The Christian Monk on the Journey from Karbala to Damascus
“One night they rested in the mountain top of a hermitage of a monk who had devoted his life to prayers and meditation. Shimr gave the heads of the martyrs to him for safe keeping. Just one look at the face of Imam Hussein (A.S) convinced the hermit that it was the head of a saint. He took it with him and kept it near his bed and then retired to sleep.
At night he dreamt that all the Prophets and angels had descended from heaven to keep watch over the head. He woke up from his sleep startled and baffled as to what he should do. He decided to ask the leader of the guards about the identity of the people whom they had beheaded and whose family they had taken as prisoners.
Rushing out of the monastery he woke up Shimr and demanded to know who the martyrs were. When Shimr told him that, the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) who had defied the authority of the ruler Yazid ibn Muawiya and refused to acknowledge his spiritual superiority had been killed by the army of Yazid and they were carrying the heads of all the people who had been killed in Karbala, the hermit was shocked beyond words.
Recovering himself he said “You cursed people! Do you realize that you have committed the most heinous crime by beheading your own Prophet (PBUH)’s grandson who undoubtedly was a great saint! Fie upon you coward that not satisfied with what you have done that you are so brutally treating his innocent ladies and children and subjecting them to such atrocities!”
He asked to kiss the head but they refused till he paid them some money. He declared the testimony of faith and embraced Islam through the blessing of the one who was just beheaded for supporting the divine call.
These words of the hermit enraged Shimr who had even otherwise lost his temper with him for waking him up from sleep in the dead of night. With one sweep of his sword he chopped off the hermits head. This brute had little regard for the Prophet (PBUH)’s injunctions and orders granting the fullest protection to those who had retired from the world and dedicated their lives to prayers and penance.
When the life of the Prophet (PBUH)’s own grandson was not spared by this brute what regard could he be expected to have for the commands of the Prophet (PBUH)?
When they left that place they looked at the money the monk had given them and saw this verse inscribed on it “And those who oppressed shall come to find how evil their end shall be.”
Source: shafaqna.com
Other links:
Medina: the Roots of Karbala (Part 1)
Medina: the Roots of Karbala (Part 2)
Basic Information on Ashura and Imam Hussein (A.S)
