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Ali ibn Husayn (Arabic: علي بن الحسين) known as Zayn al-Abidin (the adornment of the worshippers) and Imam al-Sajjad (The Prostrating Imam), was the fourth Shiite Imam, after his father Husayn, his uncle Hasan, and his grandfather Ali, Muḥammad’s son-in-law. He survived the Battle of Karbala and was taken along with the enslaved women to the caliph in Damascus. Eventually, however, he was allowed to return to Medina where he led a secluded life with only a few intimate companions. Imam Sajjad's life and statements were entirely devoted to asceticism and religious teachings mostly in the form of invocations and supplications. His famous supplications are well known as Al-Sahifa al-Sajjadiyya.
Ali ibn al-Husain was born in Medina, according to most sources in the year 38/658-9. He may have been too small to have remembered his grandfather Ali, but was brought up in the presence of his uncle Hasan and his father Husayn, Muhammad’s grandchildren. It is said that he was related through his mother Shahrbanu, the daughter of Yazdegerd, to the last Sassanian King of Persia.[b] Thus he was said to be Ibn al-Khiyaratayn, the "son of the best two (the Quraysh among the Arabs and thePersians among the non-Arabs)". According to some accounts, his mother was brought as a captive to Medina during the caliphate of Umar, who wanted to sell her. Ali suggested instead that she be offered her choice of the Muslim men as husband andthat her dower be paid from the public treasury. Umar agreed and she chose Ali’s son Husayn.
In 61/680, Husayn and nearly all male followers were massacred by the forces of the Umayyad caliph Yazid at the Battle of Karbala. Zain al-Abidin accompanied his father on the march toward Kufa and was present at the Battle of Karbala, but survived the battle due to his illness. Once the Umayyad troops had mass murdered Husayn and his male followers, they looted the tents and took the skin upon which Zain al-Abidin was laying. It is said that Shemr was about to kill Ali ibn al-Husayn,but his aunt Zaynab was present to make Umar ibn Sa'ad, the Umayyad commander, to let him alive. Zain al-Abidin was taken along with the enslaved women to the caliph, and eventually was allowed to return to Medina. During this journey he delivered speeches in the towns of Kufa and Damascus, and informed the people of his father's intentions.
Several accounts are narrated concerning Ali ibn al-Husayn deep sorrow over this tragedy. It is said that for twenty years whenever food was placed before him, he would weep. One day a servant said to him, "O son of Allah’s Messenger! Is it nottime for your sorrow to come to an end?" He replied, "Woe upon you! Jacob the prophet had twelve sons, and Allah made one of them disappear. His eyes turned white from constant weeping, his head turned grey out of sorrow, and his back became bent in gloom,[d] though his son was alive in this world. But I watched while my father, my brother, my uncle, and seventeen members of my family were slaughtered all around me. How should my sorrow come to an end?"
They were Kufa's people who invited Husayn to themselves to be their Imamah, so they saw themselves responsible for the tragedy of Karbala and tried to compensate for it by throwing themselves into the struggle to obtain vengeance for Husayn's blood. They chose Sulayman b. Surad al Khuza'I as their leader and called themselves Tawwabun (penitents). They were seeking for an opportunity for action, until Mukhtar al-Thaqafi came to Kufa and claimed to represent Zayn al-Abedin who was still in Medina. He soon gained the authority of a leader and took a sudden vengeance on those who were involved in killing of Husayn. Umar ibn Sa'ad and Shemr were executed and their heads were sent to Zayn al-Abedin. Ubaid Allah was also killed inthe battle on the Zab and his head was taken to the very place in Kufa where Ubaid Allah had received the head of Husayn. The governor of Medina, however, did not consider that Zayn al-Abedin was responsible for Mukhtar's action, since he had already left Medina for its outskirts in order not to be involved in political movements. Moreover, there is evidence that he was unmolested and excepted from giving allegiance to Yazid, after the Battle of Harran where Medinans were sacked and looted by Yazid's army.
It was about this time when the question of the right of succession, as between ali ibn al-Husayn and Muhammad ibn al-Hanafiyyah, gained the most attention. Muhammad ibn al-Hanafiyyah was a pious and bravery man who many considered him as theirImam. Other sect of Shiite, however, asserted that it was Zayn al-Abedin who had the right to inherit the Imam For, he had been designated by his father, Husayn, as the next imam. Muhammadsaid that he was more worthy as he was the son of Ali. But Zayn al-Abidin replied to his uncle, Fear God and make no such claim, After the death of Ibn zubayr, the governor of Medina, zany al-Abedin and Muhammad ibn Hanafiyyah agreed to go to Mecca and appeal to Black Stone to see if they could determine which one of them was the true successor. They went to Kaaba where black stone was placed. Muhammad prayed for a sign but no answer came. Afterwards Zayn al-Abedin prayed and this time "the stone so agitated that it nearly fell off the walland came the answer in eloquent Arabic that he was the true imam after Husayn, to which decision Muhammad consented."[20][f] After this settlement Zayn al-Abedin returned to Medina where he led a quiet life with only a few companions who referred him for religious questions.
Ali ibn al-Husayn was held in great respect not only by his followers who considered him as the fourth imam, but also by the learned circle of Medinan scholars who considered him as an eminent traditionist. The famous lawyer Said ibn al-Musayyib, and the great jurist and traditionist al-Zuhri (though attached to the court of the Umayyad), were among his admirers. As it was al-Zuhri who gave him the honorific Zayn al-Abedin (the ornament of worshipers) and narrated many Hadiths from him. Perhaps the most famous evidence for his high position among people is the ode that the well-know Arab poet farazdaq. This ode refers to the occasion where the Caliph Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik was overshadowed by the respect people showed to theimam. It was the time of Hajj when both of them were trying to reach the Black Stone through the crowd turning around the Kaaba. The people gave way to Zayn al-Abedin while Hisham struggled desperately. This deeply offended the Caliph, and sarcastically asked who the person had been to whom the people had shown such respect. Farazdaq, who was present there, thereupon composed an ode addressing Hisham's question; an ode which is a masterpiece of Arabic literature; and that must be considered as the most reliable contemporary document describing Zayn al-'Abidin.
It is related from the Imam that when he saw a beggar weeping, said: "If the world was in the hand of this person and then it dropped from it, he had not to weep for it."[27] The Imām renounced worldly pleasures, but at the same time he did notgive way to poverty and feebleness, rather he was "pious with what God prohibited."[28] However, As the Imām was self-denying and turned away from the world,[i] the Sufis considered him as one of their kind and wrote biographis about him.[29] however the Imam led a life different from that of the Sufis as his asceticism was internal and psychologicaland internal rather than otherwise.[30] It is narrated from the Imam that while circumambulating the Kaaba, he heard a man asking God forpatience, so he turned to him and said: "You are asking (God) for tribulation. Say: O God, I ask You for well-being and gratitude for it."[31] It is also related that a person questioned the Imam about asceticism, he replied: "Asceticism is of ten degrees: The highest degree of asceticism is the lowest degree of piety. The highest degree of piety is the lowest degree of certainty. The highest degree of certainty is the lowest degree of satisfaction. Asceticism is in one verse of Allah’s Book: Hence that you may not grieve for what has escaped you, nor be exultant at what He has given you."[j] As for Ali al-Ridha, the eighth Shiite Imam, when he was appointed a successor to Al-Ma'mun, a Sufi objected him: "The Imam should eatrough food and wear coarse garments." The Imam refuted his view, saying: "Yousif b. Ya‘qub was a prophet; nevertheless he wore silk-like garments embroidered with gold. Allah did not prohibit clothing nor did he prohibit food. However, He wantedthe Imām to be fair and just." Then he recited these verse: Say: Who has forbidden the adornment which He has brought forth for His creatures.
Thomas Wolfgang
Ackermann
