Martyrdom witnessed by Hossain's head!

The concept of a unique God was the belief that some adherents to the teachings of the Prophet Jesus (PBUH) remained faithful to; they have been known by different names throughout the history of Christianity such as the Nazarenes, Apostolics, Unitarians …, as opposed to the followers of the concept of three gods, the Trinitarians, which today's Christians are.

But the followers of Unitarian doctrine were almost always tortured and executed by the Trinitarians and …; the records of the martyrs of this holy cause from the first to the seventeenth century A.D. are still scarcely available, most of whom, once the Message of Islam reached them, recognized the everlasting Truth and embraced Islam with all their hearts and souls. The key point in this issue is that the followers of uniqueness of God were those who -after Jesus- remained attached and clung to the teachings of the Divinely chosen Successor of the Prophet Jesus, Sham'oon-Safa (Simon-Peter), and not to the teachings of the usurper, Paul (the importer of Trinity and …). The Prophet Mohammad (PBUH&HP) has said that the Prophet Jesus transferred his Divinely bestowed Knowledge and the Knowledge of previous Prophets (PBUT) to his Successor Sham'oon, and that the followers of Jesus divided into many sects after him, but only one group would attain Salvation, and the rest, perdition (Behaar-Ol-Anwaar, vol. 14; Khesaal of Sheikh Sadooq; Kamaal-O-Ddeen; …).

Many beautiful and touching stories have remained in regard to such devoted adherents to the original teachings of the Prophet Jesus and his chosen Successors (PBUT); we wish to narrate one of those delightful stories from the book of "Lohoof" of Sayyed-Ebne-Taawoos:

Imam Sajjaad, Ali son of Hossain, (PBUT) has narrated that when they brought the cut head of Hossain (PBUH) to Yazeed son of Mo'aawiah, he had arranged a wine drinking gathering, he placed the head of Imam Hossain (PBUH) in front of him and was drinking wine.

One day, in one of those gatherings, the ambassador of the Roman empire, who was a member of the royal family, was present and said to Yazeed: O' the ruler of Arabs! Who does this head belong to?

Yazeed replied: This is none of your business.

Ambassador explained: When I shall return to my land and king, I will be asked of things I have seen. I wish to know the story of this head and he whom it belongs to, so that I will narrate the story to him, and that the king shall share your joy and happiness.

Yazeed said: This head belongs to Hossain son of Ali son of Abi-Taaleb.

Ambassador asked: Who was his mother?

Yazeed replied: Fatima the daughter of the Messenger and Prophet of Allah.

Ambassador said: Woe unto you and your religion! My religion is much better than yours, for that my father is one of the descendants of the Prophet Daawood (David); between him and me, have been many generations, but still the Nazarenes respect and honor me, and they take the dust under my feet to attain blessings, because I am a descendant of Daawood. But you kill the son of your Prophet's daughter! While between him and your Prophet, there was only one mother! What kind of a religion is this?!

Then that Nazarene continued: O' Yazeed! Have you heard the story of the Haafer church?

Yazeed answered: Say, so that I'll hear.

Ambassador said: Between the land of Ommaan and China, there is a long distance without any cities and towns, except for a very large city which is the land of the Nazarene kings, its exports are rubies and … . In that city, there are many churches, the largest of them, is the church of Haafer. In the altar of that church, hangs a gold container, in which there is a Hoof, believed to have belonged to the ass that Jesus used to ride. The Nazarenes have decorated it with silk, every year many Nazarenes come to this church, circumambulate around that container and kiss it and implore God in that place, to answer their prayers; yes, this is how the Nazarenes do in regard to a Hoof that they think that it belonged to the ass which their Prophet rode, while you kill the son of your Prophet's daughter! May God withhold His blessings from you and your religion.

Yazeed said: Kill this Nazarene, he may disgrace us in his country.

When the ambassador realized that Yazeed intended to kill him, he asked: Do you wish to kill me?!

Yazeed replied: Yes.

Ambassador continued: O' Yazeed! Behold! Last night, I saw your Prophet in a dream; he told me: O' Nazarene! You are going to heaven. I was astonished. But now, I bear witness and profess that there is no god but the one and only God, and that Mohammad is His Messenger and Apostle.

Then he rose and lifted Hossain's head and embraced it and held it next to his heart and kept on kissing him, while his tears were falling continuously …

… And he was martyred … what a glorious moment, achieving martyrdom which was witnessed by hossain's holy head, surely by Hossain himself and the Prophets Mohammad and Jesus (PBUT) and … .