The Captivity Journey

Imam Zein El-Abedeen (Q) and the Old Man from Sham

When the captives were on the ladder of the mosque’s door, an old man approached them and said: "Thank

God who had killed and vanished you, he released the people from your authority, and enabled the prince to overpower you!"

Imam Zein El-Abedeen (Q) said: "O old man, did you read the Quran?" He said: "Yes, I did read it".

He (Q) said: "So did you read this verse: "No reward do I ask of you for this except the love of those near of kin "?11

He said: "I have read that…"

He (Q) said: "We are the kinship O old man! So, did you read in Bani Israel "And render to the kindred their due rights "?12

The old man said: "I did read that".

So, (Q) said: "We are the kindred O old man! But, did you read the verse: "And know that out of all the booty that ye may acquire (in war), a fifth share is assigned to Allah, and to the Messenger, and to near relatives "?13 We are the near relatives, O old man, and did you read this verse: "And Allah only wishes to remove all abomination from you, ye Members of the Family, and to purify you a thorough purification "?14

The old man said: "I did read that"

So, he (Q) said: "Indeed we are the members of the

family, who were talked about in the Purification verse…"

So, the old man started crying and he threw down his turban, then he raised his head towards the sky and said: "O God, indeed I exculpate myself from the enemy of the progeny of Muhammad (R), whether a human or Jinn (demon), then he said: "Would my repentance be accepted?"

So, he (Q) said: "Yes, if you repent, God will forgive you and you would be considered with us…"

So he said: "I do repent…"

Thus, Yazeed learned what the old man had said, so he ordered to kill him.

We conclude many things from this incident:

This was the first time Imam Zein El-Abedeen (Q) had spoken after having bared the travelling exhaustion. As the narrated story says That Imam (Q) was silent all along the way from Kufa to Sham and did not speak to anyone.

The Imam performs his duty at the first chance and on the first spot in which he finds the good soil for that. Even though that the old man from Sham had only lived under the Umayyad regime and he did not see Imam Ali (Q) or any of his sons, but he has a good nature. Whilst many of the people who murdered Al-Hussain (Q) and captivated his family were among who had seen Ali, Hassan and Hussain (R), and had prayed behind them!

The dominance of the poisoned media on the society, as they had propagated that the murdered man was an outlaw who disobeyed "the prince of the believers", and  he wanted to spread sedition and division in the society. That is why we see that the man from Sham started his speech by

expressing his thanks to God for killing the "outlaw" and finishing his family.