How could we have been so impudent towards you?

How could we have been so impudent towards you? You must now be our master! Rest here while we serve you! To which the Imam replied, “No, my experience in travelling within a caravan who knows me, tells me that they will not permit me to serve the people of the caravan. That is why I choose to travel with a caravan whose travellers do not know me so that I may obtain the privilege of being of service to Muslims and friends.

The Imam’s prayers and tear shedding For Imam Zayn al-‘Abidin such an opportunity which had been bestowed upon his great father, Imam al-Husayn, was never bestowed upon him. Neither an opportunity the likes of the opportunity Imam al-Sadiq had. However, for someone who wants to be of service to Islam, there are always other opportunities but in different forms. One just has to consider the honor Imam Zayn al-‘Abidin has created for the Shi‘ah World in the form of prayer!

The Imam was able to fulfil his mission in this respect. Some have assumed that because Imam Zayn al-‘Abidin never rose up with the sword during his lifetime and after his father’s martyrdom, he allowed his father’s legacy to be forgotten. However, this is by no means correct. He would make use of any opportunity to keep his father’s legacy alive. Why did he continuously lament and commemorate the tragedy? Was it akin to the condition of a man who feels pitiful and cries indiscriminately?

Or rather, did he want to keep the memory of this tragedy alive, in order to remind people not to forget the reasons why Imam al-Husaynrebelled and whom he was murdered by? This was the reason why the Imam constantly shed tears. One day, one of his servants asked, “Sir! Is it not time you stopped crying?” (He had realized that the Imam was crying for his loved ones.) The Imam replied, “What are you saying?

Ya‘qub [Jacob] had only one Yusuf [Joseph] and this is how the Qur’an describes his affections, “And he turned away from them and said: O my sorrow for Yusuf [Joseph]! And his eyes became on account of the grief that he was supressing.” 1 ?I saw eighteen Josephs fall onto the ground before my eyes, one after the other.” Reference [^1]: Surat Yusuf 12:84. Previous…