GENERAL REMARKS
The beliefthat our Prophet Muhammad (S.A.W W), his daughter, Hazrat Fatima (A.S), Imam Ali (A.S) and other eleven Imams (whose biographies we are going to study in this course) are all sinless and make no mistakes, is a very important part of our faith. To us these fourteen personalities were perfect.
However, as each of them had a special job to do and most of them lived in different periods of time, each of them had a chance to show only a few sides of his or her character. In the world in which Imam Zainul Abidin (A.S) lived, the parts of his character which people could be seen very clearly are described in the following pages of this chapter.
HIS PIETY
He had great love and fear of Allah. These could be seen the way the carried out his daily ‘Wajib’ prayers and other recommended prayers. Three things can be said about his prayers to Allah:
Once he set up his mind to pray to Allah, he forgot about every thing else. He gave himself totally to Allah. Nothing would disturb his prayers. Consider the following incidents.
* Once while he was praying, his house caught fire. To put down the fire and more importantly to save their lives everybody in the house was running here and there. But not the Imam (A.S). He continued his prayers as if nothing had happened. When he finished his prayers, the fire had already been put down. Somebody asked him, no the son Prophet, why didn’t you cut-short your “Sajda” when you heard the people shouting that the house was on fire?"
The Imam replied, “When I heard ‘fire, fire’ I remembered the fire of Hell. I compared that with fire in my house. I found the fire of Hell more severe so I continued praying.”
* At another time his son, Hazrat Muhammed Baqir (A.S) had fallen in a well. The child’s mother was deeply upset and cried for the Imam’s help. The Imam was in the middle of his prayers. He neither broke his prayers nor did he rush to complete his prayers fast. He continued his prayers, at his usual speed. On completing his prayers he went to the well and brought out the child. The child was safe and was not hurt at all.
* It is said that once Shaitan (Devil) decided to disturb the Imam’s prayers. The Devil then took the form of a snake and stung the Imam’s legs continuously. The Imam felt the pain but he continued praying as if nothing had happened. When he had finished he told the Shaitan to go away. Then came a voice from Heavens saying, “You are Zainul Abidin (A. S) (the decoration of the pious)”; every body who was present heard this and the Imam (A. S) became famous by that name;
* It is common with human beings, to shorten their prayers or even to neglect them at the time of difficulties. This was not so with the Imam (A.S). On the evening of Ashura in Kerbala, Imam (A.S) went through a very hard time. He remembered these hard times throughout his life But his prayers remained as pure as ever- He Spent the whole night in “Sajda” praising Allah in these words:
“There is no other God but Allah and that is the truth. There is no other God but Allah in terms. of faith and truth. There is no other God but Allah. I testify this by praying to Him”.
Throughout his difficult journey from Kerbala to Kufa and from Kufa to Damascus and all the time he was in prison, his prayers remained the same as they had been during the normal times.
He spent a lot of his time in prayers. Beside the daily obligatory prayers like his grandfather Imam Ali (A.S), he prayed 1000 rakats of recommended prayers (Mustahab) daily in the day and at night. If there was any time left that, too, he would spend in “Duas” and “Sujud”. * Taoos Yamani reports that once he went to the House of Allah and there he saw Ali Bin Husain (A.S) near “Hajare Aswad” (Black stone). He first prayed and then bowed down in ‘Sajda’. Taus says that he went near the Imam to hear what he was saying and he heard the Imam say in presence of Allah:
“Your humble servant is at your courtyard” “Your sad one is at your courtyard” “Your poor one is at your courtyard” “Your beggar is at your courtyard” Taoos says since that time whenever I need help from Allah I address Him in this way and I get the help that I need.
* It is reported that the Imam would get out of his bed at midnight daily and go to his prayer carpet saying, “O my creator, the thought that I will have to face you on the Day of Judgement has got me out of my bed and made me sleepless.” Having said so, he would bow-down in prayers and put his cheeks on the ground. He would then weep in fear of Allah and weep so much that the ground would become wet with his tears. His family would gather around him but he would not even notice them. He would continue addressing Allah saying, “O my creator, I don’t wish for the restful life of this world. I ask for your mercy at that time when I shall be brought in your presence.”
Source:
A Brief Biography of Ali Ibn Husain (a.s)
By: Muhammad Reza Dungersi. PH.D
[Vol. 1, Pg. 18-20].
