Ubayd Allah ibn Ziyad
In many ways, Zaynab functioned as a model of defiance against oppression and other forms of injustice. When her nephew, Ali ibn Husayn Zayn al-Abidin, was sentenced to death by the governor of Kufah (Ubayd Allah ibn Ziyad), she threw herself over him in a protective embrace yelling "By God, I will not let go of him. If you are going to kill him, you will have to kill me along with him." Moved by Zaynab's action, the captors spared Zayn al-Abidin's life. Because Zayn al-Abidin was the only one of Husayn's sons to survive the Battle of Karbala, this courageous action was pivotal in preserving the survival of an important part of Ali genetic line and thus the future Imams in Shia Islam.