Who is Zaynab?

Description

There is no doubt that women have a unique presence, unparalleled status, and remarkable role in human history, despite often difficult and unfavorable circumstances that left them obscured and exposed to different kinds of trials and difficulties. The Holy Quran has provided us with exquisite and wonderful examples of great women who played pivotal and extraordinary roles in the service of God’s religion, His prophets, and His chosen ones. For example, the Quran reminds us of the mother of Musa (p), who God distinguished by speaking to her through a divine revelation saying, “We inspired Musa’s mother saying, ‘Breast-feed your son. When you become afraid for his life, throw him into the sea. Do not be afraid or grieved for We shall return him to you and make him a messenger’”. One of the most important things that will help the contemporary woman recover and affirm her identity as someone who can carry the responsibility placed on humankind as inheritors of Islamic legacy and exercise her divinely apportioned role in educating others, nurturing love and tenderness, as well as facing the injustice, oppression, marginalization and persecution humanity is subjected to, is for them to work hard, day and night, to: 1. Shun ignorance and embrace awareness, knowledge, culture, and everything that is a source of success. 2. Prioritize the goals and interests of life to be realistic and truly valuable, not shallow and only based on material gain. 3. Adhere to heavenly values of belief, behavior, action, morals, knowledge, and purification of the soul and mind. 4. Contemplate and reflect on the holy ladies who changed history and accomplished successes that brought humankind from lowliness to the heights of glory and dignity, as we see in the character of Zaynab (p). Foreword ......................................................................... vii Chapter 1: Introduction ...................................................1 Chapter 2: The Women who Supported Islam in the Early Days of the Prophetic Mission ..............................5  Khadija bint Khuwaylid (p) ......................................6  Fatima al-Zahra bint Muhammad (p) .....................8  Lineage of Zaynab bint Ali (p)............................... 10  Birth, Childhood, and Upbringing in the House of Infallibility .......................................................... 11  Zaynab (p) in the Society of Madina .................... 13  Trials from a Young Age ........................................ 15  Zaynab the Educator .............................................. 21  Marriage and Family Life ...................................... 24 Chapter 3: Upholding the Truth and Safeguarding the Legacy of the Ahl al-Bayt (p) .................................. 27  The Plotting of the Umayyads .............................. 28 Chapter 4: Zaynab (p) by the Side of her brother Hussain (p) from Madina to Karbala ............................ 41  Madina to Mecca .................................................... 41  Mecca to Iraq .......................................................... 48 Chapter 5: In Karbala ..................................................... 55  The Days Leading Up to Ashura ........................... 55 Contents vi  The Day of Ashura .................................................. 60  The Aftermath of Ashura ...................................... 69 Chapter 6: The Captives in Kufah ................................. 75  On the Way to Damascus ....................................... 83 Chapter 7: Captives in Damascus .................................. 87 Chapter 8: Return to Karbala ........................................ 99  Arrival in Karbala ................................................. 102 Chapter 9: Back to Madina .......................................... 105 Epilogue: Back to Sham and the Shrine of Lady Zaynab ........................................................................... 109