Sukayna bint Husayn

Sayyidah Ruqayya Mosque

Sakina (Arabic: سكينة‎ "Calmness, Peace of Mind"[1]) (née Ruqayyah bint Hussain) (20 Rajab, 56 AH – 5 Rabi' al-thani, 60/61 AH;[2] 676–680/681), was the daughter of Husayn ibn 'Alī and Rubab (the daughter of the chief of the Kinda Imra al-Qays tribe).

Overview

Shahzadi Sakina was born on 20 Rajab, 56 AH. Her titles included Sakina, Ma'sūmah, Aatika, Kulsūm, and Zaynab. Her early years were said to have been spent in Medina. Her brothers included Ali ibn Husayn, Ali al-Akbar ibn Husayn, and Ali Asghar ibn Husayn. Her sisters included Fāṭimah aṣ-Ṣughrá and Fāṭimah al-Kubrá, also known as Sakinah.

She accompanied her father, Imam Hussain, grandson of the Holy Prophet, when he traveled from Mecca to Kufa, now known as Iraq. On 2 Muharram 61 AH (680 CE), Imam Hussain and his 72 family members and companions were forced to camp in the plains of Karbala by Yazid's army of 1,000 men. Yazid ibn Muawiyyah was the evil, power-hungry leader who was on the throne but wanted to have the religious authority by obtaining the allegiance of Imam Hussain, but Imam Hussain would not give up his principles. On 10 Muharram, the entire household of the Imam was attacked, some of his companions were killed, and the survivors were captured. These survivors included the Imam's sisters, wives, and daughters (including Sakina), the family members of the companions of the Imam, and the Imam's son, Imam Zainul Abeddin, who was ill and could not participate in the battle.

In Damascus, Yazid thought that he had won his throne and was imposing torments upon the women and children of the Imam and his companions, however the Imam's sister, Zaynab, daughter of Ali, his son, Imam Zainul Abeddin, Imam's daughter, Fatima al-Kubra, and others delivered sermons and argued their case in front of Yazid's entire court.[3][4]

Life

Sahzadi Sakina bint al-Husayn was the daughter of Hussain ibn Ali. The name "Sakina" is a derivative of "Sakoon" meaning "Peace".

Sahzadi Sakina was the most beloved daughter of Hussain ibn Ali and used to sleep on his chest every night. Hussain ibn Ali was often heard saying that "A house without Sahzadi Sakina would not be worth living in."

As a child, when Sahzadi Sakina went to bed at night, she wanted to spend some time with her father. Hussain ibn Ali would tell her stories of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and of the battles fought by her grandfather, Ali ibn Abi Talib.

There was a special bond between Sahzadi Sakina and her paternal uncle, Abbas ibn Ali. He loved her more than he did his own children. If Sahzadi Sakina requested anything, Abbas ibn Ali would not rest until he had fulfilled her request. During the journey from Medina to Mecca and then Mecca to Karbala, Abbas ibn Ali was often seen riding up to the mehmil (a special saddle made for women) in which Sahzadi Sakina sat to make sure that she had everything she wanted. Sahzadi Sakina loved her uncle just as much. While in Medina, she would several times a day visit the house in which Abbas ibn Ali lived with his family and his mother, Ummul Banin.

In Karbala

On 2 Muharram, the army of Yazid ibn Muawiya began to gather at Karbala. Hussain ibn Ali said to his sister Zaynab bint Ali, "The time has come for you to get Sukaina used to going to sleep without me." Sayeda Sakina would follow her father at night, and Hussain ibn Ali had to gently take her to Zaynab bint Ali or to Rubab.

On 7 Muharram, by the order of Yazid ibn Muawiya, the army prevented Hussain ibn Ali from getting water from the Euphrates. The water became scarce in the camp of Hussain ibn Ali; Sayeda Sakina shared whatever little water she had with other children. When soon there was no water at all, the thirsty children looked at Sayeda Sakina with their eyes full of hope. The situation got so bad that Sayeda Sakina's lips were parched with thirst.

But soon, Sayeda Sakina came out holding a dried up mashk (water bag), leading 42 other children, each holding a dry water bag. The children were shouting as if in chorus, Al Atash, Ya Ammahu! (I am thirsty, O my uncle Abbas!). She walked up to Abbas ibn Ali and told him that the children had all come to her asking for water. He could see that thirst, aggravated by the scorching heat of the desert, was squeezing their young lives out of them. Abbas ibn Ali went to Hussain ibn Ali and requested his permission to go and get water for Sukaina and the other children. Hussain ibn Ali rejected his request once again, saying to him that he was his army's commander and because of that he could not go and fight. Abbas ibn Ali used Sayeda Sakina's request to gain Hussain ibn Ali's permission, and Hussain ibn Ali agreed. Abbas put Sayeda Sakina's mashk on the Alam (flag), mounted his horse, and rode up to Hussain ibn Ali.

When Abbas ibn Ali went to get the water, the children gathered around Sayeda Sakina with their little cups, knowing that as soon as Abbas ibn Ali brought water, Sukaina would first make sure that they had some before taking any herself. Sayeda Sakina was standing next to Hussain ibn Ali, also with her eyes fixed on the Alam of Abbas ibn Ali. Abbas reached the river bank, fighting Yazid's men trying to block his way, killing anyone with his spear who tried to stop his progress. Thousands of Yazid's men avoided Abbas while he was going towards the river, and the whole army of Yazid disappeared because they were scared of Abbas – Abbas's bravery was well known among the Arabs. As he bent down to fill the mashk, the Alam disappeared from sight. Sayeda Sakina was frightened and looked at her father. Hussain ibn Ali said, Sayeda Sakina, your uncle Abbas is at the river bank. Sayeda Sakina smiled and said, Alhamdulillah (All praise is for Allah), and called out for all the children to welcome Abbas.

With the water bag filled, Abbas ibn Ali wanted to get the water to the anxiously waiting children as quickly as possible. Seeing him gallop towards the camp of Hussain ibn Ali, Umar ibn Sa'ad shouted from the enemy ranks that if even a single drop of water reached Hussain's camp, it would be impossible to fight them on the battlefield. When arrows were coming from all sides, Abbas had only one thought in his mind, how to protect the water bag. Abbas ibn Ali lost both his arms during the attack, trying to save the water bag. The Alam fell onto the ground. Sayeda Sakina could not see it any longer. She looked at Hussain ibn Ali, but he turned his face away. Sayeda Sakina began to tremble with fear and her eyes filled with tears. She raised her hands and prayed, "Ya Allah! Do not let them kill my uncle Abbas, I will not ask for water again" and ran inside the tent to her mother.

Becoming an orphan

The tyrannical forces of Yazid came to the tents. They looted all the belongings of Hussain ibn Ali and his supporters. They even snatched away the hijab of the ladies. Shimr, the most evil of Yazid's men, came too. Sayeda Sakina was crying for her father. Instead of comforting words, Shimr slapped Sayeda Sakina's face and pulled the earrings from her ears. Blood poured from little Sayeda Sakina's ears. They set fire to the tents. The helpless ladies and children ran from one tent to another. Sayeda Sakina's dress was on fire, and her ears were bleeding.

She ran to the battlefield screaming: "Father, where are you? Father, father, speak to me, father." As the night descended, since Hussain ibn Ali's head was cut off by Yazid's army, Zaynab bint Ali, the daughter of Ali ibn Abi Talib, took it on herself to protect the women and children. She gathered all the women and children into one small space in between the gutted tents. Ali ibn Hussain lay on the ground surrounded by these widows and orphans. There was no fire, no light except for that of the moon. After a little while, Zaynab bint Ali noticed that Sayeda Sakina was missing. She asked Rubab, but even she did not know where Sukaina was. The two holy ladies panicked and ran out of the tents looking for her.

The two ladies searched in vain for the young girl. Finally, in desperation, Zaynab bint Ali went to the place where the body of her brother, Hussain ibn Ali, lay, and cried, "O my brother, Sayeda Sakina, who you left in my care, is nowhere to be found. Where shall I look for her in this wilderness?" Just then, the moon came out from behind a cloud and Zaynab bint Ali saw Sayeda Sakina lying on her father, sleeping on his chest as she always used to.

She shook the child awake and said, "Oh, Sayeda Sakina! How did you recognize your father? A person can be recognized by their face or the clothes they wear. Your father is beheaded and his clothes are covered with red scars of blood." Sukaina replied innocently, "I wanted to tell my father about what the people had done to me. I wanted to tell him how Shimr had robbed the earrings that my father had so lovingly given me. I wanted to tell him how he had ripped them from my ears leaving my earlobes torn and bleeding. I wanted to tell him how the beast had mercilessly slapped me when I cried in pain. When I was running aimlessly in the desert I thought I heard my father's voice telling me he was here, Ilaiya Ilaiya Sakina. I followed the voice and I found him lying here. I told him everything and then I felt like sleeping on his chest the way I always did, for the last time. So I kept my head on his chest and slept till you came."[4]

After the Battle of Karbala

An Iranian child in Mourning of Muharram with red Headband written O' Ruqayyah

Zaynab took the jug of water. She went to Sayeda Sakina, who had fallen into a fretful sleep, and stroked Sayeda Sakina's uncombed hair. Sayeda Sakina opened her eyes. Zaynab bint Ali said, "Here is some water Sukaina, please drink a little. You have been thirsty for so long. On hearing the word "water", Sayeda Sakina cried out hopefully, has my uncle Abbas come back? When she was told that Hurr's widow had brought the water, she got up, went to Hurr's widow, thanked her, and then asked Zaynab bint Ali, Have you all drunk water? Zaynab bint Ali shook her head. Sayeda Sakina asked, why then do you ask me to drink water? Zaynab bint Ali said, because, my dear, you are the youngest." Sayeda Sakina replied, no, Asghar is the youngest.

From Karbala to Kufa

The next day, the caravan of the unfortunate was made to start traveling towards Kufa. Ali ibn Hussain, regardless of being fatally ill, was bound in heavy chains and forced to walk barefooted as the women, including the granddaughters of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, were forced to sit on bare backs of camels, with their necks and hands tied tightly with ropes. The people in the caravan suffered the tortures of the journey, and when they reached Kufa, they were forced to march through public roads and through the streets of Kufa. Suddenly, the camel on which Sayeda Sakina and Zanaib bint Ali were seated stopped near a house. Zaynab bint Ali's eyes fell on Sayeda Sakina and immediately knew that she had something to say. She asked her, and Sayeda Sakina answered, I want to ask you for something, I know my dear aunt, that at this moment it is impossible for you to fulfill it. When Zaynab bint Ali insisted, Sayeda Sakina replied, O my dear aunt, my throat is so dry, I do not think I can endure my thirst anymore. Sayeda Sakina's words were heard by the women who had climbed on top of the houses so that they could see the holy caravan march clearly. Among these women, a good-hearted woman immediately got up from the crowd and rushed home to bring water for Sayeda Sakina.[4]

From Kufa to Damascus

From Kufa, the next phase of the journey was to take the prisoners to Damascus, Syria, Yazid's capital. Sukaina was tied with a rope on a bare camel. At one point in the journey, Sayeda Sakina fell from her camel. The caravan did not stop. No one, apart from her family members, noticed the fall of Syeda Sakina. After this incident, the army changed the formation of the holy prisoners. Ali ibn Hussain was already tied with chains on his neck and feet; the army tied his son, Muhammad al-Baqir, on Ali ibn Hussain's back, and then the same rope was tied onto his sister, Sayeda Sakina's, neck, so that Ali ibn Hussain could not stand straight. If he had stood straight, the rope would have strangled Sayeda Sakina.

Even at these times of hardship and misery, Sayeda Sakina always thought of others first. She consoled her mother on the death of Ali Asghar, and when she saw any other woman or child weeping, Sayeda Sakina would put her little arms around her. In those days, it used to take 32 days, on a camel, to reach Damascus, but the family members of Hussain ibn Ali were taken in such a way that it only took them 16 days to reach Damascus.[5]

Death

In the dungeon, Zainab tried to console Sayeda Sakina and said that she would soon meet her father. But one night, when Sakina was asleep, she woke up crying and started to look for her father everywhere. All the women tried to console her so that she would stop crying, but she continued: "O my dear aunt, Where is my father? A few minutes ago I was with my father, and he kissed me and said that 'my dear Sakina you will soon be with me.' But where is my father now?"

When Sakina told her dream all the women started to cry, and the crying was heard by Yazid at his court. Yazid sent the severed head of Imam Husain to the prison, and when Sakina received the head of her father, she started to cry even more and held it very tight and asked her father: "Who cut off my father's head, who martyred my father, why are we held as captives?"[6]

With these words of sorrow, Sakina was quiet. Everyone thought that Sakina had finally gone to sleep again, but Sakina had died. Sayeda Sakina was buried in the same dungeon. Zaynab bint Ali held the still child as Ali ibn Hussain dug a grave for his sister in the dungeon. Sayeda Sakina's clothes were burnt in Karbala, and due to injuries, had intermingled with her flesh. Therefore, she was buried in the same burnt, ripped clothes in the dungeon of Syria. As the grave was being filled after the burial, the mother let out a scream. All of the women huddled around her, and the prison walls began to shake with the cry, Ya Sakina, Ya Mazloomah! (O Sakina! O Oppressed one!). When the time came and they were released from the prison, Rubab came to the grave of her beloved daughter, placing her cheek on Sakina's grave and cried out, "Speak to me Sakina. Only a word, my child, speak to me."[5]

Shrine of Sayeda Sakina

Bāb Saghīr Cemeteries, Damascus, having shrine of Sakina binte Husain (Fatema Kubra 11 year old).

Sayeda Sakina died in Damascus at the age of four in 61 AH,[2] and is buried within Sayyidah Ruqayya Mosque in Damascus, Syria. Sakina's body was removed from its original burial place, the dungeon of Syria, some centuries later, when a pious man of Damascus was informed in his dream that water was pouring into the grave of Sayeda Sakina. Upon confirmation that ground water was actually entering the grave and the ancient tomb was about to collapse.[7]

shrine of Sakina binte Husain (Fatema Kubra 11 year old) Bāb Saghīr Cemeteries, Damascus.

Her shrine is now a huge piece of architecture; her grave, covered with gold ornamented Zarih, is a place of pilgrimage (ziyarat) for Muslims.

Family tree of six Islamic Nabi and Sakina / Rukayya

Adam
Noah
Ibrahim (Abraham)
Ishmael Ishac (Issac)
Adnan (b.122 BC)

. . . . . .

 Yaqub (Jacob)
Abdul Mutallib Eysa (Jesus) Musa (Moses)
Abadullah (d.570 AD) Abu Talib (d.620AD)
Muhammad (d.632AD)
Fatima (d.11 AH) Ali (d.661 AD)
Husain (d.680AD)
Sakina/Rukayya (d.680AD)

Shī'ah view of Sayeda Sakina

The story of Sakina is one of the many emotional and highly affecting stories that Shī'ī Muslims tell of Husayn and his martyrdom at the hands of Yazid's troops. The Battle of Karbala and the subsequent events at the court of Yazid are explained and mourned annually during the commemoration of 'Āshūrā.

Sayeda Sakina suffered from fatigue and thirst on the forced march to Damascus, and later from cold and starvation in Yazid's dungeon.[2]

The other Sakina (11 years old)

It is believed that there are two daughters of Imam Husain who went along with him in Karbala, namely Sakina and Rukayya. Rukayya, also called Sakina, is the four-year-old daughter described above; the elder Sakina (11 years old) was also called Fatema (Kubra). Another daughter of Husain, Fatema Sughra, was supposed to be ill and left behind at Medina.

As per Shia / Fatimid / Dawoodi Bohra, Imam Husain's daughter was supposed to be married to Imam Hasan's son, as Imam Husain remembered his promise made to his brother Imam Hasan, to marry his daughter to Imam Hasan's son Qasim ibn Hasan. He arranged the marriage of Qasim to her daughter Sakina. (The Mausoleum at Bab-e-Saghir is of the elder Sakina (Fatema Kubra, 11 year old).[8][9][10][11]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Arne, Ambros; Stephan, Procházka (2004). A Concise Dictionary of Koranic Arabic. Wiesbaden: Ludwig Reichert Verlag. p. 136. ISBN 3-89500-400-6.
  2. 1 2 3 "3". Nafasul Mahmoom. Qum: Ansariyan Publications. 2005. pp. 388–389.
  3. ↑ Nafs ul Mahmoom by Sheikh Abbas Qummi, Behar ul Anwaar, Vol I by Allama Sayyad Mohammad Baqir Majlisi and others.
  4. 1 2 3 Archived February 14, 2011, at the Wayback Machine.
  5. 1 2 "The Fourth Journey - Kufa to Shaam | The Journey of Tears | Books on Islam and Muslims". Al-Islam.org. 2013-10-28. Retrieved 2015-06-02.
  6. ↑ "Welcome to www.alicdcentre110.com". Alicdcentre110.0fees.net. Retrieved 2015-06-02.
  7. ↑ 'Summary of the Tragedy of Sayyeda Ruqayya',Booklet at Ruqayya Mosque,2008
  8. ↑ Archived October 16, 2009, at the Wayback Machine.
  9. ↑ Archived February 21, 2009, at the Wayback Machine.
  10. ↑ Archived October 23, 2010, at the Wayback Machine.
  11. ↑ "(A.S.) Network". ImarReza.net. Retrieved 2015-06-02.

Bibliography

External links

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