Swiftly to the infant's resting place did she go...

Swiftly to the infant's resting place did she go, Perhaps she would find in him some life so he would suckle, But she only saw a corpse at a slaughter place, In it an arrow rested that killed the neck, So she yearned and over him knelt With her ribs to shade him from the heat. She hugged him, though dead, And from his spilled blood she dyed her chest. And she wished, having seen his cheeks covered with blood That with his arrow her own cheeks were split.

Over his grave she poured her heart With feelings overflowing. She now eulogizes him with the best of verse. She sings lullabies once and once she Hugs his corpse that decorated the pearls. And she often kneels down and sniffs Where his neck was slit and then kisses him again, So how miserable you are and how bereaved With the like of your tears did al-Khansa’ mourn Sakhr!

Of her emotions and yearnings she had that day A cage for eternity from which the bird had flown away...[^1] Vexation overwhelmed the world of the domain and of the unseen; the huris in the chambers of Paradise were crying, and so were the angels in the strata between the heavens, as the jinns mourned.[^2] Ibn Abul-Hadid says, “‘Ubaydullah Ibn Ziyad built four mosques in Basra to disseminate hatred towards ‘Ali Ibn Abu Talib (‘a).”[^3] This is not how to reward Allah's Messenger O nation of oppression and corruption!

Had the Messenger of Allah lived after him, He would have today mourned him exceedingly. Umm Salamah saw the Messenger of Allah (S) in a vision[^4] with his hair looking quite untidy, dusty, with earth soil on his head. She asked him, “O Messenger of Allah!

Why do I see your hair looking so untidy and dusty?” “My son,” he (S) said, “has been killed, and I have not yet finished digging his grave and those of his companions.”[^5] She woke up terrified and looked at the bottle containing a specimen of the soil of Karbala'. She found it boiling in blood.[^6] It was the bottle given to her by the Prophet (S) who ordered her to keep it.

Moreover, she heard in the depth of the night a caller mourning al-Husayn (‘a) saying O killers of al-Husayn out of ignorance Receive the news of your torture and annihilation. The son of David had cursed you And so did Moses and the man of the Gospel. All the people of the heavens condemn you Every prophet, every messenger, and every martyr.[^7] In fact, she heard in the depth of the night other voices mourning al-Husayn (‘a) but could not see them.