Protected by Her Own…Sayyeda Zeinab: the 7th Century Heroine of Karbala
Sayyeda Zeinab Shrine, Damascus
March 19, 2013
It is well known in this region that powerful foreign and domestic forces in nearly every country, but particularly
Iraq, Syria and Lebanon, are increasingly acting, for purely political purposes, to ignite a bloody internecine conflict
within Islam. Indeed, the 3/17/13 attacks targeting four Sunni sheiks in Beirut that led to immediate road blockings in
Beirut, Sidon and the Bekaa Valley is a reminder of the vulnerability of Lebanon’s own delicate sectarian balance to
potential chaos.
The seemingly rapid escalation of Shia-Sunni sectarian strife pulsating back and forth across Syria and in and out of
Iraq and Lebanon appear to some analysts to be unstoppable. This week the UN Security Council expressed alarm that
rising sectarian violence threatened a return to civil war in Lebanon. The sect targeted for destruction, is mainly, but
not exclusively, Shia Muslims and a potential conflagration among a few Muslim sects is smoldering from Yemen to Libya
to Pakistan and in more than a dozen countries. Places of worship are being attacked with the hope of creating flight
and destruction among so-called kuffar (infidels) and other alleged “enemies of Allah.”
As the violence continues in parts of Syria it is not always clear who exactly is behind, for example, the thefts of
antiquities from museums and shops, the carting off of medical equipment from hospitals, the widespread stripping of
certain factories in places like Aleppo and moving their assets to Turkey, apparently with little if any objection from
Ankara, and the damaging of mainly Christian and Shia places of worship. But there is little doubt that Islamist
extremists, are behind many of these crimes. Against this backdrop of targeting religious institutions and shrines of
minority sects in Syria, it is little wonder that following serious attacks on the Sayedda Zeinab Shrine near the
village of Zoa south of Damascus, one as recently as last month, that Shia Muslims and others across the world are
deeply concerned about its safety. Three recent attacks on the resting place of Zeinab bint Ali, the granddaughter of
the Prophet Mohammad (pbuh) has also led to speculation that certain elements may launch a ‘false flag’ attack to ignite
conflict between Sunni and Shia. Al-Qaeda affiliated groups such as Jabhat al Nursa and Al Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) have
pledged to defeat Lebanon’s Hezbollah in the name of Allah.
Tens of thousands of Shia pilgrims and others from around the world visit this Damascus suburb every year, most to pray
at the Sayyeda Zeinab shrine. It was also one of the reasons why I wanted to go there.
But trying to get to Sayyeda Zeinab has not been easy these past few months. In fact this observer’s new lucky number
may be five. Because that is the number of times I thought I had a deal with a driver to take me from central Damascus
to the Zeinab shrine. But each time, shortly before our scheduled departure, the driver invariably called to tell me his
car broke down or he had to attend a family event or that the road had been hit by a mortar and was impassable, or he
could not find any benzene. Taxis are understandably a bit spooked in Damascus these days and as with the road to the
airport there are sometimes snipers peering around and an occasional IED or two. Fortunately some fellows from Lebanon
who are among those guarding the shrine sent me a message that it was ok to come and I trusted their judgment. Finally I
found a driver and he took me to Fao without problems. However, he was unwilling to wait for me while I visited the
Shrine and he abruptly split, even before I had a change to pay him, leaving me to find another way to return to
Damascus.
As this observer exited the Shrine, having performed absolution type prayers for myself and friends in Lebanon and Syria
who specifically asked me to, I was approached by a middle-aged woman who turned out to be from Homs. She had lost her
home and her neighborhood was emptied by shelling so she came to the village of Fao which she thought would be safe. But
as she told me later she wanted also to be near Zeinab bint Ali, the 7th Century Heroine of Karbala, during these
uncertain times.
One resident who lives near the Sayedda Zeinab told this observers that during the most recent attack on the shrine, the
bomber detonated an explosives-packed van that he drove into a parking lot about 50 meters from the shrine. The blast
shattered the shrine’s windows, knocked down chandeliers ceiling fans and cracked some of its mosaic walls. He added
that militiamen at Sayyeda Zeinab were motivated partly by the desire to prevent a repeat of the wholesale sectarian
violence that followed the 2006 attack on the Iraq’s Shiite Imam al-Askari Mosque, blamed on Al-Qaeda, which cost
thousands of lives, both Sunni and Shia.
The story of Zeinab at Karbala, and her subsequent life, like the passion play of Karbala itself, is history that one
never tires of hearing. I had read about both but when this obviously devout woman who told me her name was Miriam,
approached me, assuming I guess, that I was a tourist unfamiliar with this holy place, which was true, I was pleased to
sit with her, to be quiet, and to listen.
Miriam summarized the Battle of Karbala in October 680, in present day Iraq, and how it is commemorated during Ashoura
(October tenth) by millions across religious divides because of its universal message of resistance to oppression,
relentless pursuit of justice and even sacrificing one’s life for the good of the community. The actual battle pitted a
grandson of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), Hussein bin Ali, one of two of Zeinab’s brother killed that day, against the caliph
of the time in the first of a series of succession crises that shaped the unfortunate historic split between Sunni and
Shia Muslims.
I was amazed that like me, and others from various countries and cultures that I have crossed paths with over the past
few years in this region, who were also raised in a Christian tradition, that my new friend Miriam, viewed the 7th
century suffering of Hussein Ibn Ali and those who were martyred at Karbala, in some ways similar to the crucifixion of
Jesus Christ at Calvary, 700 years earlier. We both lite up at the realization that the other exactly understood this
connection and the historic resistance ethos that Karbala and Calvary have meant for mankind and the current relevance
of both working together for humanity as pillars of the Resistance.
But Miriam shed even more light for this admittedly dim observer by mentioning another woman, in some ways much like
Zeinab, who was from Europe. As a group of chadored Iranian women gathered around us, with a Farsi interpreter relating
Miriams words, our group shared a common and rapt spirituality. Miriam told us that during this month of recognizing
women’s accomplishments, she was reminded of the similarity between Zeinab bint Ali and La Pucelle d’Orléans, known as
Jeanne d’Arc who was falsely accused of heresy and burned alive at the stake for resisting the English occupation of her
country.
Miriam explained many parallels, between the “two sisters of Resistance” as she called them even quoting from memory the
historic speech of Zeinab in Damascus to Yazid, the killer of her family including her bothers Hussein and Abbas and
their dozens of followers and relatives at Karbala in present day Iraq.
On the 11th Muharram, 61 AH, after the battle of Karbala, the caravan of the captives, including Zeinab, were marched
through the city of Kufa and Sham. For one year they stayed captives in Damascus prison. Zainab encouraged resistance
among her fellow prisoners and fearlessly faced Yazid and recited to him the wrongs he had done. Her address to Yazid
ends with a black-clad Zeinab addressing Yazid. “You will not succeed in erasing our memory,” she says.
Miriam explained that Zeinab bint Ali like La Pucelle d’Orelans was devout, frugal and unstintingly generous to the
poor, homeless and parentless. Both communicated with Allah and were fierce defenders of justice, the cause for which
they both willingly sacrificed themselves. Through her good works Zeinab helped her community to know the principles and
practices of Islam.
Concerning Joan, the uncrowned King Charles VII sent her to the siege of Orleans as part of a relief mission. She gained
prominence when she overcame the dismissive attitude of veteran commanders and lifted the siege in just nine days.
Several additional swift victories, against overwhelming odds led to Charles VII’s coronation at Reims and hastened the
departure of the British. Despite her achievements, Joan was accused of heresy. Joan’s trial record demonstrates her
remarkable intellect Miriam explained. The transcript’s most famous exchange is an exercise in subtlety. “Asked if she
knew she was in God’s grace, the illiterate farm girl answered: ‘If I am not, May God put me there; and if I am, may God
so keep me.’” The question of course was a prosecutorial trap carefully set for Joan. Church doctrine held that no one
could be certain of being in God’s grace. If Joan had answered yes, then she would have convicted herself of heresy. As
the still preserved trial transcript proves, Joan’s trial was a fraud from beginning to end and she insisted, even when
threatened with torture and facing death by fire, that she was guided by God to liberate her country form occupation.
Miriam told us that “one of the legacies of the sisters Zeinab bint Ali and Joan d’Arc is that every women should
realize that she can always make a positive difference for mankind. She can always reach for and achieve the better.
Those men alone cannot win independence and prosperity, neither can the women. Together, and under the banner of
resistance at Karbala and Calvary and following the examples of Zeinab and Joan d’Arc they can achieve to justice and
defeat occupation and hegemony.”
One Lebanese druze pilgrim explained to this observer that Sayedda Zeinab represents all women and all who seek justice
in the face of tyranny and that the Sayyeda is “everywoman” meaning that Zeinab does not belong just to the Shia or
Muslims but to all people of goodwill.
Zeinab bint Ali continues to rest in peace at the sacred shrine at Foa village southwest of Damascus —her final
community. Repairs at Sayedda Zeinab havebeen made and the beauty and tranquility the holy site has been fully restored.
No doubt to the relief of untold millions, the Heroine of Karbala is being protected by her own–Muslims from different
sects as well as Christians like Miriam among others—for they, and all who are part of the culture of resistance to
injustice, are truly among Zeinab’s own. It is right that we should protect her for Zeinab bint Ali, like Karbala,
belongs to all of us.
As I was trying to figure out how to get back to Damascus and we said good-bye that Miriam told me she was Christian.
She understood me perfectly and gave me a warm knowing smile when I gestured toward the glorious Sayyeda Zeinab resting
place, and opined that it seems likely that spiritually, we are both Shia-Christian and Christian-Shia.
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Franklin Lamb is doing research in Lebanon.