Ḥusayn b. ʿAlī (626 – 680 AD) was the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad. A man of many accolades,[1] Ḥusayn was killed in Karbala by a Muslim army. His murder sparked a crisis of conscience in the Muslim world. It is customary for Shia Muslims to recount his Passion (and the lessons gleaned therefrom[2]) in the Islamic month of Muḥarram. Poems about the tragedy are often recited to share the story of Ḥusayn and elicit the emotions of the audience.
While it is well-known that Shia Muslims compose elegies about the killing of Ḥusayn, I wanted to share some of the elegies penned or recorded by Sunni Muslim scholars. Ultimately, Ḥusayn does not belong to any one group of people – many of the lessons in his biography are universal and should be part of general Islamic education.
The founder of the Shāfiʿī school of jurisprudence, Muḥammad b. Idrīs al-Shāfi’ī (d. 820 AD), famously wrote the following:
My heart laments while my mind is distressed.
My rest is perturbed, my vigil intense.
What strips me of sleep and boosts my lambaster
Are the twists of Fate and her many disasters.
Hence who to Husayn will deliver my tiding,
Though hearts and souls may be oh-so-chiding?
Sinlessly slain, as though his vest
Was soaked in the dye from a Cercis, pressed.
Now the sword does wail and the lance thus cries,
And horses—after their neighing—breathe sighs.
The Earth does quake for Muhammad’s brood,
And even the cores of mountains are strewed.
Erased are stars and planets do tremble,
Curtains are ripped and vessels do crumble.
Is the Prophet of Hashim sent benediction,
While ambushed and slaughtered are his own children?!
Should love for Muhammad’s brood be my crime,
Then know that from it I’ll never resign.
They are intercessors on my Resurrection,
When errors egregious elude not detection![3]
تأوه قلبي والفؤاد كئيب
وأرق نومي فالسهاد عجيب
ومما نفى نومي وشيب لومتي
تصاريف أيام لهن خطوب
فمن مبلغ عني الحسين رسالة
وإن كرهتها أنفس وقلوب
ذبيح بلا جرم كأن قميصه
صبيغ بماء الإرجوان خضيب
فللسيف إعوال وللرمح رنة
وللخيل من بعد الصهيل نحيب
تزلزلت الدنيا لآل محمد
وكادت لهم صم الجبال تذوب
وغارت نجوم واقشعرت كواكب
وهتك أستار وشق جيوب
يُصلى على المبعوث من آل هاشم
ويُغزى بنوه إن ذا لعجيب
لئن كان ذنبي حب آل محمد
فذلك ذنب لست عنه أتوب
هم شفعائي يوم حشري وموقفي
إذا مابدت للناظرين خطوب
Al-Mubarrad (d. c. 898 AD), the Basran grammarian and philologist, recorded in his book al-Kāmil that a tābiʿī mawla of Bani Taym named Sulaymān b. Quta al-ʿAdawī al-Taymī (d. 743 AD) was the earliest known poet to compose an elegy for Ḥusayn.[4] He was apparently closely attached to Banu Hāshim.[5] Variants of the elegy were recorded by Sunni scholars including Ibn ʿAsākir,[6] al-Khwarizmi,[7] and Ibn Kathir.[8] One version goes like this:
I passed by the dwellings of the Family of Muhammad,
Yet I found them unlike the day they once were inhabited.
Do you not see that the sun has become sickly,
For Husayn has been slain, and the lands have shuddered.
They were once our hope, but have become a calamity;
How immense and grievous are those afflictions!
The tribe of Qays[9] asks us, and we give to its poor,
Yet Qays kills us whenever occasion permits.
With the tribe of Ghani remains a drop of our blood;
One day we shall seek its requital, wherever they may be.
May God not cast far away those homes and their people,
Even though, against my wishes, they now lie abandoned.
Indeed, the slain one of al-Taff[10] from the House of Hashim
Has humbled the necks of the Muslims, and so they have been humbled.
The heavens raised their wailing in grief for his loss,
And our stars lamented for him and offered prayers.
مــررتُ عــلــى أبــيـاتِ آلِ محمدٍ فلمْ أرَ أمــثــــالـهـا يــومَ حــلّـتِ
ألمْ ترَ أنَّ الشمسَ أضحتْ مريضةً لــقتلِ حــســينٍ والبلادُ اقشعرَّتِ
وكــانــوا رجـاءً ثمَّ أضحوا رزيَّـةً لقد عــظـمتْ تلكَ الرزايا وجلّتِ
وتــســألنــا قــيـسٌ فـنعطي فقيرَها وتــقـتلنا قـيـسٌ إذا الـنـعلُ زلّــتِ
وعــنــد غـــنـيٍّ قطرةٌ من دمـائِـنا ســنـطلبُها يوماً بها حيـثُ حــلّتِ
فــلا يــبـعـدُ اللهُ الـــديـارَ وأهـلَهـا وإن أصبحتْ منهم برغمي تخلّتِ
وإنَّ قتيـلَ (الـطفِّ) مِن آلِ هاشـمٍ أذلَّ رقـابَ المـســلــمـيـــنَ فذلّـتِ
وقد أعولتْ تبكي الــسـمـاءُ لفقـدِه وأنجــمُــنـا ناحتْ علـيهِ وصلّــتِ
Lisān al-Dīn Muhammad b. ʿAbdullāh b. al-Khaṭīb al-Salmānī (d. 1374 AD), perhaps the greatest Muslim scholar of Nasrid Granada, records a Sunni Andalusian practice of mourning the martyrdom of Ḥusayn in the Valencia and Murcia regions of eastern Spain in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. On the tenth of Muḥarram, there was a custom of reciting marāthī husaynīyya (lament poems commemorating the martyrdom of al-Husayn).[11] This is despite Andalusia’s Umayyad background. He preserves a poem composed by the scholar Abū Baḥr Ṣafwān ibn Idrīs (c. 1185 AD):
May peace of the likeness of a breeze of roses be upon the noble house [of the Prophet]
A house from which true guidance is learned
May peace be upon the Fatimids, those who were massacred.
Their faces became the likeness of faded moons and stars.
That the best of his Family is [being killed] it is as if the Prophet himself was being cut to pieces
In the land of Karbala, where there was no assistance but only precious tears
Even the wells of Zamzam and Ḥatīm[12] wept over them
Their tears perfumed the rocks, Ṣafa, the corners of the Ka’ba and the Station of Abraham
And the broken Black Stone represents the anguish over the tragedy; can’t you see how it mourns with the intensity of its blackness?!
The garden surrounding the [tomb of the] Prophet grieves on the [tenth] day of Muḥarram
And even the pulpit [of the Prophet] and the tree weeps for them, grief which only those with conscience can understand
Even these inanimate objects were able to recognize the lofty position [of the Ahl al-Bayt], such that even the Cave of Ḥīra’[13] would come crashing down and ground into small pieces in humility
Yet, the kings of the nations and their people did not recognize the rank of the Family of the Prophet of God, and their failing to do so is a great crime.
If the Prophet of God was brought to life, Ibn Ziyād[14] would see how his mother would be devastated
And [Fāṭīma] al-Zahrā’ (may God sanctify her tomb) would have come forth calling to her father with eyes flowing with tears saying: ‘O Father, they have unjustly betrayed my son [al-Ḥusayn]!
They served al-Ḥasan a cup of poison, little by little, and they did not feel regret or remorse
They cut off the head of al-Ḥusayn at Karbalā’ as if he was a criminal
Avenge me and lessen my pain and stop the flowing tears from my eyes
O Father, be victorious for thy grandson [al-Ḥusayn] and remember his tragedy
And remember the imprisonment of his children after him, and how they were carried off as if they were the offspring of Khusrau[15] which had been captured in war
And remember the torture which Yazid had imposed upon my soul, which only you—O Light—can heal…
Such things were ordained by God to take place, despite our hopes and wishes
God ordained that they would be killed by their own slaves [the Banū Umayya], who acted mischievously towards them
These are a people whose deeds are worthless, they are destined for Hell
O arrogant one [Yazid], God is angry at you for the sake of the daughter of the Prophet
Our tears cannot do justice to the struggles of al-Ḥusayn and Fāṭīma
And whatever you hear from laments about al-Ḥusayn
Which express immense sorrow and pain
Then extend your prayers and blessings upon the grandfather of al-Ḥusayn
سلام كأزهار الربى يتنسّم ** على منزل منه الهدى يُتعلّم
على مصرع للفاطميين غُيّبت ** لأوجههم فيه بدور و أنجم
على…فاطهر اهلهه **لعاينت أعضاء النبي تُقسّم
على كربلاء ألا خلف الغيث بكربلا ** و إلا فإن الدمع اندر و اكرم
مصارع…………. ** و ناح عليهن الحطيم و زمزم
عطّروا الأحجار و الركن و الصفا ** و موقف جمع و المقام المعظم
و بالحجر الملثوم عنوان حسرة ** ألست تراه و هو أسود أسحم
و روضة مولانا النبي محمد ** تبدى عليها الثكل يوم تُحرّم
و منبره…و الجذع أعولا ** عليهم عويلاً بالضمائر يفهم
و لو قدرت تلك جمادات قدرهم ** لدك حراء و استطير يلملمُ
و ما قدر مالكي البلاد و أهلها ** لآل رسول الله و الردّة أعظم
لو أن رسول الله يحيى بُعيدهم ** رأى ابن زياد أمّه كيف تعقم
و أقبلت الزهراء قدس تربها ** تنادي اباها و المدامع تسجُم
تقول: ابي هم غادروا نهبة ** لما صاغه فين و ما مج أرقم
سقوا حسناً بالسمّ كأساً رويداً ** و لم يقرعوا سنا و لم ينتدم
هم قطعوا رأس الحسين بكربلا ** كأنهم قد أحسوا حين أجرم
فخذ منهم ثاري و سكن جوانحاً ** و أجفان عين تستطير و تسجُمُ
أبي و انتصر للسبط و اذكر مصابه ** و عليه و النهر ريان مفعمُ
و أسر بنيه بعده و احتمالهم ** كأنهم من نسل كسرى تُغُنُّمٌ
و نقر يزيد في الثنايا التي اغتدت ** ثنايا بك فيها ايها النور تلتُمُ
و لكنها أقدار ربّي بها قضى ** فلا يتخطى النقض ما هو مُبرمُ
قضى الله ان يقضي عليهم عبيدهم ** لتشقى بهم تلك العبيد و تَنقمُ
هُم القوم أما سعيهم متخيب ** مضاع و أما دارهم فجهنم
فيا ايها المغرور والله غاضبٌ ** لبنت رسول الله…
قفوا ما عدونا بالدموع فإنها ** لتصغر في حق الحسين و فاطم
و مهما سمعتم في الحسين مراثيا ** تُعبر عن محض الأسى و تترحّمُ
فمدوا أكُفّاً مستعدين بدعوةٍ ** و صلوا على جد الحسين و سلِّمُ
These elegies remind us that Ḥusayn is bigger than one sect or another. His cause was one that even those born into the Christian faith could appreciate, hence why John b. Huway was able to recognize his virtue and join his struggle.
Ḥusayn’s martyrdom represents a collective failure of conscience of the early Muslim community. It came after an abdication treaty was broken, illegitimate allegiances were pledged, and false promises were made. After the massacre, the bodies were trampled, the women were paraded, and the head was taken to Damascus. Still, this Passion is a story of perseverance in the face of injustice, of loyalty in the face of betrayal, of jihād fī sabīlillāh in the face of cowardice, and of faith in the face of hypocrisy. It is a story for all Muslims and for all noble people. It is no wonder that it inspired poetry and art from the very beginning.
[1] Bilal Muhammad, Pandemonium: A Sourcebook on the Tragedy of Husayn, pp. 9-60.
[2] Bilal Muhammad, “Imam Husayn: The Timeless Hero”, Fellowship & Fairydust Magazine, https://fellowdustmag.com/2024/01/24/imam-husayn-the-timeless-hero/
[3] Muhammad Jaffer, The Poem of Imam al-Shafi’I for Imam Husayn, https://iqraonline.net/the-poem-of-imam-al-shafii-for-imam-husayn-as This poem is mentioned as being ascribed to Imām al-Shāfi’ī in Yanābī’ al-Mawaddah of al-Qandūzī al-Ḥanafī. It is also mentioned by al-Ḥāfiẓ Jamāl al-Dīn al-Madanī in his book Mi’rāj al-Wuṣūl fī Ma’rifat Āl al-Rasūl as one of al-Shāfi’ī’s compositions.
[4] Al-Mubarrad, al-Kamil, volume 1, page 106.
[5] https://almenbar.org/essaydetails.php?eid=621&cid=87
[6] Ibn ‘Asakir, Tahdheeb Tarikh Dimishq, volume 4, pp. 342.
[7] Al-Khwarizmi, Maqtal al-Husayn, volume 2, pp. 149.
[8] Ibn Kathir, al-Bidaya wal Nihaya, volume 8, pp. 211.
[9] Qays and Ghani are Arab tribal confederations. The poet is alluding to the tribal affiliations of some of those involved in Husayn’s killing and expressing a grievance against them.
[10] Al-Taff (الطف) refers to the region of Karbala.
[11] Ballandalus, “The Commemoration of the Martyrdom of al-Husayn b. Ali (d. 680) in al-Andalus”, https://ballandalus.wordpress.com/2015/10/23/the-commemoration-of-the-martyrdom-of-al-husayn-b-ali-d-680-in-al-andalus/
[12] The wells of Mecca and Medina.
[13] The location of the first revelation of the Prophet Muhammad.
[14] The infamous governor of Kufa who played a central role in the killing of Husayn.
[15] Yazdegerd III, the final king of Sassanid Persia.
