Tradition 1: Imam As-Sadiq (‘a) said: Imam As-Sajjad ('a) cried over his father, Husayn Ibn Ali ('a), for twenty or forty years and whenever food was brought to him, he would cry over Imam Al-Husayn ('a).

One day his servant said, “May I be sacrificed on you, O son of Allah's Messenger! I am afraid that you will die of grief.”

Imam ('a) replied, “I only complain of my distress and grief to Allah and I know from Allah what you don't know. Whenever I remember the killing of Fatimah's children, I am choked with tears for them.”

Tradition 2: One day, a servant of Imam As-Sajjad ('a) saw him in his private chamber, crying in prostration.

He said, “Master, is it not time for your grief to end?”

Imam ('a) raised his head and said: Woe be on you, may your mother lament you. By Allah, Yaqub ('a) complained to his Lord of a matter less painful than that which I have seen and he said: “Alas for Yusuf!” He had only lost one son, but I saw my father and some family members slaughtered before me.

The narrator says: Imam As-Sajjad ('a) used to especially sympathize with the descendants of Aqil. Hence some people asked, “Why do you have more sympathy for the children of Aqil than the children of Ja'far?”

He replied, “I remember what sufferings they bore with Imam Al-Husayn (‘a) and I sympathise with them.'