Quite often the children would faint under the scorching...

Quite often the children would faint under the scorching desert heat and fall off the camels. The mothers would scream. Imam Zain ul 'Abideen and Bibi Zainab would go looking for the children. Sometimes they would find them by the road side barely alive and there were occasions when they were discovered too late. Our fourth Imam would dig a grave to bury the dead child. An historian revisiting this route a few years later discovered a large number of small graves on the way side!

Some Zakirs narrate the following story: Once Bibi Zainab looked at the camel on which Bibi Sakina was riding. Bibi Sakina was not there! She looked at all the other camels, Bibi Sakina was nowhere to be seen. She panicked. Where could Imam Husayn's darling daughter be? She asked Shimr to untie her to that she could go and look for Bibi Sakina. At first Shimr responded with his whip. Unmindful of her own pain she kept on begging.

Shimr untied her with the warning that if she did not return soon he would flog Imam Zain ul 'Abideen to death. Bibi Zainab ran in the direction from which they had travelled. Some distance away she saw an elderly lady holding Bibi Sakina affectionately, kissing her cheeks and wiping away her tears. She could hear Bibi Sakina telling the lady how her uncle Hazrat Abbas had gone to fetch her water and how he had never returned.

When Bibi Sakina saw her aunt she explained that she had fallen off the camel but the kind lady had looked after her. Bibi Zainab turned to the lady and said, “May Allah reward you for your kindness to this orphan!” The lady replied, “Zainab, my dear, how can you thank your own mother? Do you not recognize me?” As the lady lifted her face, Bibi Zainab saw that it was Fatimah Zahra!! When the caravan reached the outskirts of Damascus Omar Sa'ad sent a message to Yazid that they had arrived.

Yazid ordered that the caravan remain where it was until the morning. He wanted the people of Shaam to line the streets to look at the captives and witness his victory. In the meantime the streets through which the captives were to be marched were being decorated with flags and pennants. Bibi Zainab had conquered Kufa. Now Shaam had come and was waiting for her!

The Court of Yazid When at long last the caravan reached the outskirts of Damascus, a message was received by Umar Sa'ad that the prisoners were not to be brought into the capital until Yazid had completed all the preparations.