The evil doers plotted with a treacherous strategy
People say time heals all wounds... they've never heard of your tragedy
We gather after 40 days and remember you lying on that desert plain
We remember how you called for help... but lay deserted, slain
Dead heads on spears, Zainab's eyes filled with tears, Zainab’s heart filled with tears, women and children veilless and chained
Hussain and the companions are dead now, the children have been orphaned
Dogs and pigs drank water from the Euphrates, but the family of Rasoolillah didn’t receive any portion
Instead the enemies whipped them, and threw them on bare camels
When people stop forbidding evil, the honorable are treated worse than animals
From Karbala to the streets of Kufa, to the dungeons in Shaam
Yazid’s army tortured the caravan, trying to extinguish the light of Islam
Sakina slept on the cold floor, screaming as men beat and whipped her Imam
Death from intense grief overtook some of the women, the others marched on
My condolences on what took place in those dungeons after you, Oh Hussain!
Time separated us and distance distanced us, but we are with you Oh Hussain!
But are we really with you, or is this another promise unfulfilled?
Plenty of empty slogans were expressed in thousands of letters, leading for you to be killed
If the morning prayer passes while I sleep through this responsibility, how am I with you, Oh Hussain?
Legends of the heavens took arrows to the chest - well beyond their death - to protect the prayer, Oh Hussain
If I curse, backbite, and slander the believers, how am I with you, Oh Hussain?
You refrained from such behavior but your killers indulged in it, Oh Hussain
If I don't observe patience and swallow my anger, how am I with you, Oh Hussain?
Lessons unapplied will surely lead to my demise, if I am not careful, Oh Hussain
Your head on a spear recited verses of the Quran
My head intact, do I often neglect the Holy Quran?
Is our purpose to strive for material gain or to strive for Islam?
We see people acquiring their worldly desires, but we don’t see our Imam.
I ask Allah to hasten his reappearance, so that we may avenge Ashura
But maybe Allah is waiting for someone genuine, instead of this letter from Kufa
If I come to these majalis but still curse and backbite, I have made a mockery of this remembrance and of Imam Hussain’s sacrifice
We must learn from these lessons and purify our hearts to meet Aba Abdillah in paradise
- Ailia H. Rizvi
