One such account is that for twenty years whenever food was placed before him...

One such account is that for twenty years whenever food was placed before him, he would weep.35 Zayn al-ʿĀbidīn resided in Medina until his death at the age of fifty-four in the year 95/713-4.36 He was the object both of great sympathy because of the massacre of his family, and of veneration as the great grandson of the Prophet.

He dedicated his life to learning and worship and became an authority on prophetic traditions and law, but he was known mostly for his nobility of character and his piety, which earned him his sobriquet already in his lifetime.

The details that have reached us about his life in Medina mainly take the form of anecdotes affirming his constant preoccupation with worship and acts of devotion.37 He fathered fifteen children, eleven boys and four girls.38 After Karbalā, there were a number of different factions in the Shīʿi community, not all of whom supported ʿAlī b. al-Ḥusayn as the rightful leader and Imam of the Muslim community.

Many Shīʿa, such as those involved in the Tawwābūn movement, felt that the ʿUmayyads had to be overthrown and that it was the duty of the Imam to lead a revolt, however he refused to become involved with politics.39 1.2 Childhood Qarashī mentions that difficulty and pain accompanied him from the time of his childhood; among them being that his mother died while he was in infancy.40 He also states that Ḥusayn b.

ʿAlī his father, tried his best to save her from the illness described as childbed fever, but was unable to do so. The fever had become intense and she suffered from severe pain for numerous days until she died. Ḥusayn b. ʿAlī together with prominent Muslim figures and a large number of Muslims escorted her burial procession and she was finally buried in Kūfā.41 His father then arranged for a nursemaid to see to the care of his son ʿAlī b. al-Ḥusayn.

Qarashī describes the nursemaid as a righteous lady, treating the child just like an affectionate mother would treat her own son and that ʿAlī b.