Name : Zainab

Title : Siddiqa-e-Sughra

Father : Imam Ali Amir al-Muminin (a.s.)

Mother : Bibi Fatima-tuz-Zahra (s.a.)

Birth : 1st Shabaan, 5th Hijra, at Madina, Saudi Arabia

Death : 16th Rajab at Damascus, Syria

It was five years after the Muslims had accompanied the Prophet (pbuh&hf) and his family in the migration (Hijrah) to Medina, when the Holy Prophet's daughter, Bibi Fatima (s.a.), gave birth to a little girl. When her father, Imam Ali (a.s.), saw his daughter for the first time Imam Hussain (a.s.), who was then almost three years old, was with him. The boy exclaimed in delight, "O father, Allah has given me a sister." Hearing those words Imam Ali (a.s.) began to weep, and when Imam Hussain (a.s.) asked why he was crying so, his father answered that he would soon come to know.

Bibi Fatima (s.a.) and Imam Ali (a.s.) did not name their child until a few days after her birth, for they awaited the Prophet (pbuh&hf) to return from a journey so that he could propose the name. When finally the baby girl was brought before the Prophet (pbuh&hf), held her in his lap and kissed her. The Angel Jibra'il came to him and conveyed the name that was to be hers, and then he began to weep. The Prophet (pbuh&hf) asked why Jibra'il wept and he answered, "O Prophet of Allah. From early on in life this girl will remain entangled in tribulations and trials in this world. First she will weep over your separation (from this world); thereafter she will bemoan the loss of her mother, then her father, and then her brother Hassan. After all this she will be confronted with the trials of the land of Karbala and the tribulations of that lonely desert, as a result of which her hair will turn grey and her back will be bent."

Bibi Zainab (s.a.) shared with-her brothers and sister the extraordinary position of having such examples to look up to, emulate and learn from, as her grand father, Prophet Mohammad (pbuh&hf) her mother Bibi Fatima (s.a.), daughter of the Prophet, and her father Imam Ali (a.s.), cousin-brother of the Prophet. In the pure environment that enveloped her she absorbed the teachings of Islam that her grandfather imparted, and after him her father. Here too she learnt to master all household skills with great proficiency.

In Medina it was Bibi Zainab's (s.a.) practise to hold regular meetings for women in which she shared her knowledge and taught them the precepts of the Deen of Islam as laid out in the Holy Quran. Her gatherings were well and regularly attended. She was able to impart the teachings with such clarity and eloquence that she became known as Fasihah (skillfully fluent) and Balighah (intensely eloquent).

After the massacre of Imam Husayn bin 'Ali (a.s.) and his companions at Karbala, the forces of Yazid bin Mu'awiyah took the children and women of Husayn's caravan as prisoners. They were taken from Karbala to Kufa and from Kufa to Damascus, the capital and stronghold of Umayyid power.

In Damascus, the women and children were presented into the court (darbar) of Yazid. Yazid had assembled all the dignitaries and officers of his capital for that occasion. When the prisoners where brought in, they saw that Imam Husayn's head was at the foot of Yazid's thorn. Yazid was joyfully reciting some poems in which he openly rejected the Prophethood of Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w.) and called on his ancestors (who were killed by the Muslim army in the battle of Badr) to witness the revenge which he had extracted from the family of the Prophet. It was under such an emotionally charged circumstances that Zaynab bin Ali, the courageous daughter of a courageous father, stood up and gave a very moving speech in response to Yazid's statements.