Princess Sakinah was four years old when her family were killed, imprisoned and she died in a dungeon because of cold, exhaustion and brutality. Sakinah was the great granddaughter of the Prophet Muhammad of Islam (Rehmat al Alamin: Mercy unto all creatures, pbuh). Sakinah was the daughter of Imam Hussain who was the son of Hazrat Fatimah and Hazrat Ali - Hazrat is a term denoting respect. Sakinah’s father, Hazrat Hussain, would lovingly put her to bed every night. Sakinah would fall to sleep on his chest while he told her stories of her grandfather and great grandfather, Hazrat Ali and Prophet Muhammad (pbuh). “Sakinah” meaning calmness/ peace of mind/ tranquility was Hazrat Hussain’s adored daughter, he’d say, “A house without Sakinah is not one worth living in.”
In 680 CE in Karbala, Iraq, 72 members of the Prophet’s family faced 30,000 brutal military men of the army of the tyrant Yazid who, despite being declared morally unfit, had forcibly made himself Caliph of the Muslims. The pain of this tragedy is still deeply felt in the hearts and minds of thousands of people across the world who relive this incident every year during the month of Muharram, which just passed.
I had the privilege of joining my friend Naznin and her community on the 3rd of November to pay tribute to special little Sakinah. I had accompanied Naznin to a Muharram jaloos in Islamabad – a peaceful protest walk in the memory and mourning of the grandson of the Prophet of Islam, Imam Hussain, at Karbala, which was followed by a ceremony paying tribute to Princess Sakinah, as she was lovingly called. Here were such a variety of ethnic Muslims, it amazed me - there Pukhtuns, Sindhis, Hazara, Panjabis and so forth. This was the ultimate peace protest against all tyrants and all forms of injustice.
I wanted to learn more about this important event and was keen to participate. Naznin took me to the worship centre or imambara named Zainabia, after the sister of Hazrat Hussain. This was a big spacious hall, with fans and open doors that led into the courtyard. Women took their shoes off as they entered. They were mostly, but not all, dressed in black, with their heads covered. Many had their infant children with them – both boys and girls. The hall filled up to take a maximum of about one-thousand people. They all sat on the floor. All the ladies faced the raised platform where a group of elderly ladies sat who read poems about the great tragedy and the human moral high ground that was achieved that day.
The story of Sakinah’s death is one of great sadness. Sakinah, or Sukayna daughter of Hussain, is also known as Ruqqayah. When Hazrat Imam Hussain, who is the symbol of courage standing against a tyrant in the face of all odds, realized that Yazid’s army had surrounded them and cut off access to the Euphrates water at Karbala, he told his sister Zainab to get little Sakinah used to sleeping alone at night without him as he would have to face the battlefield. Little Sakinah would still follow her father at night and Imam Hussain would gently hand her over to either his sister or his wife.
Five days after water ran out in the camp, the other children were thirsty. Abbas, the loving uncle of Sakinah, took on 30,000 cruel men to get water for the children – despite the threat to his life he attempted to get water for the children holding Sakinah’s water bottle in his mouth when his body was riddled with arrows. Sakinah wanted her uncle much more than the water, even in this state of desperation. Despite his great valor, Abbas, the compassionate, was killed on the 10th of Muharram and is called “The hero of the Euphrates” and “Ghazi,” the king of chivalry.
After all the men were slaughtered, including Hazrat Imam Hussain, from Yazid’s army the villain Shimr came into the tent and tore off Sakinah’s earrings that her father had lovingly given her. Shimr then set fire to the tent, which burnt Sakinah’s skin. Here in this camp there were “us” and “them”, despite the fact that all were Muslims by name – both the cruel military attackers on one side, and the celebrated innocent martyrs who stood for justice and compassion. Women and children ran from tent to tent to protect themselves, Sakinah ran into the battlefield calling out for her father. Zainab noticed that Sakinah was missing. She searched the battlefield and found Sakinah sleeping on the chest of her dead father. Four year old Sakinah said she wanted to complain to her father that the mean man had slapped her face and pulled off the earrings he had given her, causing her to bleed.
The family of the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family), were dragged in chains, with no water. Yazid threw them into dungeons. Sakinah - locked up alone - cried out for her father and in agony was silenced by death. Her mother, Rubab, cried out from prison, “Ya Sakinah, Ya Mazloomah! (Oh, Sakinah, Oh Oppressed One)!”
All the women in the hall I was with cried in the same measure of pain, “Ya Sakinah, Ya Mazlooma!” Others cried, “PANI!” (WATER!). We were all in tears. At this point, the mourning, or matam, took place, the funeral pier of Sakinah not even the standard two yards was brought in. Mothers – empathetic and compassionate - hit themselves rhythmically on the shoulder. Naznin said, “Little Princess Sakinah teaches us that through hardship, humans can overcome injustice, corruption and the evil side of human nature. Karbala is the ultimate victory of humanity’s good side over its evil divisive nature.”
Dr. Amineh Hoti
Ashura,
November 2017