Jumadi al-Awwal 5th marks blissful birthday anniversary of Sayyidah Zainab, peace be upon her
According to the most prominent narratives, Sayyidah Zainab, peace be upon her, was born in Madinah on the fifth day of the month of Jumadi al-Awwal in the fifth year of the Hijri.
After the Almighty God gave a daughter to Amir al-Mu’minin and Sayyida Fatima al-Zahra, peace be upon them, she was named “Zainab” by the Prophet of God, peace and blessings of God be upon him and his family, and according to some narrations, Gabriel revealed this name to the Holy Prophet from Almighty God.
The Holy Prophet praised her with an epithet of “dignity” and compared Sayyida Zeinab to her grandmother, Khadijah, peace be upon her, and asked everyone to respect her sanctity.
Many epithets have been mentioned for her Holiness, the most important of which are: Aqeela Bani Hashem, A’rifa, Fadhila, Masoumeh Sughra, Alamah Ghayra Mo’alemah, Na’ib al-Hussein, Aqeelat Un-Nisa, Fasiha, Baligha, and Sharikat ul-Husain.
Sayyida Zainab, peace be upon her, has also been given the epithet “the Mother of calamities” because of the many hardships she faced in life, such as the martyrdom of her noble grandfather the Holy Prophet, the illness and martyrdom of her mother, the martyrdom of her father Amirul Momineen, the martyrdom of her brother Imam al-Mujtaba, the tragedies of Karbala and the martyrdom of her brother Sayyed al-Shuhada. Of course, going into captivity in Kufa and Sham is one of the most difficult and bitter events in her life.
Many Islamic thinkers have studied Lady Zainab’s words and sermons in Kufa as well as in Yazid’s court, which are rich in arguments based on the verses of the Qur’an, and considered them as an expression of her knowledge, likening them to the sermons of Amir al-Mu’minin, and the sermon of Fadakiyya, of her mother Fatima al-Zahra.
In some narrations and historical sources, it is mentioned that Sayyida Zainab used to interpret the Qur’an for the women of the city when Imam Ali, peace be upon him, was based in Kufa.
About the time, place and manner of Sayyida Zainab’s death, there is no accurate information in historical sources until the 8th century AH, and the available information only includes the time when the caravan of captives entered Medina. However, in later sources it is said that Sayyida Zainab passed away on Sunday, 15th of Rajab in 62 AH.
In one of his scholarly meetings, Grand Ayatollah Seyyed Sadegh al-Hosseini al-Shirazi recently talked about the burial place of Sayyida Zainab, peace be upon her, and said: The late Grand Ayatollah Seyyed Mohammad al-Shirazi has a book called Dua and Ziyarat, in which he mentions that Amir al-Mu’minin had three daughters whose names were Zainab and their kunya were Umme-Kulthoom. Zainab al-Kubra is buried in Damascus, and Zainab al-Wusta is buried in Egypt, and Zainab al-Sughra, died in Madinah during the time of Imam Hussain and was buried there.
