By: Seyyed Ali Shahbaz
     
(Heartfelt condolences on the martyrdom anniversary of the Survivor of the heartrending tragedy of Karbala that we commemorated in the Islamic of Iran yesterday. Since other countries, such as Iraq and the Subcontinent, are today commemorating the poignant 25th of Muharram, because of a day’s difference in the sighting of the crescent, we present a special feature.)
“I am the son of the person beheaded on the banks of the Euphrates though he had not shed any blood or usurped the right of anyone. I am the son of the person attacked by a huge number of hordes and martyred when he was no longer capable of fighting and had fallen on the ground due to weakness. It is an honour for us that our blood was shed, our property was looted, we were insulted and our women and children imprisoned.”
identity of the person and the tragic events to which he is referring in these words is obvious. He was the son and successor of the Immortal Martyr Karbala, Imam Husain (AS), who was martyred in the state of acute thirst beside the fresh flowing waters of the River Euphrates, along with at least seven of his brothers, two of his sons, five of his nephews, some of his cousins, and several of his companions. 
Named Ali (AS) in honour of his grandfather, the Commander of the Faithful, Imam Ali ibn Abi Taleb (AS), his proverbial piety and devotion to God Almighty, earned him the epithets “Zain al-Abedin” (Ornament of the Pious) and “Seyyed as-Sajedin” (Chief of the Worshippers).  
Born in 38 AH in Medina to the virtuous Princess of Persia, Shahrbanu (SA) who died in childbirth, he was present in Karbala as a 23-year old bedridden sick youth, along with his wife – Fatema (SA), the daughter of his uncle Imam Hasan (AS) – and his 4-year old son, the future Imam Muhammad al-Baqer (AS).
His Imamate started on the tragic evening of Ashura amidst the flames of the burning encampment of the Ahl al-Bayt, and the head of the martyrs mounted on lances by the Godless Omayyad hordes. The next day, clasped in chains and fetters, he entered Kufa along with the women and children of the Prophet’s Household tied in ropes.  
It was in this city, when people lined the streets in amusement as the caravan of captives approached that Imam Zain al-Abedin (AS) delivered a brief but moving sermon to introduce himself and to make the Kufans realize the consequences of their sin in inviting his father to Iraq, then treacherously betraying Imam Husain (AS) to the forces of Yazid.
Didn’t they know that Prophet Muhammad (SAWA) had introduced his younger grandson Imam Husain (AS), as the “Beacon of Light”, the “Ark of Salvation”, and one of the two “Leaders of the Youth of Paradise” [along with his elder brother Imam Hasan al-Mujtaba (AS)].
His sermon brought memories to the city elders of the eloquent sermon of his grandmother, the Noblest-ever Lady, Hazrat Fatema Zahra (SA). Half-a-century earlier in Medina, following the usurpation of the right of political leadership of her husband, Imam Ali (AS) –the Prophet’s Divinely-designated vicegerent – she had exposed the falsity of the caliphate of the coup leaders of the scandalous gathering of Saqifa Bani Sa’da.
Imam Zain al-Abedin (AS), as the Prophet’s Fourth Infallible Heir, further said:  
“O’ people! I put you on your oath to tell me in the Name of Allah. Did you not write letters to my father and then deceived him. You made firm promises with him and then rose to fight against him. May Allah destroy you, may you reap the harvest of your misdeeds in both the worlds, and may you be disgraced for the indecent policy you have adopted. How will you face the Prophet of Allah when you are brought before him on the Day of Judgement and with which eyes will you look at him? The Prophet will tell you: “You have killed my children and behaved towards me dishonourably. You are not my followers”.
In Damascus, he shamed Yazid in the front of the whole court through another historic sermon. When interrupted by the Azaan or call to the ritual prayers, the Imam observed silence, but at the mention of the Prophet’s name, addressed the tyrant: “O’ Yazid, is Muhammad (SAWA) your grandfather of mine? If mine, how dare you kill has grandson and claim to be Muslim.”
The self-styled caliph, with a goblet of wine in one hand and holding in the other hand a cane with which he poked at the severed head of Imam Husain (AS), found himself isolated in the court. Humiliated further by the equally electrifying sermons of the martyred Imam’s sister, Hazrat Zainab (SA), he became the butt of scathing criticism by the people of Damascus. Soon, following the tragic death in prison of Imam Husain’s (AS) 4-year old daughter, Hazrat Ruqaiyya (SA), he had no other choice but to release the noble captives.
The Fourth Imam returned to his hometown, Medina, and for the next  34 years, he embarked on the gargantuan task of piecing together the tattered fabric of the Islamic shari’ah and safeguarding from distortion the genuine teachings, practice, and behaviour (Sunnah and Sirah) of his great-grandfather Prophet Muhammad (SAWA). Among his Lasting Legacy are the book “Sahifat-as-Sajjadiya” and “Risalat al-Huqouq” (Treatise of Rights).
His period of Imamate was a critical situation, in view of the power struggle between Abdullah ibn Zubair and the Omayyads. Both were hostile to him and the Bani Hashem Clan. Both wanted to wipe out the followers of the Ahl al-Bayt, especially after the two uprisings in Iraq to avenge the blood of Imam Husain (AS) – the uprising of the “Tawwabin” (Penitents) led by Sulaiman ibn Surrad Khuzai, and the uprising of Mukhtar ibn Abu Obaidah, who managed to bring to justice the main killers of the Prophet’s grandson. 
In 95 AH, Imam Zain al-Abedin (AS) was martyred through a fatal dose of poison given by Waleed I, the self-styled caliph of the Omayyad usurper regime,

 but not before delivering the followers of the Ahl al-Bayt from the thorniest periods of their life. These were Abdullah bin Zubayr’s 10-year misrule in Hijaz, the Omayyad usurper Abdul-Malik’s regaining of power in Damascus, and his tyrannical governor Hajjaj’s twenty-year rule of terror in Iraq.
He was 57 years old and laid to eternal rest beside his uncle and father-in-law, Imam Hasan al-Mujtaba (AS) in the sacred Baqie Cemetery, which in 1926 the criminal Wahhabis blasphemously desecrated.
He bequeathed to humanity a treasure trove of guidance for success in life and salvation in afterlife. He expounded the tenets of Islam, elaborated various rights (including the rights of our own bodily organs), and taught us the “Munajaat” (whispered prayers) and supplications, whose contents range from the fundamentals of faith and moral virtues to scientific issues.
The huge gathering of mourners of all strata of society accompanying the coffin of Imam Zain al-Abedin (AS) was the first instance of a member of the Infallible Household accorded a public funeral. 
It is an irony of Islamic history that only a few people had attended the last rites of Prophet Muhammad (SAWA) as the majority of his companions were busy at the scandalous gathering of Saqifa Bani Sa’da to usurp political rule.
Hazrat Fatema Zahra’s (SA) funeral was in the dead of night as per her Last Will that those who had hurt her feelings, physically injured her to cause miscarriage, and deprived her husband of his right of political leadership of the Ummah, should not attend.
Imam Ali ibn Abi Taleb (AS), on his martyrdom in Kufa, Iraq, was also secretly laid to rest in the dead of night, with only a few of his loyal companions knowing the site of his grave.
The Omayyad regime attacked Imam Hasan al-Mujtaba’s (AS) funeral in Medina with a volley of arrows that riddled his coffin and pierced his body.
Imam Husain (AS) was tragically martyred in Karbala by the Omayyads who beheaded his body, trampled it with horses, and left it without burial.