Sakina bint Hussain: Difference between revisions

   

Her full name is variously given as Umayma (according to al-Kalbi) or Amina (according to al-Isbahani) bint Hussain. However, she is mostly known by her title Sukayna, which was given to her by her mother, as she was so calm, tranquil and in peace.  

Sakina accompanied her father when he traveled from Mecca to [[Kufa]] in Iraq. On the 2nd of [[Muharram]], 61 AH (680 CE), Hussain and 72 of his family members and companions were forced to camp in the plains of [[Karbala]] by Yazid's army of 900000 men. On the 10th of Muharram, the Imam's household was attacked, a number of his companions were killed, and the survivors were made captives to be taken to Yazid’s court. The survivors included the Imam's sisters, wives, and daughters, including Sakina, relatives of companions of the Imam, and his son, [[Ali b. al-Hussain|Ali Zaynul-Abidin]], who did not participate in the battle, due to an illness. Sakina, as with others, had been grieved over the killings.  

It is related that when Imam Hussain saw that seventy-two persons among his friends and relatives had fallen down, he turned toward the tents of his family for last farewell and called the women of [[Ahl Al-Bayt|Ahl al-Bayt]]:

“Know O my dear Sakina! Very soon you will have to weep after me when death will have surrounded me, then do not aggrieve me now with your tears until the spirit remains in my body. Then when I am killed, you are more worthy of weeping upon me, O the best of women!”

The survivors were marched by [[Yazid]]'s army from Karbala to Kufa, where Sakina received water from a sympathetic woman, and then to Damascus in Shaam. There was a lack of pity from the captors' part during the journey. Sakina suffered from fatigue and thirst on the forced march to Damascus, and later from cold and starvation in Yazid's dungeon

Sakina relates, that on a Thursday I dreamt in Syria, then she relates a lengthy dream and at its conclusion, she says, that I saw a woman in my dream seated on a Camel-litter with her hand upon her head. I inquired as to who she was and was answered that, “She is [[Fatima]], the daughter of [[Muhammad]], the daughter of the Messenger of Allah, your grand-mother”. I told myself,

He replied, “You may do as you desire”. Then some houses were vacated for them and the women of Bani Hashim and Quraysh wore black clothes and mourned upon Imam Hussain for seven days.

There is disagreement about the place of Sakina’s burial. According to majority of sources, she passed away on Rabi' I 5, 117/April 4, 735, in Medina during the government of Khalid b. 'Abd Allah b. al-Harith or Khalid b. 'Abd al-Malik. On the other hand, some believed that when Sakina married Asbagh b. 'Abd al-Aziz b. Marwan, they went to Egypt but she passed away in [[Damascus]]. Therefore, there is tomb by her name in the cemetery of [[Bab al-Saghir]] in Damascus. However, some said that she arrived in Egypt and passed away and was buried there. [[Ziarat Janeb Sakina]] is recommended.  

Demonstrations of love and tenderness, which are so important in a dramatic presentation, fall mainly into the hands of [[Zaynab]] and Sakina, the young daughter of Hussain. Sakina is the darling of [[Ta'ziya|ta‘ziya]] and ''[[Rawza-Khani|rowza-khani]]'' audiences. With her incredulous child’s eyes she sees her friends, cousins, brother, uncle, and, finally, her father, killed one after another. Her story moves the audience to tears and even rage. In addition to her psychological torment, she suffers horrible thirst. When Hussain departs for the battlefield, she throws herself in front of his horse in order to have a few additional moments with her father before he dies. As Hussain holds her on his lap, and lovingly cautions her not to burn her little feet in the hot sand, she begs him not to leave. Despite her young age, Sakina knows that her pleas are useless and that her father’s final battle and death are inevitable.