whom Allah disgraced (1). That tragedy was a calamity for the Muslims, and it must be faced in the manner prescribed for all afflictions—by uttering the sanctioned istirjāʿ, “Indeed we belong to Allah and to Him we shall return” (2). Yet on this very day some innovators have instituted practices that run contrary to what Allah has ordained when calamities strike; they have also added lies and slander against the Companions—who were innocent of the turmoil surrounding al-Ḥusayn, may Allah be pleased with him—along with other matters detested by Allah and His Messenger.
It is related from Fāṭimah bint al-Ḥusayn (3), from her father al-Ḥusayn (4) ibn ʿAlī—may Allah be pleased with them—that the Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him and grant him peace) said: “Whoever is struck by a calamity and, whenever he recalls it—even after a long time—renews his istirjāʿ, Allah will record for him a reward equal to that which he received on the very day the calamity befell.” This was narrated by Aḥmad and Ibn Mājah (5).
So reflect on how al-Ḥusayn—may Allah be pleased with him—transmitted such a ḥadīth, and how it is transmitted from him by his own daughter, who personally witnessed his ordeal (6).
(1) For a full account, see Ibn Kathir, al-Bidayah wa-l-Nihayah, 8:172–198; the author also alludes to it in Majmuʿ al-Fatawa, 25:306–307.
(2) Among the relevant texts is the verse: “Those who, when calamity strikes them, say, ‘Indeed we belong to Allah, and indeed to Him we shall return’” (Quran 2:156).
(3) She was the daughter of al-Husayn b. ʿAli b. Abi Talib, a Hashimite woman of Medina and the wife of al-Hasan b. al-Hasan b. ʿAli. Classified as reliable (thiqah) among the fourth generation of narrators, she died sometime after 100 AH at an advanced age. See Taqrib al-Tahdhib 2:609, no. 5.
(4) He was al-Husayn b. ʿAli b. Abi Talib al-Hashimi al-Qurashi, the grandson and cherished one of the Messenger of Allah, the son of his daughter Fatimah, and a close physical resemblance to him. He fought alongside his father at the Battles of the Camel and Siffin and against the Kharijites. In 61 AH he left Medina for Kufa to secure their pledge, but they abandoned him; the forces of ʿUbayd Allah b. Ziyad confronted him at Karbala, where he was killed on the Day of ʿAshuraʾ in 61 AH. See al-Isabah 1:332–335.
(5) See Musnad Ahmad 1:201; Sunan Ibn Majah, Book of Funerals, “Chapter: On Patience at a Calamity,” hadith no. 1600 (1:510).
(6) MS B adds: “and from his daughter.”