A LITTLE GIRL OF FIVE HARDLY ABLE TO SURVIVEFRAIL AND WEAKENED BY

LACK OF FOOD AND WATER DENIED TO HER BECAUSE SHE WAS THE DAUGHTER OF HUSSAYN (AS) THE SON OF ALI AND THE GRANDSON OF PROPHET MUHAMMAD

THE PRISON IN SHAAM (DAMASCUS)

THIS IS WHERE THE MEMBERS OF HUSSAYN’S FAMILY WERE IMPRISONED AFTER THE MASSACRE OF KARBALA

WOMEN, CHILDREN AND THE ONLY SURVIVING SON –ZAYNUL ABEDIN

THE PRISON GAVE NO SHELTER FROM THE HOT DESERT HEAT NOR THE CRIPPLING COLD NIGHTS AS THERE WAS NO ROOF

IN THIS TERRIBLE CONDITION THE HOLY FAMILY TOOK OUT ONE WHOLE YEAR OF TORTURE AND TRIBULATION

SHACKLED AND TIED WITH VERY LITTLE FOOD AND WATER

THE LITTLE GIRL , SAKINA WAS HER NAME, WAS THE BELOVED DAUGHTER OF HUSSAIN (AS)

SHE MISSED HER FATHER SO MUCH

MISSED HIS WARM AND TENDER CARE

SHE MISSED SLEEPING ON HIS CHEST WHICH HAD BECOME HER FAVORITE HABIT

AS SHE SAT ON THE HOT PRISON FLOOR ,

TEARS ROLLED DOWN SAKINA’S EYES AND SUNKEN CHEEKS AS SHE REMEMBERED HER DEAR FATHER AND SHE WHISPERED…….

“O’DEAR FATHER I MISS YOU SO MUCH

I MISS YOUR LOVE,FATHER

I MISS LOOKING AT YOUR RADIANT AND KIND FACE

O’FATHER THERE ARE EVIL MEN ALL AROUND US

MOCKING AND BEATING US”

“THEY SAY THEY ARE MUSLIMS AND THEY PRAY 5 TIMES A DAY

BUT THEY TORTURE THE FAMILY OF MY DEAR GREAT GRANDFATHER MUHAMMAD (AS) THE PROPHET OF ALLAH

HAVE THEY NO SHAME? HAVE THEY NO PITY?”

“O’FATHER AFTER YOU WERE SO CRUELLY TAKEN FROM US

THE ARMY CAME AND PUT OUR TENTS ON FIRE

ONE MAN CAME AND SLAPPED ME AND PULLED OFF MY EARRINGS WHICH YOU HAD BOUGHT FOR ME

MY EARS ARE TORN AND BLEADING O’FATHER”

“YOU WERE NOT THERE TO PROTECT US NOR WAS MY BELOVED UNCLE ABBAS-WHO WENT TO BRING US SOME WATER BUT NEVER CAME BACK

BROTHER ALI AKBAR TOO, WAS NOT THERE, NEITHER WAS MY YOUNG BROTHER ALI ASGHAR ALL KILLED BY THESE EVIL MEN”

“O’ FATHER, SHIMR WAS ONE OF THE EVIL MEN WHO PROMISED ME SOME WATER. HE TOLD ME TO FOLLOW HIM AND HE WILL GIVE ME SOME WATER TO QUENCH MY THIRST”

“I FOLLOWED HIM AS HE DRANK THE WATER AND LAUGHED

HE THEN GAVE THE WATER TO HIS HORSES

HE TURNED TO ME AND THREW AWAY THE REMAINING WATER

WITH A CRUEL LAUGH HE TOLD ME THERE WAS NO WATER FOR ME”

“JUST BECAUSE I WAS YOUR BELOVED DAUGHTER! ”

“ALL THROUGH THE JOURNEY THEY TIED ME ON A CAMEL WITHOUT ANY SADDLE

THE PAIN WAS TOO MUCH TO BEAR AND I CRIED WITH PAIN BUT NO ONE CAME TO MY AID”

“BROTHER ZAIN UL ABEDIN’S HANDS LEGS AND NECK WERE CHAINED WHILE MOTHER , AUNT ZAINAB AND THE OTHER LADIES WERE WHIPPED AND BEATEN”

“O’FATHER WE WERE MADE TO TRAVEL FOR 16 DAYS FROM MORNING TO NIGHT IN THE HOT SUN AND COLD NIGHT

TO YAZEED’S PALACE IN SHAAM”

ON THE WAY WE WERE BEATEN AND MOCKED AT BY SHIMR AND HIS SOLDIERS AND THE PEOPLE IN THE TOWNS STONED US.

DID THEY NOT KNOW WHO WE ARE?

ONCE I FELL FROM THE CAMEL, I WAS TOO WEAK TO CALL OUT AND THE CARAVAN DID NOT STOP

A KIND LADY CAME FROM NOWHERE AND TOOK ME IN HER ARMS AND TOOK CARE OF ME UNTIL AUNT ZAINAB CAME BACK FOR ME.

SHE WAS MY GRANDMOTHER FATIMA ZAHRA (AS)

“FATHER MY BODY HURTS AND MY HEART IS BROKEN I DON’T KNOW HOW LONG I WILL BE ABLE TO GO ON !!

EVERY DAY IN THE EVENING I SEE THE BIRDS FLYING TO THEIR HOMES AND WONDER WHEN WILL I BE ABLE TO GO HOME JUST LIKE THEM?”

“BUT THEN I WONDER WHERE IS HOME

FOR THERE IS NO HOME WITHOUT YOU MY DEAR FATHER”

“O’FATHER I PRAY TO ALLAH TO LET ME COME TO YOU AND MY UNCLE ABBAS AND MY DEAR BROTHERS

SO THAT YOU CAN TAKE AWAY THE ACHING PAIN AND QUENCH MY THIRST

AND I CAN FOREVER SLEEP ON YOUR CHEST”

ON THE 10TH OF THE MONTH OF SAFAR, SAKINA PASSED AWAY IN THIS SAME PRISON.

SHE DIED AT NIGHT ON A COLD HARD FLOOR WHILE CRYING AND CLUTCHING THE SEVERED HEAD OF HER DEAR FATHER –IMAM HUSSAIN (as)