Imam Ali, Zain al-Abideen (AS), was only two years of age when his grandfather, Imam Ali (Pbuh) was killed during prayers in the holy month of Ramadhan in the main mosque of Najaf (near Kufa). He was a youth of fourteen years when he saw the life and the painful death of his uncle Imam Hasan (Pbuh). He was about twenty-three years when he accompanied his father, Imam Husain (Pbuh) and witnessed the events of the tragedy of Karbala.
Before he finally left his camp, Imam Husain (Pbuh) came to the bedside of his sick son Ali, and bestowed the onerous duty of Imamate on him.
Imam Ali Ibn-e al-Husain (Pbuh) survived the massacre only because he was physically unable to go out to the battlefield due to his sickness. However, on the next day after that blood event, he was hand tied and put in shackles, and marched on foot from the battlefield, first to Kufa and then to Damascus.
On this journey of painful suffering, his aunt Hazrat-e Zainab (SA), the sister of Imam Husain (pbuh) and other surviving widows and children, accompanied him.
After Karbala, he lived for another thirty-four years under the tyrannical rule of several Marwanid caliphs who took personal gratification in inflicting abuse and torture to him and his followers.
Imam Sadiq (A) recounts from his father, Imam Baqir (A), who inquired from his father Imam Sajjad (A), in what condition had Yazid (the accursed) summoned him ?
Imam Sajjad (A) replied:
"I was made to mount a lame camel that was without any saddle. Imam Hussain's severed head gazed at us from atop the lance. Our ladies trailed us mounted on mules. Yazid's sentries held guard on the rear side. Raised lances and spears hovered threatening around us. If one of us dared to shed even a single tear (in grief), he/she was subjected to agonising prodding of lances in the head. This was until we reached Damascus and one of the Syrians announced our arrival thus, 'O people of Sham, these are the prisoners from the accursed clan!'" (We seek refuge in Allah) !!
