Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books The Tale of the Martyrdom of Imam Hussain (a.s.) [the Kerbala Epic] Part 2 - The Arena (The desert of Kerbala, Iraq) * A sweltering, simmering, broiling land* * Igneous, sultry, arid sand.* * No bramble (or thistle) it boasts* * A crop of humpbacked dunes it hosts* * A torrid, baking, seething place* * Even delusion, cannot verdure trace.* * Exhausted earth's infecund plot* * Anhydrous, husky, soapless, spot.* * Parched fragment of a barren world* * A glowing meteor to the earth hurled.* * No cheerless, forlorn cactus grows* * Hellish, blustering simoom blows.* * The blazing, fiery, flaming sun* * An eerie desolation; the valiant shun.* * A spooky silence, ominous hush* * The wind escapes it, with a rush.* * The terra firma appears ablaze* * The earth stunned, in a languid daze.* * A vision, on earth, of a virtual hell* * A stretch of furnace, a fiery shell* * The heatwave diffuses thermal haze* * The fervid ether forbids the gaze.* * The primeval sands primordial heat* * With contempt does inferno treat* * Behold a dauntless, valiant band* * Stands, resolutely, on this land.* * The Profit's grandson; with his group* * A tranquil Guild, not a militant troop.* * In this sombre, dreary terrain* * They, their reverence did sustain.* Omar bin Sa'ad, the commander of the enemy's army came with 30,000 of troops.
He made Amr bin al-Hajjaj az-Zubaidi the commander of the right flank of his army and Shimr bin Thil al-Jawshan the commander of the left flank. Izra bin Qais Al-Ahnasi was made the commander of the horsemen, Shibth bin Ribi'e took charge of the archers.
* "Suddenly a deafening tumult I heard,* * Thundering of myriad hooves, converged.* * A tremor struck, the earth did shake,* * My tranquillity disrupted, I was awake.* * Loomed, ominously, a host of swords,* * Rush, headlong, did furious hordes.* * The glint of tinsel arms appeared,* * As their coursers they spurred.* * My waves, in terror, rushed, did flee* * As their identity dawned on me.* * Their sinister countenance, hideous looks,* * Depicted a pack of depraved crooks.* * Their obliquity; their visage betrayed,* * A flash flood hit me (was dismayed)* Previous Next