They said to her...

They said to her, “Suffices you what you have said, O daughter of the pure ones, for you have certainly burnt our hearts and slit our throats!” She hardly finished when Umm Kulthum, Zainab daughter of ‘Ali Ibn Abu Talib (‘a), spoke [again].

Zainab described the horror which those misled people had committed, whereupon everyone present wailed and cried, and nobody had ever witnessed more crying and weeping.[^1] One wonders whether anyone can deliver a speech under such a most grave situation, when one is surrounded by the swords of the oppressors, no matter how strong his tribe may be.

Yet who else besides the daughters of the Commander of the Faithful (‘a) could publicly expose the sins committed by the son of Hind and the son of Marjana? Heavy burdens were placed on the tongues, and fear filled everyone's heart. Yet all of this is looked upon as abominable had its benefits only been worldly and its motives the doing of one's insinuating self.

But if it benefits the religion, such as clearing the faith introduced by the Messenger of Allah (S) from any falsehood that those adversaries had attached to it, there will be no ugliness in it according to reason and custom, and it is supported by the Shari’a . Allah has exempted women from waging jihad and confronting the enemies, and Allah Almighty has required them to stay at home. Yet such is the case when a confrontation like this is undertaken by the men.

But when such an obligation is removed from them in a confrontational way from which they should refrain, the foundations of the Shari’a will be undermined, and the sacrifice of those elite ones will be cleared from any falsehood, women will then be required to do just that.

It is for this reason that the Head of the Women of the World, Fatima al-Zahra’, peace be upon her, stood to defend Allah's supreme caliphate after the oath of allegiance had been sworn to someone else other than to the master of wasis [her husband, Imam ‘Ali Ibn Abi Talib (‘a), who was thus forcibly distanced from the political process], so she delivered a speech at the Mosque of the Prophet (S) which was very eloquent and which was witnessed by a large crowd of the Muhajirun and the Ansar.

But al-Husayn (‘a) had already been informed by his grandfather, al-Amin (S), that those folks, although they would have attained their goal, and although they would go to extremes in their villainy, they would not harm the women.