Words cannot describe the events that befell on the 10th of Muharram 61 AH. The skies wept blood and the storms turned red. The grandson of the Prophet of Islam, the 3rd Imam was martyred in the most horrendous ways possible. Imam Ridha (peace be upon him) says to Rayyan, ‘If you were to cry over anything, then cry over Hussain ibn Ali ibn Abi Talib (peace be upon them), for he was slaughtered like a sheep. Eighteen men from the people of his house, the like of whom are not to be found on the earth, were martyred with him. The seven heavens and the seven lands wailed over his killing. Four thousand of the angels descended toward the earth but they found him martyred. So they shall remain disheveled, dusty till the Mahdi rises; then they will be from his helpers. And their slogan is Vengeance for the blood of Husain!.’ Yet this is just the beginning as when the sun sets, the household of the Imam, the grandchildren of the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him and his pure progeny) was plundered. The womenfolk were held as captives and taken to the cities of Kufa and Damascus.
Indeed, these calamities have saddened the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him and his holy progeny) and made the Imam of our time (may Allah hasten his reappearance) weep tears of blood.
May Allah increase the punishment of the founders, signatories, and those who consent with this oppression and hasten the reappearance of their blood inheritor and help us to be amongst those whose slogan is, vengeance for the blood of Husain.