The Captivity Journey

The Despoilment of Imam Hussain’s (Q) Camp

It was not enough for the Umayyad thieves, the enemies of Allah and his Prophet (P), to kill Imam Hussain (Q) and break his holy body with the hooves of their horses, yet they exceeded that by attacking the camp to plunder everything in it. They also exposed the sanctity of the ladies related to Prophet Muhammad (P) by stealing everything they had in a violent way that upsets any ardent person. That was due to the direct orders of Omar Bin Saad who spoke to his soldiers saying: "Beneath you are the tents, do plunder them!" Among the first robbers was Shamer Bin Zi Al-Jawshan. The soldiers attacked the tents and started to rob whatever the ladies and children had on them. They even injured Lady Um Kalthoum’s ear while pulling an earring out of it. When they were done distributing the goods, they started ripping off the tents with their swords and set them on fire. Then, the daughter of the Prince of the believers (O) came out and said: "O Bin Saad, Allah shall be the Judge between us; He may prohibit you from our Grandfather’s intervention and shall not allow you to drink from his trough for what you have done to us and gave your orders to fight against the grandson of the Prophet (P), with no mercy for his children or passion for his ladies…"

But Bin Saad did not pay attention to her.

It was narrated that Imam Reda (Q) had said: "Indeed Muharram was a month that the people of Jahiliyya (pre-Islamic state of ignorance) used to forbid fighting during it. Yet, in it our blood was shed, our reputation was defamed, our descendants and women were captivated, our camps were set on fire, and were plundered of all the valuables that we owned".