Lady Zaynab (peace be upon her): Woe unto you, O people of Kufa! Do you know whose heart you have burned!?

It is narrated that when the caravan of the captives from the family of the Holy Prophet (Allah's prayers be upon him and upon his holy Household) arrived to Kufa, its people went out to the streets. As Lady Zaynab (peace be upon her) saw the crowds blocking all streets of Kufa and surrounding the caravan, she decided to deliver a speech.

Lady Zaynab (peace be upon her) asked everybody to keep silent. Then she stood calm, composed, and courageous and said:

“All praise is due to Allah. Prayers be upon my father Mohammad and upon his good and righteous progeny. Well now do you weep, O people of Kufa - people of deception and perfidy? May your tears never cease, and may the resounding of this calamity never stop. Your similitude is she who unravels her yarn, disintegrating it into pieces after she has spun it strongly. You make your oaths to be means of deceit amongst you. Is there anyone among you who is not one to boast of what he does not have - a charge of debauchery, a conceited liar, a man of grudge without any justification, submissive like bondmaids or feeble before the enemies, just like a pasture in relics or like a dirty piece of cloth on a grave? Truly bad is that which your souls have committed. You have reaped the Wrath of Allah, remaining in the chastisement for eternity.

Do you really cry and sob? By Allah, you should then cry a great deal and laugh very little, for you have earned nothing but shame and infamy, and you shall never be able to wash it away. How could you do so? The descendant of the bearer of the Last Message, the very essence of the Message, master of the youths of Paradise, the refuge of the righteous from among you, the one who saves you from calamity, the beacon of your guidance, and the keeper of your traditions has been killed. O how horrible is the sin that you bear! May you be distanced and crushed. The effort is rendered futile, perdition overtakes the hands, the deal is lost, and you earned nothing but wrath from Allah and His Messenger. You are doomed with servitude and humiliation.

Woe unto you, O people of Kufa! Do you know whose heart you have burned, what a feat you have labored for, what blood you have shed, and what sanctity you have violated? You have done a most monstrous deed, something for which the heavens are about to split asunder and so is the earth, and for which the mountains crumble. You have done something most uncanny, most defaced, duskiest, most horrible, as much as the fill of the earth and of the sky. Do you wonder why the sky rains blood? Surely, the torment of the Hereafter is a greater chastisement, and you shall not be helped. Let no respite elate you, for rushing does not speed it up, nor does it fear the loss of the opportunity for revenge. You Lord is waiting in ambush to do so.”

Because he recognized that the situation there could no longer stand the impact of the words of his aunt, Imam Zayn al-'Abideen (peace be upon him) interrupted her speech, saying, “That is enough, Aunt. Thanks to Allah, you are a learned lady whom none has taught, and you can comprehend without being made to do so. Tears and nostalgia do not return what is exterminated by time."”

And thus lady Zaynab (peace be upon her) fell silent.