The Captivity Journey

A Glimpse at the Speech of Imam Al-Sajjad (Q) and its Resonance

The Imam (Q) had confined in this speech to the identification of his family and himself and did not go near other subjects, and perhaps the secret behind that is his previous knowledge that the Sham’s community did not know anything about Ahlu El-Bayt (R) and their high status, since they were raised in the arms of the authority of the Umayyad tyrants who had concealed the truth away from them, and fed them the allegiance towards the descendants of the cursed tree and the hatred towards the family of the Messenger of Allah (P). From this point of view, we see that he (Q) dealt with the issue from an emotional perspective, because its effect in this situation is stronger than any other approach, and the content of the speech indicates that the audience were from the general public and not limited to the nobles and dignitaries, as the atmosphere of the assembly differed from the atmosphere of Yazeed’s general assembly that was crowded with nobles, dignitaries, senior Christian and Jewish scholars, and representatives of the top countries of that time. That is why we see that the Imam (Q) lists the merits of Ahlu El-Bayt (R) and he talks in particular about some men among them who have no substitute or anyone even comparable to them. So, he (Q) says: among us is the Chosen Prophet, and among us is the Siddiq - meaning Ali Bin Abi Taleb (Q) - and he lists many of the characteristics without stating at the beginning whom he meant by these traits, like being truthful, the two Masters of the youth of Heaven, and …, till he lists many of their traits that shows some of their merits and virtues to have a stronger impact on people, as this what had happened indeed.

After that, the Imam states his roots and origin as to his lineage and homeland, so that everyone shall know that he is the branch of the tree of the Prophet, the fruit of Ali, the jewel of Fatima and the pearl of Hussain, and that he is from the heart of Mecca and Medina, and how the oppressing authority and the autocratic government had distorted the reality for the people and spread the lies and the authority introduced them to the nation as being rebels against the prince of the dissolute, Yazeed!

Thus the Imam (Q), after having stated the characteristics of his grandfather, the Messenger of Allah (P), like the revelation and the ascension, he starts to indicate the attributes of his grandfather, the Prince of believers Ali (Q), while the Sham community hears descriptions of him that they hear for the first time. As he is the one who fought with the Messenger of Allah with two swords and stabbed with two spears…

Then he (Q) mentions the merits of his grandmother, the Grand Siddiqa and the human angel, Sayyeda Fatima Al-Zahra (O). Then he had reached the peak of his speech when he said: "…I am the son of the one who is slaughtered from the back, I am the son of the one who was thirsty till he died, I am the son of the fallen in Karbala, I am the son of the one whose turban and clothes were plundered…".

This is what happened in Karbala, and this is the reality of the killing of Imam Hussain (Q). But as for the current issue that the heedless and lost people of Sham must pay attention to is that even though the pure body of

Imam Hussain (Q) was in Karbala, but his holy head and his women were in Sham.

Thus Yazeed did not find an escape other than to recourse to the muezzin by using the call for prayer as an excuse, as he had known from the beginning that if the Imam (Q) would climb the rostrum, he (Q) would turn things against him, but he did not know that he might reach to this level, otherwise he would have never allowed it.

The speech of the Imam had a strong impact on the Sham’s community, as people started to look at each other and speak secretly to each other about their bad situation of failure and disappointment till they changed their attitude towards Yazeed and started to look at him with disgrace and contempt.