First installment of this series, about Sayyeda Sakina bint al-Hussain (sa), can be read here.
Islam’s emphasis on upbringing girls
When a child grows up in a cosy environment, whereby worship has the greatest importance, this inevitably reflect in the child’s character and personality. So how about those who have been brought up under the care of Imam Hussain (peace be upon him)?
In this part, we will reflect upon the life of Sayyeda Ruqayya, the youngest daughter of Imam Hussain (peace be upon him), who witnessed the epic of Karbala with the honorable captured members of the Ahlul Bayt.
The genuine Muhammadian Islam urges us to be kind to our daughters; it pledges that whoever is kind to two or three of their daughters will become a companion of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) in Paradise.
The Prophet Muhammad says: “Whoever raises two girls until they reach maturity, will be my companion on the Day of Resurrection.” Islam also emphasizes that raising girls well is salvation from Hellfire. The Prophet Muhammad also confirms: “Whoever has three daughters, and is patient with them, feeds them, gives them drink, and clothes them with his money, they will be a barrier for him from Hellfire on the Day of Resurrection.” In another hadith: “Paradise is definitely guaranteed for him.”
This exceptional Islamic approach to dealing with girls is a response to the medieval innovations of Jahhiliya (Age of Ignorance), when most of its people lament the birth of girls, as highlighted in the Qur’anic verse in Surat an-Nahl: “And when one of them is given the news of a female, his face darkens, and he is filled with inward grief. He hides himself from his people because of the evil of the news he has been given. Should he keep her in disgrace or bury her in the dust? Unquestionably, evil is what they judge.”
Further, the Almighty affirms in Surat al-An’am: “Those who kill their baby-girls foolishly without justification have certainly lost.”
Sayyedah Ruqayya’s early childhood
Sayyedah Ruqayya (peace be upon her) is from a pure Hashemite lineage. She grew up under the care of her father Imam Hussain because her loving mother had passed away in her early childhood. However her aunt Sayyeda Zainab (peace be upon her) gave her special care. She poured knowledge and wisdom into her until the day of her martyrdom in Damascus.
Besides, Sayyeda Ruqayya was the youngest daughter of Imam Hussain; thus she had a special place in his heart. Sayyeda Ruqayya did not leave him even at the time when the rest of his children slept. Various history books have reported that she used to wake up at night to prepare a prayer rug for him, and sit next to him; then Imam Hussain used to hug her affectionately to his chest.
Her name
The meaning of the name Ruqayya as mentioned in Arabic language dictionaries the diminutive of the word Raqiya, meaning sublime. Often, the diminutive style is linguistically used for endearment.
Islam stresses that a name gives an impression about a person in front of society, as strange names may definitely cause the child many problems, and push him to feel resentment, lack of self-confidence, shyness, and a feeling of being an outcast and socially rejected, and this may result in psychological disorders such as anxiety and depression.
In general, all the Ahlul Bayt’s girls’ names are beautiful and dignified, symbolizing and referring to elevation, purity, cleanliness, goodness, and righteousness, as mentioned in Imam al-Hadi’s Ziyarat al-Jamia al-Kabira (a supplication that highlights the merits of the Ahlul Bayt): “How beautiful are your names among other names.”
Witnessing Karbala tribulations
Sayyeda Ruqayya (peace be upon her) witnessed everything that happened to the Ahlul Bayt (peace be upon them) during and in the aftermath of the Karbala Battle whereas she was not more than four years old.
Sayyeda Ruqayya saw with her own eyes what happened to her father, Imam Hussain (peace be upon him), and to his beloved family and sincere companions.
Imam Hussain called Sayyeda Ruqayya in the last hours of his honorable life.
When the Umayyads attacked their tents, the cursed Shimr struck her on her radiant angelic face. Historians have mentioned that Yazid’s soldiers raced to loot the tents of the Ahlul Bayt’s and the women’s jewellery. Among the things that have been reported is their forcible looting of the earrings of Sayyeda Ruqayya, who accompanied the honorable captured members of the Ahlul Bayt from Karbala to Kufa and then to Damascus, and suffered all kinds of torture, oppression, and humiliation.
The long distance between Kufa and Damascus exhausted the honorable captured members of the Ahlul Bayt – in addition to being violently and mercilessly beaten. The Umayyad army did not allow them to rest except when their soldiers were tired, and as soon as the accursed soldiers set out again, they would once again begin to humiliate and whip the helpless captives.
Her martyrdom
Sayyeda Ruqayya (peace be upon her) was martyred in one of Yazid’s deserted prisons in Damascus (an abandoned prison unfit for human habitation used for slaves) where the accursed Yazid had detained the honorable captured members of the Ahlul Bayt. Thus, the terrible tragedy of Karbala was renewed for the Household of the Prophet (peace be upon him).
According to history books, Sayyeda Ruqayya kept asking about her beloved father, Imam Hussain. Sayyeda Zainab was confused what to answer her. When Yazid heard Sayyeda Ruqayya’s wailing, he asked what she was asking for. The accursed Yazid was told that Sayyeda Ruqayya was asking for her father Imam Hussain.
So the accursed Yazid ordered his soldiers to place the holy head of Imam Hussain in Sayyeda Ruqayya’s lap. She was terrified, and addressed him: “O my father, who stained your face with your blood? O my father, who cut your vein? O my father, who orphaned me despite my young age? O my father, O my father, who will care for the orphan until she grows up?”
Then Sayyeda Ruqayya (peace be upon her) cried intensely until she fainted. Sayyeda Zainab (peace be upon her) wanted to move her; however, her holy soul had departed this world.
When the honorable captured members of the Ahlul Bayt saw what had happened to Sayyeda Ruqayya, they wailed and renewed their mourning until the people of Damascus arrived and the tyrant Yazid was exposed.
Her shrine in Damascus
The shrine of Sayyeda Ruqayya (peace be upon her) is located near the so-called “Umayyad Mosque” in Damascus. Muslims – both Shi’as and Sunnis – are keen to visit it seeking her help to fulfill their needs.
Sayyeda Ruqayya’s ornate shrine has been renovated after the victory of the blessed Islamic Revolution led by Imam Khomeini (ra).
The scholar Al-Darbandi, among others, narrates that Sayyeda Ruqayya (peace be upon her) ordered Sayyed Ibrahim al-Dimashqi’s eldest daughter to ask him to tell the governor the following: “Water has seeped into my grave and spoiled it, so let the [governor of Damascus] repair my grave.” However, Sayyed Ibrahim al-Dimashqi neglected his eldest daughter’s dream.
On the second night, Sayyeda Ruqayya ordered the middle daughter the same, and the youngest daughter on the following night. On the fourth night, Sayyeda Ruqayya rebuked him. Then Sayyed Ibrahim al-Dimashqi woke up and directly told the governor of Damascus what had happened to him.
The governor of Damascus ordered the scholars to purify themselves and wear the cleanest clothes, and whoever opens the door to the shrine of Sayyedah Ruqayyah must himself repair the grave. By the will of God, the door was opened by the Sayyed Ibrahim al-Dimashqi himself.
The governor of Damascus entrusted him with the task of renovating the shrine. Sayyed Ibrahim al-Dimashqi reported that when he reached Sayyedah Ruqayyah’s pure shroud, he found it that nothing had changed in her precious corpse as if it had been buried recently.
This was in the year 1280 AH. Ever since, Sayyeda Ruqayya’s shrine has become one of the prominent emotional religious sites for worshippers.
The angels and people of the heavens and the earth wept over the tragedy of Sayyeda Ruqayya (peace be upon her) as history has never known a precedent for a child to be so attached to her father except for her grandmother, Sayyeda Fatima al-Zahra (peace be upon her).
The ongoing tragedies of righteous girls
Sayyeda Ruqayya (peace be upon her) was one of those who witnessed the murder of her beloved father at the hands of the Umayyads, who made the nation taste one calamity after another, starting with Sayyedah Ruqayyah until the daughters of Gaza and southern Lebanon in our present era.
The martyrdom of Sayyeda Ruqayya has a significant impact on souls as it chronicles a great position in which the right of a delicate and innocent child was violated merely because she asked to see her father. This is what the Umayyad state, led by Yazid bin Muawiyah, committed, and what the Zionist government is emulating by depriving Palestinian girls from seeing their fathers in prisons, as happened recently with Martyr Walid al-Daqa, as well as the Bahraini regime that deprives the daughters of Sheikh Ali Salman from meeting their father, and many, many others.
Failure of international conventions to protect girls
The ongoing horrendous crimes committed by the Zionist entity against Palestinian women – specifically little girls – has exposed the West that brags about human rights and freedom.
The West that exploited the case of the girl Mahsa Amini to fuel chaos in Iran is the same West that supports authoritarian regimes in the world and backs them in suppressing their people, and kills others in the name of democracy and the dubious slogan of self-defense and fighting terrorism, as Western narratives about the current events in Gaza claim.
This hypocritical West that brags about human rights slogans is the first to violate them. We remember well that the First and Second World Wars left millions dead. In December 1948, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was issued, followed by a number of human rights conventions such as the two international covenants, conventions related to the rights of women and children. Nevertheless, all of these conventions did not protect the innocent girls of Palestine because they already know that those innocent chaste girls will give birth to leaders and martyrs in the future.
There is a big difference between women’s rights and freeing women according to the Western scales. Islam has guaranteed women’s full rights, but within legal controls to preserve their spirit and chastity, not to restrict them and confiscate their freedoms.
As for freeing women according to the Western scales, it encourages women to go beyond all legal and moral controls and beyond customs and traditions, which humiliates, degrades, and in reality enslaves them. This is not acceptable to any rational person with a sound and healthy innate; because a chaste girl refuses to make herself and her body a commodity that is bought and sold in auctions and advertisements for major global brand companies.
To recap
Indeed, the appalling martyrdom of Sayyeda Ruqayya (peace be upon her) has shaken the Umayyad rule as it has exposed their oppression and hypocrisy. Sayyeda Ruqayya is a divine sacrifice, which has saved the survivors of the Ahlul Bayt (peace be upon them) from the genocidal mindset of the tyrant Umayyads, may Allah’s curses be upon them until the day of Resurrection.
