Hadrat Zainab (peace by upon her) was born in the holy city of Madina on 5th Jamadi-ul-Awwal in the 5th year of Hijrah/627 A.D.
Her Holiness became famous for her knowledge of the Holy Qu`ran and virtuous life.
In her character she reflected the best attributes. In sobriety and serenity she was likened to Umm-al-Mumineen Hadrat Khadija(PBUH),her grand-mother, in chastity and modesty to her holy mother Hadrat Fatima(PBUH) and in eloquence to her holy father Imam Ali(PBUH).
Hadrat Zainab(PBUH) proclaimed to the world the greatest sacrifices made by Imam Husayn(PBUH) and other members of the family of the Holy Prophet of Isla who were brutally martyred at Karbala in 61 A.H by the Yazidi forces.
This is the story of the victory of truth. It is the story of a unique woman whose own fate was inextricably bound with the historical events of Karbala that have impressed upon mankind the true reality of living Islam.
Describing the divine virtues and spiritual qualities of Hadrat Zainab (PBUH), Imam Khomeini said in a historic message as follwoing:
The Lord of the Martyrs, his followers and the members of his household taught us our duty: sacrifice on the field of battle, propagation off it.
The sacrifice made by Imam Husayn (PBUH), upon whom be peace, was of great value before God the Blessed and Exalted and helped advance his movement. So too, almost to the same degree, the sermons delivered by Hazrat Sajjad and Hazrat Zaynab (PBUH) were just as effective.
They taught us that women and men should not be afraid before a tyrant or a tyrannical government. Hazrat Zaynab (PBUH), upon whom be peace, stood up to Yazid and humiliated him in a way that his tribe, the Bani Umayyads, had never before experienced.
They both made it clear, along the way to Kufa, in Kufa itself, in Damascus and in the address Hazrat Sajjad (PBUH( delivered from the pulpit, that they had been misrepresented, that the battle was not one of right against wrong, but that was what the regime wanted people to think it was.
It wanted to make it seem that the Lord of the Martyrs had risen up against the ruler of the time, against the successor of the Messenger of God. This both Hazrat Sajjad and Hazrat Zainab (PBUP) revealed in public.
17 October 1982 (25 Mehr 1361 AHS)