Imam Zayd ibn ʿAlī

[A—Who Is Imam Zayd:]
He is Zayd ibn ʿAlī , son of the Master of the worshippers ʿAlī ibn al-H usayn, son of the martyr, the Master of the youth of Paradise al-H usayn, son of the Master of the Arabs, the Commander of the Faithful ʿAlī ibn Abī T a lib (Peace be Upon Them). Beneath his lineage lies the cleaving of the radiant dawn—rather, the very rays of the sun and the moon. His forefathers were all masters, by the explicit statement of the Messenger (May Allah bless him and his family and grant them peace).
As for his father, ʿAlī ibn al-H usayn (Peace be Upon Him), it is narrated regarding him from the Prophet (May Allah bless him and his family and grant them peace) that he said: “If it is the Day of Resurrection, a caller will call out: Let the Master of the worshippers arise; so ʿAlī ibn al-H usayn will arise.”
As for his grandfather, al-H usayn (Peace be Upon Him), he is the Master of the youth of Paradise, as has been transmitted in the reports from the Master of mankind (May Allah bless him and his family and grant them peace).
As for ʿAlī ibn Abī T a lib (Peace be Upon Him), he is the Master of the Arabs, as we have narrated from the Prophet (May Allah bless him and his family and grant them peace) that a man said to him: “O Master of the Arabs,” so he said (May Allah bless him and his family and grant them peace): “I am the Master of the children of Adam, and ʿAlī is the Master of the Arabs.”
This, then, is the lofty lineage and the precious, surpassing essence. And some of them have said:
I hope that my Lord will grant me the utmost of my hope, Through love of Zayd ibn ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥusayn ibn ʿAlī.
His mother was a bondwoman whose name was Jayda . Al-Mukhta r ibn Abī ʿUbayd purchased her for thirty thousand dirhams and said: “I do not see anyone more entitled to you than ʿAlī ibn al-H usayn (Peace be Upon Him),” so he sent her to him. When she reached him, he presented her to one of his sons; and whenever one of them grew up, he would purchase bondwomen for them. When she perceived this, she said: “I want the shaykh,” so he retained her (Peace be Upon Him) for himself. And it is narrated from him (Peace be Upon Him) that one day he awoke and said to his companions: “I saw the Messenger of Allah (May Allah bless him and his family and grant them peace) last night; he took my hand, admitted me into Paradise, and married me to a h u rī , and I consummated the marriage with her, and she conceived. Then the Messenger of Allah (May Allah bless him and his family and grant them peace) called out to me: ‘O ʿAlī , name the child born from her Zayd.’ We had not yet risen when al-Mukhta r sent the mother of Zayd, having purchased her for thirty thousand.”
It is also narrated that ʿAlī ibn al-H usayn (Peace be Upon Him), when he prayed the dawn prayer, would not speak until the sun had risen. They came to him on the day Zayd was born and gave him the glad tidings after the dawn prayer. He turned to his companions and said: “What do you think I should name this newborn?” Each of them said: “Name him such-and-such.” He said: “O boy, bring me the Mus h af.” They brought the Mus h af and placed it in his lap. He opened it and looked at the first verse on the page, and there was: “Allah has preferred the strivers over those who sit back with a tremendous reward” [Al-Nisāʾ: 95]. Then he closed it, then opened it a second time and looked at the first verse on the page: “Indeed Allah has purchased from the believers their lives and their wealth in exchange for Paradise: they fight in the way of Allah, so they kill and are killed—a true promise binding upon Him in the Torah, the Gospel, and the Qur’an. And who is more faithful to his covenant than Allah?” [Al-Tawbah: 111]. He said: “By Allah, he is Zayd,” so he was named Zayd. … And his birth (Peace be Upon Him) was in the year seventy-five.
[B—His Description (Peace be Upon Him):]
Al-Sayyid Abu T a lib said: He (Peace be Upon Him) was fair in complexion, large-eyed, with joined eyebrows, well-proportioned in form, tall in stature, thick-bearded, broad-chested, aquiline-nosed, black-haired and black-bearded, except that gray had mixed into the sides of his beard.
He was likened to the Commander of the Faithful (Peace be Upon Him) in eloquence, rhetoric, and excellence, and he was known in Madī nah as the Ally of the Qur’an. Kha lid ibn S afwa n said: Eloquence, oratory, asceticism, and worship from Banu Ha shim culminated in Zayd ibn ʿAlī (Peace be Upon Him). I witnessed him in the presence of Hisha m ibn ʿAbd al-Malik while he addressed him, and his gathering became constricted because of him.
And it is narrated from some of the companions of Zayd ibn ʿAlī (Peace be Upon Him) who said: Whenever I saw Zayd ibn ʿAlī , I saw the lines of light upon his face. And some described him, saying: He was handsome, beautiful, refined, and the marks of prostration had left their trace upon his forehead.
[C—Mention of a Portion of His Virtues and His States (Peace be Upon Him):]
He (Peace be Upon Him) was raised upon knowledge, worship, virtue, and asceticism, and he was known in Madī nah as the Ally of the Qur’an; and he would hear something of the remembrance of Allah and fall unconscious.
Many reports have been transmitted concerning him from the Messenger (May Allah bless him and his family and grant them peace). Among them is what we have narrated with a trustworthy chain of transmission to the Commander of the Faithful ʿAlī ibn Abī T a lib (Peace be Upon Him), who said: When the Messenger (May Allah bless him and his family and grant them peace) informed me of the killing of al-H usayn ibn ʿAlī (Peace be Upon Him) and the crucifixion of his son Zayd ibn ʿAlī (Peace be Upon Them Both), I said: O Messenger of Allah, are you pleased that your offspring should be killed? He said: “O ʿAlī , I am pleased with the decree of Allah concerning me and my offspring. And I have two supplications: as for one supplication, it is today; and as for the second, it is when they are presented before Allah—Exalted is He—and their deeds are presented to me.” Then he raised his hands to the sky and said: “O ʿAlī , affirm my supplication: O Allah, count them by number, kill them separately, set some of them against others, and prevent them from drinking from my Basin and from accompanying me.” He said: So Jibrī l (Peace be Upon Him) came to me while I was supplicating against them and you were affirming, and he said: “Your supplication has been answered.”
And with a chain of transmission to Yah ya ibn Maymu n, raising it to the Prophet (May Allah bless him and his family and grant them peace), he said: “A man from my Household will be
crucified in Ku fah, naked; no one deliberately looks at his nakedness except that Allah—Exalted is He—will blind him on the Day of Resurrection.”
And with a chain of transmission to Abu Dharr al-Ghifa rī (Peace be Upon Him), he said: I saw the Messenger (May Allah bless him and his family and grant them peace) while he was weeping, so I wept because of his weeping, and I said: May my father and mother be ransomed for you—you have severed the ligaments of my heart with your weeping. He said: “May Allah not sever the ligaments of your heart, O Abu Dharr. Indeed, my son al-H usayn (Peace be Upon Him) will have a son named ʿAlī ; my beloved Jibrī l (Peace be Upon Him) informed me that he is known in the heavens as the Master of the worshippers, and that he will have a son called Zayd; and that the followers of Zayd are the knights of Allah on the earth, and the knights of Allah in the heavens are the angels; and that the creation on the Day of Resurrection will be brought to account; and that the followers of Zayd will be upon a white land like silver—or the color of silver—eating, drinking, and enjoying themselves, and some of them will say to others: ‘Go to your master, the Commander of the Faithful, so that we may see how he gives drink to his followers.’” He said: “So they will ride upon noble mounts of ruby and chrysolite, adorned with jewels; their reins will be of fresh pearls, and their saddles of sundus and istabraq.” He said: “While they are riding, some of them will say to others: ‘By Allah, we see people who were not with us in the battle.’” He said: “So Zayd (Peace be Upon Him) will hear and say: ‘By Allah, these participated with you in what you were upon in the world, just as people participated who came after the Battle of S iffī n; and indeed they are your brothers today and your partners.’”
And we have narrated, with a trustworthy chain of transmission, to the Prophet (May Allah bless him and his family and grant them peace) that he said: “The best of the former and the latter is the one killed for the sake of Allah, the crucified one in my nation, the wronged one from my Household—this one is named so.” Then he drew Zayd ibn H a rithah close to him and said: “O Zayd, indeed your name has increased you in love with me; he is named after the beloved from my Household.”
And we have narrated from him (May Allah bless him and his family and grant them peace) that he said: “A man from my offspring will be killed, called Zayd, in a place known as al-Kana sah; he will call to the truth, and every believer will follow him.”
And we have narrated from H ayyah al-ʿAranī , who said: I was with the Commander of the Faithful (Peace be Upon Him)—I and al-As bagh ibn Nuba tah—at al-Kana sah, in the place of the butchers, the mosque, and the grain-sellers; and it was at that time an open desert. He kept turning his gaze to that place, weeping intensely, and saying: “May my father and mother be ransomed for him.” Al-As bagh said: O Commander of the Faithful, you have wept and looked about until our hearts and our eyes have wept; I looked and saw no one. He said: The Messenger (May Allah bless him and his family and grant them peace) told me: “A child will be
born to me—his father was not yet born—who will meet Allah angry with him and pleased with him, firmly upon the truth, upon the religion of Jibrī l and Mī ka ʾī l and Muh ammad (May Allah bless them all and grant them peace); and he will be mutilated in this place with a mutilation such as no one before him was mutilated, nor will anyone after him be mutilated—may the prayers of Allah be upon his soul and upon the souls that are taken with him.”
And we have narrated from Ibn ʿAbba s (Peace be Upon Him), who said: While ʿAlī (Peace be Upon Him) was among his companions, he wept intensely until his beard became soaked. So al-H asan (Peace be Upon Him) said to him: O my father, why do you weep?
He said: O my son, for matters hidden from you, which the Messenger (May Allah bless him and his family and grant them peace) informed me of. He said: And what did the Messenger (May Allah bless him and his family and grant them peace) inform you of? He said: O my son, had you not asked me, I would not have told you, lest you grieve and your sorrow be prolonged. The Messenger (May Allah bless him and his family and grant them peace) informed me—then he mentioned a long narration, in which he said:
“O ʿAlī , how will you be when the cross-eyed, repulsive one—the unbelieving, base one—assumes authority? Then the best of the people of the earth, from its length and breadth, will rise against him.” I said: O Messenger of Allah, who is he? He said: “O ʿAlī , a man whom Allah has strengthened with faith, and whom Allah has clothed with the garment of righteousness and beneficence. He will go forth with a band calling to the Most Merciful; his helpers are among the best of helpers. The cross-eyed one of hatred will kill him, then crucify him upon a trunk of a pomegranate tree, then burn him with fire, then strike him with palm-fiber sticks until he becomes ashes like the ashes of fire; then his soul and the souls of his followers will return to Allah—Exalted is He—to the gardens.”
And we have narrated, with a chain of transmission, from Jaʿfar ibn Muh ammad, from his father, from his grandfather, from al-H usayn ibn ʿAlī (Peace be Upon Them Both), that ʿAlī , the Commander of the Faithful (Peace be Upon Him), delivered a sermon upon the pulpit of Ku fah. He mentioned matters and tribulations until he mentioned that he said: “Then Hisha m shall rule for nineteen years, and the land of Rus a fah shall conceal him—laid out for him is the Fire. What have I to do with Hisha m? A tyrant, obstinate, the killer of my pure and purified son; no compassion nor mercy restrains him. He will crucify my son at al-Kana sah of Ku fah—Zayd—in the loftiest summit of the highest degrees. If Zayd is killed, then it is upon the way of his father.
Then comes al-Walī d: a Pharaoh, vile, wretched, not felicitous. How stripped and slain he is! Its corrupter is al-Walī d, its unbeliever is Yazī d, its false god is Azraq, its forerunner is the son of the eater of livers. Leave him to eat and enjoy and be diverted by hope; for tomorrow he shall know who is the lying, insolent one.”
And we have narrated from the Commander of the Faithful ʿAlī ibn Abī T a lib (Peace be Upon Him) that he said: “There shall emerge from me, in the outskirts of Ku fah, a man called Zayd, in the majesty of sovereignty—and majesty is kingship. None of the former ones preceded him, nor shall the latter ones attain him, except one who acts with the like of his action. He shall come on the Day of Resurrection—he and his companions—with scrolls, then they shall stride over the necks of creation.” He said: “So the angels will meet them and say: These are the successors of successors, and the callers to the truth. And the Messenger (May Allah bless him and his family and grant them peace) will receive them and say: You have acted according to what you were commanded—enter Paradise without reckoning.”
And we have narrated from the Commander of the Faithful (Peace be Upon Him) that he said: “The martyr from my progeny, the one who stands with the truth from my offspring, the one crucified at the Kana sah of Ku fa n—he is the Imam of the strivers and the leader of the radiant, marked ones. He shall come on the Day of Resurrection—he and his companions—and the angels brought near shall meet them, calling out to them: Enter Paradise; no fear shall be upon you, nor shall you grieve.”
And we have narrated from Abu Saʿī d al-Khudrī (Peace be Upon Him) that he said: The Messenger (May Allah bless him and his family and grant them peace) said: “I was shown in my sleep a man from my Household who called to Allah and acted righteously, changed the evil and denounced injustice; then he was killed—so upon his killer is the curse of Allah.” And in another report: “So upon the one who crucified him is the curse of Allah.”
And we have narrated from Abu Ghassa n al-Azdī , who said: Zayd ibn ʿAlī (Peace be Upon Him) came to us in Levant during the days of Hisha m ibn ʿAbd al-Malik. I have never seen a man more knowledgeable of the Book of Allah than him. Hisha m imprisoned him for five months, and while we were with him in imprisonment he would expound to us the interpretation of al-Ḥamd and Su rat al-Baqarah, flowing forth abundantly. And he mentioned the Book, saying therein: “Know—may Allah have mercy upon you—that the Qur’an, and acting upon it, guides to that which is most upright; for Allah honored it, ennobled it, raised it, magnified it, and named it: a Spirit, a Mercy, a Guidance, a Healing, and a Light. And by the miraculous composition of its arrangement. He severed the ambitions of the plotters, and by its wondrous order He distinguished it from the stratagems of the affected. He made it recited without weariness, heard without the ears finding it distasteful, fresh—never worn by repeated recitation—astonishing, whose wonders never cease, and beneficial, whose benefits never end. The Qur’an is upon four aspects: lawful and unlawful, which the people cannot be excused from knowing; interpretation known to the scholars; Arabic known to the Arabs; and taʾwī l known only to Allah—and that is what is to be of what has not yet been.”
“And know—may Allah have mercy upon you—that the Qur’an has an outward, an inward, a limit, and an ascent. Its outward is its revelation; its inward is its interpretation; its limit is its obligations and rulings; and its ascent is its reward and its punishment.”
And we have also narrated, with a trustworthy chain of transmission, that Zayd ibn ʿAlī (Peace be Upon Them Both) asked Muh ammad ibn ʿAlī al-Ba qir (Peace be Upon Him) for a book that had belonged to his father. He said: So Muh ammad ibn ʿAlī said: Yes—then he forgot and did not send it to him. A year passed, then he remembered; he met Zayd and said: O my brother, did you not ask for your father’s book? He said: Indeed I did. He said: By Allah, nothing prevented me from sending it except forgetfulness. Zayd said to him: I have become independent of it. He said: Independent of your father’s book? He said: Yes—I have become independent of it by the Book of Allah. He said: Then I ask you about what is in it. Zayd said to him: Yes. He said: So Muh ammad sent for the book, then turned asking him letter by letter, and Zayd kept answering him until he reached the end of the book. Muh ammad said to him: By Allah, you have not withheld from it a single letter.
And we have narrated from Bishr ibn ʿAbdulla h, who said: I accompanied ʿAlī ibn al-H usayn (Peace be Upon Him), Abu Jaʿfar (Peace be Upon Him), Zayd ibn ʿAlī (Peace be Upon Him), ʿAbdulla h ibn al-H asan (Peace be Upon Him), and Jaʿfar ibn Muh ammad (Peace be Upon Him)—and I did not see among them anyone more prompt in reply than Zayd ibn ʿAlī (Peace be Upon Him).
And we have narrated from Saʿī d ibn Khuthaym, who said: When a man spoke to Zayd ibn ʿAlī (Peace be Upon Him) or debated him, he would not rush him from his speech until he reached its end; then he would return to him and answer him word by word until he had fully established the proof against him.
And we have narrated from Abu al-Sudayr, who said: We entered upon Abu Jaʿfar Muh ammad ibn ʿAlī (Peace be Upon Him) and found a private moment with him. We said: Today we shall ask him about our needs as we wish. While we were thus, Zayd ibn ʿAlī (Peace be Upon Him) entered, and his clothes were soaked. Abu Jaʿfar said to him: May my soul be ransomed for you—enter, pour water over yourself, then come out to us. He said: So he came out to us graciously. Then Abu Jaʿfar began asking him, and Zayd began informing him of what he used as proof and what was used as proof against him. They looked at the face of Abu Jaʿfar and saw it radiant with joy. Then Abu Jaʿfar turned to us and said: “O Abu al-Sudayr, this—by Allah—is the master of Banu Ha shim. If he calls you, then answer him; and if he seeks your help, then help him.”
And with a trustworthy chain of transmission to Abu al-Ja ru d, that Zayd ibn ʿAlī (Peace be Upon Them Both) delivered a sermon to his companions when he rose publicly, and he said:
“All praise is for Allah, who has bestowed upon us insight, and has made for us discerning hearts and attentive ears. Successful indeed is the one who makes goodness his emblem and truth his cloak. And may Allah send blessings upon the best of His creation, who came with the truth from his Lord and confirmed it—the truthful Muh ammad (May Allah bless him and his family and grant them peace)—and upon the pure ones from his progeny and household, and the chosen ones from his Ahl al-Bayt and the people of his wilayah.
O people! Hasten, hasten, before the coming of the appointed term and the severing of hope; for behind you is a seeker whom no fugitive can escape—except a fugitive who flees from Him to Him. So flee to Allah through obedience to Him, and seek refuge in His reward from His punishment. He has made you hear and see, and has called you to Him and warned you; and today you are a proof against those who come after you. Indeed Allah—Exalted is He—says: “That they may gain understanding in the religion and warn their people when they return to them, so that they may beware” [Al-Tawbah: 122], and “And do not be like those who say: ‘We hear,’ while they do not hear” [Al-Anfāl: 21], and “And do not be like those who became divided and differed after clear proofs had come to them; and those—for them is a tremendous punishment” [Āl ʿImrān: 105].
Servants of Allah! We call you to a common word between us and you: that we worship none but Allah, and associate nothing with Him, and that none of us take others as lords besides Allah. Indeed, Allah destroyed people who took their rabbis and monks as lords besides Allah. Servants of Allah! It is as though the world, when it is cut off and concluded, had never been; and as though what is to come has already descended; and as though what is departing from us has already departed. So, hasten toward goodness, and acquire righteous deeds—thus you will be upon a path from Allah. For whoever hastens toward evil and acquires wrongdoing has nothing from Allah in any way. Today I speak and you hear, yet you do not perceive; and tomorrow there will be among you a calamity and you will regret—but Allah will grant me victory when He returns me to Him. And He is the Judge between us and our people in truth. So, whoever hears this call of ours—unifying, not divisive; just, not oppressive—and responds to our call, turns back to our path, and strives against himself with his own self, and against those who follow him from the people of falsehood and the pillars of hypocrisy—then he has what we have, and upon him is what is upon us. And whoever rejects our call and refuses to respond to us, choosing the fleeting, perishing world over the abiding Hereafter—then Allah is free of those, and He will judge between us and them.
When you meet the people, then call them to your cause; for if a single man responds to you, it is better for you than all upon which the sun has risen of gold and silver. And adhere to the conduct of the Commander of the Faithful ʿAlī ibn Abī T a lib (Peace be Upon Him) in al-Bas rah and al-Sha m: do not pursue one who retreats, do not finish off the wounded, and do not open a closed door. And Allah is a Guardian over what I say.
Servants of Allah! Do not fight your enemy upon doubt lest you stray from the path of Allah; rather, insight—then fighting. For Allah rewards certainty with the best reward He grants for truth. Indeed, whoever kills a soul while doubting its misguidance is like one who kills a soul without right.
Servants of Allah! Insight—insight.”
Abu al-Ja ru d said: So I said to him: O son of the Messenger of Allah (May Allah bless him and his family and grant them peace), does a man give his life without insight? He said: “Yes. Indeed most of those you see—this world has captivated their souls, and greed has destroyed them—except for a few, those upon whose hearts the world does not pass, nor do they strive for it. Those are from me, and I am from them.”
And we have narrated, with a chain of transmission, from ʿUmar ibn S a lih al-ʿIjlī , who said: I heard Zayd ibn ʿAlī (Peace be Upon Them Both) say in his sermon: “All praise is for Allah, submitting to Him in humility, acknowledging His oneness. I place my trust in Him as one who has sought refuge in Him. I bear witness that there is no god but Allah alone, without partner; and I bear witness that Muh ammad is His chosen servant and His approved Messenger, the trustee over His revelation, the one entrusted with His creation, who conveyed to them what He entrusted him with of His right until He took him to Himself (May Allah bless him and his family and grant them peace).
O people! I counsel you to fear Allah, for the one who counsels with the fear of Allah has not withheld sincere advice, nor fallen short in conveying a great matter. So, fear Allah regarding an affair in which—if you obey Him—you do not increase Allah—Exalted is He—in anything, and—if you disobey Him—you do not diminish His dominion in anything. And do not seek help from His favor in disobedience to Him. Be moderate in seeking the aims of your affairs; reflect, and consider.”
And we have narrated from Jaʿfar ibn Muh ammad (Peace be Upon Him), who said: My uncle Zayd ibn ʿAlī (Peace be Upon Them Both) had a son who passed away. One of his brothers wrote to him offering condolences. When he read the letter, he turned it over and wrote on its back: “To proceed: Indeed, we are dead, sons of the dead, fathers of the dead—so how astonishing that a dead one consoles a dead one over a dead one. And peace.”
And with a trustworthy chain of transmission from some of them, he said: Abu Kha lid al-Wa sit ī and Abu H amzah al-Thuma lī informed me. They said: We composed a written epistle as a response to the people. Then we went out to Madī nah and entered upon Muh ammad ibn ʿAlī (Peace be Upon Him) and said to him: May we be ransomed for you—we have composed an epistle as a response to the people, so look into it. He said: Then read it. He said: So we read it to him. He said: You have done well and exerted yourselves; but have you read it to Zayd? We said: No. He said: Then read it to Zayd and see what he replies to you.
He said: So, we entered upon Zayd (Peace be Upon Him) and said to him: May we be ransomed for you—we have composed an epistle as a response to the people and have come to you with it. He said: Read it. So we read it to him, until when we finished it, he said:
“O Abu H amzah—and you, O Abu Kha lid—you have exerted yourselves, but it is broken against you. As for the first letter, the response in it is such-and-such.” He continued reviewing it until he reached its end, letter by letter. By Allah, we did not know which to marvel at more—his memorization of it or his breaking it down. Then he gave us a comprehensive discourse by which we would know how to respond to the people. He said: So we returned to Muh ammad ibn ʿAlī (Peace be Upon Him) and informed him of what had occurred with Zayd. He said: “O Abu Kha lid—and you, O Abu H amzah—indeed my father summoned Zayd, had him recite the Qur’an, and he recited; he asked him about difficult matters and he answered; then he supplicated for him and kissed him between the eyes. Then he said: O Abu Kha lid—and you, O Abu H amzah—indeed Zayd has been granted a vast share of knowledge beyond us.”
And we have narrated from Kha lid ibn S afwa n al-Yama mī , who said: We came to Zayd ibn ʿAlī (Peace be Upon Him) while he was then at al-Rus a fah—the Rus a fah of Hisha m ibn ʿAbd al-Malik. We entered upon him with a group of the people of al-Sha m and their scholars. They brought with them a man to whom the people of al-Sha m had submitted in eloquence and insight into proofs. We spoke to Zayd ibn ʿAlī in the gathering and said: Indeed Allah is with the Jamaa’, and indeed the people of the Jamaa’ are the proof of Allah over His creation, and indeed the people of paucity are the people of innovation and misguidance. He said: So, Zayd ibn ʿAlī praised Allah, extolled Him, and sent blessings upon Muh ammad (May Allah bless him and his family and grant them peace). Then he spoke with words—I have not heard a Qurashī nor an Arab more eloquent in admonition, clearer in proof, or more fluent in expression than him. Then he brought forth to us a book that he had authored concerning the many and the few. He cited it from the Book of Allah—Exalted is He—and he did not mention the many except to censure it, nor did he mention the few except to praise it. And the few in obedience are the people of the Jamaa’, and the many in disobedience are the people of innovations.
Kha lid ibn S afwa n said: The man from al-Sha m despaired—neither sweet nor bitter—and the people of al-Sha m fell silent, unable to respond with little or much. Then they rose from him and departed. They said to their companion: May Allah deal with you—and deal with us—you have deceived us and claimed that you would leave him with no proof except that you would break it; yet you were silenced and did not speak. He said to them: Woe to you! How can I debate a man who argued with me using the Book of Allah? Can I possibly refute the speech of Allah? Kha lid ibn S afwa n would thereafter say: I have not seen in this world a Qurashī nor an Arab who surpasses Zayd ibn ʿAlī (Peace be Upon Him) in intellect and proofs.
And we have narrated from ʿAbdulla h ibn Muh ammad ibn al-H anafiyyah, who said: If ʿI sa ibn Maryam (Peace be Upon Him) were to descend, he would inform you that Zayd ibn ʿAlī (Peace be Upon Him) is the best of those who have trodden upon the surface of the earth. And indeed Zayd ibn ʿAlī knew the Qur’an in a manner from which Abu Jaʿfar did not know it. I said: How is that? He said: Because Abu Jaʿfar took it from the mouths of men, whereas Zayd ibn ʿAlī was granted its understanding.
[D—His Virtues (Peace be Upon Him):]
They are more numerous than can be encompassed in such a place. Among his poetry (Peace be Upon Him) is his saying:
They say: Zayd does not purify his wealth,
But how can one purify wealth who gives it away?
When the year has passed, there was not in our abodes
Of wealth anything but its trace and its virtues.
And he (Peace be Upon Him) said:
The sword knows my resolve when it surges forth,
And the spear bears witness to me—by Allah, I have a burden.
Indeed, we hope for what our forebears once hoped for,
If destiny should lend its aid.
And he (Peace be Upon Him) has verses addressing and counseling his son Yah ya :
My son—if I should perish—then do not be
Stained in deeds while whitening garments.
Beware the company of the ignoble, for indeed
The blemish of the noble is the baseness of companions.
I have tested people and then known them,
And known what they attained of means.
So kinship does not bring near one who severs,
While affection is the nearest of lineages.
And he (Peace be Upon Him) has verses in elegy for his brother al-Ba qir, Muh ammad ibn ʿAlī (Peace be Upon Him):
O Death—you have stripped me of an intimate,
You took him forward and left me behind.
Oh! my regret—we shall never meet,
Until we stand before our Lord in ranks.
[H—Mention of His Pledge of Allegiance (Peace be Upon Him) and the Duration of His Appearance:]
The beginning of his affair (Peace be Upon Him) was that Kha lid ibn ʿAbdulla h al-Qasrī claimed a sum of money against Zayd ibn ʿAlī , Muh ammad ibn ʿUmar ibn ʿAlī ibn Abī T a lib, Da wu d ibn ʿAlī ibn ʿAbdulla h ibn al-ʿAbba s, Saʿd ibn Ibra hī m ibn ʿAbd al-Rah ma n ibn ʿAwf, and Ayyu b ibn Salamah ibn ʿAbdulla h ibn al-Walī d ibn al-Mughī rah al-Makhzu mī . So Yu suf ibn ʿUmar ibn Muh ammad ibn al-H akam—the governor of Hisha m over Iraq—wrote concerning them to Hisha m. Zayd ibn ʿAlī and Muh ammad ibn ʿUmar were at that time at al-Rus a fah. When the letters of Yu suf reached Hisha m, he summoned them and mentioned to them what Yu suf had written; they denied it. Hisha m said to them: “We shall send you to him so that he may bring you together with him.” Zayd said: “I adjure you by Allah and by kinship not to send us to Yu suf.” Hisha m said to him: “What is it that you fear from Yu suf?” He said: “I fear that he will transgress against us.” So Hisha m summoned his scribe and wrote to Yu suf: “To proceed: When Zayd and so-and-so and so-and-so arrive to you, then bring them together with him. If they acknowledge what he has claimed against them, then send them back to me. And if they deny it, then ask him for proof; if he does not establish it, then administer to them an oath after the afternoon prayer, by Allah—there is no god but He—that they were not entrusted with a deposit, nor does he have any claim against them; then release them.” They said to Hisha m: “We fear that he will overstep your letter.” He said: “No; I shall send with you a man from the guards to hold him to that until he finishes and hastens.” They said: “May Allah reward you well on behalf of kinship.” So he sent them on to Yu suf, who was at that time in al-H ī rah. They avoided Ayyu b ibn Salamah due to his kinship with Hisha m, and he was not seized in anything of that matter. When they arrived before Yu suf, they entered upon him and greeted him. He seated Zayd near himself and dealt gently with him in questioning. Then he asked them about the money, and they denied it. So Yu suf brought the claimant out to them and said: “This is Zayd ibn ʿAlī and Muh ammad ibn ʿUmar ibn ʿAlī against whom you claimed what you claimed.” He said: “I have against them neither little nor much.” Yu suf said to him: “By my father, were you mocking me and the Commander of the Faithful?” Then he punished him with a punishment such that it was thought he had killed him. Then, after the afternoon prayer, Yu suf brought Zayd and his companions out to the mosque and administered the oath to them. Yu suf wrote to Hisha m informing him of that, and Hisha m wrote back to him: “Release them.” So Yu suf released them. After his departure from Yu suf, Zayd remained in Ku fah for some days. Yu suf began urging him to leave, and he would excuse himself with
preoccupation and with things he was purchasing. He pressed him until he left and went to al-Qa disiyyah.
Then the Shī ʿa met him and said: “Where are you departing from us—may Allah have mercy on you—while with you are one hundred thousand swords from the people of Ku fah, Bas rah, and Khura sa n, with which they would strike the Banu Umayyah on your behalf, and there is before us from the people of al-Sha m only a small number?” He refused them. They continued imploring him until he returned, after they gave him pledges and covenants. Muh ammad ibn ʿUmar ibn ʿAlī said to him: “I remind you by Allah, O Abu al-H usayn, when you joined your family and did not accept the word of any of those who call you—for they will not be faithful to you. Are they not the companions of your grandfather al-H usayn ibn ʿAlī (Peace be Upon Him)?” He said: “Yes.” Yet he refused to turn back. The Shī ʿa and others then came to him in succession, pledging allegiance to him, until his register counted fifteen thousand men from the people of Ku fah alone—excluding the people of al-Mada ʾin, Bas rah, Wa sit , al-Maws il, Khura sa n, al-Rayy, and Jurja n. He remained in Ku fah for several months. He sent his callers to the regions and districts, calling the people to his pledge of allegiance. He sent al-Fud ayl ibn al-Zubayr to Abu H anī fah. Al-Fud ayl said: I came to him and conveyed to him the message of Zayd. He fell silent, not knowing what to reply to me; then he said: “Woe to you—what do you say?” I said: “If he is supported, then striving with him is right.” He said: “And who comes to him in this matter from the jurists of the people?” I said: “Salamah ibn Kuhayl, Yazī d ibn Abī Ziya d, Ha ru n ibn Saʿd, Abu Ha shim al-Rumma nī , H ajja j ibn Dī na r, and others.” He recognized them and said to me: “Go today, and when tomorrow comes, then come to me; do not speak to me a word—only come and sit in a corner, for I shall rise with you; and when I rise, then stand behind me.” So, I came to him the next day. When he saw me, he stood and I followed him. He said: “Convey to him my greeting, and say to him: As for going out with you, I am not able to do so”—and he mentioned an illness he had—“but you have with me assistance and strength for striving against your enemy, so seek aid with it—you and your companions—in mounts and weapons.” He sent it to Zayd, and with it he strengthened his companions. It is said that it was thirty thousand dirhams, and it is said: dinars.
Al-Sayyid Abu al-ʿAbba s—may Allah have mercy upon him—said: Ibn Shubrumah pledged allegiance to him, as did Misʿarah ibn Kida m, al-Aʿmash, al-H asan ibn ʿUma rah, Abu H us ayn, and Qays ibn al-Rabī ʿ.
Those from his family who were present with him at the encounter were: Muh ammad ibn ʿAbdulla h ibn al-H asan al-H asan (al-Nafs al-Zakiyyah), ʿAbdulla h ibn ʿAlī ibn al-H usayn (Peace be Upon Him), his son Yah ya ibn Zayd, and al-ʿAbba s ibn Rabī ʿah from Banu ʿAbd al-Mut t alib. When the time of the uprising of Zayd ibn ʿAlī (Peace be Upon Them Both) drew near, he ordered his companions to prepare and make themselves ready. Those who wished to be faithful began preparing, and this became widely known. Then Sura qah al-Ba riqī went to Yu suf ibn ʿUmar and informed him of the affair of Zayd (Peace be Upon Him). Yu suf sent for
Zayd by night, but he was not found at the house of the two men whom the informant had claimed he was with. So Yu suf brought the two men, and when he questioned them, the matter of Zayd and his companions became clear to him. Yu suf ordered concerning them, and their necks were struck. The news reached Zayd and his companions, so he feared that the road would be seized against him. He therefore hastened the uprising before the appointed time that had been set between him and the people of the regions. Zayd’s emergence thus became settled. He had promised his companions the night of Wednesday, the first night of S afar, in the year one hundred and twenty-two. Yet he went out before the appointed time. This reached Yu suf ibn ʿUmar, so he sent al-H akam ibn al-S alt, ordering him to gather the people of Kufa into the Grand Mosque and confine them there. Al-H akam sent to the tribal chiefs, the police, the guards, and the fighters, and they brought them into the mosque. Then his herald proclaimed: “Any man of the Arabs or the clients whom we find on a journey this night—protection is disavowed from him. Come to the Grand Mosque.” The people came to the mosque on Tuesday, before the emergence of Zayd. They searched for Zayd in the house of Muʿa wiyah ibn Ish a q, but he went out by night—on the night of Wednesday, with seven nights remaining of Muh arram—on a night of intense cold, from the house of Muʿa wiyah ibn Ish a q. They raised fires in the harādī, and they called out with their slogan, the slogan of the Messenger (May Allah bless him and his family and grant them peace): “Yā Manṣūr, amit.” They continued thus until morning. When morning came, Zayd sent al-Qa sim ibn so-and-so al-Tubbaʿī and another man to proclaim their slogan. Yah ya ibn S a lih ibn Yah ya ibn ʿAzī z ibn ʿUmar ibn Ma lik ibn Khuzaymah al-Tubbaʿī named the other man and mentioned that he was S adda m. Saʿī d said: He also met me, and I was a loud-voiced man calling out their slogan. Ibn al-Ja ru d—Ziya d ibn al-Mundhir al-Hamda nī —raised a haradī from their minaret and proclaimed the slogan of Zayd. When they were in the open lands of ʿAbd al-Qays, Jaʿfar ibn al-ʿAbba s al-Kindī encountered them and attacked him and his companions. He killed the man who was with al-Qa sim, and al-Qa sim was gravely wounded. He was brought to al-H akam ibn al-S alt, who spoke to him but he did not reply. His neck was struck at the gate of the palace, and he was the first of them to be killed. His daughter mourned him, saying:
O eye, pour forth for Qāsim ibn Kathīr
Torrents of abundant tears.
The swords of ignoble men overtook him,
From the people of idolatry, ruin, and destruction.
I shall weep for you as long as the dove sings
Upon a fresh and verdant branch.
Yu suf ibn ʿUmar, while in al-Hira, said: “Who will go to Kufa, draw near to these people, and bring us their news?” ʿAbdulla h ibn ʿAyya sh al-Mantu f al-Hamda nī said: “I will bring you their
news.” He rode out with fifty horsemen, went until he reached the cemetery of Sa lim, gathered information, then returned to Yu suf and informed him. When morning came, Yu suf went out to a hill near al-H ī rah, and Quraysh and the notables of the people descended with him. The commander of his police that day was al-ʿAbba s ibn Saʿd al-Muzanī .
He said: I sent al-Rayya n ibn Salamah al-Balawī with about two thousand horsemen and three hundred foot soldiers from the Qayqa niyyah, armed and ready. Zayd ibn ʿAlī and all who joined him that night numbered two hundred and eighteen foot soldiers. Zayd ibn ʿAlī said: “Subh a n Alla h! Where are the people?” It was said: “They are confined in the mosque.” He said: “No—by Allah—this is no excuse for those who pledged allegiance to us.”
He said: Nas r ibn Khuzaymah came forward to Zayd, but ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-Rah ma n—the chief of police of al-H akam ibn al-S alt—met him with horsemen from Juhaynah near the house of al-Zubayr ibn Abī H akī mah, on the road leading to the Mosque of Banu ʿAdī . Nas r called out: “Ya Mans u r, amit,” but ʿUmar did not reply. Nas r attacked him and his companions, killed him, and those with him fled. Zayd advanced until he reached the cemetery of al-S a ʿidiyyī n, where there were five hundred men from the people of al-Sha m. Zayd charged them with his companions and routed them. He then advanced until he reached al-Kana sah and attacked a group of the people of al-Sha m, defeating them. He then drove them back until he emerged at the cemetery, while Yu suf ibn ʿUmar was upon the hill watching Zayd and his companions as they scattered the people. Had Zayd wished to kill Yu suf, he could have done so. Then Zayd turned to the right toward the prayer-place of Kha lid ibn ʿAbdulla h until he entered Kufa.
Some of his companions said to others: “Shall we not go toward the cemetery of Kindah?” No sooner had the man spoken than the people of al-Sha m appeared before them. When they saw them, they entered a narrow alley and passed through it. One man from among them lagged behind and entered the mosque, prayed two rakʿahs, then came out to them and struck them with his sword. They struck him with their swords. Then one of them—a horseman, masked in armor—called out: “Remove the helmet from his head and strike his head with a pole.” They did so and killed the man. His companions charged them, drove them away from him, and the people of al-Sha m seized one man from among them. That man went until he entered upon ʿAbdulla h ibn ʿAwf ibn al-Ah mar; they captured him and took him to Yu suf ibn ʿUmar, who killed him. Zayd ibn ʿAlī turned to Nas r and said: “O Nas r ibn Khuzaymah, do you fear for the people of Kufa that they will act in a H usaynī manner?” He replied: “May Allah ransom me for you—by Allah, I shall strike with this sword of mine alongside you until I die.”
Zayd ibn ʿAlī (Peace be Upon Him) then led them forward toward the mosque. ʿUbaydulla h ibn al-ʿAbba s al-Kindī came out to him with the people of al-Sha m, and they met at the gate of ʿUmar ibn Saʿd. ʿUbaydulla h ibn al-ʿAbba s and his companions fled until they reached the Gate of the Elephant. The companions of Zayd began raising their banners over the gates,
saying: “O people of the mosque, come out!” Nas r ibn Khuzaymah was calling out to them: “O people of Kufa, come out from humiliation to honor, and to religion and the world.” The people of al-Sha m were throwing stones at them from atop the mosque. That day there was skirmishing in Kufa and its surroundings, and it was also said: in the cemetery of Sa lim.
And Yu suf ibn ʿUmar sent al-Rayya n ibn Salamah with cavalry to Da r al-Rizq. They fought Zayd (Peace be Upon Him) with fierce fighting, and many of the people of al-Sha m were wounded. The companions of Zayd drove them back from Da r al-Rizq until they reached the Grand Mosque. The people of al-Sha m withdrew on the evening of Wednesday in the worst state of morale.
When it was the morning of Thursday, Yu suf ibn ʿUmar summoned al-Rayya n ibn Salamah and rebuked him, saying to him: “Fie upon you as a commander of cavalry!” He then summoned al-ʿAbba s ibn Saʿd al-Muzanī , the commander of his police, and sent him to the people of al-Sha m. He marched with them until they reached Zayd ibn ʿAlī (Peace be Upon Him) at Da r al-Rizq. Zayd ibn ʿAlī came out to meet him, with Nas r ibn Khuzaymah and Muʿa wiyah ibn Ish a q on his right flank. When al-ʿAbba s saw them, he called out: “O people of al-Sha m—dismount!” Many of them dismounted, and fierce fighting ensued in the battlefield. Among the people of al-Sha m was a man from Banu ʿAbs called Na ʾil ibn Farwah. He said to Yu suf: “By Allah, if I can set my eyes upon Nas r ibn Khuzaymah, I will surely kill him—or he will kill me.” Yu suf said to him: “Take this sword,” and he handed him a sword that would cut through anything it passed. When the companions of al-ʿAbba s ibn Saʿd met the companions of Zayd, Na ʾil caught sight of Nas r ibn Khuzaymah and struck him, severing his thigh. Nas r struck him in return and killed him; and Nas r—may Allah have mercy upon him—died.
Then Zayd (Peace be Upon Him) routed them, and they withdrew that day in the worst condition. When it was the late afternoon, Yu suf reassembled them and then dispatched them again toward Zayd. They advanced until they met, and Zayd (Peace be Upon Him) charged them, scattering them, then pursued them until he drove them out to the salt flats. He pressed them again until he drove them out from among Banu Sulaym. Then they took the route of al-Masanna t. Zayd (Peace be Upon Him) appeared among them between Ba riq and Banu Rawa s and fought them with intense fighting. The bearer of his banner was a man from Banu Saʿd ibn Bakr called ʿAbd al-S amad.
Saʿī d ibn Khuthaym said: We were with Zayd ibn ʿAlī (Peace be Upon Him) numbering five hundred, while the people of al-Sha m were twelve thousand. Yet more than twelve thousand had pledged allegiance to Zayd (Peace be Upon Him), but they betrayed him—when a man from the people of al-Sha m, from Kalb, rode out on a splendid horse and did not refrain from reviling Fa t imah, the daughter of the Messenger of Allah (May Allah bless him and his family and grant them peace). Zayd (Peace be Upon Him) began to weep until his beard was soaked, and he kept saying: “Is there no one who will become angry for Fa t imah, the daughter of the
Messenger of Allah (May Allah bless him and his family and grant them peace)? Is there no one who will become angry for the Messenger of Allah (May Allah bless him and his family and grant them peace)? Is there no one who will become angry for Allah—Exalted is He?” mThe man from al-Sha m then dismounted from his horse and mounted a mule. The people were in two groups: onlookers and fighters. Saʿī d said: I went to a client of mine and took from him a cloak I had with me, then concealed myself behind the onlookers. When I came up behind him, I struck his neck while firmly gripping the cloak. His head fell before the mule, then I threw his corpse from the saddle. His companions charged at me until they nearly overwhelmed me, but the companions of Zayd cried out “Alla hu akbar” and charged them, rescuing me. I came to Zayd (Peace be Upon Him), and he began kissing me between the eyes, saying: “By Allah, you have exacted our vengeance. By Allah, you have attained the honor of this world and the Hereafter and their treasure. Take the mule—I grant it to you as spoils.”
He said: The cavalry of al-Sha m could not stand firm against the cavalry of Zayd (Peace be Upon Him). Al-ʿAbba s ibn Saʿd sent to Yu suf informing him of what he was facing from the Zaydī s and asked him to send archers. He sent to him Sulayma n ibn Kaysa n with the Qayqa niyyah—who were Bukha rans—and they were archers. They began shooting at the companions of Zayd. Muʿa wiyah ibn Ish a q al-Ans a rī fought that day with fierce fighting and was killed in front of Zayd (Peace be Upon Him). Zayd stood firm among his companions until, when it was near the onset of night, Zayd was struck by an arrow that hit his left forehead. The arrow penetrated into the brain. He withdrew, and his companions withdrew with him. We do not think the people of al-Sha m withdrew except because of the darkness of the night.
[W—His Children (Peace be Upon Him):]
Al-Sayyid Abu T a lib (Peace be Upon Him) mentioned Yah ya ibn Zayd—his mother was Ra ʾit ah; it is also said: Rayt ah, daughter of Abu Ha shim ʿAbdulla h ibn Muh ammad ibn al-H anafiyyah. He left no offspring. And ʿI sa , Muh ammad, and al-H usayn—their mother was one and the same, a bondwoman; and from her he had these three sons among his children (Peace be Upon Him).
[Z—His Martyrdom and the Extent of His Age (Peace be Upon Him):]
Da wu d ibn Kaysa n, from among the companions of Yu suf ibn ʿUmar, shot him with an arrow, which struck his forehead. A physician was summoned for him and informed him that if it were removed, he would die immediately. He (Peace be Upon Him) said: “Death is easier for me than what I am in.” So he (Peace be Upon Him) delivered his covenant and made his bequest. Among his bequest to his son Yah ya (Peace be Upon Him) was that he said: “My son, strive against them; for by Allah, you are upon the truth and they are upon falsehood. Your slain are in Paradise and their slain are in the Fire.” Then the arrow was removed from him, and he passed away at once—peace from Allah be upon him. That occurred on the eve of Friday, with five nights remaining of Muh arram, in the year one hundred and twenty-two,
according to the soundest reports; and it is said: the year one hundred and twenty-one, which is what al-ʿAqī qī mentioned. Al-Sayyid Abu T a lib (Peace be Upon Him) related all of that.
When he (Peace be Upon Him) passed away, his companions differed regarding his burial. Then they agreed to divert a river from its course, dig a grave for him, bury him, and let the water flow over that place. With them at that time was a Sindhi youth. When morning came, a herald of Yu suf ibn ʿUmar proclaimed: “Whoever points out the grave of Zayd ibn ʿAlī shall have such-and-such an amount of wealth.” That youth pointed them to it. They extracted him (Peace be Upon Him) from his grave, severed his head, sent it to Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik, and crucified his body at al-Kana sah.
There appeared upon his crucified body signs of honor that indicate the loftiness of his station with Allah—Exalted is He. Among them is what was narrated: that a spider would weave over his nakedness by night; and when morning came, they—may Allah curse them—would tear its weaving with spears.
Among them is that a believing woman passed by and cast her veil upon him; by the will of Allah—Exalted is He—it became fastened, so they climbed up and untied it, whereupon his navel slackened until it covered his nakedness. And a man passed by and pointed at him with his finger, saying: “This is the immoral one, son of an immoral one,” and his finger vanished into his palm.
Among them is what was narrated: that two white birds came; one alighted upon one palace and the other upon another palace. One of them said to the other:
Do you announce Zayd’s death, or shall I announce it?
The killer of Zayd—no salvation for him.
The other replied: Woe to him—he sold his Hereafter for his worldly life.
It is also narrated that two men from Banu D abbah came, each holding the hand of the other, until they stood opposite the plank of Zayd ibn ʿAlī (Peace be Upon Them Both). One of them struck the plank with his hand while saying: “The recompense of those who wage war against Allah and His Messenger and strive upon the earth with corruption is that they be killed or crucified, or that their hands and feet be cut off from opposite sides, or that they be exiled from the land.” [Al-Māʾidah: 33] He then attempted to bend his hand, whereupon it was consumed by gangrene; his side collapsed, and he died—into the Fire.
When the head of Zayd ibn ʿAlī (Peace be Upon Them Both) was sent to Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik, he forwarded it to the City of the Messenger (May Allah bless him and his family and grant them peace), to Ibra hī m ibn Ha shim al-Makhzu mī . He erected the head. People of Madī nah spoke to Ibra hī m and said: “Do not erect his head,” but he refused. Madī nah resounded with weeping from the houses of Banu Ha shim as on the day of al-H usayn (Peace
be Upon Him). When Kathī r ibn Kathī r ibn al-Mut t alib al-Sahmī looked upon the head of Zayd ibn ʿAlī (Peace be Upon Him), he wept and said: “May Allah illumine your face, O Abu al-H usayn, and deal with your killer.” This reached Ibra hī m ibn Hisha m. The mother of al-Mut t alib was Arwa bint al-H a rith ibn ʿAbd al-Mut t alib, and Kathī r inclined greatly toward Banu Ha shim. Ibra hī m said to him: “It has reached me from you such-and-such.” He replied: “It is as has reached you.” So he imprisoned him and wrote to Hisha m. While imprisoned, he said:
If a man’s faults be
His love for the Prophet—without sin,
And likewise the sons of Ḥasan, whose father
Was pure in wombs and loins;
They deem it a sin that I love you,
Yet your love is the expiation of sin.
Ibra hī m wrote concerning him to Hisha m, and Hisha m wrote back to him: “Set him upon the pulpit and have him curse ʿAlī and Zayd; if he does so, then [leave him], otherwise strike him one hundred lashes upon one hundred.” He ordered him to curse ʿAlī . He ascended the pulpit and said:
May Allah curse the one who reviles ʿAlī
And his sons—whether commoner or leader.
Birds and doves feel secure, yet the family
Of the Prophet is not secure at the Station.
Blessed is your abode, and blessed your people—
The household of the Prophet and of Islam.
Welcome to the purified among mankind,
The people of lawful rites and consecration.
The mercy of Allah and peace be upon you,
Whenever one rises greeting with peace.
And we have narrated from ʿI sa ibn Sawa dah, who said: I was in Madī nah at the grave, at the head of the Prophet (May Allah bless him and his family and grant them peace), when the head of Zayd ibn ʿAlī (Peace be Upon Them Both) was brought with a group of his companions. It was erected at the rear of the mosque upon a spear, and it was proclaimed among the people
of Madī nah: “Protection is disavowed from any man who has reached maturity and does not attend the mosque.” So the people—strangers and others—were herded. We remained for seven days. The governor, Muh ammad ibn Hisha m al-Makhzu mī , would go out, and the preachers who stood by the heads would rise and deliver sermons, cursing ʿAlī , al-H usayn, Zayd, and their followers. When they finished, the tribes—Arabs and non-Arabs—would rise; Banu ʿUthma n were the first to rise and curse, then the clans of Quraysh, the Ans a r, and the rest of the people. When the noon prayer was performed, they would depart, then return the next day in the same manner—for seven days. A man from Quraysh stood on one of those days; he was Muh ammad ibn S afwa n al-Jumah ī , the father of this judge, the judge of Abu Jaʿfar. Muh ammad ibn Hisha m said to him: “Sit down.” He then rose again without being called, so Muh ammad ibn Hisha m said to him: “Sit down.” He replied: “This is a position not undertaken at every hour.” He said: “Then speak.” He began his sermon, then proceeded to curse ʿAlī (Peace be Upon Him) and his household, al-H usayn ibn ʿAlī , Zayd ibn ʿAlī (Peace be Upon Them All), and those who loved them. While he was doing so, he placed his hand upon his head and fell to the ground. I thought his sermon had ended, and I did not know what had occurred until night fell and the news spread: Allah—Exalted is He—had struck his head with a headache so severe that he could not control it, until his eyesight was taken from him at that very moment. There was a man leaning against the grave who struck his hand toward me in alarm. I said: “What did you see?” He said: “I saw the grave split open, and a man came out of it wearing white garments. He faced the pulpit and said: ‘You have lied—may Allah curse you.’” And from Shabī b ibn Gharqad, who said: We arrived as pilgrims from Makkah and entered al-Kana sah by night. When we were near the plank of Zayd ibn ʿAlī (Peace be Upon Them Both), the night became illuminated for us. We continued walking near his plank, and the fragrance of musk wafted to us. I said to my companion: “Is this how the smell of the crucified is found?” A voice called out to me, saying: “Thus is found the fragrance of the children of the prophets—those who judge by the truth and act justly by it.”
And we have narrated from H afs ibn ʿA s im al-Sulu lī , who said: Ah mad ibn Isma ʿī l ibn al-Yasaʿ al-ʿA mirī narrated to us—he was in Da r al-Luʾluʾ—he said: I saw ʿArzama h, the brother of Kana sah al-Asadī , and he was among the most handsome of men and the finest in appearance. Every day he would go to al-Kana sah and sit by those who guarded the plank of Zayd ibn ʿAlī (Peace be Upon Them Both). There was there a gathering of the Asadī s. On his way he would pick up seven small stones, then come and sit among the people, and say: “Here—into his eye.” He would pelt Zayd ibn ʿAlī (Peace be Upon Him) with those seven stones every day. Isma ʿī l ibn al-Yasaʿ said: By Him besides whom there is no god, he did not die until I saw his eyes swollen, as if they were two green glass bottles.
Zayd ibn ʿAlī (Peace be Upon Them Both) remained crucified upon the plank for a year and some months; it is also said: days; and it is said: two years. Al-Sayyid Abu T a lib (Peace be Upon Him) mentioned this.
And we have narrated through the route of al-Murshid bi-lla h (Peace be Upon Him), raising it to his men, that he remained crucified until the days of al-Walī d ibn Yazī d. When Yah ya ibn Zayd appeared, al-Walī d wrote to Yu suf: “To proceed: when this letter of mine reaches you, look to the hastened matter of the people of Iraq—burn him and scatter him into the sea, scattering.” So Yu suf then ordered Khara sh ibn H awshab to take him down from his trunk, burn him with fire, then place him in sacks, load him onto a boat, and scatter him into the Euphrates—peace from Allah be upon him and upon his pure forefathers.
The Shī ʿa narrated that his ashes gathered in the Euphrates until they became like a lunar halo, shining with intense light; and the place of that is known, and healing is sought there.
Hisha m—may Allah curse him—when his head was brought to him, cast it among the chickens. One of the people of al-Sha m said: “Drive the rooster away from the forelock of Zayd, for the chickens do not tread upon it.” A poet of Banu Umayyah boasted of his killing and crucifixion, saying:
We crucified for you Zayd upon a palm trunk,
And we saw no Mahdī crucified upon a trunk.
Allah—Exalted is He—then enabled the minister of the family of Muh ammad, Abu H afs al-Khalla l al-Sabī ʿī , to crucify Hisha m ibn ʿAbd al-Malik, strike him, and burn him. That was because when Hisha m died, they coated him with aloes so that he would not decay. The Shī ʿa found him when they exhumed him just as he had been buried. One of the poets of that era said, in a verse praising Imam al-Mans u r bi-lla h (Peace be Upon Him):
How often the preservation of a body was its ruin,
As aloes harmed the body of Hishām.
And Abu Thumaylah al-Anba rī elegized Zayd ibn ʿAlī (Peace be Upon Them Both), saying:
O Abū al-Ḥusayn, your loss has lent grief its burning,
Whoever meets what I have met from it.
Sleeplessness raged—had it been for other than you,
Fate would have aimed it where it aimed, unseen.
I became, after you, like one stricken, and at times
I resembled, at evening, the act of the inflamed-eyed.
We say: Do not go far—your distance is our ailment,
And so is it that whoever meets death goes far.
You were the one hoped for in great resolves and reason,
Expected for the affair of the wavering community.
You were killed when every contender had grown weary,
And you ascended to the heights with every ascender.
You sought the utmost of the forerunners’ goal and attained it,
By Allah, upon the ways of a noble source.
Your Lord refused that you should die without having gone
Among them with the conduct of a truthful helper.
Killing in the path of Allah is a trait
Among you, and a taking hold of the noblest deeds.
The wild beasts are safe, while the family of Muḥammad
Are between one slain and one driven away.
Erected when darkness casts its veils,
The doves sleep, while his night does not sleep.
Would that I knew—though calamities are many—
The causes of what leads on, and what does not.
What is the proof of those who rejoiced at his killing
Yesterday—or what is the excuse of the people of the mosque?
And al-Sayyid al-Murshid bi-lla h Abu al-H usayn Yah ya ibn al-H usayn al-Jurja nī al-H usaynī (Peace be Upon Him) narrated to al-Fad l ibn ʿAbd al-Rah ma n ibn al-ʿAbba s an elegy for Zayd ibn ʿAlī (Peace be Upon Them Both):
O eye—then rejoice and pour forth,
With your tears; this is no time for dryness,
Nor a time for feigned endurance—so let them flow;
How could your tears remain after Zayd?
After the son of the Prophet, Abū al-Ḥusayn,
Crucified at al-Kanāsah upon a trunk?
He passes the day upon their pillar and greets the night—
May my soul be ransomed—bones upon the pillar.
The tyrannical unbeliever transgressed against him,
So he brought him out from the narrow grave.
They continued exhuming Abū al-Ḥusayn,
Stained among them with flowing blood.
Their wanton play in arrogance grew long,
Yet they had no power over the exalted soul.So he dwells in the gardens beside the sons of his father,
And their forefathers—the best of grandfathers.
How many, for Abū al-Ḥusayn, are there of fathers
Among the martyrs, or a martyred uncle,
And among the sons of uncles—many shall meet,
They are more entitled to him at the place of arrival,
The arrival at the Basin on the day he repels from it,
And prevents the tyrant, the obstinate, from it,
And he turns away his party—all of them—with him,
Thirsty, driven toward the putrid drink.
He was called by a people who broke faith with his father,
Al-Ḥusayn, after the firm sealing of covenants:
“You burden us and detain us in ingratitude,
And make us Umayyah in shackles.”
You covet our affection—never!
For among us, Umayyah has no beloved.
They said: “We do not believe them in speech,”
Nor did they accept counsel from the rightly guided.
Some of them equated him with others,
A faction of the people in the very fuel.
So, we are like those of us who have passed,
And you are like your Shīʿa among the people of scarred cheeks.
The calamity of Zayd has prevented sleep,
And his loss has taken away the savor of rest.
They have become enamored of killing the sons of ʿAlī,
And have plunged into their far-reaching error.
How many a martyr there was on that day—
Upon you, O Umayyah, are witnesses:
From your very selves, when the truth speaks,
From among your ears—and your skins.
Nor do I despair that you will become,
Swine—and in the forms of apes.
And for Abu al-Qa sim Isma ʿī l ibn ʿAbba d—may Allah benefit him by righteous deeds—he said:
Streaks of gray have appeared upon my head,
And it is time for diversion to be refined and divorced.
There is no diversion with a grief that restrains me,
On the day of Zayd—and some grief is restraint.
When he saw that the right of the religion was cast aside,
And divided as plunder and obliteration,
And that the affair of Hishām, in his tyranny,
Was increasing in evil—and that the filth was heretical,
The Imam rose by the right of Allah—stirred by him
Love of the religion; indeed the religion is beloved.
He called to what his forefathers had called to before, Toward it—and he is regarded by Allah’s eye.
When my ardors fell upon him—and did not— No creature among creation could impede him.
Son of the Prophet—yes; son of the Executor—yes; Son of the martyr—yes; and the statement is true.
They were not satisfied by killing him until they assailed him With killing, crucifixion, burning, and drowning.