Speech Excerpts

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[ Brief Introduction to Speech of Zainab from Website Convert to Islam ]


Lady Zainab speaks in the court of Yazid

After the massacre of Imam Husayn and his family at Karbala, the forces of Yazid son of Muawiya took the children and women of Husayn's caravan as prisoners. They were taken from Karbala to Kufa and from Kufa to Damascus, the capital and stronghold of Umayyad power.

In Damascus, the women and children were presented into the court of Yazid, where he had assembled all the dignitaries and officers of his capital for that occasion. When the prisoners where brought in, they saw that Imam Husayn's head was at the foot of Yazid's thorn. Yazid was joyfully reciting some poems in which he openly rejected the Prophethood of Prophet Muhammad and called on his ancestors (who were killed by the Muslim army in the battle of Badr) to witness the revenge, which he had extracted, from the family of the Prophet.

It was under such an emotionally charged circumstances that Zaynab bint Ali, the courageous daughter of a courageous father, stood up and gave a very moving speech in response to Yazid's statements.

Zaynab reminds Yazid that his grandmother and other relatives came into the fold of Islam only after the fall of Mecca at the hands of the Muslims. Since Mecca was taken without any war or bloodshed, legally the entire inhabitant could have been made the slaves of the Prophet. But the Prophet, out of his mercy, declared to the people of Mecca that 'I release you from the bonds of slavery, you are free.'
In other words, Zaynab wanted Yazid to remember that his ancestors were the 'freed slaves' of her grandfather.

Look at the courage of Zaynab! Standing as a prisoner in the court of Yazid, she does not hesitate to remind him of his reality.

Zaynab reminds the audience of the origins of Yazid whose grandmother Hind ordered the dead body of Hamza be opned so that she could chew his liver. Hamza was uncle of Prophet Mohammad. She chewed his liver to 'quench' her anger for death of her father and brother who were killed in the Battle of Badr.

Zainab reminded the people who Yazid was and what his family has done to the family of God’s Messenger.


"In the name of God, the Beneficent, the Merciful.

All praise is due to God, the Lord of the Universe,
God's blessings be on His Messenger's Family altogether.

God says: 'Then the end of those who do evil deeds is that they reject the verses of God and ridicule them.' (Quran 30:10)

Oh Yazid! Do you think that by making us prisoners in such a way that we are being taken from one place to another in humiliation - do you think that by this you have humiliated us in the sight of God and have earned respect for yourself?!

This apparent success of yours is the result of grandeur of your might and lofty status for which you are proud…. You feel that you have conquered the whole world and your affairs are organised and that our domain is now under you control… And are you forgetting that God has said:

'Surely those who have bought unbelief at the price of faith shall do no harm at all to God, and they shall have a painful chastisement'. (Quran 3:177) "

Is it justice, O son of the freed slaves!, that you provide your ladies and slave-girls with hijab, whereas the daughters of the Messenger of God are held prisoners? You have insulted them by taking away the covers; you have exposed their faces to the enemies -- from one city to another. Everyone irrespective of his high or low status stares at their faces. These ladies do not have their gents or protectors with them."

But, of course, how can we expect protection from him whose mouth spits out the heart of the pious people, whose flesh has grown from the blood of martyrs? And why should he not hate us who is jealous of us and shamefully say: 'I wish my ancestors had seen me today; they would congratulate me and pray that my hand would never be weak'. He is saying this while, he is hurting [with his cane] the teeth of Husayn, the leader of the Youths of Paradise.

Why should he not say these things -- he who has cursed his feelings and sores by spilling the blood of Muhammad's family, the stars of the family of Abdul Muttalib.

You call your ancestors hoping that they will answer you. You will be put together with them and then you will regret and say had my tongue become dumb so that I would not have said what I said.

O God! Give us our right, and avenge those who have oppressed us; and send your anger upon those that spilled our blood and killed our protectors

By God! O Yazid, by killing 'Husayn you have not torn but your own skin and you have not cut but your own flesh. You will be brought to the Prophet with the crimes of spilling the blood of his children and humiliating his family."

The oppressors will know when the time changes.”


This was a powerful speech that shook the foundations of the empire.

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A study of speech by Dr. Ibrahim Ayati


Sermon of Lady Zaynab in the court of Yazid

We propose to study the sermon of lady Zaynab which she delivered in the court of Yazid.

Yazid recited the blasphemous poetic verses of Abdullah bin Zabaari Sahmi which he had composed while he was an unbeliever and also added some poetic verses of his own and said openly that he wanted to take revenge upon the descendants of Muhammad because Muhammad and his companions had killed his polytheist ancestors.

Zaynab, the daughter of Ali rose and began speaking. She added a new chapter to the history of the Caliphate of Yazid which covered a period of three years and a few months, and said:

"O Yazid! Allah and His Prophet have said that committing sins and considering the signs of Allah to be false is ridiculing them", i.e. deny the sign of Allah today and hold them in derision and have become happy, and recite poetic verses on account of the martyrdom of the children of the Holy Prophet just as the polytheists of Makkah became happy and sang songs because of the martyrdom of some Muslims in the Battle of Uhud, and talk about taking revenge upon the Holy Prophet. This is how you become like them and how you have reached this stage? You have reached this stage because you have committed too many sins. Whoever treads the path of sin and persists in committing sins will, according to the verdict of the Quran, deny the signs of Allah one day and eventually will ridicule them and then deserve Divine punishment.

She added:

"O Yazid! Do you think that we have become humble and despicable owing to the martyrdom of our people and our own captivity? As you have blocked all the paths for us, and we have been made captives and are being taken from one place to another, do you think that Allah has taken away his blessings from us? Do you think that by killing the godly persons you have become great and respectable and the Almighty looks at you with special grace and kindness? For this reason and on account of this wrong thinking you have become elated and arrogant. You have become boastful because you have seen that the matters have taken a turn in your favour. You have, however, forgotten what Allah says: The disbelievers must not think that Our respite is for their good We only give them time to let them increase their sins. For them there will be a humiliating torment." (Quran 3:178)

Then lady Zaynab reminded Yazid that on the day of the conquest of Makkah, the Holy Prophet did favour to all the men and women of Makkah and set them free. Yazid himself was a descendant of those very freed persons. His father Muawiya, his grandfather Abu Sufyan and Muawiya's mother were among those who were set free at the time of the conquest of Makkah. On that day the Holy Prophet very magnanimously set all of them free irrespective of what they had done in the past and said: "Go, for all of you are free".

In the second part of her speech the daughter of Imam Ali made the conquest of Makkah her topic and said:

"O son of the freed ones! Is it justice that you keep your women and slave-girls in seclusion but have made the helpless daughters of the Holy Prophet ride on swift camels and given them in the hands of their enemies so that they may take them from one city to another".

Then she said:

"Why shouldn't Yazid be spiteful against us, it is he, who looks at us with hostility. You say with perfect intrepidity and without imagining that you are committing a sin: 'I wish that my ancestors who were killed in Badr had been present here today'. Then you strike Imam Husayn in his teeth with a stick in your hand! Why shouldn't you be like this, although you have done what you wanted to do and have pulled out the roots of piety and virtue! You have shed the blood of the sons of the Holy Prophet and have hidden the brilliant stars on the earth from amongst the descendants of Abdul Muttalib under the clouds of oppression and injustice. However, you shall go before Allah soon. You shall meet your ancestors and shall also be taken to their place. At that time you will wish that you had been blind and dumb and had not said that it was a day of rejoicing for your ancestors".

At this stage the daughter of Imam Ali prayed to Allah and said:

"O Lord! Procure our right and take revenge upon those who have oppressed us". Then she turned to Yazid and said: "By Allah you have pulled off your skin and cut off your flesh. You will soon go before the Prophet of Allah and will see with your own eyes that his children are in Paradise. It will be the day when Allah will deliver the descendants of the Holy Prophet from the state of being scattered and will bring all of them together in Paradise. This is the promise which Allah has made in the Holy Quraan. He says: Do not think of those who are slain for the cause of Allah as dead. They are alive with their Lord and receive sustenance from Him." (3:169)

"O Yazid! On the day when Allah will be the Judge and Muhammad will be the petitioner, and your limbs will give evidence against you, your father, who made you the ruler of the Muslims, will receive His punishment. On that day it will become known what reward the oppressors earn, whose position is worse and whose party is more humble. O enemy of Allah and O son of the enemy of Allah! I swear by Allah that I consider you to be humble and not fit even to be reprimanded and reproached. But what am I to do? Our eyes are shedding tears, our hearts are burning, and our martyrs cannot come to life by our reprimanding and reproaching you. My Husayn has been killed and the partisans of Satan are taking us to the fools so that they may get their reward for insulting Allah. Our blood is dripping from their hands and our flesh is falling down from their mouths. The sacred bodies of the martyrs have been placed at the disposal of the wolves and other carnivorous animals of the jungle. If you have gained something today by shedding blood, you will certainly be a loser on the Day of Judgment. On that day nothing but your deeds will count. On that day you will curse Ibn Marjana and he will curse you. On that day you and your followers will quarrel with one another by the side of the Divine scale of Justice. On that day you will see that the best provision which your father made for you was that he enabled you to kill the children of the Prophet of Allah. I swear by Allah that I do not fear anyone except Him and do not complain to anyone else. You may employ your deceit and cunning efforts, but I swear by Allah that the shame and disgrace which you have earned by the treatment meted out to us cannot be eradicated". The daughter of Fatima Zahra ended her speech with offering thanks to Allah. She said: "I thank Allah Who has concluded the task of the chiefs of the youths of Paradise with prosperity and forgiveness and accommodated them in Paradise. I pray to Allah that He may elevate their ranks and favour them more with His kindness, for Allah is Omnipotent".

["A Probe Into the History of Ashura", Dr. Ibrahim Ayati.]

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Speech of Zainab

[Revised from zainaborg]


Lady Zainab condemns Yazid

After Lady Zainab saw yazid hitting the head of her brother with a cane. She stood and said:

"God says, and he says the truth, the end of wrongdoers will be awful, those who belied the signs of God and mocked them. Oh Yazid, do you feel that you have made our life miserable and existence impossible? And you think that God has dishonoured us and that you have been honoured and elevated? This apparent success of yours is the result of grandeur of your might and lofty status for which you are proud…. you feel that you have conquered the whole world and your affairs are organised and that our domain is now under you control.

Wait! Wait! Let not your ignorance make you so elated for have you not heard god's words - let not those who disbelieve think that our giving them respite is good for themselves. We only give respite to them so that they may increase in sins and for them is a disgraceful chastisement.

Oh you the son of freed slaves! Is this your justice that the ladies of your house remain veiled and we the prophet's daughters should be paraded from place to place? You have thus insulted our dignity.

Oh Yazid! Your misdeed has proved your rebellion against god…. and this action of yours comes as no surprise from a person whose ancestors chewed the liver of such saintly martyrs. The descendants of such enemies of god should naturally be the most deadly!

Oh Yazid! You are happily disrespecting the teeth of Hussain even though it was the place of kissing for the holy prophet!

Oh Yazid! You did what you wished, but remember that you have cut your own skin; in the near future you will be taken in the presence of the holy prophet. on that occasion you will be burdened with the sins of the misdeed committed by you shedding the blood of his progeny and dishonouring the sanctity of his family.

Oh Yazid! It does not befit you to get inflated with joy after slaying the prophet's progeny and reckon not those slain in the way of god to be dead: Nay! Alive, they are with their lord, being sustained, rejoicing in what god has granted them.

Oh Yazid! Feel not elated with our defeat, for you will have to pay the penalty of it on the day when you will be rewarded for your misdeeds. God is not unjust to anyone. We trust in him. He is our place of refuge. In him we seek sanctity and with him rest our hopes!

You can never reach the level of our lofty position, nor can you destroy our remembrances, nor can you wipe out the ignominy you have earned for yourself by your abominable and vile performance. Your decisions are poor and your days are numbered. Your party will disperse the day when the announcer will announce - God's curse be on tyrants and transgressors.”

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