[A\u2014Who Is Imam Zayd:]
He is Zayd ibn \u02bfAl\u012b , son of the Master of the worshippers \u02bfAl\u012b 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 \u02bfAl\u012b ibn Ab\u012b T a lib (Peace be Upon Them). Beneath his lineage lies the cleaving of the radiant dawn\u2014rather, 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, \u02bfAl\u012b 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: \u201cIf it is the Day of Resurrection, a caller will call out: Let the Master of the worshippers arise; so \u02bfAl\u012b ibn al-H usayn will arise.\u201d
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 \u02bfAl\u012b ibn Ab\u012b 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: \u201cO Master of the Arabs,\u201d so he said (May Allah bless him and his family and grant them peace): \u201cI am the Master of the children of Adam, and \u02bfAl\u012b is the Master of the Arabs.\u201d
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 \u02bfAl\u012b ibn al-\u1e24usayn ibn \u02bfAl\u012b.
His mother was a bondwoman whose name was Jayda . Al-Mukhta r ibn Ab\u012b \u02bfUbayd purchased her for thirty thousand dirhams and said: \u201cI do not see anyone more entitled to you than \u02bfAl\u012b ibn al-H usayn (Peace be Upon Him),\u201d 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: \u201cI want the shaykh,\u201d 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: \u201cI 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 r\u012b , 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: \u2018O \u02bfAl\u012b , name the child born from her Zayd.\u2019 We had not yet risen when al-Mukhta r sent the mother of Zayd, having purchased her for thirty thousand.\u201d
It is also narrated that \u02bfAl\u012b 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: \u201cWhat do you think I should name this newborn?\u201d Each of them said: \u201cName him such-and-such.\u201d He said: \u201cO boy, bring me the Mus h af.\u201d 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: \u201cAllah has preferred the strivers over those who sit back with a tremendous reward\u201d [Al-Nis\u0101\u02be: 95]. Then he closed it, then opened it a second time and looked at the first verse on the page: \u201cIndeed 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\u2014a true promise binding upon Him in the Torah, the Gospel, and the Qur\u2019an. And who is more faithful to his covenant than Allah?\u201d [Al-Tawbah: 111]. He said: \u201cBy Allah, he is Zayd,\u201d so he was named Zayd. \u2026 And his birth (Peace be Upon Him) was in the year seventy-five.
[B\u2014His 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 Mad\u012b nah as the Ally of the Qur\u2019an. Kha lid ibn S afwa n said: Eloquence, oratory, asceticism, and worship from Banu Ha shim culminated in Zayd ibn \u02bfAl\u012b (Peace be Upon Him). I witnessed him in the presence of Hisha m ibn \u02bfAbd 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 \u02bfAl\u012b (Peace be Upon Him) who said: Whenever I saw Zayd ibn \u02bfAl\u012b , 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\u2014Mention 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 Mad\u012b nah as the Ally of the Qur\u2019an; 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 \u02bfAl\u012b ibn Ab\u012b 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 \u02bfAl\u012b (Peace be Upon Him) and the crucifixion of his son Zayd ibn \u02bfAl\u012b (Peace be Upon Them Both), I said: O Messenger of Allah, are you pleased that your offspring should be killed? He said: \u201cO \u02bfAl\u012b , 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\u2014Exalted is He\u2014and their deeds are presented to me.\u201d Then he raised his hands to the sky and said: \u201cO \u02bfAl\u012b , 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.\u201d He said: So Jibr\u012b l (Peace be Upon Him) came to me while I was supplicating against them and you were affirming, and he said: \u201cYour supplication has been answered.\u201d
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: \u201cA man from my Household will be
crucified in Ku fah, naked; no one deliberately looks at his nakedness except that Allah\u2014Exalted is He\u2014will blind him on the Day of Resurrection.\u201d
And with a chain of transmission to Abu Dharr al-Ghifa r\u012b (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\u2014you have severed the ligaments of my heart with your weeping. He said: \u201cMay 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 \u02bfAl\u012b ; my beloved Jibr\u012b 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\u2014or the color of silver\u2014eating, drinking, and enjoying themselves, and some of them will say to others: \u2018Go to your master, the Commander of the Faithful, so that we may see how he gives drink to his followers.\u2019\u201d He said: \u201cSo 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.\u201d He said: \u201cWhile they are riding, some of them will say to others: \u2018By Allah, we see people who were not with us in the battle.\u2019\u201d He said: \u201cSo Zayd (Peace be Upon Him) will hear and say: \u2018By Allah, these participated with you in what you were upon in the world, just as people participated who came after the Battle of S iff\u012b n; and indeed they are your brothers today and your partners.\u2019\u201d
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: \u201cThe 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\u2014this one is named so.\u201d Then he drew Zayd ibn H a rithah close to him and said: \u201cO Zayd, indeed your name has increased you in love with me; he is named after the beloved from my Household.\u201d
And we have narrated from him (May Allah bless him and his family and grant them peace) that he said: \u201cA 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.\u201d
And we have narrated from H ayyah al-\u02bfAran\u012b , who said: I was with the Commander of the Faithful (Peace be Upon Him)\u2014I and al-As bagh ibn Nuba tah\u2014at 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: \u201cMay my father and mother be ransomed for him.\u201d 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: \u201cA child will be
born to me\u2014his father was not yet born\u2014who will meet Allah angry with him and pleased with him, firmly upon the truth, upon the religion of Jibr\u012b l and M\u012b ka \u02be\u012b 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\u2014may the prayers of Allah be upon his soul and upon the souls that are taken with him.\u201d
And we have narrated from Ibn \u02bfAbba s (Peace be Upon Him), who said: While \u02bfAl\u012b (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\u2014then he mentioned a long narration, in which he said:
\u201cO \u02bfAl\u012b , how will you be when the cross-eyed, repulsive one\u2014the unbelieving, base one\u2014assumes authority? Then the best of the people of the earth, from its length and breadth, will rise against him.\u201d I said: O Messenger of Allah, who is he? He said: \u201cO \u02bfAl\u012b , 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\u2014Exalted is He\u2014to the gardens.\u201d
And we have narrated, with a chain of transmission, from Ja\u02bffar ibn Muh ammad, from his father, from his grandfather, from al-H usayn ibn \u02bfAl\u012b (Peace be Upon Them Both), that \u02bfAl\u012b , 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: \u201cThen Hisha m shall rule for nineteen years, and the land of Rus a fah shall conceal him\u2014laid 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\u2014Zayd\u2014in the loftiest summit of the highest degrees. If Zayd is killed, then it is upon the way of his father.
Then comes al-Wal\u012b d: a Pharaoh, vile, wretched, not felicitous. How stripped and slain he is! Its corrupter is al-Wal\u012b d, its unbeliever is Yaz\u012b 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.\u201d
And we have narrated from the Commander of the Faithful \u02bfAl\u012b ibn Ab\u012b T a lib (Peace be Upon Him) that he said: \u201cThere shall emerge from me, in the outskirts of Ku fah, a man called Zayd, in the majesty of sovereignty\u2014and 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\u2014he and his companions\u2014with scrolls, then they shall stride over the necks of creation.\u201d He said: \u201cSo 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\u2014enter Paradise without reckoning.\u201d
And we have narrated from the Commander of the Faithful (Peace be Upon Him) that he said: \u201cThe 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\u2014he is the Imam of the strivers and the leader of the radiant, marked ones. He shall come on the Day of Resurrection\u2014he and his companions\u2014and the angels brought near shall meet them, calling out to them: Enter Paradise; no fear shall be upon you, nor shall you grieve.\u201d
And we have narrated from Abu Sa\u02bf\u012b d al-Khudr\u012b (Peace be Upon Him) that he said: The Messenger (May Allah bless him and his family and grant them peace) said: \u201cI 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\u2014so upon his killer is the curse of Allah.\u201d And in another report: \u201cSo upon the one who crucified him is the curse of Allah.\u201d
And we have narrated from Abu Ghassa n al-Azd\u012b , who said: Zayd ibn \u02bfAl\u012b (Peace be Upon Him) came to us in Levant during the days of Hisha m ibn \u02bfAbd 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-\u1e24amd and Su rat al-Baqarah, flowing forth abundantly. And he mentioned the Book, saying therein: \u201cKnow\u2014may Allah have mercy upon you\u2014that the Qur\u2019an, 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\u2014never worn by repeated recitation\u2014astonishing, whose wonders never cease, and beneficial, whose benefits never end. The Qur\u2019an 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 ta\u02bew\u012b l known only to Allah\u2014and that is what is to be of what has not yet been.\u201d
\u201cAnd know\u2014may Allah have mercy upon you\u2014that the Qur\u2019an 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.\u201d
And we have also narrated, with a trustworthy chain of transmission, that Zayd ibn \u02bfAl\u012b (Peace be Upon Them Both) asked Muh ammad ibn \u02bfAl\u012b al-Ba qir (Peace be Upon Him) for a book that had belonged to his father. He said: So Muh ammad ibn \u02bfAl\u012b said: Yes\u2014then 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\u2019s 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\u2019s book? He said: Yes\u2014I 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 \u02bfAbdulla h, who said: I accompanied \u02bfAl\u012b ibn al-H usayn (Peace be Upon Him), Abu Ja\u02bffar (Peace be Upon Him), Zayd ibn \u02bfAl\u012b (Peace be Upon Him), \u02bfAbdulla h ibn al-H asan (Peace be Upon Him), and Ja\u02bffar ibn Muh ammad (Peace be Upon Him)\u2014and I did not see among them anyone more prompt in reply than Zayd ibn \u02bfAl\u012b (Peace be Upon Him).
And we have narrated from Sa\u02bf\u012b d ibn Khuthaym, who said: When a man spoke to Zayd ibn \u02bfAl\u012b (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 Ja\u02bffar Muh ammad ibn \u02bfAl\u012b (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 \u02bfAl\u012b (Peace be Upon Him) entered, and his clothes were soaked. Abu Ja\u02bffar said to him: May my soul be ransomed for you\u2014enter, pour water over yourself, then come out to us. He said: So he came out to us graciously. Then Abu Ja\u02bffar 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 Ja\u02bffar and saw it radiant with joy. Then Abu Ja\u02bffar turned to us and said: \u201cO Abu al-Sudayr, this\u2014by Allah\u2014is the master of Banu Ha shim. If he calls you, then answer him; and if he seeks your help, then help him.\u201d
And with a trustworthy chain of transmission to Abu al-Ja ru d, that Zayd ibn \u02bfAl\u012b (Peace be Upon Them Both) delivered a sermon to his companions when he rose publicly, and he said:
\u201cAll 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\u2014the truthful Muh ammad (May Allah bless him and his family and grant them peace)\u2014and 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\u2014except 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\u2014Exalted is He\u2014says: \u201cThat they may gain understanding in the religion and warn their people when they return to them, so that they may beware\u201d [Al-Tawbah: 122], and \u201cAnd do not be like those who say: \u2018We hear,\u2019 while they do not hear\u201d [Al-Anf\u0101l: 21], and \u201cAnd do not be like those who became divided and differed after clear proofs had come to them; and those\u2014for them is a tremendous punishment\u201d [\u0100l \u02bfImr\u0101n: 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\u2014thus 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\u2014but 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\u2014unifying, not divisive; just, not oppressive\u2014and 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\u2014then 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\u2014then 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 \u02bfAl\u012b ibn Ab\u012b 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\u2014then 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\u2014insight.\u201d
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: \u201cYes. Indeed most of those you see\u2014this world has captivated their souls, and greed has destroyed them\u2014except 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.\u201d
And we have narrated, with a chain of transmission, from \u02bfUmar ibn S a lih al-\u02bfIjl\u012b , who said: I heard Zayd ibn \u02bfAl\u012b (Peace be Upon Them Both) say in his sermon: \u201cAll 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\u2014if you obey Him\u2014you do not increase Allah\u2014Exalted is He\u2014in anything, and\u2014if you disobey Him\u2014you 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.\u201d
And we have narrated from Ja\u02bffar ibn Muh ammad (Peace be Upon Him), who said: My uncle Zayd ibn \u02bfAl\u012b (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: \u201cTo proceed: Indeed, we are dead, sons of the dead, fathers of the dead\u2014so how astonishing that a dead one consoles a dead one over a dead one. And peace.\u201d
And with a trustworthy chain of transmission from some of them, he said: Abu Kha lid al-Wa sit \u012b and Abu H amzah al-Thuma l\u012b informed me. They said: We composed a written epistle as a response to the people. Then we went out to Mad\u012b nah and entered upon Muh ammad ibn \u02bfAl\u012b (Peace be Upon Him) and said to him: May we be ransomed for you\u2014we 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\u2014we 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:
\u201cO Abu H amzah\u2014and you, O Abu Kha lid\u2014you have exerted yourselves, but it is broken against you. As for the first letter, the response in it is such-and-such.\u201d He continued reviewing it until he reached its end, letter by letter. By Allah, we did not know which to marvel at more\u2014his 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 \u02bfAl\u012b (Peace be Upon Him) and informed him of what had occurred with Zayd. He said: \u201cO Abu Kha lid\u2014and you, O Abu H amzah\u2014indeed my father summoned Zayd, had him recite the Qur\u2019an, 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\u2014and you, O Abu H amzah\u2014indeed Zayd has been granted a vast share of knowledge beyond us.\u201d
And we have narrated from Kha lid ibn S afwa n al-Yama m\u012b , who said: We came to Zayd ibn \u02bfAl\u012b (Peace be Upon Him) while he was then at al-Rus a fah\u2014the Rus a fah of Hisha m ibn \u02bfAbd 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 \u02bfAl\u012b in the gathering and said: Indeed Allah is with the Jamaa\u2019, and indeed the people of the Jamaa\u2019 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 \u02bfAl\u012b 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\u2014I have not heard a Qurash\u012b 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\u2014Exalted is He\u2014and 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\u2019, and the many in disobedience are the people of innovations.
Kha lid ibn S afwa n said: The man from al-Sha m despaired\u2014neither sweet nor bitter\u2014and 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\u2014and deal with us\u2014you 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 Qurash\u012b nor an Arab who surpasses Zayd ibn \u02bfAl\u012b (Peace be Upon Him) in intellect and proofs.
And we have narrated from \u02bfAbdulla h ibn Muh ammad ibn al-H anafiyyah, who said: If \u02bfI sa ibn Maryam (Peace be Upon Him) were to descend, he would inform you that Zayd ibn \u02bfAl\u012b (Peace be Upon Him) is the best of those who have trodden upon the surface of the earth. And indeed Zayd ibn \u02bfAl\u012b knew the Qur\u2019an in a manner from which Abu Ja\u02bffar did not know it. I said: How is that? He said: Because Abu Ja\u02bffar took it from the mouths of men, whereas Zayd ibn \u02bfAl\u012b was granted its understanding.
[D\u2014His 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\u2014by 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\u2014if I should perish\u2014then 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 \u02bfAl\u012b (Peace be Upon Him):
O Death\u2014you have stripped me of an intimate,
You took him forward and left me behind.
Oh! my regret\u2014we shall never meet,
Until we stand before our Lord in ranks.
[H\u2014Mention 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 \u02bfAbdulla h al-Qasr\u012b claimed a sum of money against Zayd ibn \u02bfAl\u012b , Muh ammad ibn \u02bfUmar ibn \u02bfAl\u012b ibn Ab\u012b T a lib, Da wu d ibn \u02bfAl\u012b ibn \u02bfAbdulla h ibn al-\u02bfAbba s, Sa\u02bfd ibn Ibra h\u012b m ibn \u02bfAbd al-Rah ma n ibn \u02bfAwf, and Ayyu b ibn Salamah ibn \u02bfAbdulla h ibn al-Wal\u012b d ibn al-Mugh\u012b rah al-Makhzu m\u012b . So Yu suf ibn \u02bfUmar ibn Muh ammad ibn al-H akam\u2014the governor of Hisha m over Iraq\u2014wrote concerning them to Hisha m. Zayd ibn \u02bfAl\u012b and Muh ammad ibn \u02bfUmar 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: \u201cWe shall send you to him so that he may bring you together with him.\u201d Zayd said: \u201cI adjure you by Allah and by kinship not to send us to Yu suf.\u201d Hisha m said to him: \u201cWhat is it that you fear from Yu suf?\u201d He said: \u201cI fear that he will transgress against us.\u201d So Hisha m summoned his scribe and wrote to Yu suf: \u201cTo 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\u2014there is no god but He\u2014that they were not entrusted with a deposit, nor does he have any claim against them; then release them.\u201d They said to Hisha m: \u201cWe fear that he will overstep your letter.\u201d He said: \u201cNo; I shall send with you a man from the guards to hold him to that until he finishes and hastens.\u201d They said: \u201cMay Allah reward you well on behalf of kinship.\u201d So he sent them on to Yu suf, who was at that time in al-H \u012b 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: \u201cThis is Zayd ibn \u02bfAl\u012b and Muh ammad ibn \u02bfUmar ibn \u02bfAl\u012b against whom you claimed what you claimed.\u201d He said: \u201cI have against them neither little nor much.\u201d Yu suf said to him: \u201cBy my father, were you mocking me and the Commander of the Faithful?\u201d 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: \u201cRelease them.\u201d 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 Sh\u012b \u02bfa met him and said: \u201cWhere are you departing from us\u2014may Allah have mercy on you\u2014while 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?\u201d He refused them. They continued imploring him until he returned, after they gave him pledges and covenants. Muh ammad ibn \u02bfUmar ibn \u02bfAl\u012b said to him: \u201cI 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\u2014for they will not be faithful to you. Are they not the companions of your grandfather al-H usayn ibn \u02bfAl\u012b (Peace be Upon Him)?\u201d He said: \u201cYes.\u201d Yet he refused to turn back. The Sh\u012b \u02bfa 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\u2014excluding the people of al-Mada \u02bein, 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 an\u012b 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: \u201cWoe to you\u2014what do you say?\u201d I said: \u201cIf he is supported, then striving with him is right.\u201d He said: \u201cAnd who comes to him in this matter from the jurists of the people?\u201d I said: \u201cSalamah ibn Kuhayl, Yaz\u012b d ibn Ab\u012b Ziya d, Ha ru n ibn Sa\u02bfd, Abu Ha shim al-Rumma n\u012b , H ajja j ibn D\u012b na r, and others.\u201d He recognized them and said to me: \u201cGo today, and when tomorrow comes, then come to me; do not speak to me a word\u2014only come and sit in a corner, for I shall rise with you; and when I rise, then stand behind me.\u201d So, I came to him the next day. When he saw me, he stood and I followed him. He said: \u201cConvey to him my greeting, and say to him: As for going out with you, I am not able to do so\u201d\u2014and he mentioned an illness he had\u2014\u201cbut you have with me assistance and strength for striving against your enemy, so seek aid with it\u2014you and your companions\u2014in mounts and weapons.\u201d 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-\u02bfAbba s\u2014may Allah have mercy upon him\u2014said: Ibn Shubrumah pledged allegiance to him, as did Mis\u02bfarah ibn Kida m, al-A\u02bfmash, al-H asan ibn \u02bfUma rah, Abu H us ayn, and Qays ibn al-Rab\u012b \u02bf.
Those from his family who were present with him at the encounter were: Muh ammad ibn \u02bfAbdulla h ibn al-H asan al-H asan (al-Nafs al-Zakiyyah), \u02bfAbdulla h ibn \u02bfAl\u012b ibn al-H usayn (Peace be Upon Him), his son Yah ya ibn Zayd, and al-\u02bfAbba s ibn Rab\u012b \u02bfah from Banu \u02bfAbd al-Mut t alib. When the time of the uprising of Zayd ibn \u02bfAl\u012b (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 riq\u012b went to Yu suf ibn \u02bfUmar 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\u2019s 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 \u02bfUmar, 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: \u201cAny man of the Arabs or the clients whom we find on a journey this night\u2014protection is disavowed from him. Come to the Grand Mosque.\u201d The people came to the mosque on Tuesday, before the emergence of Zayd. They searched for Zayd in the house of Mu\u02bfa wiyah ibn Ish a q, but he went out by night\u2014on the night of Wednesday, with seven nights remaining of Muh arram\u2014on a night of intense cold, from the house of Mu\u02bfa wiyah ibn Ish a q. They raised fires in the har\u0101d\u012b, and they called out with their slogan, the slogan of the Messenger (May Allah bless him and his family and grant them peace): \u201cY\u0101 Man\u1e63\u016br, amit.\u201d They continued thus until morning. When morning came, Zayd sent al-Qa sim ibn so-and-so al-Tubba\u02bf\u012b and another man to proclaim their slogan. Yah ya ibn S a lih ibn Yah ya ibn \u02bfAz\u012b z ibn \u02bfUmar ibn Ma lik ibn Khuzaymah al-Tubba\u02bf\u012b named the other man and mentioned that he was S adda m. Sa\u02bf\u012b d said: He also met me, and I was a loud-voiced man calling out their slogan. Ibn al-Ja ru d\u2014Ziya d ibn al-Mundhir al-Hamda n\u012b \u2014raised a harad\u012b from their minaret and proclaimed the slogan of Zayd. When they were in the open lands of \u02bfAbd al-Qays, Ja\u02bffar ibn al-\u02bfAbba s al-Kind\u012b 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 Q\u0101sim ibn Kath\u012br
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 \u02bfUmar, while in al-Hira, said: \u201cWho will go to Kufa, draw near to these people, and bring us their news?\u201d \u02bfAbdulla h ibn \u02bfAyya sh al-Mantu f al-Hamda n\u012b said: \u201cI will bring you their
news.\u201d 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 \u012b rah, and Quraysh and the notables of the people descended with him. The commander of his police that day was al-\u02bfAbba s ibn Sa\u02bfd al-Muzan\u012b .
He said: I sent al-Rayya n ibn Salamah al-Balaw\u012b with about two thousand horsemen and three hundred foot soldiers from the Qayqa niyyah, armed and ready. Zayd ibn \u02bfAl\u012b and all who joined him that night numbered two hundred and eighteen foot soldiers. Zayd ibn \u02bfAl\u012b said: \u201cSubh a n Alla h! Where are the people?\u201d It was said: \u201cThey are confined in the mosque.\u201d He said: \u201cNo\u2014by Allah\u2014this is no excuse for those who pledged allegiance to us.\u201d
He said: Nas r ibn Khuzaymah came forward to Zayd, but \u02bfUmar ibn \u02bfAbd al-Rah ma n\u2014the chief of police of al-H akam ibn al-S alt\u2014met him with horsemen from Juhaynah near the house of al-Zubayr ibn Ab\u012b H ak\u012b mah, on the road leading to the Mosque of Banu \u02bfAd\u012b . Nas r called out: \u201cYa Mans u r, amit,\u201d but \u02bfUmar 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 \u02bfidiyy\u012b 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 \u02bfUmar 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 \u02bfAbdulla h until he entered Kufa.
Some of his companions said to others: \u201cShall we not go toward the cemetery of Kindah?\u201d 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 rak\u02bfahs, then came out to them and struck them with his sword. They struck him with their swords. Then one of them\u2014a horseman, masked in armor\u2014called out: \u201cRemove the helmet from his head and strike his head with a pole.\u201d 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 \u02bfAbdulla h ibn \u02bfAwf ibn al-Ah mar; they captured him and took him to Yu suf ibn \u02bfUmar, who killed him. Zayd ibn \u02bfAl\u012b turned to Nas r and said: \u201cO Nas r ibn Khuzaymah, do you fear for the people of Kufa that they will act in a H usayn\u012b manner?\u201d He replied: \u201cMay Allah ransom me for you\u2014by Allah, I shall strike with this sword of mine alongside you until I die.\u201d
Zayd ibn \u02bfAl\u012b (Peace be Upon Him) then led them forward toward the mosque. \u02bfUbaydulla h ibn al-\u02bfAbba s al-Kind\u012b came out to him with the people of al-Sha m, and they met at the gate of \u02bfUmar ibn Sa\u02bfd. \u02bfUbaydulla h ibn al-\u02bfAbba 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: \u201cO people of the mosque, come out!\u201d Nas r ibn Khuzaymah was calling out to them: \u201cO people of Kufa, come out from humiliation to honor, and to religion and the world.\u201d 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 \u02bfUmar 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 \u02bfUmar summoned al-Rayya n ibn Salamah and rebuked him, saying to him: \u201cFie upon you as a commander of cavalry!\u201d He then summoned al-\u02bfAbba s ibn Sa\u02bfd al-Muzan\u012b , the commander of his police, and sent him to the people of al-Sha m. He marched with them until they reached Zayd ibn \u02bfAl\u012b (Peace be Upon Him) at Da r al-Rizq. Zayd ibn \u02bfAl\u012b came out to meet him, with Nas r ibn Khuzaymah and Mu\u02bfa wiyah ibn Ish a q on his right flank. When al-\u02bfAbba s saw them, he called out: \u201cO people of al-Sha m\u2014dismount!\u201d Many of them dismounted, and fierce fighting ensued in the battlefield. Among the people of al-Sha m was a man from Banu \u02bfAbs called Na \u02beil ibn Farwah. He said to Yu suf: \u201cBy Allah, if I can set my eyes upon Nas r ibn Khuzaymah, I will surely kill him\u2014or he will kill me.\u201d Yu suf said to him: \u201cTake this sword,\u201d and he handed him a sword that would cut through anything it passed. When the companions of al-\u02bfAbba s ibn Sa\u02bfd met the companions of Zayd, Na \u02beil 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\u2014may Allah have mercy upon him\u2014died.
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 Sa\u02bfd ibn Bakr called \u02bfAbd al-S amad.
Sa\u02bf\u012b d ibn Khuthaym said: We were with Zayd ibn \u02bfAl\u012b (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\u2014when 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: \u201cIs 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\u2014Exalted is He?\u201d mThe man from al-Sha m then dismounted from his horse and mounted a mule. The people were in two groups: onlookers and fighters. Sa\u02bf\u012b 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 \u201cAlla hu akbar\u201d and charged them, rescuing me. I came to Zayd (Peace be Upon Him), and he began kissing me between the eyes, saying: \u201cBy 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\u2014I grant it to you as spoils.\u201d
He said: The cavalry of al-Sha m could not stand firm against the cavalry of Zayd (Peace be Upon Him). Al-\u02bfAbba s ibn Sa\u02bfd sent to Yu suf informing him of what he was facing from the Zayd\u012b s and asked him to send archers. He sent to him Sulayma n ibn Kaysa n with the Qayqa niyyah\u2014who were Bukha rans\u2014and they were archers. They began shooting at the companions of Zayd. Mu\u02bfa wiyah ibn Ish a q al-Ans a r\u012b 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\u2014His Children (Peace be Upon Him):]
Al-Sayyid Abu T a lib (Peace be Upon Him) mentioned Yah ya ibn Zayd\u2014his mother was Ra \u02beit ah; it is also said: Rayt ah, daughter of Abu Ha shim \u02bfAbdulla h ibn Muh ammad ibn al-H anafiyyah. He left no offspring. And \u02bfI sa , Muh ammad, and al-H usayn\u2014their mother was one and the same, a bondwoman; and from her he had these three sons among his children (Peace be Upon Him).
[Z\u2014His 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 \u02bfUmar, 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: \u201cDeath is easier for me than what I am in.\u201d 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: \u201cMy 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.\u201d Then the arrow was removed from him, and he passed away at once\u2014peace 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-\u02bfAq\u012b q\u012b 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 \u02bfUmar proclaimed: \u201cWhoever points out the grave of Zayd ibn \u02bfAl\u012b shall have such-and-such an amount of wealth.\u201d 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\u2014Exalted is He. Among them is what was narrated: that a spider would weave over his nakedness by night; and when morning came, they\u2014may Allah curse them\u2014would 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\u2014Exalted is He\u2014it 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: \u201cThis is the immoral one, son of an immoral one,\u201d 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\u2019s death, or shall I announce it?
The killer of Zayd\u2014no salvation for him.
The other replied: Woe to him\u2014he 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 \u02bfAl\u012b (Peace be Upon Them Both). One of them struck the plank with his hand while saying: \u201cThe 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.\u201d [Al-M\u0101\u02beidah: 33] He then attempted to bend his hand, whereupon it was consumed by gangrene; his side collapsed, and he died\u2014into the Fire.
When the head of Zayd ibn \u02bfAl\u012b (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 h\u012b m ibn Ha shim al-Makhzu m\u012b . He erected the head. People of Mad\u012b nah spoke to Ibra h\u012b m and said: \u201cDo not erect his head,\u201d but he refused. Mad\u012b nah resounded with weeping from the houses of Banu Ha shim as on the day of al-H usayn (Peace
be Upon Him). When Kath\u012b r ibn Kath\u012b r ibn al-Mut t alib al-Sahm\u012b looked upon the head of Zayd ibn \u02bfAl\u012b (Peace be Upon Him), he wept and said: \u201cMay Allah illumine your face, O Abu al-H usayn, and deal with your killer.\u201d This reached Ibra h\u012b m ibn Hisha m. The mother of al-Mut t alib was Arwa bint al-H a rith ibn \u02bfAbd al-Mut t alib, and Kath\u012b r inclined greatly toward Banu Ha shim. Ibra h\u012b m said to him: \u201cIt has reached me from you such-and-such.\u201d He replied: \u201cIt is as has reached you.\u201d So he imprisoned him and wrote to Hisha m. While imprisoned, he said:
If a man\u2019s faults be
His love for the Prophet\u2014without sin,
And likewise the sons of \u1e24asan, 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 h\u012b m wrote concerning him to Hisha m, and Hisha m wrote back to him: \u201cSet him upon the pulpit and have him curse \u02bfAl\u012b and Zayd; if he does so, then [leave him], otherwise strike him one hundred lashes upon one hundred.\u201d He ordered him to curse \u02bfAl\u012b . He ascended the pulpit and said:
May Allah curse the one who reviles \u02bfAl\u012b
And his sons\u2014whether 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\u2014
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 \u02bfI sa ibn Sawa dah, who said: I was in Mad\u012b 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 \u02bfAl\u012b (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 Mad\u012b nah: \u201cProtection is disavowed from any man who has reached maturity and does not attend the mosque.\u201d So the people\u2014strangers and others\u2014were herded. We remained for seven days. The governor, Muh ammad ibn Hisha m al-Makhzu m\u012b , would go out, and the preachers who stood by the heads would rise and deliver sermons, cursing \u02bfAl\u012b , al-H usayn, Zayd, and their followers. When they finished, the tribes\u2014Arabs and non-Arabs\u2014would rise; Banu \u02bfUthma 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\u2014for seven days. A man from Quraysh stood on one of those days; he was Muh ammad ibn S afwa n al-Jumah \u012b , the father of this judge, the judge of Abu Ja\u02bffar. Muh ammad ibn Hisha m said to him: \u201cSit down.\u201d He then rose again without being called, so Muh ammad ibn Hisha m said to him: \u201cSit down.\u201d He replied: \u201cThis is a position not undertaken at every hour.\u201d He said: \u201cThen speak.\u201d He began his sermon, then proceeded to curse \u02bfAl\u012b (Peace be Upon Him) and his household, al-H usayn ibn \u02bfAl\u012b , Zayd ibn \u02bfAl\u012b (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\u2014Exalted is He\u2014had 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: \u201cWhat did you see?\u201d He said: \u201cI saw the grave split open, and a man came out of it wearing white garments. He faced the pulpit and said: \u2018You have lied\u2014may Allah curse you.\u2019\u201d And from Shab\u012b 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 \u02bfAl\u012b (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: \u201cIs this how the smell of the crucified is found?\u201d A voice called out to me, saying: \u201cThus is found the fragrance of the children of the prophets\u2014those who judge by the truth and act justly by it.\u201d
And we have narrated from H afs ibn \u02bfA s im al-Sulu l\u012b , who said: Ah mad ibn Isma \u02bf\u012b l ibn al-Yasa\u02bf al-\u02bfA mir\u012b narrated to us\u2014he was in Da r al-Lu\u02belu\u02be\u2014he said: I saw \u02bfArzama h, the brother of Kana sah al-Asad\u012b , 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 \u02bfAl\u012b (Peace be Upon Them Both). There was there a gathering of the Asad\u012b s. On his way he would pick up seven small stones, then come and sit among the people, and say: \u201cHere\u2014into his eye.\u201d He would pelt Zayd ibn \u02bfAl\u012b (Peace be Upon Him) with those seven stones every day. Isma \u02bf\u012b l ibn al-Yasa\u02bf 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 \u02bfAl\u012b (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-Wal\u012b d ibn Yaz\u012b d. When Yah ya ibn Zayd appeared, al-Wal\u012b d wrote to Yu suf: \u201cTo proceed: when this letter of mine reaches you, look to the hastened matter of the people of Iraq\u2014burn him and scatter him into the sea, scattering.\u201d 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\u2014peace from Allah be upon him and upon his pure forefathers.
The Sh\u012b \u02bfa 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\u2014may Allah curse him\u2014when his head was brought to him, cast it among the chickens. One of the people of al-Sha m said: \u201cDrive the rooster away from the forelock of Zayd, for the chickens do not tread upon it.\u201d 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 Mahd\u012b crucified upon a trunk.
Allah\u2014Exalted is He\u2014then enabled the minister of the family of Muh ammad, Abu H afs al-Khalla l al-Sab\u012b \u02bf\u012b , to crucify Hisha m ibn \u02bfAbd 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 Sh\u012b \u02bfa 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 Hish\u0101m.
And Abu Thumaylah al-Anba r\u012b elegized Zayd ibn \u02bfAl\u012b (Peace be Upon Them Both), saying:
O Ab\u016b al-\u1e24usayn, your loss has lent grief its burning,
Whoever meets what I have met from it.
Sleeplessness raged\u2014had 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\u2014your 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\u2019 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 Mu\u1e25ammad
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\u2014though calamities are many\u2014
The causes of what leads on, and what does not.
What is the proof of those who rejoiced at his killing
Yesterday\u2014or 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 n\u012b al-H usayn\u012b (Peace be Upon Him) narrated to al-Fad l ibn \u02bfAbd al-Rah ma n ibn al-\u02bfAbba s an elegy for Zayd ibn \u02bfAl\u012b (Peace be Upon Them Both):
O eye\u2014then rejoice and pour forth,
With your tears; this is no time for dryness,
Nor a time for feigned endurance\u2014so let them flow;
How could your tears remain after Zayd?
After the son of the Prophet, Ab\u016b al-\u1e24usayn,
Crucified at al-Kan\u0101sah upon a trunk?
He passes the day upon their pillar and greets the night\u2014
May my soul be ransomed\u2014bones upon the pillar.
The tyrannical unbeliever transgressed against him,
So he brought him out from the narrow grave.
They continued exhuming Ab\u016b al-\u1e24usayn,
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\u2014the best of grandfathers.
How many, for Ab\u016b al-\u1e24usayn, are there of fathers
Among the martyrs, or a martyred uncle,
And among the sons of uncles\u2014many 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\u2014all of them\u2014with him,
Thirsty, driven toward the putrid drink.
He was called by a people who broke faith with his father,
Al-\u1e24usayn, after the firm sealing of covenants:
\u201cYou burden us and detain us in ingratitude,
And make us Umayyah in shackles.\u201d
You covet our affection\u2014never!
For among us, Umayyah has no beloved.
They said: \u201cWe do not believe them in speech,\u201d
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 Sh\u012b\u02bfa 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 \u02bfAl\u012b,
And have plunged into their far-reaching error.
How many a martyr there was on that day\u2014
Upon you, O Umayyah, are witnesses:
From your very selves, when the truth speaks,
From among your ears\u2014and your skins.
Nor do I despair that you will become,
Swine\u2014and in the forms of apes.
And for Abu al-Qa sim Isma \u02bf\u012b l ibn \u02bfAbba d\u2014may Allah benefit him by righteous deeds\u2014he 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\u2014and 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 Hish\u0101m, in his tyranny,
Was increasing in evil\u2014and that the filth was heretical,
The Imam rose by the right of Allah\u2014stirred by him
Love of the religion; indeed the religion is beloved.
He called to what his forefathers had called to before, Toward it\u2014and he is regarded by Allah\u2019s eye.
When my ardors fell upon him\u2014and did not\u2014 No creature among creation could impede him.
Son of the Prophet\u2014yes; son of the Executor\u2014yes; Son of the martyr\u2014yes; and the statement is true.
They were not satisfied by killing him until they assailed him With killing, crucifixion, burning, and drowning.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
[A\u2014Who Is Imam Zayd:]He is Zayd ibn \u02bfAl\u012b , son of the Master of the worshippers \u02bfAl\u012b 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 \u02bfAl\u012b ibn Ab\u012b T a lib (Peace be Upon Them).… Continue reading Imam Zayd ibn \u02bfAl\u012b<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","hijri_century":[911],"class_list":["post-25492","imam_biography","type-imam_biography","status-publish","hentry","hijri_century-01-en","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alorwahalwuthqa.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/imam_biography\/25492","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alorwahalwuthqa.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/imam_biography"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alorwahalwuthqa.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/imam_biography"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/alorwahalwuthqa.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/imam_biography\/25492\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25493,"href":"https:\/\/alorwahalwuthqa.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/imam_biography\/25492\/revisions\/25493"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alorwahalwuthqa.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25492"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"hijri_century","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alorwahalwuthqa.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hijri_century?post=25492"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}