IMAM ZAINUL ABDEEN A BRIEF INTRO

Name: AliTitle: Zainul Abedin, Sayidus Sajidin

Designation: 4th ImamKunyat: Abul Muhammad
Father: Hussain Ibne AliMother: Shahr Banu Binte-Yazdjard
Born: 15th Jumada al-Awwal/5th Shaban 38AH/659ADDied: 25th Muharram 95AH (713AD)
Martyred: Poisoned by WaleedBuried: Cemetery of Jannatul Baqi
Lived: 57 yearsDetails1 Details2

Birth and family life

‘Alī ibn Ḥusayn was born on 15th Jamadiulawwal or 5th Shabaan 38 AH (654) in
Medina. His father, Ḥusayn ibn ‘Alī, was a grandson of Muhammad (Sallallaho alehi
wassalam). His brothers were Ali Akbar ibn Hussain and Ali Asghar ibn Hussain. His
sisters were Sakina bint Hussain and Fatimah Sughra bint Hussain
Learning
He dedicated his life to learning and became an authority on prophetic traditions
and Sharia. He is regarded as the source of the third holiest book in Shī‘ah Islam
after the Qur'ān and the Nahj al Balagha: the Saḥīfa al-Sadjadiyya, commonly
referred to as the Psalms of the Household of Muhammad (Sallallaho alehi
wassalam). ‘Alī ibn Ḥusayn had many supporters such as Sa‘īd ibn Jubayr.
He was beside his father right from the moment of his migration towards Karbala
and followed his father. Hussain ibn Ali step by step so that, when his father
asked for help on ‘Āshūrā got up to extend help to his father. Zaynab bint ‘Alī
stopped him and said,
You are the only memorial remnant of this family and the Imam after Hussain ibn
Ali and you are the guardian of all of us. Your divine mission is to convey the
message of the martyrs to the people.
Although a segment of the people who are unaware consider Ali ibn Hussain to be a
sick, invalid, handicapped, and a weak person. But they are seriously mistaken
because the illness of Ali ibn Hussain was an expedience and policy of Allah, so
that he may remain safe from the harm of the enemy's sword, and become the living
history of Karbala. Therefore, after the death of Hussain ibn Ali and his
companions, Shimr ibn Dhil-Jawsha came into the encampment of the Ahl Al-Bayt
along with a group of his soldiers so that he may kill the remaining ones of the
camp of Hussain ibn Ali. Since he was ill, Shimr ibn Dhil-Jawsha's companions
objected upon him and Umar ibn Sa'ad came after them and reprimanded Shimr ibn
Dhil-Jawsha regarding this decision and turned him out of the encampment and said,
"Ali ibn Hussain is an ill man and because of that he cannot do a thing, leave him
alone."[citation needed]
Piety
One of the special features of Ali ibn Hussain character was his piety and
abstinence. The Shī‘ah Imām Ja‘far aṣ-Ṣādiq said,
Ali ibn Hussain resembled most of all the sons of Bani Hashim, with Ali ibn Abi
Talib.[citation needed]
Muhammad al-Baqir (the son of Ali ibn Hussain and the fifth Shi’ah Imam) said,
One day I happened to see my father, I saw him (completely) immersed and
(thoroughly pre occupied) in the prayers and with all the attention towards Allah.
His color was faded and his eyes were sore and red due to weeping, his feet were
swollen by (prostration) and legs, and knees had developed corns. I said humbly
"Oh father, why do you lose your self control during the prayers and put yourself
in such an inconvenience and discomfort. My father wept and said, "Oh son however
and whatsoever amount of prayers I perform even then it is meager and very little
as compared to the prayers of your grandfather, Ali ibn Abi Talib.
Taous Yamni says, I saw Ali ibn Hussain lying in prostration saying, "Oh God your
servant, needy towards you, is in your house waiting for your blessing,
forgiveness and favor".[citation needed]
Attention to the life and training of people
‘Alī ibn Ḥusayn, like his grandfather, cultivated land and palm date orchards. All
the human qualities and attributes were collectively present in his personality.
He was the complete specimen of tolerance, forgiveness and self-sacrifice. During
the prayers he would get himself so absorbed that he did not have any attention
towards anything except God. He traveled to Mecca, on foot, twenty times and
continuously guided and conducted people through the attractive melody of the
Qur'anic verses.
As the son of Ḥusayn ibn ‘Alī, he was under great scrutiny and could not directly
guide those who secretly followed the household of Muhammad. But he conveyed his
understanding of the relationship between human and God by the prayers and
supplications that he offered God during his extensive nighttime vigils in the
mosque of the Prophet in Medina. These prayers and supplications were written down
and then disseminated by his sons and the subsequent generations. Among them is
the Sahifa al-Sajjadiyya, which is known as the Psalms of Islam.
He looked after and administrated hundreds of houses of the poor and hunger
stricken. Daily a number of goats were slaughtered in his house and he distributed
all their meat among the afflicted. He dressed the naked and the destitute ones
and paid their debts and loans. But he himself took simple meals and put on simple
dress.
When the nights would become dark and all the people went to sleep, ‘Alī ibn
Ḥusayn would get up put the food in a sack and on his shoulder. He covered his
face so that he is not recognized. Then he took that food to the houses of the
inflicted and have-nots and gave it to them.
He administrated and looked after nearly a hundred guardians-less family in
Medina; most of them comprised indigent, helpless and crippled, handicapped and
paralytic ones. None of these families knew that ‘Alī ibn Ḥusayn was the one who
managed and run their lives. But after his death, when the aids were discontinued
they came to know that Ali ibn Husayn was their helper and friend.
A person came to ‘Alī ibn Ḥusayn and started addressing him with filthy and
abusive language. ‘Alī ibn Ḥusayn turned his face towards him without the
slightest anger and quarrel or strife and said,
Oh brother, if what you say is right and correct and these vices are present in me
then Allah may pardon and forgive my sin. And if you are telling a lie then Allah
may forgive you and pardon your sin.[citation needed]
The man was very much ashamed and asked ‘Alī ibn Ḥusayn to pardon him.
Abu Hamza ath-Thumali, who was one of the friends of ‘Alī ibn Ḥusayn, asked his
servant to briefly define the character and morals of Ali ibn Hussain. He said: "I
am at his service for so many years. Whatever I saw was righteousness, piety and
purity. My lord helps and assists the people and solves their problems, with all
the difficulties worries and preoccupations that he himself faces." Zaid ibn Usama
was lying on the deathbed. Ali ibn Hussain visited him, Zaid was weeping. When Ali
ibn Husayn asked him the reason of his weeping he said, "I have to pay fifteen
thousand Dinars as my loan and debt and my wealth is not so much as to pay off the
debt." Ali ibn Husayn said, "Do not weep and be contented, I will pay your entire
loan.
The Day of Ashura
At the Battle of Karbala on the day of Ashura, Hussain ibn Ali and most of his
family were killed. Ali ibn Hussain survived because he was too sick to fight, and
was bedridden. Afterwards, he was taken prisoner by the Umayyad forces and
transported to Damascus where he was made a prisoner of the Caliph, Yazid I. After
some years, he was freed, and returned to Medina where he lived a quiet life as a
scholar and a teacher.
It is said that for forty years, whenever food or water was placed before him, he
would weep. One day, a servant said to him, "O son of Allah's Messenger! Is it not
time for your sorrow to come to an end?" He replied, "Woe upon you! Jacob the
prophet had twelve sons, and God made one of them disappear. His eyes turned white
from constant weeping, his head turned grey out of sorrow, and his back became
bent in gloom, though his son was alive in this world. But I watched while my
father, my brother, my uncle, and seventeen members of my family were slaughtered
all around me. How should my sorrow come to an end?"[citation needed]
‘Alī ibn Ḥusayn, along with the left behind families of the fallen, was besieged
by the enemy, came out on the morning of 11 Muharram, 61 AH. They had chained his
hands and feet with a set of chains called al-Jameaa "‫ "الجامعة‬and placed the
heads of the dead in front of him so that his sorrow and grief was increased, and
those chains made big scars and marks on his body; and it was seen by his sons
when they were washing him before burial; and they saw these scars and marks - how
painful it was and how it was marked.
The family of ‘Alī ibn Ḥusayn, as against the concept of a group who think they
were defeated, where ever they set foot, they would announce the success of their
revolution and the defeat of Yazid. It was Damscus where he buried his youngest
sister Sakina bint Hussain.
Death
‘Alī ibn Ḥusayn resided in Medina until his death on 25th of Muharram, 95 AH
(approximately 23 October 23, 712). He was poisoned by Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik. He
was buried in Jannatul Baqee', the cemetery in Madinah where other important
figures of Islamic history are buried. The period of his Imaamat is 33 years.