“My 6 year old daughter created this art on canvas showing Bibi Zainab (as) on Siratul Mustaqeem guiding us, through the lessons we learn from her life, all the way to Jannah!
She is holding an alam, and on her superheroine cape are written her titles, ‘Sharikatul Husayn – …Imam Husayn’s partner in his mission to save Islam’ and ‘Aalima Ghayr Mu’allima – One who knows without being taught’ (title given by Imam Zainul Abideen, as Bibi used to conduct Islamic classes for the women of Madina and Kufa and was revered for her knowledge and wisdom).
She also included Bibi’s famous, powerful and most profound words, summing up her life’s philosophy of placing Allah’s (swt) pleasure at the centre of all she did and thought: ‘I see nothing but beauty’ – ‘Ma ra’aitu illa jameela’ when asked by Ibne Ziyad at his court how she found the events of Karbala.
She drew and captioned pictures to create a simple timeline of her life, from her blessed birth to her death at 57 years.
Timeline:
Born on 5/5/5 – 5th Jamadil Awwal 5AH
At 7 years – Bibi Fatema (as), her mother, and Rasulullah (saw), her grandfather, pass away
At 12 years – she got married to Abdullah bin Jaffar e Tayyar and they had 6 kids including Awn and Muhammad
At 32 years, Imam Ali (as) became the khalifa and they moved to Kufa with him
At 35 years, the martyrdom of Imam Ali (as) takes place
Bibi then moved back to Madina to support Imam Hassan (as) in his imamat
At 45 years, Imam Hassan (as) is poisoned and passes away
At 55 years, she witnesses the tragedy of Karbala, Kufa, Shaam, back to Karbala on Arbaeen – Bibi established the institution of Majlis Al Husayn, Allah’s University! – and then return to Madina
At 57 years, she passed away – most say in Sham but there are also reports that she’s buried in Cairo, Egypt or Madina”
- One mum said: ‘We spoke about Bibi Zainab’s line “I saw nothing but beauty” and we should see beauty in everything because everything was created by Allah. We then made these binoculars using cardboard tubes, coloured paper and ribbon.’
- One mum said: ‘We held a small family majlis at home and talked about Bibi Zainab’s role in telling the people what happened to her brother, Imam Husayn. We did a little experiment to demonstrate how she established the concept of a majlis with the following simple story using a pack of Skittles, a plate and some warm water:
“After Bibi Zainab returned home, she gathered a group of people” (Put a handful of skittles on a plate)
“She told them to sit around her” (Get kids to help arrange the skittles in a circle around the plate)
“Bibi Zainab told them about what happened in Karbala. This made people sad and they began to cry” (Slowly pour warm water in the middle of the plate so it covers the whole plate and skittles)
“And as they cried, their love for the Ahlulbayt became even stronger and the message of Islam was spread” (watch as the colours from the skittles spread through the water to make a beautiful pattern)’
