Mouood Mouood English Edition
Source: Nafasul Mahmum by Ayatullah Shaykh Abbas Qummi
(Irshad) Imam Husayn (a.s.) gathered his companions at night. Imam Ali Zainul Abedeen (a.s.) says that: I went closer to them so as to hear what they said, and at that time I was unwell. I heard Imam telling his companions that,
“I glorify Allah with the best glorification, and praise him in times of prosperity as well as misfortunes. O Allah! I praise You that You have likened Prophethood to be bestowed in our family, You taught us the Qur’an thus making us intellectuals in Religion, and conferred upon us the faculty of hearing and foresight and an enlightened heart. Thus enter us among the fold of your grateful servants.
Now then! I have not known any companion who are more faithful and devout than you, nor have I known any family who is more considerate, affectionate, favorable, and amiable than my family. Thus may Allah reward you well on my behalf. And I presume that the enemy will not spare even a single day, and I permit all of you to go away freely while I validate this for you.
I lift up from you the responsibility of the allegiance and oath (which you have sweared at my hands). The darkness of the night has enveloped you, thus free yourself from the whirlpool (hiding) in the waves of darkness. Then each of you may catch hold of the hand of each of my family members and disperse into the villages and cities, until Allah bestows relief upon you. For these people desire me only, and after having laid their hands upon me, they shall not pursue anyone else.”
Hearing this his brothers, sons, nephews and the sons of Abdullah bin Ja’far said, “We shall never do this so as to remain alive after you. May Allah never cause this to happen.” Hazrat Abbas bin Ali (a.s.) preceded in the declaration and others followed suit.
Then Imam turned towards the sons of Aqeel bin Abi Talib and said,
“The sacrifice of Muslim is sufficient for you, hence I permit you to go away.”
They replied, “Glory be to Allah! What will the people say? They will say that we have forsaken our chief, master and a cousin who was a best cousin. And that we did not shoot arrows alongside him, thrust spears and did not strike our swords besides him, and we would not know what to do (regarding this accusation). By Allah! We shall never ever do this. In fact we shall sacrifice our lives, wealth and our family for you. We shall fight along¬side you until we reach the fate besides you. May life be ugly after you (if we remain alive).”
Then Muslim bin Ausaja arose and said, “Shall we forsake you? Then when we go to the presence of the Almighty, what excuse shall we present to Him regarding the fulfillment of your rights? No, By Allah! I shall pierce this lance of mine in the hearts of the enemies, and shall strike them with my sword until it’s hilt remains in my hands, and if no weapon remains with me to fight with them, I shall attack them with stones. By Allah! We shall not lift our hands off you, until it is proved to Allah that we have honored the regard of the Prophet in respect of you. By Allah! Even if I know that I shall be killed and then made to rise again and then killed and burnt and my ashes be scattered around, and this shall happen seventy times, even then I shall not forsake you until I am killed in your obedience. Then how should I forsake this when I know that death is to come only once, after which a great blessing awaits me.”
Then Zuhayr bin Qayn arose and said, “By Allah! I hold dear that I should be killed then made to arise and again killed, and this should happen to me a thousand times, and thus Allah, the Mighty, the Sublime, may defend you and your family from being killed.”
Then all the other companions unanimously repeated the same. (Tabari) They said, “By Allah! We shall not abandon you, in fact our lives shall be sacrificed for your life. We shall defend you with our necks, faces and hands. Then we all shall die while having performed our duty.”
The following couplet best suits their discourses: “O my Master! Even if the throne of my greatness reaches the empyrean, I shall remain your servant and a beggar at your door, if I lift my heart and it’s love from you, then whom should I love and where should I take my heart”? May Allah reward them favorably with respect to Imam Husayn (a.s.)
Then Imam Husayn (a.s.) returned back to his tent.
“May Allah reward the youth who bore patiently, they being unique any where in the world. They were embodiment of excellent character and not bowls of milk blended with water, which can later turn into urine.”
Sayyid Ibn Tawoos relates, that it was said to Muhammad bin Bashar Hazramee that,“Your son has been arrested at the border of Ray.” He replied, “I leave him to Allah’s accountability. By my life! I do not like being alive after his arrest.” Imam Husayn (a.s.) heard his words and said,
“May your Allah have mercy upon you! I lift up the pledge of allegiance from you, you may go and attempt the release of your son.”
He replied, “If I separate from you, I will fall prey to the beasts”, to which the Imam replied,
“Then send these Yemeni garments with your other son, so that he may release him in lieu of these.”
And he handed over five garments costing a thousand gold dinars (An Islamic gold currency varying in weight, equivalent to approximately 20 dollars) to Muhammad bin Bashar.
Husayn bin Hamadan Hazeeni has related through his chain of authorities from Abu Hamza Sumali, while Sayyid Bahrani has related without quoting his chain of authorities from him, that he says that I heard from Imam Ali Zainul Abedeen (a.s.) that he said:
“On the night preceding his Martyrdom, my father gathered his family and companions and said, “O people of my family and my Shi’ah! Consider this night, which has come to you as a mounting Camel and save yourselves, for these people do not desire anyone else except me. Then after having killed me, they shall not pursue you. May Allah have mercy upon you! Save yourselves. Verily I lift the responsibil¬ity of the allegiance and pledge which you have taken at my hands.”
Hearing this his brothers, relatives and companions unanimously said, “By Allah O our Master! O Aba Abdillah! We shall never betray you, so that people may say that we had abandoned our Imam, our chief and master until he was mar¬tyred. Then we would seek excuses between ourselves and Allah. And we shall not leave you until we ransom ourselves upon you.”
Imam said, “Verily I shall be killed tomorrow and everyone from among yourselves too shall be killed with me, and none among you shall be spared.” To which they replied, “Praise be to Allah, that He has bestowed grace upon us to assist you, and has offered distinction to us to get martyred along with you. Then do we not like that we should be along with you in your elevated station (in Paradise) O son of the Prophet of Allah”?
Imam replied, “May Allah reward you favorably” then he prayed for them. When it dawned all of them were martyred.”
Then Qasim bin Hasan (a.s.) asked, “Am I too included in the list of the martyrs”?Hearing this Imam was moved and said,
“O my dear son! How do you consider death (martyrdom in the way of Allah) to be near you”?
Qasim replied, “It is sweeter than honey.” Imam said,
