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Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books A Probe into the History of Ashura' Chapter 24: Imam Sajjad in the Court of Ibn Ziyad Imam Sajjad was brought to Ibn Ziyad's court and made to stand before that tyrant. "Who are you?" He asked the Imam. The Imam replied: "I am Ali ibn Husayn". He said: "Did Allah not kill Ali ibn Husayn?" The Imam replied: "I had a brother whose name was also Ali and the people killed him ".

(The Imam meant to tell Ibn Ziyad not to attribute sin to Allah and not to say something irrelevant, because it was the people and not Allah who killed Ali ibn Husayn in Karbala). Ibn Ziyad said: "It is not so. Allah killed him". In reply to this the Imam recited a verse of the Qur'an: Allah takes the souls when the time of their death comes, (Surah al-Zumar, 39:42) but He is not their killer.

When Ibn Ziyad saw that the young ailing prisoner had given back replies time and again to what he said he got annoyed and said: "Do you still have courage to resist what I say?" Then he said to his men: "Take him away and chop off his head". On hearing this lady Zaynab got very much worried and disturbed.

However, the only reply which the fourth Imam gave to Ibn Ziyad was this: "If you kill me with whom will you send these women?" Then he added: "After killing me you should send with them a pious Muslim, who should behave towards them according to the orders of Islam". The fourth Imam did not utter a sentence requesting Ibn Ziyad to spare his life.

He only said: "When I am killed do not send with these sacred women a man, who is impious and a non-Muslim".[^1] In Syria also Imam Sajjad got some such opportunities and availed of them to the maximum possible extent. When Imam Sajjad was a captive in Damascus a man named Ibrahim bin Talha bin Ubaydullah Taymi came before him in the Bazaar and said tauntingly: "O Ali bin Husayn!

Who was victorious in this battle?" He meant to say that the Ahlul Bayt suffered a crushing defeat and their enemies won a glorious victory. The Imam said to him in reply: "Now that the time for prayers is approaching you should pronounce Azan and Iqamah so that you may come to know and understand clearly as to who has been victorious". The Imam meant to tell him this: 'As you belong to the Taym tribe of Quraysh you are perhaps happy for some reasons that Bani Hashim had suffered defeat.