Captives of Karbala: Difference between revisions

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'''Captives of Karbalā''' (Arabic: {{iarabic|أسراء کربلاء}}) are the members of [[Ahl al-Bayt (a)]] and the families of some of the [[martyrs of Karbala]] who were captured by [[Kufa]] army led by [['Umar b. Sa'd]] during the [[Event of Karbala]] and after the martyrdom of [[Imam al-Husayn (a)]]. They were taken to [[Kufa]] and then to [[Damascus]]. There are disagreements about the exact number of the captives. However, [[Imam al-Sajjad (a)]] and [[Lady Zaynab (a)]] are the most famous and eminent figures among them, who inform people about the tyranny of [[Yazid]] by their fiery sermons during the captivity.

 

Historians disagreed about the number of captives form [[Ahl al-Bayt (a)]] and the survivors of [[Imam al-Husayn]]'s companions. Some sources reported that there were 61 women among the captives.

[[Umar b. Sa'd]]'s army moved the caravan of captives toward the battlefield and passed them by the bodies of martyrs, while they were weeping, crying and hitting their faces. Qurra b. Qays al-Tamimi says, "Whatever I forget, I will not forget this saying of [[Zaynab]], [[Fatima]]'s daughter, when she was passing by the fallen body of her brother, [[al-Husayn]]: 'Oh [[Muhammad]], Oh Muhammad! May the angels of the heaven salute you, this is al-Husayn, fallen on the desert, immersed in blood, his body torn to pieces. Oh, Muhammad! These are your daughters! They are being taken captives! Your children are slain! The zephyr is blowing on their bodies! ...'"

The captives were taken to the palace of [['Ubayd Allah b. Ziyad]] in [[Kufa]]. Harsh conversation between [[Lady Zaynab (a)]] and 'Ubayd Allah have been reported.<ref>Ṭabarī, ''Tārīkh al-umam wa l-mulūk'', vol. 5, p. 457; Mufīd, ''al-Irshād'', vol. 2, p. 115-116.</ref> It is also reported that 'Ubayd Allah ordered his soldiers to kill [[Imam al-Sajjad (a)]]; but by intercession of Lady Zaynab (a) and the harsh words of Imam al-Sajjad (a), he avoided killing him.<ref>Ibn Aʿtham al-Kufī, ''al-Futūḥ'', vol. 5, p. 123; Khwārizmī, ''Maqtal al-Ḥusayn'', vol. 2, p. 43.</ref>

* '''Masjid [[Imam Zayn al-'Abidin (a)]] and Maqam Ra's al-Husayn (shrine of the head of al-Husayn) in Nusaybin''': Currently, Nusaybin is a city in Turkey.<ref>Muhājir, ''Kārwān-i gham'', p. 30.</ref> It is said that the Imam al-Husayn's head was put there and his blood has dripped there.<ref>Hirawī, ''al-Ishārāt'', p. 66.</ref> Hirawi have registered this shrine as Mashhad al-Nuqta.<ref>Hirawī, ''al-Ishārāt'', p. 66.</ref>

* '''Maqam Ra's al-Husayn (shrine of the head of al-Husayn) and Maqam al-Imam Zayn al-'Abidin (a) in [[Damascus]]''': These two Maqams are located next to [[Umayyad Mosque]]. Ibn 'Asakir has mentioned Maqam Ra's al-Husayn and other sources reported that Maqam al-Imam Zayn al-'Abidin (a) is near that.<ref>Ibn ʿAsākir, ''Tārikh madīnat Dimashq'', vol. 2, p. 304.</ref>

According to Ibn A'tham and al-Khwarazmi, the soldiers and agents of 'Ubayd Allah b. Ziyad mounted the captives on uncovered howdahs and moved them from city to city, and treated them like infidel captives.<ref>Ibn Aʿtham al-Kufī, ''al-Futūḥ'', vol. 5, p. 127; Khwārizmī, ''Maqtal al-Ḥusayn'', vol. 2, p. 55-56.</ref>

Khidhlam b. Sitir says, "Amongst them I saw [[Ali b. al-Husayn (a)]] tied in chains and his hands were tied to his neck."<ref>Mufīḍ, ''al-Amālī'', p. 321.</ref>

[[Imam al-Sajjad (a)]] has been quoted: "They mounted me on a crippled skinny camel with a wooden howdah that did not have any mat in it, while the head of [[Imam al-Husayn (a)]] was at the top of a spear and the women were behind me and the spears were around us. If any of us shed a drop of tear, they would hit him on the head by the spears; until we arrived to Damascus. When we entered Damascus, I heard someone shouting: O people of Damascus! These are the captives of a cursed household!"<ref>Ibn Ṭāwūs, ''Iqbāl al-aʿmāl'', vol. 3, p. 89.</ref>

* '''Report to Yazid''': After that soldiers circled the captives in Damascus, they went to Yazid's court. [[Zahr b. Qays]], in behalf of all the soldiers, reported what had happened in Karbala to Yazid.<ref>Ṭabarī, ''Tārīkh al-umam wa l-mulūk'', vol. 5, p. 460.</ref>

* '''Yazid and the head of [[Imam al-Husayn (a)]]''': In the presence of the captives, Yazid had put the head of Imam al-Husayn (a) in a gold tub<ref>Khwārizmī, ''Maqtal al-Ḥusayn'', vol. 2, p. 64.</ref> and was hitting it with his staff.<ref>Yaʿqūbī, ''Tārīkh al-Yaʿqūbī'', vol. 2, p. 64.</ref> When [[Sukayna]] and [[Fatima bt. al-Husayn|Fatima]], the daughters of Imam al-Husayn (a), saw that; they shouted crying in a way that the wives of Yazid and daughters of [[Mu'awiya]] cried along.<ref>Ibn Athīr, ''al-Kāmil fī l-tārīkh'', vol. 2, p. 577.</ref> It is narrated form [[Imam al-Rida (a)]] that Yazid put the head of Imam al-Husayn (a) in a tub and put his food table on it and started eating and drinking beer at that table with his companions. Then they put the table of Chess on that tub and started playing it. Whenever he won, he drank a glass of beer and poured the rest of it on the ground near the tub in which was the head of Imam al-Husayn (a).<ref>Ṣadūq, ''ʿUyūn akhbār al-Riḍā'', vol. 1, p. 25.</ref>

* '''Objections''': Some people who were present there opposed to Yazid's behaviors, including Yahya b. al-Hakam, [[Marwan b. al-Hakam]]'s brother, whom Yazid punched on his chest,<ref>Ṭabarī, ''Tārīkh al-umam wa l-mulūk'', vol. 5, p. 465.</ref> and [[Abu Barza al-Aslami]], whom Yazid ordered to be taken out of the palace.<ref>Balādhurī, ''Ansāb al-ashrāf'', vol. 3, p. 416.</ref>

* '''Residence''': According to historical and narrative sources, Ahl al-Bayt (a) resided in two locations in Damascus. First: a roofless [[ruins of Sham|ruins]],<ref>Ṣadūq, ''al-Amālī'', p. 231.</ref> in which the story of lady [[Ruqayya]] took place. The captives were there for two days;<ref>Ṣaffār, ''Baṣāʾir al-darajāt'', p. 329.</ref> however after the sermons of Imam al-Sajjad (a) and Lady Zaynab (a) the public opinion changed about Ahl al-Bayt (a) and Yazid had to move them to a house near his palace.<ref>Mufīd, ''al-Irshād'', vol. 2, p. 122.</ref>

* '''Duration''': Most of historians said that captives stayed in Damascus for three days;<ref>Khwārizmī, ''Maqtal al-Ḥusayn'', vol. 2, p. 74; Ṭabarī, ''Tārīkh al-umam wa l-mulūk'', vol. 5, p. 462.</ref> however 'Imad al-Din al-Tabari said that they stayed there for 7 days.<ref>Ṭabarī, ''Kāmil Bahāʾī'', vol .2, p. 202.</ref> In another account, [[Sayyid b. Tawus]] said that they stayed for a month;<ref>Ibn Ṭāwūs, ''Iqbāl al-aʿmāl'', vol. 3, p. 101.</ref> nonetheless, he pointed that this report is not reliable.

 

The exact date of the departure of captives from [[Damascus]] is unknown. There are disagreement between scholars whether the captives passed by [[Karbala]] on their way back to [[Medina]] or not. [[Sayyid Muhammad Ali Qadi Tabataba'i]] in his book ''Tahqiq darbari-yi awwalin arba'in-i Sayyid al-Shuhada' (a)'' (study about the first Arba'in of [[Sayyid al-Shuhada']] (a)) tried to prove this; however, [[Muhaddith al-Nuri]]<ref>Muḥaddith Nūrī, ''al-Luʾluʾ wa l-marjān'', p. 208-209.</ref> and [[Shaykh 'Abbas Qummi]]<ref>Qummī, ''Muntahā l-āmāl'', p. 524-525.</ref> do not accept this.

::"O people of Medina! Do not stay in Medina any more; al-Husayn has been killed so weep copiously.

::His body, in [[Karbala]], soaked in blood and his head, on the top of spear, is circled."

Bashir informed the people that Imam al-Sajjad (a) and [[Ahl al-Bayt (a)]] has camped outside the city. By hearing the news, women of Medina came out from their houses crying, weeping and shouting.<ref>Ibn Ṭāwūs, ''al-Malhūf'', p. 226-227.</ref> No day people were seen crying like that day; it was the saddest day for Muslims after the demise of the [[Prophet (s)]].<ref>Ibn Ṭāwūs, ''al-Malhūf'', p. 227.</ref>