After putting his son (Ali Asghar) down onto the earth, Imam Hussein is said, according to one tradition, to have cupped his hands, letting the blood of his son gather in his palms, and then had thrown the blood up to the sky.
According to another tradition - both the sky and earth refused the blood: the sky said, I will not rain, if even one drop of blood touches me. And the earth said, I will never produce again if even one drop of this blood touches me. Imam Hussein then rubbed his face with the blood of his son.
January 29th, 2007 at 3:44 pm
Husayn (as) was seated when the suckling child Abdallah bin Husayn was brought to him. One of the Banu Asad members (Hurmulah b. Kahil or Hani b. Thubayt Hadrami) fired an arrow that smashed into him. Husayn (as) shook Abdallah’s blood to the ground from the palm of his hand and said, “O Lord, if it is your decree to withold help from heaven, then do so - for you know what is in our best interest. Take revenge for us from these oppressors. O God, judge between us and a people who invited us with promises of support, and then turned against us and killed us.”
- Abu Mikhnaf, Maqtal Al-Husayn (as)
* By Abu Mikhnaf’s account the infant was named Abdullah. By most other accounts, the infant was named Ali Asghar