Pre-Birth
During the lifetime of Zain al-‘Abideen there was talk within the kinship line of the Prophet (P) of a “Zayd” who will be born and who will take on the powers of injustice, support the oppressed, and work for change and fairness. Word had it that he will be killed, crucified with no clothes on; all this was to happen in the land of Kufah. One such narrative:
The Prophet (P) one day cast his sight on Zayd ibn Harithah and wept. He said: “Murdered for the cause of Allah in my ummah, stripped of his rights of my descendents will have his name;” and he (P) pointed to Zayd ibn Harithat. Then he (P) said: “Come unto me O Zayd! Your name endears you to me; you are the namesake of the dearest of my children: Zayd.”[3]
On the authority of Abi Ja‘far Muhammad ibn ‘Ali who said that the Prophet (P) said to [his grandson al-Husayn] : “From your progeny there will be a man by the name of Zayd who will on the Day of Judgement along with his supporters bypass many front rank fellows of Paradise. They all will enter Paradise without scrutiny.”[4]
One day Abu Hamzah al-Thamali approached Zain al-‘Abideen who said to the former: Abu Hamzah! Should I apprize you of a vision I had? Abu Hamzah said: Sure O son of Allah’s prophet. He said: In my vision I saw Allah’s prophet (P) escorting me to paradise and betrothing me to a very attractive looking woman the likes of which I have never seen. And then he (P) said to me: O ‘Ali son of Husayn! Name your child Zayd who will soothe you.”[5]
There was a divine purpose for all this. Al-Mukhtar ibn Abi ‘Ubaid had bought a Sindi lady whose name was Jida. She turned out to be of moral and religious character. She was also known to be chaste and well mannered. So he said I know of no one more deserving of her than ‘Ali ibn al-Husayn. He then sent her to ‘Ali ibn al-Husayn who had her choose her preference of his sons. She said she only wants Zain al-‘Abideen who consequently married her.[6]
Abu Hamzah said, I went to Hajj in a subsequent year and I called on ‘Ali ibn al-Husayn. When I came upon him he was carrying a small infant. He told me: this is the fulfilment of my vision; my Sustainer has actualized it.”[7]
Khalid ibn Bakir said: my uncle Muhammad ibn Isma‘il said: Son! I bear witness that I was at ‘Ali ibn al-Husayn’s residence when [his son] Zayd was still a young boy. Zayd had fell and injured his face. His father was tending to his wounded face and saying: I invoke Allah’s protection for you, lest you be the crucified of Iraq. We had mentioned that one of us by the name of Zayd will be crucified in public in Iraq… and whoever deliberately stares at his private part will have Allah exposing his face to the fire.[8]
These and other such discussions were the talk of the time. Whatever the degree of authenticity of these deliberations is, the fact that gruesome events happened to Imam Zayd can only have us thinking about them twice.
It was only a matter of time and we had a feeling that something was about to actually happen. Predictions became assertions, as Zayd ibn ‘Ali came to life and drafted a historical course of struggle and opposition to arbitrary authority and dictatorial designs.
