THE BATTLE OF KARBALA No. 1335

ON DAY OF ASHURA PEOPLE FROM ALEPPO GATHER AT NIGHT ON ANTIOHA DOOR. Men and women, a huge crowd, and they spend night in costant weeping after (Holy) Family (of Propfet Muhammad s.a.w.a.). During Ashura shi'ias weep for Karbala. They recount the oppressions and tribulations which the (Holy) Family suffered at the hands of Yazid and Shimr. They utter shrieks mingled with cries of woe and grief: the whole plain and desert is filled (with their cries). A stranger (who was) a poet, arrived from the road on the Day of Ashura and heard that lamentation. He left the city and resolved (to go) in that direction: he set out to investigate (the cause of) those shrill cries.    

A stranger (who was) a poet, arrived from the road on the Day of Ashura and heard that lamentation. He left the city and resolved (to go) in that direction: he set out to investigate (the cause of) those shrill cries. He went along asking many questions in his search- "What is this sorrow? Whose death has occasioned this mourning. It must be a great personage who has died: such a concourse is no small affair. Inform me of his name and titles, for I am a stranger and ye belong to this town. What is his name and profession and character? (Tell me) in order that I may compose an elegy on his gracious qualities. I will make an elegy- for I am a poet- that I may carry away from here some provision and morsels of food.”

“Eh,” said one (of them), “are you mad? You are not a Shi’ite, you are an enemy of the (Holy) Family. Don’t you know that the Day of Ashura is (a day of) mourning for a single soul that is more excellent than a (whole) generation? How should this anguish (tragedy) be lightly esteemed by the true believer? Love for the ear-ring is in proportion to love for the ear. In the true believer’s view the mourning for that pure spirit is more celebrated than a hundred floods of Noah.”

“Yes” said he; “but where (in relation to our time) is the epoch of Yazid? When did this grievous tragedy occur? How late has (the news of) it arrived here! The eyes of the blind have seen that loss, the ears of the deaf have heard that story.