tribulations. Zaynab became the adornment of her brother Husayn’s uprising and resurrection.

🏅 Zaynab, Mother of the Heavenly Martyrs 

Zaynab showed that a woman’s pure womb is a field in which martyrs are nurtured. In the arena of jihad, a pure woman struggles against corruption and immodesty. Her jihad goes beyond struggle: she looks beyond the material world and is engaged in jihad and martyrdom.

🌸 The Beauty of the Pure Woman Revealed 

A day will come when the beauty of the pure woman is revealed and false beauty is swept away. Zaynab al-Kubra is the Imam’s adornment, the adornment of water, the adornment of the Manifest Imam. She is the adornment of Ali—Ali, who is himself the adornment of the universe—and Zaynab is the adornment of Ali.

📚 Zaynab, the Adornment of Knowledge and Wisdom 

Zaynab is the adornment of knowledge and wisdom, and the sweetness of the universe. Every beauty in this world draws upon Zaynab’s adornment. She is an adornment to existence and to all that exists.

🌼 Zaynab, the Adornment of a Mighty Sign 

Zaynab is the adornment of God’s great signs: she is God’s wondrous creation, a world unto herself, and a singular tree. Zaynab was the guardian of honor and dignity, and she made pure women guardians of the world’s honor. Pure women are an impregnable fortress of chastity, dignity, and modesty; without them, this world would be disfigured and corrupted. They have shown that purity triumphs over corruption. A pure woman is like a light shining across a vast darkness, piercing the breast of evil. If the world has not perished under the weight of all its sins, it is thanks to those few pure women who sustain its life.

🌺 Zaynab’s Strength Against Corruption 

Zaynab prevails over every evil of her age and beyond. Whoever speaks Zaynab’s name pierces the heart of evil. Zaynab is a child of light, of heaven, and of knowledge.

✨ Zaynab’s Beautiful Reply 

With the vision of Zaynab, Zaynab al-Kubra answered the vile Ibn Ziyad: «ما رایت الا جمیلا.» She saw nothing but beauty; through her Zaynabi vision, she saw the world suffused with God’s beauty. She reminded Ibn Ziyad that God had ordained martyrdom in His cause for these people, and they had hastened toward His good pleasure. Zaynab declared with strength that God would soon gather him and them together and bring them to account; then he would see whose victory it was. And with a bitter taunt she said: «مادرت به عزایت بنشیند، یابن مرجانه.»

🔅🌼The Special Agent Who Defeats Suffering🌼🔅

🌹Zaynab came to show that suffering, pain and calamity can be overcome! Zaynab was a champion in worship and servitude to God. She stood up to pain, affliction and the most grievous calamities! She was a garden of nobility, faith and piety.

🌹Zaynab made suffering suffer and left calamity in mourning!

🌹Zaynab brought beautiful patience to life, broke through the limits of endurance, and aged impatience.

🌻🔆Al-Tur: 48 وَ اصْبِرْ لِحُكْمِ رَبِّكَ فَإِنَّكَ بِأَعْيُنِنا وَ سَبِّحْ بِحَمْدِ رَبِّكَ حينَ تَقُومُ

🔆Be patient and steadfast in conveying your Lord’s command, for you are under Our perfect protection. And when you rise, glorify and praise your Lord!

🔅🌼A Zaynab-like Life🌼🔅

🌹Zaynab gave women a life in her own image and changed the world’s colors and adornments.

🌹Zaynab was the keeper of the veil over scenes of her mother Fatima’s and her father Ali’s greatness.

🌹Zaynab carried on the life of Fatima after her mother, Fatima al-Zahra, was martyred.

🌹Zaynab presented a new definition of life and servitude. She revealed a beautiful vision of the world of women.

🌹Zaynab was the woman who wearied Satan, wore down temptation and delusion, and became a source of pride and honor for Eve.

🌹Zaynab became the adornment of worship, and the ornament of striving in the path of God.

🌹Zaynab is the daughter of light, child of the sea, a fragment of heaven, the heart of knowledge.

🔅🌼Zaynab’s Power🌼🔅

🌹Zaynab’s pure spirit gave life to Karbala, a Zaynab-like life. Her spirit and life transformed the world. Through Zaynab, the world found new strength and became resilient against Satan’s schemes and deceit.

🌹All existence rests in Zaynab’s pure embrace. Zaynab breathed new life into the world.

🔅🌼The World at Zaynab’s Table of Generosity🌼🔅

🌹Human beings are nourished by the cosmos, and the cosmos is nourished by human beings.

🌹Every person is sustenance for another: nourishment of light and of vibrations—sights, sounds, thoughts and feelings.

🌹At every moment, passing through the heart of the galaxy means crossing a particular point, with its particular effect, transformation and growth.

🌹The world and its creatures never cease changing, even for an instant.

🌹For ages, the world has been nourished by the fruits and blessings of Zaynab; truly, Zaynab is the noble provision bestowed by the Generous One upon the people of the world.

🔅🌼To What Degree Are You Like Zaynab?🌼🔅

🌹“Women enslaved by the world” are not even dust or refuse beside “pure, spiritual and celestial women”; and among pure women, Zaynab is a rare and unmatched jewel.

🌹No woman has the right to compare herself with Zaynab al-Kubra. There must be some likeness by which to measure oneself and see which degree of Zaynab-like virtue one has attained. Similarities and differences are revealed by one’s desires and aspirations; Zaynab’s longings carry a divine fragrance.

🌹The realm of aspirations is a realm of servitude—or of refusing to serve.

🌹It is a mistake to yearn for earth when heaven is within reach. Life is not confined to this limited world.

🌹Whatever occupies a person’s mind is what their soul is immersed in.

🌹If Zaynab is what a woman is, then others are not women; and if others are women, then Zaynab stands beyond womanhood. Only pure and chaste women are adorned with some degree of Zaynab-like virtue.

🔅🌼The Splendor of Zaynabiyyah🌼🔅

🌹No one knows the lineage or treasury of Zaynabiyyah.

🌹The visible and invisible dimensions of Zaynabiyyah are not revealed to everyone.

🔅🌼 Lady Zaynab, the Deputy of al-Zahra, in the words of Imam Sajjad 🌼🔅

🌷🔆عَلِيُّ بْنُ الْحُسَيْنِ يَا عَمَّةِ اسْكُتِي فَفِي الْبَاقِي مِنَ الْمَاضِي اعْتِبَارٌ وَ أَنْتِ بِحَمْدِ اللَّهِ عَالِمَةٌ غَيْرُ مُعَلَّمَةٍ فَهِمَةٌ غَيْرُ مُفَهَّمَةٍ[1]

🔅🌼 Lady Zaynab al-Kubra, in the words of al-Suyuti 🌼🔅

🌷🔆Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti writes in his treatise *al-Zaynabiyya*:

Lady Zaynab, peace be upon her, was born during the lifetime of her grandfather, the Messenger of God, may God bless him and his family and grant them peace. She was eloquent, noble, wise, and steadfast of heart. For Imam Hasan, peace be upon him, was born eight years before his grandfather’s passing, Imam Husayn, peace be upon him, seven years before it, and Zaynab al-Kubra five years before it.[2]

Lady Zaynab, peace be upon her, was born during the lifetime of her grandfather, the Messenger of God, may God bless him and his family and grant them peace. She was eloquent, noble, wise, and possessed of great strength of heart.

🔅🌼 A glimpse into the birth of Lady Zaynab al-Kubra, peace be upon her 🌼🔅

🌷🔆When Lady Zaynab, peace be upon her, was born, her mother, Lady al-Zahra, peace be upon her, brought her to her father, the Commander of the Faithful, peace be upon him, and said, “Name this child.” He replied, “I would not presume to do so before the Messenger of God, may God bless him and his family and grant them peace”—who was away on a journey at the time.

When the Prophet, may God bless him and his family and grant them peace, returned, Imam Ali, peace be upon him, asked him what her name should be. He replied, “I would not presume to do so before my Lord, exalted is He.”

Then Gabriel, peace be upon him, descended, bearing the greeting of peace from God, the Most Glorious, and said to him:

“Name this child Zaynab, for God has chosen this name for her.”

Then he told him of the calamities that would befall her. The Prophet, may God bless him and his family and grant them peace, wept and said:

“Whoever weeps over this girl’s afflictions is like one who weeps over the afflictions of her brothers, Hasan and Husayn.” [3]

🔅🌼 A heavenly constellation of virtues 🌼🔅

🌹Trustworthy and devout, learned without having been taught, the most devoted worshipper of the House of Ali, virtuous, accomplished, and more…

🔅🌼 A model for women who seek purity 🌼🔅

🌹Zaynab is a model for all women. Women should strive to surpass one another in following her example.

🌹Truly, Zaynab was the living embodiment of the verse “the Muslim men and Muslim women, the believing men and believing women, the devout men and devout women…” She was its very verse, its interpreter, and its manifestation.

🌻🔆Al-Ahzab: 35   إِنَّ الْمُسْلِمينَ وَ الْمُسْلِماتِ وَ الْمُؤْمِنينَ وَ الْمُؤْمِناتِ وَ الْقانِتينَ وَ الْقانِتاتِ وَ الصَّادِقينَ وَ الصَّادِقاتِ وَ الصَّابِرينَ وَ الصَّابِراتِ وَ الْخاشِعينَ وَ الْخاشِعاتِ وَ الْمُتَصَدِّقينَ وَ الْمُتَصَدِّقاتِ وَ الصَّائِمينَ وَ الصَّائِماتِ وَ الْحافِظينَ فُرُوجَهُمْ وَ الْحافِظاتِ وَ الذَّاكِرينَ اللَّهَ كَثيراً وَ الذَّاكِراتِ أَعَدَّ اللَّهُ لَهُمْ مَغْفِرَةً وَ أَجْراً عَظيماً

🔅🌼 A constellation of women of purity 🌼🔅

🌹When women of purity gather, they are like pearls carefully strung together. The allure of Zaynab al-Kubra forms the axis of a constellation of saintly women, bringing into being a vast array of adornments, outward and inward, throughout existence.

🔅🌼 A woman’s particular and universal mission 🌼🔅

🌹Each person has a mission to fulfil in relation to themselves, a personal mission that rests with them alone. They also have a mission in relation to their fellow human beings, another in relation to all creatures and to the world of existence, and, above all, a mission in relation to the God they worship.

🔅🌼 Experiencing a life of purity 🌼🔅

🌹The human senses and sensibility awakened by a life of purity are like those of a living person in relation to a dead one. Until you experience them, they cannot be described.

🌹This sensibility can be understood only through purity; only those who taste it can know it.

🌹Zaynab’s suffering alone did not bring about the Zaynabi revolution. It was her pure spirit that raised the Zaynabi epic, for all eternity, in the very soul of existence.

🌹Lady Zaynab al-Kubra is a vast world of divine life in purity.

🌻🔆An-Naḥl: 97   مَنْ عَمِلَ صالِحاً مِنْ ذَكَرٍ أَوْ أُنْثى‏ وَ هُوَ مُؤْمِنٌ فَلَنُحْيِيَنَّهُ حَياةً طَيِّبَةً وَ لَنَجْزِيَنَّهُمْ أَجْرَهُمْ بِأَحْسَنِ ما كانُوا يَعْمَلُونَ

🔆Whoever does what is right, whether man or woman, and is a believer, We shall grant them a good life and reward them according to the best of what they have done.

🌻🔆Al-Ḥadīd: 21   سابِقُوا إِلى‏ مَغْفِرَةٍ مِنْ رَبِّكُمْ وَ جَنَّةٍ عَرْضُها كَعَرْضِ السَّماءِ وَ الْأَرْضِ أُعِدَّتْ لِلَّذينَ آمَنُوا بِاللَّهِ وَ رُسُلِهِ ذلِكَ فَضْلُ اللَّهِ يُؤْتيهِ مَنْ يَشاءُ وَ اللَّهُ ذُو الْفَضْلِ الْعَظيمِ

🔆Hasten to attain forgiveness from your Lord and a Garden as vast as the heavens and the earth, prepared for those who believe in God and His messengers. This is God’s bounty, which He grants to whom He wills; and God is the possessor of immense bounty!

🔅🌼 A Woman’s Mission Beyond the Bounds of Jihad 🌼🔅

🌹A war waged by immodesty against chastity and purity is under way—a war that reaches beyond the material realm. A woman’s battlefield lies beyond material boundaries. The pure woman who strives in God’s cause wages a struggle beyond the bounds of jihad.

🔅🌼The Beauty Hidden from View 🌼🔅

🌹Why has the greatness of the pure woman remained hidden? If her dignity, majesty and character were reflected in her face at every moment, there would be no meaning in believing in the unseen.

🔅🌼Zaynab: Imam Zayn’s Adornment and Ornament 🌼🔅

🌹The rank of Zaynab al-Kubrā cannot be discerned, for she is an adornment to the Manifest Imam.

🌹Zaynab al-Kubrā adorns the Face of God, the Eye of God, the Ear of God, the Heart of God, the Qibla of God, the Gate of God, and more. What an exalted rank she holds! She is the most wondrous fruit of the souls of ʿAlī and Fāṭima.

🌹Zaynab adorns knowledge and wisdom; she is their salt and sweetness, their radiance and the force that stirs and inspires all that is exalted.

🌹Zaynab is the handiwork and masterpiece of the most consummate artist in all creation. She is the calligraphy of the Divine Pen.

🔅🌼Zaynab Adorns All Existence🌼🔅

🌹She is her father’s adornment, her brother Zayn’s adornment; she adorns her brother’s uprising and its final reckoning. Zaynab adorns the Karbala of Ḥusayn and his ʿĀshūrāʾ.

🌹The world has never seen a captive like Zaynab. She made captivity a rival to martyrdom, transforming it into the supreme spectacle of worship and servitude to God.

🌹Zaynab adorns prayer, night and day, worship and devotion.

🌹In the midst of calamities, Zaynab’s prayers and devotions shone forth as a vast exhibition of servitude to God.

🌹A woman’s rule extends beyond the bounds of the material realm.

🌹The grandeur of the sacred shrines of pure women bears witness to the vast reach of their authority.

🔅🌼I Seek an Art Worthy of Zaynab🌼🔅

🌹No image of Zaynab can be drawn; only an artist equal to Zaynab could portray and describe her.

🔅🌼Zaynab Is Zaynab🌼🔅

🌹Zaynab is a mighty sign, a singular creation, a world apart, a strange tree, a rare element bearing all manner of wondrous effects.

🔅🌼Pure Women Are Guardians of Honour and Dignity🌼🔅

🌹Pure women guard the honour of the world; they are the impregnable fortress of “dignity, chastity, honour and modesty.”

🌹Those who lose their reason and offer no resistance to the passions of this world have forfeited their humanity.

🌹Satan’s guile is weak. Whoever is overcome by this feeble guile has lost their reason.

🌻🔆An-Nisāʾ: 76   الَّذينَ آمَنُوا يُقاتِلُونَ في‏ سَبيلِ اللَّهِ وَ الَّذينَ كَفَرُوا يُقاتِلُونَ في‏ سَبيلِ الطَّاغُوتِ فَقاتِلُوا أَوْلِياءَ الشَّيْطانِ إِنَّ كَيْدَ الشَّيْطانِ كانَ ضَعيفاً

🔆Those who believe fight in the way of God, while those who disbelieve fight in the way of the false gods. So fight the allies and followers of Satan—for Satan’s schemes and deception are always weak.

🌹Even if the whole world were filled with wicked women, one pure and noble woman would overcome their wickedness, as light overcomes the vastness of darkness.

🌹Purity is stronger than light. Light shines from the heart of purity; it is one expression of purity.

🌹Pleasure and beauty dwell in the heart of purity.

🔅🌼Pure women are envoys of God’s mystery🌼🔅

🌹Verses convey God’s messages. All beings, through their connections with one another, convey their knowledge of God; through their states and circumstances, they describe their God!

🌹The exchange of knowledge is the mystery behind the relationships between verses and beings. Every agent and recipient, every lover and beloved, in this world is a seeker of God’s will and what God wills.

🌹From the houri to the axis, and from the axis to the houri, the sharing of secrets comes from Him.

🌹Zaynab al-Kubra and those like her are guardians of moral security.

🔅🌼Purity reigns🌼🔅

🌹Chastity, modesty and purity are an immense power that governs the world of existence.

🌹Woman is entrusted with God’s honour; a chaste woman guards God’s law and preserves the strength and beauty of creation.

🌹Purity stands tallest among all the virtues.

🔅🌼The beautiful gaze upon the beauty of creation🌼🔅

🌹 I saw nothing but beauty.

🌹Zaynab al-Kubra, noble and beloved, beholds divine beauty and majesty at every moment, in the particular circumstances of creation. Zaynab is immersed in beauty.

🌷🔆ثُمَّ إِنَّ ابْنَ زِيَادٍ جَلَسَ فِي الْقَصْرِ لِلنَّاسِ وَ أَذِنَ إِذْناً عَامّاً وَ جِي‏ءَ بِرَأْسِ الْحُسَيْنِ ع فَوُضِعَ بَيْنَ يَدَيْهِ وَ أُدْخِلَ نِسَاءُ الْحُسَيْنِ ع وَ صِبْيَانُهُ إِلَيْهِ فَجَلَسَتْ زَيْنَبُ بِنْتُ عَلِيٍّ ع مُتَنَكِّرَةً فَسَأَلَ عَنْهَا فَقِيلَ زَيْنَبُ بِنْتُ عَلِيٍّ ع فَأَقْبَلَ إِلَيْهَا فَقَالَ الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ الَّذِي فَضَحَكُمْ وَ أَكْذَبَ أُحْدُوثَتَكُمْ فَقَالَتْ إِنَّمَا يَفْتَضِحُ الْفَاسِقُ وَ يَكْذِبُ الْفَاجِرُ وَ هُوَ غَيْرُنَا فَقَالَ ابْنُ زِيَادٍ كَيْفَ رَأَيْتِ صُنْعَ اللَّهِ بِأَخِيكِ وَ أَهْلِ بَيْتِكِ فَقَالَتْ مَا رَأَيْتُ إِلَّا جَمِيلًا  هَؤُلَاءِ قَوْمٌ كَتَبَ اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِمُ الْقَتْلَ فَبَرَزُوا إِلى‏ مَضاجِعِهِمْ‏ وَ سَيَجْمَعُ اللَّهُ بَيْنَكَ وَ بَيْنَهُمْ فَتُحَاجُّ وَ تُخَاصَمُ فَانْظُرْ لِمَنْ يَكُونُ الْفَلْجُ يَوْمَئِذٍ هَبَلَتْكَ أُمُّكَ يَا ابْنَ مَرْجَانَةَ.

قَالَ الرَّاوِي:

فَغَضِبَ ابْنُ زِيَادٍ وَ كَأَنَّهُ هَمَّ بِهَا فَقَالَ لَهُ عَمْرُو بْنُ حُرَيْثٍ إِنَّهَا امْرَأَةٌ وَ الْمَرْأَةُ لَا تُؤْخَذُ بِشَيْ‏ءٍ مِنْ مَنْطِقِهَا فَقَالَ لَهَا ابْنُ زِيَادٍ لَقَدْ شَفَى اللَّهُ قَلْبِي مِنْ طَاغِيَتِكِ الْحُسَيْنِ وَ الْعُصَاةِ الْمَرَدَةِ مِنْ أَهْلِ بَيْتِكِ فَقَالَتْ لَعَمْرِي لَقَدْ قَتَلْتَ كَهْلِي وَ قَطَعْتَ فَرْعِي وَ اجْتَثَثْتَ أَصْلِي فَإِنْ كَانَ هَذَا شَفَاكَ فَقَدِ اشْتَفَيْتَ فَقَالَ ابْنُ زِيَادٍ هَذِهِ سَجَّاعَةٌ وَ لَعَمْرِي لَقَدْ كَانَ أَبُوكِ شَاعِراً سَجَّاعاً فَقَالَتْ يَا ابْنَ زِيَادٍ مَا لِلْمَرْأَةِ وَ السَّجَاعَةَ.[4]

🌷🔆Ubayd Allah ibn Ziyad sat in his palace and granted the public permission to attend his gathering. Then the severed head of Imam Husayn, peace be upon him, was brought in and placed before him. After that, the women and children of Imam Husayn’s household were brought into the gathering. Lady Zaynab, peace be upon her, entered without being recognized and sat in a corner. Ibn Ziyad asked, “Who is this woman?” He was told, “She is Zaynab, daughter of Ali, peace be upon them both.”

Ibn Ziyad turned to her and said, “Praise be to God, who has disgraced you and exposed the lies in your words.” Lady Zaynab, peace be upon her, replied:

انّما يفتضح الفاسق، و يكذب الفاجر و هو غيرنا، Indeed, it is the profligate who is disgraced, and the wicked who lies—and that is not us.

Ibn Ziyad asked, “How did you see God’s treatment of your brother and your family?”

Lady Zaynab, peace be upon her, replied:

“I saw nothing but goodness and beauty. They were people for whom God had ordained martyrdom; so they willingly hastened to their resting places. Soon God will bring you and them together, and call you to account. Then see who will prevail in that court and reckoning, and who will be left helpless. May your mother mourn you, O son of Marjana!” Ibn Ziyad was so enraged by Lady Zaynab’s words that he seemed ready to have her killed.

“Amr ibn Hurayth, who was present at the gathering, said to Ibn Ziyad, ‘She is only a woman; a woman should not be punished for what she says.’ Ibn Ziyad said to Lady Zaynab, ‘God has healed my heart by killing your rebellious Husayn and the lawless members of your family.’ Lady Zaynab replied, ‘By my life, you have killed the eldest of my family, cut off my branches and uprooted me. If that is what heals your heart, then so be it.’ Ibn Ziyad said, ‘هذه سجّاعة، و لعمرى لقد كان ابوك شاعرا: This woman speaks in rhymed phrases. By my life, your father too was a poet, given to rhyme.’ Lady Zaynab replied, ‘O son of Ziyad, what has a woman to do with composing rhymes? I am amazed by one who heals his heart by killing his Imams, though he knows that tomorrow, on the Day of Resurrection, they will exact vengeance upon him.’

🌼Ali Saei (Abdullah Meshkat) 110.141(903)🌼

[1] الإحتجاج على أهل اللجاج (للطبرسي) ؛ ج‏2 ؛ ص305 Tabarsi, Ahmad ibn Ali, Mortaza Publications, Mashhad, first edition, 1403 AH.

[2] عوالم العلوم و المعارف والأحوال من الآيات و الأخبار و الأقوال (مستدرك سيدة النساء إلى الإمام الجواد ؛ ج‏11-قسم-2-فاطمةس ؛ ص945Bahrani Isfahani, Imam al-Mahdi Foundation, may God hasten his noble advent, Iran, Qom, first edition, 1413 AH.

[3] عوالم العلوم و المعارف والأحوال من الآيات و الأخبار و الأقوال (مستدرك سيدة النساء إلى الإمام الجواد ؛ ج‏11-قسم-2-فاطمةس ؛ ص947Bahrani Isfahani, Imam al-Mahdi Foundation, may God hasten his noble advent, Iran, Qom, first edition, 1413 AH.

[4] اللهوف على قتلى الطفوف / ترجمه فهرى ؛ النص ؛ ص160Ibn Tawus, Jahan Publications, Tehran, first edition, 1348 SH.