By Dr. Mohsin Alidina
The fifth month of the Islamic lunar calendar is memorable in that according to some narrations, Hadhrat Zaynab Al-Kubra AS was born on the 5th, in the 5th year of the Hijra, Seyyida Fatimatu Zzahraa succumbed on 14th in the 11th year of the Hijra to violent physical injuries inflicted upon her by Umar Al-Khattab and Imam Zainul Abidiin AS was born on 15th in the 37th year of the Hijra. Other narrations set these occasions at 1st Sha’baanul Muaddham, 3rd Jamadiul Thani and 5th Sha’baanul Mua’ddham respectively.
Whatever the dates, these personages are revered and remembered every day as they are the Ahlul Bayt of the Prophet SAWW whose remembrance Allah SWT has decreed and guaranteed, despite efforts by inimical forcesto erase them.
As members of The Prophet SAWW’s Ahlul Bayt, these personages are endowed with knowledge from divine source and they do not need any worldly tutors. Seyyida Fatimatu Zzahraa AS, besides Mushaf Fatima that is in the possession of the Imam Al-ASr wal Zamaan AS, and ahadith, left an eloquent, elegant and erudite khutba she gave when she had to go to the Court of the usurping Caliph to demand her rightful property of Fadak and Imam Ali AS’ immediate succession to The Prophet SAWW. This khutba was memorized by her six-year old daughter Zaynab Al-Kubra AS and transmitted verbatim. Seyyida Zaynab AS herself was an “Alimatu ghayr al-Mualllamah” (an erudite not taught by any teacher). She taught the recitation and understanding of The Qur’an to the women of Madinah and Kufa and her heart-rending addresses in the courts of cruel, corrupt and criminal tyrants like Ibn Ziyad in Kufa and Yazid in Damascus as well as in the packed streets of Kufa and Damascus brought home realization of the atrocities of the Umayyads against The Ahlul Bayt of The Prophet SAWW and triggered off a revolution that saw the beginning of the end of the Umayyad dynasty.
Imam Zaynul Abidiin AS who took over the mantle of the Imamah in the most peculiar circumstances in Karbala after the murder of Imam Husain AS on Ashuraa Day, publicized the mission of Imam Husain AS even as he was in shackles. In the packed Court of the tyrant Yazid, Imam Zainul Abidiin AS challenged Yazid to respond to “Ash.hadu anna Muhammadar Rasulullah” when the Court-appointed muezzin tried to interrupt the Imam AS’ address that publicly shamed Yazid. The Imam AS asked Yazid was Muhammad whose name was being proclaimed five times a day throughout the Muslim world his (Imam AS’) or Yazid’s grandfather? The dumbfounded Yazid could only hang his head in shame. Imam Al-Sajjad AS, as he is also known, settled the issue of his Imamah in a unique way upon return to Madinah after the Karbala-Kufa-Damascus episode. His uncle, the younger half-brother of Imam Husain AS, Muhammad al-Hanafiyyah, claimed the Imamate. Al-Sajjad AS settled the dispute by the testimony proclaimed by Hajaril Aswad that replied to his salutation and not to Al-Hanafiyyah’s. Indeed after the tragedy of Karbala, the Shi’a of The Prophet SAWW and the Ahlul Bayt AS were in hiding and scattered everywhere. Imam Al-Sajjad AS gathered them back as one does the scattered beads of a rosary and re-established the community of devotees of Ahlul Bayt AS through the gatherings to mourn Imam Husain AS. The tyrannical Umayyads could not stop people gathering at these majalis of remembrance of Karbala and the Imam AS was able to transmit the true teachings of The Prophet SAWW and keep Al-Islam alive. This Imam AS also left us a priceless legacy of Al Sahifa Al-Sajjadiyyah and the non-paraeil Risalaatul Huqooq, the Treatise of Human Rights.
It is in the traditions of these personages that education facilitators at Al-Iman School teach students decency, morality, the value of education and knowledge and above all the virtues of patience and forbearance. Despite the hostility that the Imam AS encountered at the hands of the Umayyad sympathizers in Karbala, he did not take advantage of the vulnerability and hopelessness of the fugitive murderer of his own brother. Instead, the Imam AS gave the man sanctuary and safe passage when he was being pursued. The enemy wondered why the Imam AS had treated him so well when he had treated the Ahlul Bayt in the most inhuman manner in Karbala. The grandson of the magnanimous and merciful Prophet SAWW said to this enemy that in Karbala the Ahlul Bayt of The Prophet SAWW were their guest and that is how the Umayyads treated them, here in Madinah the fugitives were guests of The Ahlul Bayt of The Prophet SAWW.
The Al-Iman School curriculum includes the study of The Qur’anic norms of behavior, The Prophetic ahadith and practices and the dealings of the Aimmah AS with friends and foes. Students not only learn these theoretically but are expected to adopt them in their lives and show to the world that Al-Islam is not destruction of life, limb or property, suicide bombings, kidnappings or beheading, nor is it the maltreatment of prisoners or desecretion of the Holy Scriptures or ransacking people’s homes and uprooting orchards and depriving people of their livelihoods and turning them refugees in their own lands. The Al-Islam taught at Al-Iman School makes each student recognize that every human should be safe, secure and sacrosanct for each of them is descended from one parentage of Adam and Eve. Neither wealth, nor color, nor class matters, it is the person’s God-wariness that counts for his nobility and reverence.
Seyyida Fatima AS and Seyyida Zaynab AS emphasized female dignity and honor that hijab brings about and the girls of Al-Iman learn to be proud of their hijab so that they can be recognized for their minds and personalities not by physical shape. Sharing and caring are inculcated in the young and old alike so that selfishness, stinginess and self-centeredness give way to empathy, generosity and openness. Honesty, truthfulness and trust are imbibed by the students as their role-models, the teachers, preach and practice them.
Indeed, Seyyida Fatima AS’ famous dictum of neighbors first and then the family shows that The Ahlul Bayt AS had come to this world to teach the spirit of giving rather than taking from others. Seyyida Zaynab AS’ giving her meager share of food that Yazid allowed in the dungeons of Damascus where he had incarcerated The Prophet SAWW”s Ahlul Bayt AS, to the younger children at the expense of her own health and strength, teaches a supreme example of sacrifice for the welfare of others and kindness to the weaker members of society. Imam Zaynul Abideen AS’ concern for the hunger and thirst of the animals being readied for slaughter in Madinah are examples of his tenderness towards the dumb creatures of Allah SWT and humane treatment of even animals.
Thus, in its efforts to provide wholeness and holiness to its students, Al-Iman School imparts the best of both worlds. Children who join Al-Iman at young age and stay on to maturity become good citizens and make a determined effort to excel not only in acquiring the education of the body but also education of the spirit. The body and the soul work in tandem and a healthy body with a healthy soul elevates the human being to heights of angelic qualities. Such are the Al-Imanians, the model citizens of the future.
