About Janab Zainab (A.S.)

Daughter of the Holy Prophet's(SAW) daughter. Sister of the King of Martyrs. She is a true role model for any woman today of any religion. She showed the world the definition of womanhood. Her bravery and courage stands alone in a field of millions. She was tied up and taken as a prisoner. She had her scarf ripped off her head, she had her house burned to the ground. She was Janab-e-Zainab.
With a father like Ali, a mother like Fatima, a grandfather like Muhammad and brothers like Hasan and Hussein, Janab-e-Zainab was brought up in a house of God. After losing both her grandfather and her mother at a young age, Janab-e-Zainab spent all her time along side her father. Even after her marriage to her father's nephew, she never left his side. She was and still is a true example for all the wives and the daughters in this world. But her love for her family did not stop there, for she later proved to be the ultimate sister to her loving brother, Imam Hussein(A.S.) in Kerbala.
After the death of her brother on the 10th of Muharram, Janab-e-Zainab became responsible for all the women and the children. After she was taken to Kufa and eventually to Shaam as a tied up prisoner, along with the others, Janab-e-Zainab never stopped preaching the importance of her grandfather's mission. She would constantly remind the people of Kufa who her brother was and what he stood for.
It was in Yazid's Court in Shaam, in front of a crowd of people, where Janab-e-Zainab delivered some historic sermons. The following is an example of such a sermon:
"You have harmed your souls with such terrible deeds that God is angry and you are doomed for eternal torment. You have forfeited the right to laugh and now there is nothing left for you but to mourn and weep. Do you realize that you have shed the blood of the Holy Prophet's successor, Imam Husain, the person who could have been your saviour? Imam Husain, the leader of the Youths of Paradise, was the one you needed for guidance and towards whom you could have turned in your time of need."
Sources say that at the end of her sermons, the majority of the crowd would hide their faces in their hands and cry out of shame. She truly represented Imam Ali's voice in Kerbala. After being tortured in the dungeons of Shaam, Janab-e-Zainab along with Imam Zainul-Abideen(A.S.) were released. After returning to Kerbala and burying the headless bodies, including her own brother's, Janab-e-Zainab returned to Medina. Upon arrival, she went straight to her grandfather's grave telling him the entire story of Kerbala with a river of tears in her eyes.
It was in Medina where Janab-e-Zainab and the Imam who laid the Foundation of Azadari (mourning) for Imam Hussein(A.S.). She used to lay a mat on the ground and have the Imam sit on it and narrate the story of Kerbala while the Quraishite and Hashemite women would come in their mourning clothes and cry upon hearing the events. The women would cry so much that they would beat themselves in sorrow. After these " Majalises " the women would offer their condolences to Janab-e-Zainab and the Imam. Janab-e-Zainab lived the rest of her life in mourning for her brother.


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Haider Ajaz