Everything about Ali Zayn Al-abidin totally explained
Ali ibn Husayn (Arabic:
علي بن حسين) (Approximately:
January 6,
654 AD -
October 20,
713 AD) he is the fourth
Shi'a Imam. He is the third Imam according to the Isma'ili Faatemi sect. He is the brother of
Ali al-Asghar ibn Husayn and
Ali al-Akbar ibn Husayn, the son of
Husayn ibn Ali, and the great-grandson of
Muhammad. He is known as
Zayn al-Abidin (Beauty/Best of the Worshippers). He is also known as Imam al-Sajjad (the Prostrating Imam) and Saiyed as-Saajedeena war-Raake'een (Leader of those who prostrate and bow down).
Birth and family life
Ali ibn Hussayn was born on the 5th of Shabaan 33 AH/654 AD in
Medina. His father, Hussayn ibn Ali, was a grandson of
Muhammad.]
Learning
He dedicated his life to learning and became an authority on prophetic traditions and
Sharia. He is regarded as the source of the third holiest book in Shi'a Islam after the
Quran and the
Nahj al Balagha: the Sahifa al-Sajjadiyya, commonly referred to as the Psalms of the Household of Muhammad. Ali ibn Hussain had many supporters such as
Sa'id ibn Jubayr.
He was beside his father right from the moment of his migration towards Karbala and followed his father. Hussain ibn Ali step by step so that, when his father asked for help on
day of Ashura got up to extend help to his father.
Zaynab bint Ali stopped him and said, "You are the only memorial remnant of this family and the Imam after Hussain ibn Ali and you're the guardian of all of us. Your divine mission is to convey the message of the martyrs to the people.
Although a segment of the people who are unaware consider Ali ibn Hussain to be a sick, invalid, handicapped, and a weak person. But they're seriously mistaken because the illness of Ali ibn Hussain was an expedience and policy of Allah, so that he may remain safe from the harm of the enemy's sword, and become the living history of Karbala. Therefore, after the death of Hussain ibn Ali and his companions, Shimr ibn Dhil-Jawsha came into the encampment of the
Ahl Al-Bayt along with a group of his soldiers so that he may kill the remaining ones of the camp of Hussain ibn Ali. Since he was ill, Shimr ibn Dhil-Jawsha's companions objected upon him and
Umar ibn Sa'ad came after them and reprimanded Shimr ibn Dhil-Jawsha regarding this decision and turned him out of the encampment and said, "Ali ibn Hussain is an ill man and because of that he can't do a thing, leave him alone."
Piety
One of the special features of Ali ibn Hussain character was his piety and abstinence.
Ja'far al-Sadiq (the sixth Shi’ah Imam) said, "Ali ibn Hussain resembled most of all the sons of Bani Hashim, with Ali ibn Abi Talib".
Muhammad al-Baqir (the son of Ali ibn Hussain and the fifth Shi’ah Imam) said, "One day I happened to see my father, I saw him (completely) immersed and (thoroughly pre occupied) in the prayers and with all the attention towards Allah. His color was faded and his eyes were sore and red due to weeping, his feet were swollen by (prostration) and legs, and knees had developed corns. I said humbly "Oh father, why do you lose your self control during the prayers and put yourself in such an inconvenience and discomfort. My father wept and said, "Oh son however and whatsoever amount of prayers I perform even then it's meager and very little as compared to the prayers of your grandfather, Ali ibn Abi Talib.
Taous Yamni says, I saw Ali ibn Hussain lying in prostration saying, "Oh God your servant, needy towards you, is in your house waiting for your blessing, forgiveness and favor".
Attention to the life and training of people
Ali ibn Hussain, like his grandfather, cultivated land and palm date orchards. All the human qualities and attributes were collectively present in his personality. He was the complete specimen of tolerance, forgiveness and self-sacrifice. During the prayers he'd get himself so absorbed that he didn't have any attention towards anything except Allah.
He traveled to Mecca, on foot, twenty times. And continuously guided and conducted people through the attractive melody of the Qur'anic verses.
As the son of
Husayn ibn Ali, he was under great scrutiny and couldn't directly guide those who (secretly) followed the household of
Muhammad. But he conveyed his understanding of the relationship between human and God by the prayers and supplications that he offered God during his extensive nighttime vigils in the mosque of the Prophet in Medina. These prayers and supplications were written down and then disseminated by his sons and the subsequent generations. Among them is the
Sahifa al-Sajjadiyya, which is known as the
Psalms of Islam.
He looked after and administrated hundreds of houses of the poor and hunger stricken. Daily a number of goats were slaughtered in his house and he distributed all their meat among the afflicted. He dressed the naked and the destitute ones and paid their debts and loans. But he himself took simple meals and put on simple dress.
When the nights would become dark and all the people went to sleep, Ali ibn Hussain would get up put the food in a sack and on his shoulder. He covered his face so that he isn't recognized. Then he took that food to the houses of the inflicted and have-nots and gave it to them.
He administrated and looked after nearly a hundred guardians-less family in Medina; most of them comprised indigent, helpless and crippled, handicapped and paralytic ones. None of these families knew that Ali ibn Hussain was the one who managed and run their lives. But after his death, when the aids were discontinued they came to know that Ali ibn Husayn was their helper and friend.
A person came to Ali ibn Husayn and started addressing him with filthy and abusive language. Ali ibn Hussain turned his face towards him without the slightest anger and quarrel or strife and said, "Oh brother, if what you say is right and correct and these vices are present in me then Allah may pardon and forgive my sin. And if you're telling a lie then Allah may forgive you and pardon your sin." The man was very much ashamed and asked Ali ibn Husayn to pardon him.
Abu Hamza al-Thumali, who was one of the friends of Ali ibn Husayn, asked his servant to briefly define the character and morals of Ali ibn Hussain. He said: "I am at his service for so many years. Whatever I saw was righteousness, piety and purity. My lord helps and assists the people and solves their problems, with all the difficulties worries and preoccupations that he himself faces." Zaid ibn Usama was lying on the deathbed. Ali ibn Hussain visited him, Zaid was weeping. When Ali ibn Husayn asked him the reason of his weeping he said, "I have to pay fifteen thousand Dinars as my loan and debt and my wealth isn't so much as to pay off the debt." Ali ibn Husayn said, "Do not weep and be contented, I'll pay your entire loan."
The Day of Ashura
At the
Battle of Karbala on the day of
Ashura, Hussain ibn Ali and most of his family were killed. Ali ibn Hussain survived because he was too sick to fight, and was bedridden. Afterwards, he was taken prisoner by the Umayyad forces and transported to
Damascus where he was made a prisoner of the Caliph,
Yazid I. After some years, he was freed, and returned to Medina where he lived a quiet life as a scholar and a teacher.
It is said that for Forty years, whenever food or water was placed before him, he'd weep. One day, a servant said to him,
'"O son of Allah's Messenger! Is it not time for your sorrow to come to an end?" He replied, "Woe upon you! Jacob the prophet had twelve sons, and God made one of them disappear. His eyes turned white from constant weeping, his head turned grey out of sorrow, and his back became bent in gloom, though his son was alive in this world. But I watched while my father, my brother, my uncle, and seventeen members of my family were slaughtered all around me. How should my sorrow come to an end?"
Ali ibn Hussain, along with the left behind families of the fallen, was besieged by the enemy, came out on the morning of eleventh
Muharram, 61 AH. They had chained his hands and feet and placed the heads of the dead in front of him so that his sorrow and grief was increased.
The family of Hussain ibn Ali, as against the concept a group who think they were defeated, where ever they set foot, they'd announce the success of their revolution and the defeat of Yazid.
Death
Imam Zayn ul Abideen us Sajjad Ali ibn Hussain resided in Medina until his death on 18th of
Muharram, 94 AH (Approximately: October 23, 712 AD). Imam Zayn ul Abideen was poisoned by
Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik. He was buried in
Jannat al-Baqi, the cemetery in Medina where other important figures of Islamic history are buried. The period of his imaamat is 33 years.
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