Chapter Five
In the Aftermath of the Revolution
The Honorable Remains
Imam Zayd’s revolution did not end with his death. It had delayed reaction effects as people began to break the chains of political slavery even though they knew this is an uphill struggle. Acts of violence by the regime continued against the followers of Imam Zayd and his ideas of freedom. Monarchs and military dynasties demonstrated vicious and virulent types of persecution beyond any imagination.
The Umayads had the lion’s share of this dreaded sordidness and malevolence. No custom or tradition could tame their vileness. A century and some years prior to Imam Zayd’s martyrdom the Umayad mistress Hind bint Abi Sufyan wanted to eat the liver of Hamzah, the shining shahid, after she had ripped his torso apart. At Karbala they mutilated the body of al-Husayn, the founding father of freedom lovers. They trampled his body with their horses. And now Imam Zayd’s body.
These facts were known to the followers of Imam Zayd who paused to think how and where to bury his body lest it be subject to the same insanity. Then they all decided to bury him in a water creek.
Under the cloak of night, they stopped the flow of water. Then they dug the grave and placed the remains in it. After which they opened the water dikes to have it flow in its natural course. They all parted before fajr.
Upon hearing of Imam Zayd’s death the Umayads rejoiced. They were jubilant at a death that would have been mourned by Allah’s Prophet (P). The Imam was killed and he no longer was there for them to see. But still they were percolating with hatred; and they would not simmer down until they foundd the grave and dug up the body and did with it what they did with the bodies of other shahids (martyrs).
The following day an excessive award was announced for anyone who could provide information about Imam Zayd’s burial place. Some sick and pathetic individuals divulged the information. The Umayads dug it up and brought the body out of its grave. They could care less for any traditional or religious teachings on this matter.
It was not enough for them to have him killed
they had to dig, crucify, burn, and drown him[38]
The remains were put on a camel taken to and dumped in front of the royal palace. There the head was decapitated.
Yusuf ibn ‘Umar al-Thaqafi had the head sent to al-Sham. After the head arrived and Hisham saw it he ordered that the head be put on display in all the provinces. A ploy by which he thought he would be able to terrorize the people from thinking of doing what Imam Zayd did. In other words, he wanted to kill them psychologically. The head passed through many lands until it reached al-Madinah. And at the grave-site of Allah’s Prophet (P) and in contempt and disrespect to the Prophet (P) the head was raised and posted for the public to see. The people of Madinah were summoned to the masjid (mosque) and told they had to disavow ‘Ali ibn Abi Taleb and Zayd ibn ‘Ali.[39] Then the head was taken to Egypt and posted at the central masjid for days. After that the head was taken away and secretly buried there.
Al-Meqrizi said: His effects are still there between Keiman and Egypt. People go there for the barakah (blessing). At ‘Ashura people are especially keen on going there. Some said adu‘a there is accepted and the place has an air of light to it.[40]
The body is said to have been nailed to a cross in a state of nakedness in Kufah. It is also said that spiders wove a web to cover the private parts of the body. Every time the spider-web was removed the spiders would spin another one.
Al-Hasan ibn ‘Ali ibn Jaber al-Habal the poet of Ahl al-Bayt composed some poetry describing this incident.
In front of this unclothed body people would remember that devout and lovable personality of Zayd. Their eyes would water and their spirits would soar.
When the Umayads realized that Zayd’s words are reverberating and his positions were being rethought by the public they decided to have his remains obliterated. They ordered that his body be burned and his ashes be scattered on land, the air and the sea. Yusuf ibn ‘Umar said: By Allah, O people of Kufah! I will have you eat him in your food and drink him in your water.[41]
They brought down your body and torched it to the fire
They wanted to burn your honorable and pure remains
They in an act of hate threw you into the burning fire
This also expressed their hate for Muhammad (P) and their hate for you to be given a normal burial.[42]
All attempts at wiping out the effects of Imam Zayd failed. In the place where he was nailed a casket was constructed. People from many parts of the world still go there. Another casket was built at the same place in Egypt where his head was buried. And that also lives on to our present day.
Persecution of Imam Zayd’s Supporters
Tyrannical rulers are in the habit of building their reputation on a heap of skulls belonging to their opponents. They go through the routine schedule of killing and banishing their adversaries. A tyrant will do practically anything to remain on his seat of power. And if he is able to capture one of his antagonists he tries to sample him with all types of torture as a deterrent for future potential adversaries. Hisham ibn ‘Abd al-Melek and his “federal” employees were no exception. After they killed Imam Zayd they went after his followers. The Umayad officials did all they could do to end any and all “remnants” of their opponents. They were liberal with their executions and “state terror.” They did not spare women and children. They even went beyond the traditions and norms of the jahiliyah(pre-Islamic practices). Historians have documented some gruesome and unhappy events. Here are some of them:
*A girl who had advised her mother to shelter a daughter of Imam Zayd ibn ‘Ali was called in by the Umayad authorities. When she arrived she was given one hundred lashes and her house was demolished.
*A woman who had assisted Imam Zayd at one time was arrested. When she came to court the verdict was that her hand and foot should be cut off. She pleaded to have her foot cut off first so that she may manage her clothes before her hand is cut! But they cut both off and did not stop the blood flow and she bled to death. Then her husband was summoned only to have his head cut off.[43]
*Yusuf ibn ‘Umar sent for Imam Zayd’s wife who was from the tribe of Ezd. She was brought to him. When she entered his court he said to her: O enemy of Allah! You married Zayd ibn ‘Ali? She said: yes of course I did. And had he asked for your daughter’s hand I would have given her to him. Yusuf ibn ‘Umar was enraged. He said: take her clothes off and bring me the whip!
She said: woe to you the enemy of Allah. I am a woman; how dare you order my clothes be ripped from me? He said: do not mind her; tear her clothes off and then she was lashed repeatedly and mercilessly.
She said to Hisham: How do you do this. I am a distant aunt of yours. I am from the tribe of Ezd and so is your mother?
Yusuf ibn ‘Umar said: damned is he who is your nephew.
She said: Yes, and damned is she who is less a family person than you… your mother.
Then Yusuf ibn ‘Umar said to his henchmen: Kill her.
They all began to hit and strike her violently and savagely, while she would say: I cannot believe you are a person attached to freedom; you cannot be an Arab when you want to kill by the sword; you slave of the Thamud clan.
She was thus tortured until she died; may Allah bless her. Then Hisham gave his orders that her body be dumped onto the street. Her cousins waited for nightfall and went to recover her body and bury it.[44]
A woman having the fragile physical capacity for such persecution, a woman who was created for feminine and family matters even she could not escape the momentum of revolution and thus was exposed to what is characteristically un-feminine. She registered an honorable resistance and a spirit lifting example for jihad for all women everywhere.
These were glimpses that were related to us by historians and there are many more that litter the course of the Umayad past. But what was not recorded by history may have been even more tragic.
The Consequence of Oppressors
A victim relieves himself of agony and hard-times by releasing warm tears down his cheeks. Some of life’s circumstances are unkind. But this universe operates in a larger sphere of divine justice. Allah has promised to take action against totalitarian rulers: And do not think that Allah is unaware of what evildoers are doing: He but grants them respite until the Day when their eyes will stare in horror… (14: 42).
This divine action may begin in this world before the next: such is their ignominy in this world. But in the life to come [yet more] awesome suffering awaits them… (5: 33).
Allah expedited his retributive action against those who had a role to play in killing Imam Zayd (AS) and mutilating his body. Historians tell us that the butcher ‘Ali ibn Abdullah the Abbasid took Hisham’s body out of his grave and ordered that the body be struck until it is shredded. Upon extracting the body from the grave it appeared to have been preserved with some astringent. Then his body was put on a cross and then it was incinerated. After that the ashes were thrown to the wind. What was done to Imam Zayd by Hisham, in a twist of events, was then done to Hisham.[45]
As for Yusuf ibn ‘Umar al-Thaqafi he was killed. A rope was attached to his corpse and children dragged his body in the streets of Damascus. Then the body was cut to pieces and raised on the city doors of Damascus.[46] Abu Ghassan al-Thaqafi said: the people of al-Sham told me they saw the corpse of Yusuf ibn ‘Umar with ropes attached to his limbs and being dragged around.[47]
Yusuf ibn ‘Umar’s chief of police Kharrash ibn Hawshub (who supervised the burning of Imam Zayd’s body) was lashed a thousand times. His stomach was slit open, and then his body was thrown to the dogs. After that it, too, was incinerated.
Another degenerate and pervert by the name of al-‘Ala’ ibn Zaid who came with a load of wood and sold it to stoke the fire that was burning Imam Zayd’s corpse and who was reported to have said: I came with this load as a service to Allah to have this pervert (meaning Imam Zayd) burned. And it was less than three weeks after that and this same person burned inside a home while having a (homosexual) affair with a lad.[48]
Imam Zayd: A Continuing Revolution
Imam Zayd’s movement was the first spark that fueled a popular explosion which eventually dismantled the oppressive Umayad dynasty. All the Umayad pomp and pride were gone forever. The phoney masks were ripped off of that regime. And even though Imam Zayd became a martyr, his movement did not end with his death. Each drop of his blood became a flame that burns Allah’s enemies and glows up showing the rest of us the way. His words still reverberate in the ear of history.
Al-Ya‘qubi said: “When Zayd was killed and the ghastly details followed many supporters of the Prophet’s descendants (Shi‘is) began to agitate in Khurasan. They gradually began to pick up momentum; their numbers began to increase and the facts began to circulate. Many people were now aware of the Umayad farce and how they harmed and injured the Prophet’s household. News spread far and near.”[49]
Several years after Imam Zayd was martyred his son Imam Yahya led the eternal march for justice in Khurasan following his father’s line. He launched his campaign by saying:
Son of Zayd! Did not Zayd say whoever loves life lives shamefully
Be like Zayd! You are his passion and rest in the shaded shades of bliss
The movement had its ripple effects as time passed by until the rise of Imam Muhammad ibn Abdullah, known as al-Nafs al-Zakiyah (the pristine spirit). He revolted in al-Madinah and shook the thrown of the Abbasid state (in Baghdad). He remembers Imam Zayd with these words: By Allah! Zayd has revived Prophetic concepts that have long been effaced. He worked on correcting what had gone zig-zag of this deen. We cannot but be enlightened by him.”[50]
To follow him in revolutionary succession was al-Husayn ibn ‘Ali al-Fakhkhi in al-Madinah. He revolted against the Abbasids also. He remembers Imam Zayd with these words: “One of the virtues of Imam Zayd ibn ‘Ali is that he took a stand for Allah and called people to the Book of Allah and to a struggle against tyrannical rulers. By Allah! Zayd ibn ‘Ali has opened the door of paradise for us. Enter therein peacefully and securely.”[51]
The revolutionary fallout reached Yemen. In it Imam al-Hadi stated in revolutionary defiance: “I yearn for a day like the day of Zayd ibn ‘Ali.”[52]
The echoes and rumbles of revolution were to be found everywhere. Revolts erupted in Iraq, Yemen, Hejaz, Morocco, northern Persia and central Asia and almost everywhere there is tyranny.
Revolutionaries will never disappear or die. When there is oppression there has to be resistance and opposition.
