Hussain ibn Ali: Difference between revisions

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The accounts of the early sources tend to put the responsibility for the death of Hussain mostly on Obayd-Allah b. Ziad and to exonerate the caliph Yazid, who is described as cursing his governor and stating that if he had been present he would have spared Hussain. Obayd-Allah certainly was eager to humiliate and kill Hussain, as is evident from his vow to have his body trampled by horses. His hatred ultimately sprang from the denunciation of Mu’awiya’s recognition of Ziad as his brother by the grandsons of the Prophet in the name of Islam. The prime responsibility for the death of Hussain, however, lay with Yazid, who knew that the grandson of the Prophet would constitute a menace to his reign as long as he was alive, even if temporarily forced to submission. Yazid wanted him dead but, as a caliph of Islam, could not afford to be seen as having ordered his death. He was aware of Obayd-Allah’s hatred of Hussain when he appointed him governor of Kufa and hinted in a letter to him that Hussain would reduce him to slave status again (Baladhori, II, p. 464). He commended Obayd-Allah highly for the execution of Muslim b. Aqil, and the governor could not be in any doubt as to what was expected of him. When the caliph sought in public, however, to place the onus for the slaughter of the Prophet’s grandson on him, Obayd-Allah reacted with resentment and declined Yazid’s wish that he next lead the assault on Abd-Allah b. Zobayr in the Kaʿba.<ref>Tabari, II, p. 408, tr. p. 204</ref>
The accounts of the early sources tend to put the responsibility for the death of Hussain mostly on Obayd-Allah b. Ziad and to exonerate the caliph Yazid, who is described as cursing his governor and stating that if he had been present he would have spared Hussain. Obayd-Allah certainly was eager to humiliate and kill Hussain, as is evident from his vow to have his body trampled by horses. His hatred ultimately sprang from the denunciation of Mu’awiya’s recognition of Ziad as his brother by the grandsons of the Prophet in the name of Islam. The prime responsibility for the death of Hussain, however, lay with Yazid, who knew that the grandson of the Prophet would constitute a menace to his reign as long as he was alive, even if temporarily forced to submission. Yazid wanted him dead but, as a caliph of Islam, could not afford to be seen as having ordered his death. He was aware of Obayd-Allah’s hatred of Hussain when he appointed him governor of Kufa and hinted in a letter to him that Hussain would reduce him to slave status again (Baladhori, II, p. 464). He commended Obayd-Allah highly for the execution of Muslim b. Aqil, and the governor could not be in any doubt as to what was expected of him. When the caliph sought in public, however, to place the onus for the slaughter of the Prophet’s grandson on him, Obayd-Allah reacted with resentment and declined Yazid’s wish that he next lead the assault on Abd-Allah b. Zobayr in the Kaʿba.<ref>Tabari, II, p. 408, tr. p. 204</ref>
==The family of Hussain==
==The family of Hussain==
Hussain’s first marriage was with Rabab, daughter of Emraʾ-al-Qays b. Adi, a chief of the Banu Kalb. Her father came to Medina early during the caliphate of Omar and was appointed by him amir (governor) over all tribesmen of Qozaʿa who would convert to Islam. Hussain later married Rabab, and in the later years of Ali’s caliphate, Emraʾ-al-Qays and his kin were referred to as his in-laws.<ref>ashar; Thaqafi, p. 426</ref> Rabab remained Hussain’s favorite wife, even though she was childless for many years. Probably after Ali’s death, she bore him a daughter Amena (Amina, Omayma), commonly known as [[Sokayna]]. Later Rabab bore him his son Abd-Allah, who was still a child when he was killed at Karbala. He presumably had saved his own patronymic (konya), Abu Abd-Allah, for a son by her. In some late Shiʿite sources Abd-Allah is called [[ʿAli Asqar|Ali Asqar]] (q.v.), but this is without historical foundation. After Hussain’s death, Rabab is said to have spent a year in grief at his grave and to have refused to remarry. No details are known about Hussain’s marriage to Solafa, a woman of the tribe Bali of Qozaʿa. She bore him a son named Jaʿfar, who died during Hussain’s lifetime.
Hussain’s first marriage was with Rabab, daughter of Emraʾ-al-Qays b. Adi, a chief of the Banu Kalb. Her father came to Medina early during the caliphate of Omar and was appointed by him amir (governor) over all tribesmen of Qozaʿa who would convert to Islam. Hussain later married Rabab, and in the later years of Ali’s caliphate, Emraʾ-al-Qays and his kin were referred to as his in-laws.<ref>ashar; Thaqafi, p. 426</ref> . Probably after Ali’s death, she bore him a daughter Amena (Amina, Omayma), commonly known as [[Sokayna]]. Later Rabab bore him his son Abd-Allah, who was still a child when he was killed at Karbala. He presumably had saved his own patronymic (konya), Abu Abd-Allah, for a son by her. In some late Shiʿite sources Abd-Allah is called [[ʿAli Asqar|Ali Asqar]] (q.v.), but this is without historical foundation. After Hussain’s death, Rabab is said to have spent a year in grief at his grave and to have refused to remarry. No details are known about Hussain’s marriage to Solafa, a woman of the tribe Bali of Qozaʿa. She bore him a son named Jaʿfar, who died during Hussain’s lifetime.


Of Hussain’s two sons named Ali, the one who survived him, known as [[ʿAli b. al-Hussain|Zayn al-Abedin]], the fourth Imam of the Shiʿites, was the elder and probably his first-born son. He was was born during the caliphate of Ali ant thus he was twenty-three at the time of the battle of Karbala . His mother was a slave woman, probably from Sind. She was later married to a client of Hussain and had a son with him, ʿAbd-Allah b. Zobayd, who was thus a maternal brother of Ali Zayn al-Abedin. The descendants of Abd-Allah b. Zobayd later lived in Yanboʿ.<ref>Ibn Saʿd, p. 17</ref> Whereas Zayn al-Abedin is called Ali al-Asqar in the early Sunnite sources, Muhammad Mofid <ref>pp. 236-37</ref> and other Shiʿite authors are probably correct in calling him ʿAli Akbar. The second Ali, called Ali Akbar in the Sunnite sources but Ali Asqar by Shaikh Mofid, was nineteen when he was killed at Karbala. His mother was Layla, daughter of Morra b. Orwa Ṯaqafi and Maymuna bt. Abi Sofyan, sister of the caliph Muawiya. The marriage must have taken place soon after Hasan’s surrender to Mu’awiya, as it would not have been possible during the lifetime of Ali. Hussain evidently named his son by Layla also Ali since he, because of his aristocratic Arab mother, had precedence over his elder son by a non-Arab slave woman to become his primary heir. Mu’awiya is even quoted as observing that Ali b. Hussain was the one most suited for the caliphate, since he combined the bravery of the Banu Hashem, the munificence of the Banu Umayya, and the pride of Thaqif.<ref>Abu’l-Faraj Esfahani, Maqatel, p. 80</ref>
Imam Hussain had two other sons called Ali whose mothers were not the same. The older one whose mother was Layla, daughter of Morra b. Orwa Ṯaqafi and Maymuna bt. Abi Sofyan, sister of the caliph Muawiya was called Ali al-Akbar who was martyred in the battle of Karbala and the other was called Ali b. al-Hussain, Zayn al-Abedin who survived him and became the fourth Imam of the Shiʿites.  


After the death of Hasan, Hussain married Omm Eshaq, daughter of the prominent Companion Talha. She bore Hussain’s daughter Fatima. Contrary to some reports, Fatima must have been younger than Sokayna. At the time of her father’s death, she was probably engaged, but not yet married, to Hasan b. Hasan, the primary heir of Hasan b. Ali.
After the death of Hasan, Hussain married Omm Eshaq, daughter of the prominent Companion Talha. She bore Hussain’s daughter Fatima. Contrary to some reports, Fatima must have been younger than Sokayna. At the time of her father’s death, she was probably engaged, but not yet married, to Hasan b. Hasan, the primary heir of Hasan b. Ali.
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