Speaking Truth to Power: The Acts of the Apostles and Sayyida Zaynab

St. Stephen the Protomartyr Preaching and His Speech Before the Sanhedrin by Mariotto di Nardo (Image credit: Wikimedia Commons)

I was recently going over some passages from the Book of the Acts of the Apostles, specifically the powerful testimonies of Sts. Peter and Stephen before the Sanhedrin. The courage to speak truth to power is a difficult thing for most to muster, but it is even more difficult when the power that you are confronting holds your very life in its hands. Yet, the apostles found the courage to speak in defence of their faith before the assembly of the same Jewish religious leaders who had rejected Jesus and helped influence the Romans’ decision to crucify him.

In Acts, the Apostles Peter and John heal a man who had been unable to walk from birth. The miracle astonishes the Jews of Jerusalem, who then flock to Peter and John at Solomon’s Porch, where the former begins to preach. This, however, alarms the authorities, who apprehend the disciples and deliver them to Annas, Caiaphas, and the rest of the Sanhedrin. With the healed man standing beside him and his fellow apostle, Peter tells the Jewish religious leaders that the miracle had been performed by the power of Jesus, the same Jesus whom they had crucified and who had been raised by God. Peter then paraphrases a psalm that Jesus himself had referenced in the Gospels, saying “the ‘stone which was rejected by you builders, which has become the chief cornerstone.’” He does so, of course, to remind the Sanhedrin that Jesus is the cornerstone of faith and that by rejecting him, they have rejected salvation (Acts 3:1-4:12).

While Peter’s boldness must have offended the council, they were also amazed and realized that they could do nothing to Peter or John because the apostles now had the people’s support. That did not, however, stop the religious leaders from trying to threaten Peter and John, as they are said to have forbidden them from speaking of Jesus to anyone. In response, however, the apostles say, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you more than to God, you judge. For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard” (Acts 4:13-22). Thus, Peter and John ignore the Sanhedrin’s demand and continue to preach the gospel.

A few chapters later in Acts, we read of how the Apostle Stephen “did great wonders and signs among the people.” However, men from the Synagogue of the Freedmen try to dispute with Stephen and when their arguments fail, they get others to lie and claim that the apostle had blasphemed the Prophet Moses and God. Stephen is then also forced to defend himself and his faith before the Sanhedrin. The apostle, himself a Jewish believer in Jesus, begins his defence by recounting the history of Israel and compares the sins of the unbelieving in the Old Testament to those of the current Jewish leadership. Among other things, he speaks of Abraham leaving the land of his faithless people, of Joseph being sold into slavery by his own brothers, and of the children of Israel who pressured Aaron to build a golden calf for them to worship while Moses was still atop Mount Sinai. The apostle even challenges the importance of the Temple of Jerusalem itself by quoting the Prophet Isaiah, arguing that God does not dwell in places made by human beings (Acts 6:8-7:50). Stephen then powerfully rebukes the Sanhedrin for its rejection and persecution of Jesus Christ:

You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit; as your fathers did, so do you. Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who foretold the coming of the Just One, of whom you now have become the betrayers and murderers, who have received the law by the direction of angels and have not kept it (Acts 7:51-3).

Having now been accused of killing the Messiah himself, the Sanhedrin is enraged. Yet, Stephen receives a divine vision and declares, “Look! I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!” The religious leaders react by casting Stephen out of the city before stoning him to death, as the protomartyr of Christianity prays to God to forgive his murderers (Acts 7:54-60). It is also important to note that among Stephen’s persecutors that day was none other than Saul of Tarsus (the future Apostle Paul), who after his own conversion would be forced to defend himself before his former peers on the council.

Sayyida Zaynab Mosque, Damascus, Syria (Image credit: Muhammad Mahdi Karim: Wikimedia Commons)

When I read Peter and Stephen’s speeches in Acts again, I was struck by how akin they were to the famous speech delivered centuries later by Zaynab bint ʿAli before the Umayyad caliph Yazid I. Following the martyrdom of her brother Husayn at the Battle of Karbala at the hands of Yazid’s general ʿUbayd Allah Ibn Ziyad, Zaynab, the granddaughter of the Prophet Muhammad, is captured and led along with the other prisoners—all women except for Husayn’s last surviving son, Zayn al-ʿAbidin—to the capital of the Umayyad Caliphate in Damascus. Yazid is usually portrayed as a villain in Islamic sources, especially in Shiʿi ones. For the Shiʿa, Yazid is remembered for usurping Husayn’s rightful place as caliph and for having him killed for refusing to swear allegiance to him. In contrast, Husayn is revered as the Prophet’s holy grandson, who willingly chooses to sacrifice his life on the plains of Karbala for God and the struggle for justice.

Nevertheless, after a long and difficult journey from Karbala to Damascus, Zaynab along with the other captives are brought in chains to stand before Yazid and his court. Although the caliph holds Zaynab’s freedom and very life in his hands, the granddaughter of the Prophet fearlessly confronts him as if he were a man of no standing. In fact, she tells Yazid that any power he possesses is merely temporal, and that true power lies only with God. While the caliph may believe that he has defeated Husayn by killing him, Zaynab dispels his delusion by quoting the Qurʾan, “do not think of those who have been killed in God’s way as dead. They are alive with their Lord, well provided for, happy with what God has given them of His favour” (3:169-70). Further, like Stephen before the Sanhedrin, Zaynab invokes the memory of the sins of Yazid’s ancestors against him, specifically their persecution of the Prophet Muhammad and the early Muslims. She even brings up the grisly example of Yazid’s grandmother Hind bint ʿUtba having gnawed on the liver of the martyr Hamza ibn ʿAbd al-Muttalib following the Battle of Badr. Lastly, she chillingly tells the caliph that he will stand before the Prophet Muhammad after he dies and be condemned for spilling the innocent blood of his beloved grandson. Despite her outspokenness, or perhaps because of it, Zaynab and the other prisoners are eventually freed and go on to spread the message of Husayn’s sacrifice at Karbala throughout the Islamic world.

What I love about the examples of the apostles’ words to the Sanhedrin in Acts and Zaynab’s speech before Yazid is just how similar in spirit and content they truly are to one another. Peter, Stephen, and Zaynab all exemplify what it means to speak truth to power. Trusting fully in God, they all fearlessly stood before tyrants and condemned their hardheartedness and wicked shedding of innocent blood. The parallels between these three holy individuals should also remind us that Christians and Muslims share a common calling to always stand firmly against injustice no matter how powerful those perpetrating it may seem.