When Zayd bin Arqam[^9] saw that he would not stop poking [the teeth]...

When Zayd bin Arqam[^9] saw that he would not stop poking [the teeth], he said: ‘Take your cane away from those [two] lips. For, by He beside whom there is no deity, I have seen the lips of the Prophet of Allah (S) on those two lips, kissing them!’ [With that] the old man broke into tears. Ibn Ziyad said to him: ‘May Allah make your two eyes weep!

By Allah, if it was not for the fact that you are an old man who has become silly and your mind has left you, I would cut off your head.’ [Zayd bin Arqam] stood up and went out[^10] saying: ‘A slave has appointed [another] slave to rule and he is treating [the people] as his [own] property. O the community of the Arabs! [Know that] you have become slaves henceforth! You have killed the son of Fatimah and taken the son of Marjanah as [your] ruler!

He will kill the righteous among you and enslave the wicked. You have thus accepted humiliation! And away from the people who have accepted humiliation!’[^11] After he went out, I heard people saying: ‘By Allah, Zayd has said something that if Ibn Ziyad had heard, he would have killed him.’ The Captives in the Court of Ibn Ziyad When [al-Husayn’s] sisters, his womenfolk and children were brought before ‘Ubaidullah bin Ziyad, Zainab, the daughter of Fatimah, put on her mean clothes, pretending not to be herself.

Her maids crowded around her and she sat. ‘Ubaidullah bin Ziyad said: ‘Who is that woman sitting?’ She did not answer him. He repeated that three times, but she did not speak. One of her maids [then] said: ‘This is Zainab, daughter of Fatimah.’ ‘Ubaidullah said to her: ‘All praise is due to Allah Who has disgraced you, killed you and revealed the false nature of your claims.’ [Zainab] replied: ‘Praise be to Allah Who honoured us with Muhammad (S) and purified us with a thorough purification.

It is not the way you have said. Only a sinner is disgraced [by Allah] and [only] the false nature of the wicked is revealed!’ He said: ‘How do you consider Allah has treated the members of your household?!’ She replied: ‘Death had been decreed for them and they went forward [bravely] to their resting places. Allah will gather you and them, and you will argue against each other and dispute with one another before him.’[^12] [At this] Ibn Ziyad became enraged and he burnt with anger.

He said to her: ‘Allah has cured my soul from your tyrant [brother] and the rebellious members of your family!’ [Here] Zainab wept.