The Captivity Journey

The Speech of Imam Sajjad (Q) near his Grandfather’s Medina

Imam Zein El-Abedeen (Q) was inside his tent, then he went out while wiping his tears with a handkerchief in his hand, and behind was a servant holding a chair, so he put it down for him, and he sat down while not able to stop his tears. So the people started to cry loudly, women started to seep, and people from every place came to console him, which made that place very noisy. So he signaled with his hand for the people to be quiet, so they calmed down and then he (Q) said: "All praise be to Allah, the Lord of all that exists, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful, the Owner of the Day of Recompense, the Creator of all creations, who stayed as far as the high skies, yet close enough to know what goes in the hearts. We thank him for the grand things, for the disasters of the times, for the pain of the tragedies, the soreness of the stingers, the great catastrophe, and the grand, horrible, distressful, burdening and severe calamities.

O People, indeed Allah the Al-Mighty, thank be to Him, had tested us with enormous catastrophes, and great notch (devastation) of Islam, Abu Abdu Allah was killed along with his pedigree, his women and children were captivated, and the people wandered with his head in the different cities, while placed on the top of the spears, and this is the catastrophe that has no like.

O people, so who of you will be able to feel happiness after his demise? Or which eye of you might hold its tears from running?

Hence the strong lions cried for his demise, the seas with their waves, the trees with their branches, the whales in the darkness of the seas, the close angels, along with all the people of the skies all had cried for him.

O people, we have became expelled, homeless, vilified, and far from our land, as if we were from Turkey or Kabul (far countries), all this for no crime we have committed, a sin we have done, or notch in Islam we have made. We had never heard of such thing in the history of our ancestors, indeed this is only a fabrication.

I swear to God, if it was the Prophet (Q) who had asked them to fight us as he had indeed asked them to take care of us and listen to us, they would have never done anything worse than what they have done. Thus to Allah we belong and to Him we shall return, from such grand, painful, shocking, distressful, horrible, bitter, and burdening catastrophe , so only to Allah we complain what happened   and occurred to us, as He is Strong and would take our revenge".

Then Imam Zein El-Abedeen stood up and walked towards the Medina to enter it.

Notes about the Speech

1 - Focusing on thanking God and continuously praising him in all situations and all conditions.

2 - Demonstrating what happened in the universe, as all the worlds including the seas, the skies, the earth, the trees, the whales, the angles and the people of the skies all had cried over Hussain Q…

3 - Demonstrating the depth of the tragedy they had committed, as it is not possible for something more terrible to happen, and how nothing like it in history had ever happened, even if the Prophet (P) had asked them to do so, hypothetically speaking, they would have never done worse than what they did to them…

4 - Awakening the people and instructing them of the importance of taking stances, by his (Q) saying: "which heart would not be broken for his demise?