Ali ibn al-Husayn ibn Ali (Zayn al-‘Abidin)
“I have never seen a Quraysh better than Ali ibn al-Husayn.” (az-Zuhri).
In a special year, the final page in the history of the Persian kings was turned. Yazdegerd, the last Persian king, died homeless and persecuted. His generals, guards and members of his family were captured by the Muslims. They were taken to the enlightened city of Medina. The captives were numerous and their value was great.
Medina had never seen such a huge number of captives nor such important ones. Among the captives were Yazdegerd’s three daughters.
People approached the captives and, within a few hours, bought them all. The proceeds were sent to the Muslim treasury. Only the daughters of King Yazdegerd remained. They were young girls, distinguished by their beauty and freshness. When they were put up for sale, they stood with their gazes downcast, such was the humiliation for them. Saddened, they wept silently.
Ali ibn Abu Talib felt sorry for them and wished that they be bought by someone who would treat them well and care for them. This is not surprising. After all, the Messenger of God ﷺ said, “Show mercy to a nobleman when he is humiliated.”
He approached Umar ibn al-Khattab and said, “O Commander of the Faithful, the daughters of kings deserve special treatment, not like other people.”
Umar said, “You are right. But what should we do with them?”
Ali said, “We should set a high price for them and then let them choose from among those willing to pay that price.”
Umar agreed with Ali’s proposal. One of the king’s daughters chose Abdullah, the son of Umar ibn al-Khattab. The second chose Muhammad, the son of Abu Bakr as-Siddiq. The third, named Shah-Zinan, chose al-Husayn, the son of Ali ibn Abu Talib, the grandson of the Messenger of God ﷺ.
Shah-Zinan converted to Islam, becoming a sincere Muslim. She found the religion of truth and was freed from slavery. She gained freedom and became a wife of al-Husayn.
She decided to sever all ties with her pagan past. She renounced her former name, Shah-Zinan, and began to be called Ghazala. She found a wonderful husband, a man worthy of a king’s daughter. Only one dream remained unfulfilled: the dream of a child.
And Allah ﷻ honoured her and she bore al-Husayn, a beautiful boy. She named him Ali, in honour of Ali ibn Abu Talib. However, Ghazala’s joy was short-lived. She developed childbed fever and passed away without having the time to enjoy the company of her baby...
Al-Husayn’s slave girl took charge of the infant, loving the boy more than a mother loves her own child and caring for him more than a mother cares for her only son. The boy grew up knowing no other mother but her.
As soon as Ali ibn al-Husayn reached the age at which a person is capable of acquiring useful knowledge, he became deeply attached to this worthy pursuit. His first school was his home. His first teacher was his father, al-Husayn ibn Ali.
Ali ibn al-Husayn’s second school was the Mosque of the Messenger of God ﷺ in Medina. In those days, many of the Companions who still lived at that time could be found in the Prophet’s Mosque. It was also filled with the Companions’ oldest followers.
Both of them opened their hearts to the many sons of the noble Companions and taught them to correctly understand the Book of Allah, retelling them the hadiths of the Messenger of God ﷺ, explaining their meaning. They also told them about the life of the Messenger of God ﷺ and his Sunna. They filled the young hearts of their students with love for Almighty Allah and piety. They became active scholars who followed the straight path themselves and showed this path to others.
However, Ali ibn al-Husayn’s heart was never more attached to anything than to the Book of Allah, the Most High, and nothing affected his senses more than the good promises and threats contained in the Koran. When he read a verse mentioning Paradise, his heart was ready to leap out of his chest, so eager was it for Paradise. And when he heard a verse mentioning Hellfire, he sighed so heavily, as if the flames of Gehenna were blazing within him.
When Ali reached the prime of his youth and acquired much knowledge, the righteous community of Medina found in him one of the most fervent worshippers of Allah ﷻ and a God-fearing representative of the Banu Hashim (the family of the Prophet ﷺ). He was one of the most worthy and pious, virtuous and God-fearing, and possessed of profound knowledge.
He worshiped Allah ﷻ with such fervor and was so pious that between ablution and the beginning of prayer, he would often tremble. He trembled so much that those around him noticed. When they spoke to him about this, he said, “Woe to you! As if you do not know before whom I am about to stand, as if you are unaware with whom I am about to hold a secret conversation.”
The young man worshipped Allah ﷻ fervently and performed every action devotedly. He followed religious prescriptions so meticulously that people even called him Zayn al-‘Abidin – “the ornament of those who worship”.
They forgot, or nearly forgot, his real name and instead replaced it with this nickname. Zayn al-‘Abidin prostrated long and fervently, so much so that the people of Medina began calling him Sajjad – “the one who performs many prostrations”. His soul and heart were so pure that he was also called Zakiyy – “the pure”.
Zayn al-‘Abidin was convinced that the spirit of worship and its greatest form is supplication. And he loved to pray to Allah ﷻ, while grasping the veil of the Kaaba. He often came to the ancient House and said, “My Lord, You have given me a taste of Your mercy and showered Your blessings upon me, and I have begun to call upon You, feeling safe and without fear, and to ask You, feeling Your nearness and without fear... My Lord, truly I ask You as one who is in infinite need of Your mercy and whose strength is insufficient to fully uphold Your rights... Accept from me the supplication of a drowning traveler who can find no saviour but You, O Most Generous!”
One day, Tawus ibn Kaysan saw Zayn al-‘Abidin standing in the shadow of the Kaaba, muttering something as if he were dying, crying like a gravely ill person, and supplicating to Allah ﷻ with the kind of prayer usually offered by someone in distress. Tawus waited until he stopped crying and finished his supplication, then approached him and said, “O descendant of the Messenger of God ﷺ, I have seen your state now. You possess three virtues that, I hope, will save you from fear (on the Day of Judgment).”
Zayn al-‘Abidin asked, “What are they, O Tawus?”
He replied, “One is that you are a descendant of the Messenger of God ﷺ. The second is the intercession of your great-grandfather. And the third is the mercy of Allah ﷻ.”
Zayn al-‘Abidin said: “O Tawus, my relationship with the Messenger of God ﷺ cannot guarantee me salvation, after I heard the words of Allah Most High (meaning), ‘And on the Day when the Trumpet is blown, there will be no ties of kinship between them. They will not ask one another (for the terror of the Day of Judgment will make them forget everything).’ (Sura Al-Mu’minun, ayah 101). As for the intercession of my great-grandfather (Muhammad ﷺ) for me, Allah ﷻ says (meaning), ‘…They intercede only for those with whom He (Allah ﷻ) is pleased (for whom they are permitted to intercede), trembling out of fear of Him.’ (Sura Al-Anbiya, ayah 28). As for the mercy of Allah ﷻ, Allah the Most High, said (meaning), ‘...Verily, the mercy of Allah ﷻ (and the answer to supplications) is near to the righteous.’” (Sura Al-A’raf, ayah 56).
