A Mercy Case

“There are some things that time cannot mend. Some hurts that go too deep, that have taken hold.”

I have this dull pain in my chest. At first, I thought it was just a vestige of the emotional intensity of the first 10 days of Muharram. And then an image appeared in my mind that gave form to what I was feeling: ‘Ali b. Husayn and Zaynab b. ‘Ali remaining after Karbala.

اللهم صل على محمد و آل محمد

How can I possibly imagine what they felt? After shedding a few tears in majalis, I spent a relaxing weekend with my wife and son. Whereas they had to endure with the vivid memory of what their own eyes had witnessed.

As a chaplain, I saw how people being abused in the name of Islam drove faith out of their hearts. But it is as if the pulsating hearts of Imam al-Sajjad and Zaynab echo through the centuries, as if I can feel their faith beating in my own heart. For they faced the entire ordeal with faith and by faith.

That is where I stop in complete awe.

For there was no earthly victory for the sister of Husayn and her nephew. No “Conquest of Makkah” when they marched into Damascus triumphantly. They simply remained, full of memories, overflowing with faith. When they left the world, their oppressors were still in power.

Their victory is otherworldly. Beyond the sadness and injustice of this world, there is light and beauty that never fades. Reflecting on the faith of these two individuals leads us there, by the grace of God.

“Full of darkness and danger they were, and sometimes you didn’t want to know the end. Because how could the end be happy. How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad happened. But in the end, it’s only a passing thing, this shadow. Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer.”

This is a story that really matters.

The story of a sister and a nephew who remained.

For we remain too.

لا إله إلا الله محمد رسول الله