Some of the earliest examples we have of marthiya on Husayn...

Some of the earliest examples we have of marthiya on Husayn are in fact simple poems of this type: lamentations by his wives and daughters. This piece attributed to Rabab, beloved wife of Husayn, is particularly moving. Rabab said: He who was a light, shining, is murdered; Murdered in Karbala', and unburied.

Descendant of the Prophet, may God reward you well; May you be spared judgement on the day when deeds are weighed: For you were to me as a mountain, solid, in which I could take refuge; And you treated us always with kindness, [^1] and according to religion. O who shall speak now for the orphans, for the petitioners; By whom shall all these wretched be protected, in whom shall they take refuge?

I swear by God, never will I wish to exchange marriage with you for another; No, not until I am covered; covered in the grave. And on another occasion Rabab said: O Husayn! Never shall I forget Husayn! Pierced by the spears of his enemies, He whom they abandoned, in Karbala'.

May God now never water the plains of Karbala' ![^2] And regardless of how well attested these pieces of elegy are as literary remains, I think we would have to say that the beauty and deep feeling here has something of the force of memory to testify to their authenticity. In many later elegies on Husayn, the lament is put into the mouths of females of his family, Fatima, for instance, or Zaynab, and this recalls the pre-Islamic elegy.

In the Umayyad period poets were invited to compose laudations (madh) and marathi for the rituals of the gatherings (majalis) of the noble members of the family of the Prophet. This narration concerning the sixth Imam shows the place of marathi in these gatherings: Jafar b.

'Affan came to al-Sadiq's residence and seated himself next to him, upon which the Imam said, Ja'far, I have been told that you recite poetry for Husayn, peace be upon him, and that you do it well.' 'Yes, and may God make me a sacrifice for you!' replied the poet.

'Recite, then', said al-Sadiq, and Jafar recited these verses: He who weeps for Husayn might well weep for Islam itself, For the principles of Islam have been destroyed, and used unlawfully: On the day when Husayn became the target of spears, When swords drank from him, busy with their work. And corpses, scattered, were abandoned in the desert. Great birds hovering over by night and by day ... And the Imam Sadiq wept and those around him with him, until his face and beard were covered with tears.