The Imam took him in his arms and went to beseech Umar ibn...

The Imam took him in his arms and went to beseech Umar ibn Sa'd for water for the innocent child. But his request fell on deaf ears and stone hearts. Instead, an arrow pierced the child's neck, killing him instantly. Imam Husayn [a.s.] returned with the child still in his arms, himself spattered with his son's blood. Zaynab [a.s.] took the small corpse from her brother and pressing it close to her chest lamented pitifully the heavy toll on life that the injustices of the enemy extracted.

The fateful day wore on. Husayn [a.s.] was wounded so many times until eventually he fell off his horse. His enemies surrounded him and attacked him with swords and spears.

When Zaynab [a.s.] saw his agony from her tent door she went on to the field of battle and approaching the Imam, she said, "O my brother, my master, would that the sky fell down on the earth and the mountains toppled to the ground." Then she turned to Umar ibn Sa'd and said, "O Sa'd, Husayn is being butchered and you are only watching." Hearing this his eyes filled with tears, but he made no reply.

Then Zaynab addressed the others of the army: "Is there no Muslim among you who could help the grandson of the Prophet of Allah?" And then the fighting came to an end. Seventy-three brave men had faced four thousand, and after the bloody encounter was over none of the Imam's supporters were left alive. The Imam's body was trampled by his enemies' horses, his head was severed, and even the tattered cloth with which he had hoped to preserve his modesty was snatched off him.

At the moment of the Imam's death, Hadrat Jibra'il proclaimed: "Beware, Husayn has been murdered in Karbala." Upon hearing this Zaynab [a.s] rushed to Imam Zayn ul-Abidin [a.s.] and told him about the tragedy that had just occurred. At his asking she raised the curtain of the tent door for him and looking towards the battlefield, he exclaimed: "My Aunt, my father has been killed, and with him the spring of generosity and honour too has come to an end.

Inform the women and ask them to conduct themselves with patience and forbearance; let them be prepared to be plundered and taken captive." Now the enemy came to the women's tents. Umar ibn Sa'd gave the order to loot. Barging in, they plundered what they could and set the tents on fire. They beat the women with their swords and snatched away their veils. Imam Zayn ul-Abidin's bedding was ripped from beneath him and he was left lying feeble, weak and unable to move.