Crying of Imam ‘Ali ibn Ĥusain (a.s.) on (His Father) Ĥusain ibn ‘Ali (a.s.)

Abū ‘Abdillāh (Imam Sādiq (a.s.)) said: ‘Ali ibn Ḥusain (Imam Sajjād (a.s.)) cried over his father, Ḥusain ibn ‘Ali (a.s.), for twenty years – or forty years – and whenever food was brought to him, he would cry over Ḥusain (a.s.). One day his servant said to him, “May I sacrifice myself for you, O son of the Messenger of Allāh! I am afraid that you will die (from grief).” He (Imam Sajjād (a.s.)) replied, “I only complain of my distress and grief to Allāh, and I know from Allāh what you do not know’ (12:86). Verily whenever I remember the killing of the children of Fāťimah (s.a.), I am choked with tears over them.”

One day, a servant of ‘Ali ibn Ḥusain (Imam Sajjād (a.s.)) saw him in his chamber, crying in prostration. He said, “O my master, O ‘Ali ibn Ḥusain! Is it not time for your grief to end?” Imam (a.s.) raised his head toward him and said: Woe unto you! – or may your mother weep on you! – I swear to Allāh that Ya’qūb complained to his Lord of a matter much less (painful) than that which I have seen and he said, “Alas (my grief) for Yūsuf!” (12:84). He had only lost one son but I saw my father (a.s.) and a group of my family slaughtered around me. The narrator added: ‘Ali ibn Ḥusain (Imam Sajjād (a.s.)) used to sympathize with the children of ‘Aqīl. Therefore, some people asked him, “Why do you have more sympathy for the children of ‘Aqīl than (you have for) the children of Ja’far?” He replied, “I remember their day with Abī ‘Abdillāh, Ḥusain ibn ‘Ali (a.s.), and I sympathize with them.”