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Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books Alone With the Beloved: the Words of ʿalī B. Al-Ḥusayn Inthe Ṣaḥīfa Sajjādiyya Chapter 3: Life and Works of ʿAlī b. al-Ḥusayn Introduction This chapter will explore the life and contribution of ʿAlī b al-Ḥusayn and establish a link between the socio-cultural and political context of that time with the text attributed to him.

Although the Ṣaḥīfa is generally viewed as a text on devotional supplication (du’a), however it can also be read as a wider commentary of the time in which it was produced. The Ṣaḥīfa and other texts attributed to ʿAlī b al-Ḥusayn are part of the literary, theological, spiritual, and political discourse of that era. Thus, there is in the text an interplay between spirituality, theology, and history. 1.1 General Sketch Alī b.

al-Ḥusayn was born in Medina, according to most sources in the year 37-38/658-9.30 He may have been too small to have remembered his grandfather ʿAlī b. Abī Ṭālib, whom he lived with for two years and who was killed in 41/661. He was brought up in the presence of his uncle Ḥasan b. ʿAlī (d. 49/669) with whom he lived for 12 years and his father Ḥusayn b. ‛Alī (d. 60/680) whom he lived with for 23 years.31 Ḥasan and Ḥusayn b. ʿAlī were the Prophet's grandchildren from his daughter Fāṭima.

Many Shīʿa sources state that his mother was Shahrbanū or Shazanān as she is also called, the daughter of Yazdigird, the last Sasanian king of Persia.32 Due to this, according to Ibn Khallikān he was said to be Ibn al-Khiyaratayn, the ‘son of the best two’, meaning the Quraysh among the Arabs and the Persians among the non-Arabs.33 According to some accounts, his mother was brought as a captive to Medina during the caliphate of ʿUmar, who wanted to sell her.

ʿAlī suggested instead that she be offered her choice of the Muslim men as a husband and that her dower be paid from the public treasury. ʿUmar agreed and she chose ʿAlī’s son Ḥusayn. She is said to have died shortly after giving birth to her only son ʿAlī, Zayn al-ʿĀbidīn.34 At this stage we shall not recount in detail the massacre at Karbalā' in 60/680, when Ḥusayn b.

ʿAlī and many of the male members of his family were killed by the forces of the ʿUmayyad caliph Yazīd, an event which had effects to a great extent on the Islamic world and gave impetus to the nascent Shīʿa movement. Several accounts are related concerning his grief over this tragedy.