Zaynab bint Ali( peace be upon her): the heroine of Karbala
Zaynab bint Ali(peace be upon her) (Arabic: زينب بنت علي Also: Zainab, Zeinab, or with the title Sayyeda/Sayyidah meaning "Lady" to show respect) was one of the daughters of the first Shia Imam, Ali (peace be upon him )and his first wife Fatimah the daughter of Muhammad the Islamic prophet (peace be upon them) was her maternal grandfather and thus she is a member of ahl al-bayt (the household of Muhammad) and is therefore often revered not only for her admirable characteristics and actions but also for her membership in and continuation of the biological line of Muhammad. Like other members of her family she became a great figure of sacrifice, strength, and piety in Islam – particularly in the Shia sect of the religion.
Zaynab ( peace be upon her) was the third child of Ali and Fatimah. Sources suggest she was born in Medina in the 5th year of the Hijra (Wednesday, 5 Jumada al-awwal, 5 AH/October 2, 626 A. Julian calendar) .There is some debate over whether she was born on the 5th of Jumada al-awwal or the 1st of Sha'aban of the Islamic calendar. Like her two elder brothers Hasan and Husayn ( peace be upon them) , Zaynab was named by Muhammad ( peace be upon him )
The name "Zaynab" means "the adornment of her father" (Baap ki Zeenat in Urdu). Three of Ali's daughters were in fact named Zaynab so sometimes this Zaynab referred to as "Zaynab the elder".
Fatimah died when Zaynab was seven years old. This tragic event at an early age may help to explain her special closeness with her brothers Hassan and Husayn( peace be upon) .
When Zaynab came of age, she was married to her first cousin Abdullah ibn Ja'far, a nephew of Ali
. Zaynab bore four sons — Ali, Aun, Muhammad, and Abbas — and one daughter, Umm Kulthum.
Some sources suggest that Zaynab held sessions to help other women study the Quran and learn more about Islam. According to one of her biographies, The Victory of Truth, she started this practice in Medina and later continued it when she moved with her father and family to Kufa.[4]
Zaynab and Karbala
At the death of the Muawiyah I, Husayn was forced out of Mecca due to the assassins that were sent by Muawiyah's son Yazid I to kill Husayn during pilgrimage; thus, Husayn went to Kufa by the invitation of the people of Kufa for him to claim the leadership of the Muslim community. Zaynab accompanied him, as did most of his household. After Husayn and all his 72 companions were brutally killed at the Battle of Karbala by the order of Yazid, Zaynab was taken captive by the army of Yazid, Muawiyah's son and successor. Zaynab and the other survivors of Husayn's expedition, most of them women and children, were marched toDamascus, Yazid's capital, where they were held captive. Tradition says that Zaynab, already in anguish due to the death of her brother Husayn and her sons Aun and Muhammad, was forced to march unveiled. This was an extreme indignity to inflict on a high-ranking Muslim woman, the granddaughter of Muhammad.
While captive in Damascus, Zaynab held the first majlis, or lamentation assembly in the palace of Yazid to mourn the loss of her beloved brother Husayn.
In many ways Zaynab functioned as a model of defiance against oppression and other forms of injustice. When her nephew, Ali ibn Husayn Zayn al-Abidin, was sentenced to death by Ubayd Allah ibn Ziyad, then governor of Kufa, she threw herself over him in a protective embrace yelling “By God, I won’t let go of him. If you’re going to kill him, you’ll have to kill me along with him." Moved by Zaynab’s action, the captors spared Zayn's life. Because Zayn was the only one of Husayn's sons to survive the Battle of Karbala, this courageous action was pivotal in preserving the survival of an important part of Ali genetic line and thus the future Imams in Shia Islam.
Another illustration of Zaynab's pious defiance was when a Syrian in Yazid's court demanded that he be given one of the younger captive girls, Fatimah bint Husayn. Zaynab countered by suggesting that Syrian man was not worthy and did not have that type of authority. When Yazid claimed he had the authority to decide either way, Zaynab issued a scathing retort, answering “You, a commander who has authority, are vilifying unjustly and oppress with your authority."
This comment is representative of a larger sermon attributed to Zaynab in which she condemns Yazid and many of his actions, specifically focusing on his treatment of the household of Muhammad. The sermon is very eloquent and is reminiscent of the work in Quranic exegesis Zaynab did with other women in Medina and Kufa. The full text of this sermon is linked in the external links section below.
Eventually Yazid released his captives and allowed them to return to Medina. On the way back, the party stopped once again at Karbala to mourn the loss of Husayn and the others that died there.