"Sarah, thy wife, shall bear thee a son and thou shall call him Isaac: and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant for his seed after him. And as for Ishmael I have heard thee: behold, I have blessed him and will make him fruitful and will multiply him exceedingly, twelve princes shall he beget, and I will make him a great nation." (Genesis 18: 19-20)


Twelve princes?


Thomas Carlyle (Scottish historian and essayist): The best lesson which we get
from the tragedy of Cerebella is that Husain and his companions were rigid
believers in God. They illustrated that the numerical superiority does not
count when it comes to the truth and the falsehood. The victory of Husain,
despite his minority, marvels me!

Edward Gibbon (English historian and member of parliament): In a distant age
and climate, the tragic scene of the death of Hosein will awaken the
sympathy of the coldest reader. (The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, London,
1911, volume 5, p. 391-392)

Mahatma Gandhi (Indian political and spiritual leader): I learnt from Hussein
how to achieve victory while being oppressed.

Charles Dickens (English novelist): If Husain had fought to quench his
worldly desiresthen I do not understand why his sister, wife, and children
accompanied him. It stands to reason therefore, that he sacrificed purely for
Islam.

Edward G. Brown (Professor at the University of Cambridge): a reminder of
that blood-stained field of Karbala, where the grandson of the Apostle of
God fell, at length, tortured by thirst, and surround by the bodies of his
murdered kinsmen, has been at anytime since then, sufficient to evoke, even
in the most lukewarm and the heedless, the deepest emotion, the most
frantic grief, and an exaltation of spirit before which pain, danger, and death
shrink to unconsidered trifles. (A Literary History of Persia, London, 1919, p.227)

"You are now at ease, be anxious; tremble, you who have no cares. Strip yourselves bare; put a cloth round your waists and beat yourselves" [The Bible, Isaiah 32:11] scripturetext.com/isaiah/32-11.htm

"Howl, Heshbon, for Ai is despoiled. Cry aloud you villages round Rabbath Ammon, put on sack cloth and beat your breast and score your body with gashes" [The Bible, Jeremiah 49:3] biblebrowser.com/jeremiah/49-3.htm

"The crowd that had assembled for the spectacle, when they saw what had happened went home beating their breasts" [The Bible, Luke 23:48]