By: Seyyed Ali Shahbaz
      
“Whenever a thought comes to your mind that you are better than any other person, think along these lines: If the person is older than you then remind yourself that he is better than you in matters of Islam because he has done more good deeds than you have. If the person is younger than you then remind yourself that this person is better than you because he has committed less sins than you have. If he is of your age, then your argument should be: he is better than you in matters of Islam since you know of your own sins but not of his.”
The above-mentioned bezels of wisdom are not the words of any philosopher who arrived at this undeniable truth after years of contemplation and a life of stumbling in the dark. 
In fact, the person who taught these golden guidelines of salvation was free of any faults and whimsical thoughts, since he was a member of that select group called the “Ahl al-Bayt” whose spotless cleanliness and pristine purity God Almighty has vouchsafed in the holy Qur’an (33:33).
He is the person whose birthday we celebrate every year on Sha’ban 5. To be more precise, he is Imam Ali ibn al-Husain (AS), famous as “Zain al-Abedin” (Ornament of the Worshippers of God), who was born in Medina exactly a millennium and four centuries ago in the year 38 AH, two years before the martyrdom of his grandfather, the One and Only Commander of the Faithful, Imam Ali ibn Abi Taleb (AS).
As the son and successor of the Martyr of Karbala, Imam Husain (AS), he was the direct great-grandson of the Almighty’s Last and Greatest Messenger, Prophet Muhammad (SAWA).
His mother was the princess of Persia, Hazrat Shahrbano (SA) – daughter of the last Sassanid Emperor of Iran-Iraq, Yazdegerd III – and because of his mother’s pious personality he was often called “Ibn al-Khiyaratain” (Son of the Two Excellent Ones) by the Arabs of his time. 
Such an impeccable lineage did not mean that life was a bed of roses for him and his family.
On losing his mother to the cold hands of death while still an infant, his Immaculate Paternal Aunt, Hazrat Zainab (SA) took charge of his upbringing. 
On entering the third year of his life he saw the end of the only instance of the model government of social justice in 40 AH with the martyrdom of Imam Ali (AS) in Kufa, where the Prophet’s Divinely-Designated Heir was struck on the head by the poisoned sword of the renegade Abdur-Rahman ibn Muljam.
Some seven months later in 41 AH the caliphate or temporal rule of the vast Muslim realm was seized from his uncle and future father-in-law, Imam Hasan al-Mujtaba (AS), by the rebellious governor of Syria, Mu’awiyya ibn Abu Sufyan. 
The boy found the noble Ahl al-Bayt under renewed persecution – as they had been since the passing away of the Prophet in 11 AH, the usurpation of the right of political leadership of his grandfather Imam Ali (AS) and the tragic martyrdom of his grandmother, the Noblest Lady of all times, Hazrat Fatema Zahra (SA). 
When he reached the age of twelve, the Divine Mantle of Imamate came to rest on the shoulders of his father, Imam Husain (AS), following the martyrdom of his uncle – through a fatal dose of poison by Mu’awaiyya. 
Now his father became the target of enmity of the hypocrites masquerading as Muslims, especially the accursed Omayyad regime. 
In 60 AH, the 22-year old had to leave Medina hurriedly along with his father and the rest of the family, when the Godless Yazid usurped the caliphate and demanded allegiance to his tyrannical rule. 
In early 61 AH, the caravan of Imam Husain (AS) arrived on the fateful plain of Karbala, where on the Day of Ashura, the 23-year old sick and bed-ridden man witnessed the tragic martyrdom of his father, brothers, uncles, cousins, and close companions of the Ahl al-Bayt. 
It was under these heartrending conditions that Imam Zayn al-Abedin (AS) formally took charge of the divine trust of Imamate, which began with chains and fetters around his limbs, and the forced march of the mainly women and children survivors of history’s most heart-wrenching tragedy, to Kufa and to Damascus in Syria – the capital of Yazid.
As the Fourth Infallible Heir of the Seal of Messengers, his frail figure now rose to the occasion. He delivered a moving sermon to the people of Kufa, who were watching in amusement the parading of the noble captives with heads of the martyrs mounted on lances.
He waived his hand to calm them down, saying: “O people of Kufa! I am the son of Husain (AS), I am Ali the grandson of Ali (AS), Fatemah (SA) and the Prophet (SAWA). I am the son of the Imam whose sons were killed, his properties looted and plundered and his family held prisoners before you. You wrote invitation letters to my father. When he came towards you, you killed him. What will you reply to God and his Prophet on the Day of Judgement?”
Time and space do not allow me to dwell on the famous sermon of Imam Zain al-Abedin (AS) in the court of Yazid in Damascus that shook the Omayyad regime to its very foundations and forced the tyrant to release the Ahl al-Bayt and send them back to Medina.
During the next 34 years of his life, when the penitents of Iraq and Mokhtar Thaqafi rose in arms to avenge the blood of his father by bringing to justice almost all perpetrators of the tragedy of Karbala, his tears never ran dry, whether in grief or as thanksgiving to the Lord Most High for His endless favours. 
As rulers rose, played havoc with Muslim blood, and fell to their doom, the Fourth Imam adopted a unique form of jihad through the medium of supplications in the Divine Court. He not just expounded the fundamentals of faith and God’s Infinite Mercy, but also unraveled the mysteries of science as is evident by his reference to the weight of light and other amazing facts – something unthinkable in those days. 
 Today, though his tomb, along with the tombs of his uncle Imam Hasan (AS), his son Imam Muhammad al-Baqer (AS) and his grandson Imam Ja’far as-Sadeq (AS), lie desolate in the sacred Baqie Cemetery of Medina – blasphemously demolished by ungodly terrorists – Imam Zain al-Abedin (AS) continues to rule the hearts of believers all over the world.
His lasting legacy is the “Sahifat as-Sajjadiya” – famous as Psalms of the Progeny of Prophet Muhammad (SAWA) – and the “Risalat al-Hoqouq” (Treatise of Rights) which details even the most minute rights and has been hailed as a million times better than the UN Charter of Human Rights.