When he entered with the head of Ḥusayn, his children, his sisters, and his women to ʿUbayd Allāh ibn Ziyād, Zaynab, the daughter of Fāṭimah (ع), wore her worst clothes and disguised herself, surrounded by her maidservants. When she entered, she sat down. ʿUbayd Allāh ibn Ziyād said: “Who is the woman that is sitting?” She did not speak to him. He said that three times, and each time she did not speak to him. One of her maidservants said: “This is Zaynab, the daughter of Fāṭimah.” ʿUbayd Allāh said to her: “Praise be to Allah who exposed you, killed you, and proved your story false!” She said: “Praise be to Allah who honored us with Muḥammad, peace be upon him, and purified us with a thorough purification, not as you say. Only the wicked are exposed, and the liar is proven false.” He said: “How did you find Allah’s treatment of your family?” She said: “He decreed death for them, and they went out to their resting places, and Allah will gather you and them, and you will argue with Him, and dispute before Him.” Ibn Ziyād became angry and furious. ʿAmr ibn Ḥurayth said to him: “May Allah rectify the governor! She is only a woman, and is a woman held accountable for her words? She is not held accountable for her speech, nor blamed for her mistakes.”
Sayyida Zaynab bint Fāṭimah’ saves ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥusayn
Abū Mikhnaf, from al-Mujālid ibn Saʿīd, said: When ʿUbayd Allāh ibn Ziyād looked at ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥusayn, he said to a guard: “See if he has reached the age of men.” He uncovered his garment and said: “Yes.” He said: “Take him and strike his neck.” ʿAlī said to him: “If there is kinship between you and these women, send a man with them to protect them.” Ibn Ziyād said to him: “Go!,” and he sent ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥusayn with them.
Abū Mikhnaf related: As for Sulaymān ibn Abī Rāshid, he told me from Ḥumayd ibn Muslim who said:
I was standing by Ibn Ziyād when ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥusayn was presented to him. He said to him: “What is your name?” He said: “I am ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥusayn.” He said: “Did Allah not kill ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥusayn?” He remained silent. Ibn Ziyād said to him: “Why do you not speak?” He said: “I had a brother also named ʿAlī, and the people killed him.” He said: “Allah has killed him.” He remained silent. Ibn Ziyād said to him: “Why do you not speak?” He said: “Allah takes the souls at the time of their death, and no soul can die except by Allah’s permission.” He said: “By Allah, you are one of them. Woe to you! See if he has reached maturity. By Allah, I think he is a man.” Marī ibn Muʿādh al-Aḥmarī uncovered him and said: “Yes, he has reached maturity.” He said: “Kill him.”
ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥusayn said: “Who will take care of these women?” Zaynab, his aunt, clung to him and said: “O son of Ziyād, enough of us! Have you not had enough of our blood? Have you left anyone of us?” She embraced him and said: “I ask you by Allah, if you are a believer, if you kill him, then kill me with him!”
ʿAlī called out to him and said: “O son of Ziyād, if there is kinship between you and them, send a pious man with them to accompany them with the companionship of Islam.”
He looked at her for a while, then looked at the people and said: “How amazing is kinship! By Allah, I think she wishes that if I killed him, I would kill her with him. Leave the boy, go with your women.”
Yazīd ibn Muʿāwiyah’s Treatment of the Captive Womenfolk of al-Ḥusayn
Then Yazīd ibn Muʿāwiyah called for the women and children and seated them before him. He saw their poor condition and said: “May Allah curse Ibn Marjānah! If there had been any kinship or relationship between him and you, he would not have done this to you, nor sent you like this.”
Abū Mikhnaf related, from al-Ḥārith ibn Kaʿb, from Fāṭimah bint ʿAlī who said: When we were seated before Yazīd ibn Muʿāwiyah, he showed us compassion, ordered something for us, and treated us kindly. Then a red-faced man from al-Shām stood up and said to Yazīd: “O Commander of the Faithful, give me this one” – meaning me, and I was a beautiful girl. I trembled and was frightened, thinking that it was permissible for them. I took hold of my sister Zaynab’s clothes. She said: “My sister Zaynab was older and wiser than me, and she knew that it was not permissible.” She said: “You have lied, by Allah, and you have been disgraceful! That is not for you or him.”
Yazīd became angry and said: “You have lied, by Allah, that is for me, and if I wanted to do it, I would have done it.” She said: “No, by Allah, Allah has not made that permissible for you unless you leave our religion and follow a different religion.” Yazīd became even angrier and said: “Do you address me like this! It was your father and your brother who left the religion.” Zaynab said: “By the religion of Allah, the religion of my father, the religion of my brother, and the religion of my grandfather, you and your father and your grandfather were guided.” He said: “You have lied, O enemy of Allah.” She said: “You are a tyrant ruler, you insult unjustly, and you oppress with your authority.” By Allah, it was as if he was ashamed and fell silent.
Then the man from al-Shām returned and said: “O Commander of the Faithful, give me this girl.” Yazīd said: “Go away, may Allah grant you a decisive death!” Then Yazīd ibn Muʿāwiyah said: “O Nuʿmān ibn Bashīr, prepare them with what they need, and send with them a trustworthy and righteous man from the people of al-Shām, and send with him horses and helpers to take them to al-Madīnah.”
Then he ordered the women to be housed in a separate house, with what they needed, and their brother ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥusayn with them in the house they were in. They left until they entered the house of Yazīd, and no woman from the family of Muʿāwiyah remained except that she met them, crying and mourning for al-Ḥusayn. They mourned for him for three days.
