As the camel carrying Bibi Zainab goes past the body of Imam...

As the camel carrying Bibi Zainab goes past the body of Imam Husayn she can no longer contain her pain and anguish, and turning her face to Madina she cries out: “Ya Muhammad, The angels in heaven send their blessings upon you! Look, here lies your beloved Husayn, so humiliated and disgraced, covered with blood and cut into pieces. Here are we your daughters taken captives by Yazid!” Imam Zain ul 'Abideen walks over to Bibi Zainab.” Dear Aunt, have patience.

Your sacrifices for Islam have only just begun.” Ibn Ziyad, the Governor of Kufa, had declared a holiday. The city was decorated with flags and pennants. People had been told that the rebels who wanted to attack their city and murder them had been defeated at Karbala’ and that their women were being brought into the city as prisoners. Those who believed this, and many did, came out to line the city streets through which the procession was to pass so that they might mock and jeer at the prisoners.

Big crowds had gathered everywhere. There was a holiday mood. The procession slowly entered the city and began to move towards the Governor's palace. People jeered and shouted at the prisoners. There were a few, however, who guessed the truth. When they saw Imam Husayn's head, and saw the misery and grief of the widows and orphans, they began to shed tears. The majority were ignorant. They believed, or found it convenient to believe, the lies which Umar Sa'ad had told them.

As the procession neared the palace, the crowds thickened. Most of the people who gathered around the Governor's palace were those who worked for Yazid or supported him. The jeering and insults grew louder. The face of Bibi Zainab was red with anger. She stood up on the camel, looked at the crowd and in a loud and clear voice said: “Praise be to Allah and blessings upon my grandfather Muhammad, His beloved Prophet!! Woe unto you, O people of Kufa! Do you know whom you have killed?

Do you know what pledge you have broken? Do you know whose blood you have shed? Do you know whose honour you have defiled?” There was a stunned silence. Then a gentle sound of people crying! There was a blind old man in the crowd. He had been a companion of Hazrat Ali.

When he heard Bibi Zainab's voice, he cried out, “By Allah, if I had not known that he had died, I could have sworn that what I just heard was the voice of my master Ali ibn Abu Taalib.” Imam Zain ul 'Abideen went up to him and said, “Oh Shaikh! This is not Ali but his daughter Zainab binti Ali!