𝐀𝐍 𝐎𝐃𝐄 𝐓𝐎 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐓𝐑𝐀𝐆𝐄𝐃𝐘 𝐎𝐅 𝐊𝐀𝐑𝐁𝐀𝐋𝐀

Abu Sufyan was the root of a rotten tree,
Muawiyah its evil branch and leaves,
The rotten fruit was the cursed Yazeed,
Together, a unit driven by power and greed,
The truth they set out to desecrate,
The path they tried to decimate,
The creed they set out to obliterate,
The thorn to their plans were the Ahlul Bayt,
They feigned their alliance to Huzur e Akram (SAW),
They denied the khilafah of the true Imam,
They schemed and plotted his assasination,
And they poisoned the honey of his beloved Son (AS)
Only one obstacle now remained,
The guardian of Truth and Justice, Imam Husain (AS)
His allegiance they tried to obtain,
But their efforts were to fall in vain,
The Imam would never entrust Islam,
To a person who engaged in haram,
A person who clothed himself in lies and deceit,
A person who would sell his brother’s flesh as meat,
The wit of a mule, the heart of a mouse,
As blind as a worm for not recognising the People of the House,
Like a snail, without a spine,
With the purity and cleanliness of a swine,
The Imam refused to pledge allegiance to Yazeed,
And emigrated with companions and family,
Heading for Kufa where he would be warmly received,
But the bastard Yazeed had a plan up his sleeve,
Enroute to Kufa was Karbala,
A land that was destined to host the sacrifice of Allah,
Although it was Ismail (AS) on whom the sacrifice was ordained,
The sacrifice was to be borne by his descendant Hussain (AS),
Surrounded were he and his family,
By an army of 30,000 troops sent by Yazeed,
Seventy in all were with the Imam
And yet our Imam refused to step down,
The Imam told his companions that they were free to leave,
This was a matter between him and Yazeed,
He relieved them of all responsibility,
And asked them to return home to their families,
One amongst them could not help but reply,
‘Oh Imam how can we dessert the apple of Rasool’s (SAW) eye?’
‘How can we abandon you in this horrid state?’
‘We would be ashamed to show our face to your grandfather on the final day!’
The other companions unanymously agreed,
They would not abandon their Imam to the evil Yazeed,
The Imam then went on to proclaim,
The best of companions belongs to Hussain (AS)!
The King of Jinns visited the Imam,
And told him that it was at Imam Ali’s (AS) hands that he had accepted Islam,
And that if Imam Husain (AS) simply commanded so,
He and his army of jinns would crush the foes,
The Imam courteously refused him,
A battle of men could not be fought by jinn,
The jinn would not be visible to Yazeed’s men,
And this would not be fair and went against the Imam’s sentiments,
Days went by under the scorching sun,
No food, not even water to wet the tongue,
Women and infants were in the camp of Hussain (AS),
But the cowardly Yazeed had no shame,
The Imam carried his son to the enemy front,
Requesting that they provide water for his infant,
Surely their hearts would soften for the child,
But their souls were dark, polluted and defiled,
They fired arrows at the Imam from afar,
From his fathers arms leapt forward Ali Asghar (AS),
The Imam’s infant son lay down his life,
To awaken the ummah and open their eyes,
The world would see the wrongdoings, injustices and misdeeds,
That prevailed during the reign of Yazeed,
And even as the Imam’s eyes streamed with tears for his beloved son,
He did not flinch for a second from his mission,
Crying from thirst was the Imam’s beloved daughter,
Her uncle Abbas (AS) promised her that he would return with water,
He infiltrated the enemy camp and reached the euphrates,
And without quenching his own thirst filled a water skin for the Lady,
But the heartless heathens shot at one arm and cut off the other,
Abbas (AS) continued carrying the vessel with his teeth towards his brother,
They fired at the water skin and tore it open wide,
He tried riding back with the remnants but they shot an arrow to his eye,
The great standard bearer had now fallen on Karbala’s plain,
And by his side during his last moments was Imam Hussain (AS),
He said to the Imam ‘please tell Sakina (AS) that I beg her forgiveness’
‘I have failed to bring her the water I had promised’
The Imam had now lost his loyal brother,
With a heavy heart he returned to the others,
Lady Sakina (AS) could not hold back her tears,
Abbas (AS) to her was an uncle most dear,
On to the battlefield went the Imam’s sons,
They engaged in battle courageously but were martyred one by one,
The Imam’s nephew was begging his uncle to let him go,
To permit him to engage in battle against the foes,
With a heavy heart the Imam finally gave in to his pleas,
He embraced his nephew one final time as he entered the battlefield,
Qasim (AS) was also amongst the martyrs who fought for their deen,
He was martyred at the tender age of fourteen,
Women and children were brought under a single tent,
As Imam Husain (AS) prepared to protect it a final time from Yazeed’s men,
He bade his sister Zainab (AS) goodbye for the last time,
And kissed his little Sakina (AS) who could not stop crying,
Wearing Rasool’s (SAW) turban and cloak he rode infront of the enemy,
Addressing them he said , ‘What sin have I committed for you to go against me?’
They were dumbfounded and were unable to reply,
The Imam said that if they wanted to fight, he was not afraid to die,
‘For you are the ones who should live in fear for shedding holy blood’
‘How can you justify killing a man whom the Prophet unconditionally loved?’
They were oblivious to these words and continued in their attack,
The Imam who was already wounded from days of battle was surrounded front to back.
They fired arrows at the Imam until Zuljinah stopped,
The Imam made a final prayer and then his body dropped,
Many approached to behead him but all of them were dazed,
There was light emanating from the Imam’s holy face,
The cold hearted Shimr stepped forward to sever the Imam’s holy head,
The Imam looked him straight in the eye and said,
‘My grandfather kissed me on the front of my neck,’
‘If you intend to behead me you must begin from the back,’
And so Shimr did as the Imam instructed,
And coldly severed the Imam’s holy head,
And the sacrifice was undertaken as prophecised,
Imam Husain (AS) bore the sacrifice of sacrifices,
Unfinished were the barbaric soldiers of the evil Yazeed,
The Imam’s remains were handled most unceremoniously,
His holy head was hoisted on a spear and displayed as a trophy,
His holy body trampled by horses and left unburied for days on the battlefield,
Imam Zainul Abedin (AS) lay ill in the tent,
As the weeping of the women and children commenced,
And as Lady Sakina (AS) was crying for her loss ,
Shimr slapped her across the face and tore her earrings off,
Later that night Lady Sakina (AS) was nowhere to be found,
Lady Zainab (AS) was looking for her all around,
In the distance, she could faintly make out in the darkness,
A little girl lying on a headless body’s chest,
She asked Lady Sakina (AS) how she recognised the Imam,
She said that she could hear the Imam calling her towards him,
She confided in the Imam, telling him of her distress,
And decided to rest and lay upon his chest,
The next day all the captives were bound in chains,
They were forced to walk bare foot on the hot terrain,
Yazeed’s men continued hoisting the Imam’s holy head on a spear,
And headed towards Kufa with a feeling of victory and cheer,
As the Imam’s family walked through Kufa’s streets,
A woman offered Lady Zainab (AS) water and food to eat,
Lady Zainab (AS) asked the woman why she was being so kind,
She said that Lady Fatimah (AS) had instructed her to do so once upon a time,
Lady Zainab (AS) further enquired about Lady Fatimah’s (AS) instruction,
The woman said that she was told ‘Whenever you see a caravan supply it with provisions,’
Lady Zainab (AS) thanked the woman and asked her how she could repay her,
The woman asked her to repay her with her prayers,
Lady Zainab (AS) then went on to ask for what in particular she should be praying,
The woman said that she longed to see Lady Zainab (AS) and Imam Husain (AS),
For they were both little when she had last caught a glimpse,
And that she had been longing to see them grown up ever since,
Lady Zainab (AS) uncovered her face and said, ”It is indeed your lucky day,
‘I am that Zainab (AS) from years ago and the head on that spear is Hussain (AS).’
The woman screeched and howled in utter disbelief,
How could such misfortune befall the holy family?
And in the dungeons of Damascus, they lashed and burnt Sakina (AS) so,
It was impossible to differentiate her skin from her clothes,
She was martyred in the dungeon and buried by her brother in the cell,
What had the four year old daughter of the Imam done to desserve this hell?
Later Lady Zainab (AS) was brought forth in the court of the wretched Yazeed,
The barbarian was rejoicing in his massacre and reciting heathen poetry,
Lady Zainab (AS) rebuked him and put him in his place,
But the enraged Yazeed asked his guards to remove the Niqab from her face,
At this, a hunch backed old woman who was present screamed, ‘Don’t you dare!’
‘You disrespectful pig, you will not so much as touch her holy hair!!!’
Yazeed ordered for the old woman’s tongue to be torn ,
But Yazeed’s guards jumped to her defence with their shields and their swords,
The guards were from the same tribe as the old woman,
And felt obligated to offer her their protection,
Lady Zainab (AS) wept and faced Medinah to address the Holy Messenger of God (SAW),
‘Oh Grandfather there are swords raised to protect this woman but not one for your Zainab,’
The Imam fought tirelessly to protect the sacred truth,
His family and companions unflinchingly followed suit,
In the end they lay down their lives,
To protect Islam from being defiled,
Husain (AS) is the King of Imams,
He is the true protector of Islam,
He is the embodiment of the Quran,
We are not worthy of counting ourselves as his Ghulams,
It is time for mankind to embrace the truth,
It is time for mankind to show love, respect and gratitude,
For if the Imam and his family did not stand firm in Karbala,
We would be worshipping idols and would have long forgotten Allah.

𝑾𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒏 𝒃𝒚 : 𝑺𝒚𝒆𝒅 𝑺𝒉𝒆𝒉𝒂𝒎 𝑸𝒖𝒂𝒅𝒆𝒓