JOHN
******
John was a negro slave of Abu
Zar Ghifari who was martyred in Kerbala. John bin Hawwe after his master
Abu Zar was martyred came to Medina and started to serve the family of
the Holy Prophet (S.A.W). First he served Hazrat Ali (A.S), then Imam Hasan
(A.S) and finally Imam Hussain (A.S). He accompanied the Holy Imam (A.S)
from Medina to Mecca and then arrived at Kerbala from Mecca. John was well-versed
in making arms. According to Ibn-e-Athir and Tabari, he spent the night
of Aashoora in repairing weapons. He was very old but asked the Holy Imam
(A.S) for permission to fight. Imam (A.S) made him free and allowed him
to go away. John did not want to leave the family of the Holy Prophet (S.A.W)
in that situation. He said to the Holy Imam (A.S),' Although my creed is
inferior, my smell is unpleasant and my face is dark, I want to go to heaven
and get successful. I will not get seperated from you till my blood gets
mixed with your blood.' Imam (A.S) allowed him to fight. After fighting
as he was lying wounded in the battlefield, Imam (A.S) went to his body
and prayed,' O Allah ! Brighten his face, make his smell pleasant and gather
him with the pious people. With this prayer, his smell got pleasant. According
to Imam Sajjad (A.S) and Imam Baqir (A.S) when the people of Bani Asad
came to bury the martyrs after the fight after ten days, they found the
body of John with a sweet smell emanating from it.