Lament of the Oven of Khawli

Lament of the oven of Khawli is among the laments of the Battle of Karbala and the captives of the family of Imam al-Husayn (a). This lament is usually recited after the Day of 'Ashura, in the second and the third ten days of Muharram and refers to the story of placing the head of Imam al-Husayn (a) in the oven by Khawli who faced sever encounter of his wife.

Background

'Umar b. Sa'd gave Khawli the blessed head of al-Husayn b. Ali (a) to take it to 'Ubayd Allah b. Ziyad in Kufa and to deliver him the news of the army of Kufa's victory. Khawli arrived in Kufa at night and went to his house and wanted to go to Dar al-Imara in the morning. He took the head of Imam (a) to his house and put it in a pot or basin. When his wife learned about that, he severely admonished him. But, it is famous among people that Khawli hid the head of Imam (a) in the oven of his house.

The Lamentation

The lament of the oven of Khawli is usually recited after the Day of 'Ashura, in the second and third ten days of Muharram and refers to the story of placing the head of Imam al-Husayn (a) in the oven by Khawli. According to this story, Khawli's wife who was a religious woman woke up at night for prayer and suddenly noticed a light coming out of the kitchen and heard a sound of wail and crying. She then went into the kitchen and saw a head in the oven. She saw a lady sitting beside the head crying, and some other ladies were soothing her. According to this elegy, the crying lady was Lady Fatima (a), and the other three ladies were Eve, Asiya and Mary (a).

References

• The material for this article is mainly taken from روضه تنور خولی in Farsi WikiShia.