The moon was sitting in the middle of the sky and the religious midnight had arrived. The moonlight shone through the window into the room and illuminated the space. The white dress and white beauty of Pir Farzaneh also added to this illumination.
It was a little after midnight when Pir Farzaneh woke up from her sweet sleep. She gently placed her hand on the wall, stood up and prepared herself for purification, ablution, Tahajjud prayer and then the morning prayer.
After the prostration of thanks, she gathered her prayer mat and said in a quiet voice, but mixed with a strange longing:
"Atiyah... Atiyah... Get up, don't miss the prayer. The morning is almost dawn. Today I don't know why my heart is restless. I feel like visiting the martyrs. We are going to visit the martyrs of the plain of Karbala together."
Atiyah, Jabir's loyal and sympathetic servant, got up and prepared himself for the morning prayer.
Before the dawn of Arba'in
With the first rays of the sun, they both left the house and set off for the pilgrimage to the martyrs. The wise old man still felt restless, but he still did not know the exact reason.
He, Jabir bin Abdullah Ansari, was one of the noble and loyal companions of the Holy Prophet (PBUH); a companion who had shown his love and devotion to the Messenger of God and his pure household from the very first days of Islam and had lived with the Prophet and his household for many years.
In the middle of the way, he suddenly remembered the words of the Holy Prophet (PBUH); the day when the Holy Prophet had said to him:
"O Jabir! God will grant you a long life. Your eyes will become blind, and I also give you the good news that you will be the first pilgrim of my son Hussain (PBUH) and the other martyrs of the plain of Karbala."
The Legacy of a Prophecy
At that moment, he realized the reason for his restlessness. He whispered to himself: “As if today is the day that the Messenger of God (PBUH) had promised.”
Jabir and Atiyah continued on their way. They passed several alleys and several places until Atiyah broke the heavy silence in the middle of the way and said:
“May I be your sacrifice, sir! Why are you so silent today? What is the wisdom of this silence?”
Jabir sighed deeply and said with tearful eyes:
“What can I say, Atiyah? It has not been more than forty days since that great calamity. A group that neither protected the sanctity of their Prophet nor the sanctity of his Ahlul Bayt martyred the son of the Messenger of God, Husayn ibn Ali (PBUH), the son of Amir al-Mu’minin Ali al-Murtaza (PBUH), and Hazrat Fatima al-Zahra (PBUH) on the plain of Karbala. They killed his children mercilessly, they did not even spare his six-month-old child and slit his throat. They took his pure family into captivity...
Where can I tell you about the plain of Karbala? Every corner of it is a story of pain; a story of oppression, oppression, plunder, dishonor and oppression. But despite all the calamities, courage, sacrifice, loyalty, faith and martyrdom were also evident in it. Hussain (AS) sacrificed his life and that of his loved ones to revive the religion of his great ancestor, the Messenger of God (PBUH).
Woe to his heartless killers! Woe to those who remained silent in the face of all that oppression and joined the oppressors, and woe to those who sat in their homes and watched this tragedy.”
Forty Days of Hatred
Tears flowed from Jaber’s blind eyes and his voice trembled more and more every moment. Jaber continued, still sad and tearful:
“Atiyah! I do not know what answer these people will have before the Holy Prophet (PBUH) on the Day of Judgment. What answer will they have for the Commander of the Faithful Ali (AS)? What answer will they have for the body of the Prophet, Hazrat Fatima Zahra (SA)?
Didn’t the Messenger of God (PBUH) say: “Hussain is from me and I am from Hussain”? That is: Hussain is from me and I am from Hussain.
And didn’t he say: “Indeed, Hussain is the lamp of guidance and the ship of salvation.” That is: Hussain is the lamp of guidance and the ship of salvation.
So how did they feel like committing such a crime?”
Once again, a heavy silence reigned between the two. Jabir and Atiyah continued their way towards the plain of Karbala with tearful eyes and sad hearts.
After a while, Atiyah broke the silence and said:
“Gentlemen! May I be your sacrifice, we have reached the grave of the martyrs.”
At the Headless Tomb
Atiyah had not yet finished speaking when Jabir's wailing began again. In a trembling voice mixed with tears, he said:
"My lord... my master... my follower... my headless master... where have you gone and left the nation alone? May God's curse be upon your murderers! May God's curse be upon that oppressive people who severed your head from your body. What sin did you commit? What crime did your children commit that they were martyred? What was the fault of Hazrat Abbas, the scholar, that they severed his hands from his arms? By what decree did they take your pure family captive?
Did they not know that you were the son of the Messenger of God (PBUH)? Did they not know that you were the son of Ali Murtaza (AS) and Fatima Zahra (SA)?"
Jabir's whispers, tears, and curses continued. Atiyah could no longer hold back. His anger broke and he wept with his master.
They both threw themselves on the grave of the Master of Martyrs (AS) and wept with all their might. Moments passed one after another, and their loving moans filled the plain of Karbala.
After a while, they calmed down a bit.
At that moment, Atiyah felt that he heard a sound from afar. He put his ear to the ground. Then he stood up, looked around and listened again.
Suddenly he said in a loud voice:
“Gentlemen! I beg your pardon, the sound of a caravan is heard... from the direction of the West... from the direction of the West!”
The Call of the West
Jabir stood up in surprise and asked:
“From the direction of the West? Who could they be, Atiyah?”
Atiyah replied:
“They are still far away, sir. If they come closer, we will recognize them.”
Jabir whispered under his breath, with a mixture of hope and tears:
“Could it be the caravan of the Ahl al-Bayt? Have the prisoners been released? Can I smell the scent of Hussain (AS) from Imam Sajjad (AS) again? Can I hear the voice of Hazrat Zainab Kubra (AS)?
Both of them looked at the horizon and waited for the caravan to approach.
Both of them looked at the horizon and waited for the caravan to approach.
The caravan was getting closer and closer until it was finally clear that it was the caravan of the Prophet's (PBUH) family and the family of Imam Hussain (AS); a caravan that had reached the plain of Karbala from the West after the difficult days of captivity.
Jabir, filled with joy and tears, raised his voice and said:
"Atiyah... Atiyah... I can smell the scent of Hussain (AS) and Ali Murtaza (AS). Am I right?"
Atiyah replied in a voice mixed with tears:
"Yes, sir. You are right. This caravan is the caravan of the family of the master and leader of the martyrs, Hazrat Abu Abdullah Al-Hussain (AS). Imam Sajjad (AS), Hazrat Zainab Al-Kubra (SA) and the other Ahlul Bayt have returned from the West to the plain of Karbala after being freed from captivity."
Meeting in Karbala
The tired caravan, with hearts full of pain and suffering, after forty days of captivity, reached the plain of Karbala to attend the tomb of Sayyid al-Shuhada (AS) and other oppressed martyrs of Karbala.
They all dismounted from their camels and horses. Each one threw himself on the tomb of a loved one with tears and sorrow, and one of the most heartbreaking and saddening scenes in history took place.
With the help of Atiyah, Jabir reached the presence of Imam Ali ibn al-Hussein, Hazrat Sajjad (AS), and Hazrat Zainab al-Kubra (SA). He hugged them and his tears did not stop. The wailing began again, the memories of the bloody Ashura came alive, and the pain of the captivity period was once again fresh in hearts.
At that moment, the plain of Karbala once again witnessed tears, sighs, prayers, curses on Yazid and his companions, and the remembrance of the greatest oppression in the history of Islam.
And thus, the philosophy of Arbaeen Hussaini found another manifestation and the name of Jabir bin Abdullah Ansari, as the first pilgrim of Hazrat Abu Abdullah Al-Hussain (AS) and other martyrs of the plain of Karbala, was recorded forever in the history of Islam.
An excerpt from the historical sources of Islam and the tragic event of Karbala
61 AH
