And when our Master Zayn Al-‘Ābidīn (may his glory be exalted) passed by and saw the people of Kūfah lamenting and weeping, he rebuked them, saying: "You lament and weep for us, so who killed us?"1
May Allah curse you, O people of Kūfah, you who claimed to love the Successor and gathered crowds to fight him!
In a narration, when he passed by Kūfah and its people were lamenting, and he was weak and worn out by illness, he said in a weak voice: "You lament and weep for us? So, who killed us?"
From Ḥudhaym ibn Sharīk Al-Asadī, he said: When our Master ‘Alī ibn Al-Ḥusayn Zayn Al-‘Ābidīn (may their glory be exalted) came with the women from Karbalā’, and he was ill, the women of Kūfah were lamenting, tearing their garments, and the men with them were weeping. Zayn Al-‘Ābidīn (may his glory be exalted). He said in a faint voice, worn out by illness: "These people weep over us, so who killed us other than them?"2
Al-Masterah Fāṭimah bint Al-Ḥusayn (may her glory be exalted) said: "As for what follows, O people of Kūfah, O people of scheming, treachery, and vanity, we are a Household whom Allah has tested with you and tested you with us. He made our trial good, and He made His knowledge with us, and His understanding with us. We are the repository of His knowledge, the vessel of His understanding and wisdom, and His proof on earth for His lands and His servants. Allah honored us with His honor and preferred us with His Prophet Muḥammad (may Allah bless him and his family) over many of His creation with a clear preference. But you belied us and disbelieved in us, and you deemed our killing lawful and our property plunder, as if we were the children of the Turks or of Kābul. Just as you killed our grandfather yesterday, your swords drip with our blood, the blood of the Household, due to an old grudge. Your eyes were thus cooled, and your hearts rejoiced. This is a slander against Allah, a scheme you have plotted, and Allah is the best of schemers."3