Rubab bint Imra al-Qais

Rubāb bint Imraʾ al-Qays was the first wife of Husayn ibn Ali, the third Shia Imam. After some years of remaining childless, she bore Husayn two children, named Sakina and Abd-Allah, also known as Ali al-Asghar. Rubab was present at Karbala in 680 CE and witnessed there the massacre of her husband and his supporters by the forces of the Umayyad caliph Yazid (r. 680–683). Also killed there was Ali al-Asghar, who was at the time a young child, likely an infant. The women and children, among them Rubab, were marched to Kufa and then the capital Damascus, where they were paraded in the streets and then imprisoned. They were later released and returned to their hometown of Medina. Rubab refused to remarry after Husayn and died about a year later in Medina. Some elegies are ascribed to her in memory of Husayn. Marriage Rubab was the daughter of Imra' al-Qais ibn Adi, a chief of the Banu Kalb tribe. Imra' came to Medina early during the caliphate of Umar and was given authority over the new converts to Islam from the Quda'a, a confederation of tribes that included the Banu Kalb. During that visit he was approached by Ali ibn Abi Talib, the cousin and son-in-law of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. Ali proposed to establish marriage ties with Imra', who gave one of his daughters to Ali in marriage and promised another two to Ali's sons, Hasan and Husayn, who were too young at the time. Of the two brothers, only Husayn fulfilled this promise and Rubab was thus his first wife, whom he married in the final years of the caliphate of Ali. After remaining childless for some years, Rubab gave birth to Sakina, who might have also been Husayn's eldest daughter. Her birthdate is not known with certainty and various reports give the years 47, 49, or 51 AH, that is, circa 671 CE. A short poem is ascribed to Husayn in celebration of his love for Rubab and Sakina. Rubab later bore Husayn his son Abd-Allah, commonly known as Ali al-Asghar in Shia sources. Husayn's , Abu Abd-Allah, probably refers to this son. Battle of Karbala, captivity, and death Husayn denounced the accession of the Umayyad caliph Yazid ibn Mu'awiya in 680. When pressed by Yazid's agents to pledge his allegiance, Husayn first fled from his hometown of Medina to Mecca and later set off for Kufa in Iraq, accompanied by his family and a small group of supporters. Among them was Rubab, according to the Sunni historian Ibn al-Athir in his The Complete History.