The Ahulbayt in Quran [Electronic resources] نسخه متنی

Tragedy of Karbala as reported by the Sunnis (Part IV)

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The Journey, the Martrydom and other events

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Al Husayn, the blessings of God be on him, set out from Mecca
to Iraq

on the day of Muslim's (attempted) rising in Kufa, that is
the day of

Tarwiya, after staying in Mecca for the rest of Shaban, the
month of

Ramadhan, Shawwal and Dhu al Qada and eight days of Dhu- al-Hijja
in the

year 60 A.

H.

(680).

During his stay
in Mecca, peace be on him, a number

of Hijazis and Basrans had gathered around him, joining
themselves to

his household and his retainers (mawali).

When he determined on journeying to Iraq, he made the

circumbulation of the (sacred) House and the ritual running

between al-Safa and al-Marwa.

Then he left the
state of

consecration (for the pilgrimage) (after) he had performed
the lesser

pilgrimage (umra) because he was not able to perform the
greater

pilgrimage (hajj).

Through fear of being
apprehended in Mecca, and

being taken to Yazid b.

Muawiya, he, peace be on
him, had set out

early with his House, his sons and those of his Shia who had
joined

him.

[As it has been reported to us:]

News of Muslim's (capture and death) had not yet reached him

because (it had only happened) on the day he set out.

[It is reported that al-Farazdaq, the poet, said:]

I made the pilgrimage with my mother in the year 60 A.

H.

(680).

I

was driving her camel when I entered the sanctuary.

(There)
I met al-

Husayn b.

Ali, peace be on them, leaving Mecca
accompanied by

(some men carrying) swords and shields.

"Whose caravan is this?" I asked.

"Al-Husayn b.

Ali's, peace be on them,"
was the reply.

So I went

up and greeted him.

"May God grant you your request and (fulfil) your hope
in what

you want, by my father and mother, son of the Apostle of
God," I

said to him.

"But what is making you hurry
away from the

pilgrimage?"

"If I did not hurry away, I would be apprehended,"
he replied.

Then he asked me: "Who are you?"

"An Arab," I answered and he did not question me
(about myself)

any further.

"Tell me about the people you have left behind
you," he asked.

"You have asked a good (question)," I answered.

"The
hearts of

the people are with you but their swords are against you.

The
decision

comes from Heaven and God does what he wishes.

"

"You have spoken truly of the affair belonging to
God," he replied.

"Every day He (is involved) in (every) matter" (LV,
29) If fate sends

down what we like and are pleased with, we praise God for His

blessings.

He is the One from Whom help should be
sought in order to

give thanks to Him.

However, although fate may
frustrate (our)

hopes, yet He does not destroy (the souls of) those whose
intention is

the truth and whose hearts are pious.

"

"True, God brings you what you wish for (ultimately) and
guards

you against what you are threatened by," I said.

Then
I asked him

about matters concerning vows and pilgrimage rites.

He
told me

about them and then moved his mount off, saying farewell, and
so we

parted.

When al-Husayn b.

Ali, peace be on them, left
Mecca, Yahya b.

Said b.

al-'As met him with a group (of men).

They
had been sent to

him by 'Amr b.

Said.

"Come back from where you are going," they ordered.

But
he

refused (to obey) them and continued.

The two
groups came to blows

and hit at each other with whips.

However al-Husayn
and his

followers resisted fiercely.

Al-Husayn continued
until he got to al-

Tanim.

There he met a camel-train which had come
from Yemen.

He

hired from its people (additional) camels for himself and his
followers

to ride.

Then he said to the owners (of the camels): "Whoever (of
you)

wants to come with us to Iraq, we will pay his hire and enjoy
his

company and whoever wants to leave some way along the road we

will pay his hire for the distance he has travelled.

"

Some of the people went with him but others refused.

Abd
Allah b.

Jafar sent his sons, Awn and Muhammad, after him, and he
wrote a

letter to him which he gave to them.

In it, he
said:

I ask you before
God (to return) if you have set out when you

see my letter.

For
I am very concerned because the direction in

which you are
heading will have within it your destruction, and

the extirpation of
your House.

If you are destroyed today, the

light of the land
will be extinguished; for you are the (standard)

of those who are
rightly-guided and the hope of the believers.

Do not hurry on
your journey as I am following this letter.

Greetings.

Abd Allah, then went to 'Amr b.

Sad and asked him
to write to

al-Husayn (offering him) a guarantee of security, and
(promising) to

favour him, so that he would return from where he was going.

Amr

b.

Said wrote a letter in which he offered him
favour and a guarantee

of security for himself.

He dispatched it with his
brother Yahya b.

Said.

Yahya b.

Said went after him (as
did) Abd Allah after

dispatching his sons.

The two handed ('Amr's)
letter to him and

strove (to persuade) him to return.

"I have seen the Apostle of God, may God bless him and
his

family, in my sleep," answered (al-Husayn), "and he
ordered me (to

do) what I am carrying out.

"

"What was that vision?" they both asked.

"I have not told anyone of it," he answered,
"and I am not going to

tell anyone until I meet my Lord, the Mighty and Exalted.

"

When 'Abd Allah b.

Ja'far despaired of (persuading)
him, he told

his sons, Awn and Muhammad, to stay with him, to go with him
and

to struggle on behalf of him.

He returned with
Yahya b.

Sa'id to

Mecca.

Al Husayn, peace be on him, pressed on swiftly and directly

towards Iraq until he reached Dhat' Irq.

When Ubayd Allah b.

Ziyad had learnt of the journey
of al-

Husayn, peace be on him, from Mecca to Kufa, he had sent al-

Husayn b.

Numayr, the commander of the bodyguard (shurta),
to

station himself at al-Qadisiyya and to set up a (protective)
link of

cavalry between the area of al-Qadisiyya to Khaffan and the
area of

al-Qadisiyya to al-Qutqutaniyya.

He informed the
men that al-

Husayn was heading for Iraq.

When al-Husayn, peace be on him, reached al-Hajiz (a hill
above)

Batn al-Rumma, he sent Qays b.

Mushir al Saydawi -
some say it was

his brother-in-nurture, Abd Allah b.

Yuqtur to Kufa.

For
he,

peace be upon him, had not yet learnt the news of (the fate
of)

Ibn 'Aqil.

He sent a letter with him:

In the Name of
God, the Merciful, the Compassionate

From al-Husayn b.

Ali

To his brother
believers and Muslims,

Greetings to you,
I praise God before you, other than Whom

there is no deity.

Muslim
b.

Aqil's letter came to me, informing

me of your sound
judgement and the agreement of your leaders

to support us, and
to seek our rights.

I have asked God to make

your actions good
and reward you with the greatest reward.

I

set out to you
from Mecca on 8th of Dhu al-Hijja, the Day of

Tarwiya.

When
my messenger reaches you, be urgent and

purposeful in your
affiars, for I am coming to you within the

(next few) days.

Greeting and the
mercy and blessings of God.

Muslim had written to al-Husayn seventeen days before he was

killed and the Kufans had written to him: "Here you have
a hundred

thousand swords.

Do not delay.

"

Qays b.

Mushir went towards Kufa with the letter.

However,
when

he reached al-Qadisiyya, al-Husayn b.

Numayr
apprehended him and

sent him to Ubayd Allah b.

Ziyad.

"Go up on the pulpit," Ubayd Allah b.

Ziyad
ordered him, "and

curse the liar, al-Husayn b.

Ali, peace be on
him"

Qays went up on the pulpit and praised and glorified God.

Then
he

said:

People, this man,
al-Husayn b.

'Ali the best of God's

creatures, the son
of Fatima, the daughter of the Apostle,

may God bless him
and his family and grant them peace,

(is nearby).

I
am his messenger to you.

Answer him.

Then he cursed Ubayd Allah b.

Ziyad and his father
and prayed

for forgiveness for Ali b.

Abi Talib and blessed
him.

'Ubayd Allah

ordered him to be thrown from the top of the palace.

They
threw him

and he was smashed to pieces.

[It is (also) reported:]

He fell on the ground in chains and his bones were crushed
and

there only remained to him his last breath.

A man
called 'Abd al-

Malik b.

'Umayr al-Lakhmi came to him and cut his
throat.

When he

was told that that had been a shameful (thing to do) and he
was

blamed for it, he said: "I wanted to relieve him (of his
suffering).

"

(While this had been going on) al-Husayn, peace be on him,
had

left Hajiz in the direction of Kufa until he came to one of
the

watering (places) of the Arabs.

There there was
'Abd Allah b.

Muti al-'Adawli, who was staying there.

When he saw
al-Husayn,

peace be on him, he got up and said to him: "(May I
ransom) my

father and mother for you, son of the Apostle of God, what
has

brought you (here)?" He brought him (forward) and helped
him to

dismount.

"It is a result of the death of Muawiya as you would
know,"

replied al Husayn, peace be on him.

"The
Iraqis have written to me

urging me to (come to) them"

"I remind you, son of the Apostle of God, (of God) and
the

sacredness of Islam, lest it be violated.

I adjure
you before God (to

think) about the sacredness of Quraysh.

I adjure
you before God (to

think) about the sacredness of the Arabs.

By God,
if you seek that

which is in the hands of Banu Umayya, they will kill you.

If
they kill

you, they will never fear anyone after you.

Then it
will be the

sacredness of Islam which is violated, and the sacredness of
Quraysh

and the sacredness of the Arabs.

Don't do it! Don't
go to Kufa! Don't

expose yourself to Banu Umayya!"

Al-Husayn, peace be on him, insisted on continuing his
journey.

(In the meantime) 'Ubayd Allah b.

Ziyad had ordered
(the area)

which was between Waqisa and the roads to Syria and Basra to
be

occupied (so that) they should not let anyone enter, nor
anyone leave

(Kufa).

However, al-Husayn, peace be on him, went on without knowing

anything (of that) until he met some Arabs.

He
asked them (about the

situation) and they told him: "No, by God, we don't know
(anything

about it) except that we cannot get into or out of (Kufa).

"

He continued on his journey.

[A group of Fazara and Bajila reported (the following
account).

They said:]

We were with Zuhayr b.

al-Qayn al-Bajah when we
came from

Mecca.

(Although) we were travelling alongside al
Husayn, peace be

on him, there was nothing more hateful to us than that we
should stop

with him at a halting place.

(Yet) when al-Husayn,
peace be on him,

travelled and halted, we could not avoid halting with him.

Al-Husayn

halted at the side (of the road) and we halted at the (other)
side (of the

road).

While we were sitting, eating our food, a
messenger of al-

Husayn, peace be on him, approached, greeted us and entered
(our

camp).

"Zuhayr b.

al-Qayn," he said, "Abu
'Abd Allah al-Husayn, peace

be on him, has sent me to you (to ask) you to come to him.

"

Each man of us threw away what was in his hands (i.

e.

threw
up his

hands in horror); it was (as surprising) as if birds had
alighted on our

heads.

"Glory be to God," (Zuhayr's) wife said to him,
"did the son of the

Messenger of God send for you? Then aren't you going to him?
If you

went to him, you would hear what he had to say.

Then
you could

leave him (if you wanted to).

"

Zuhayr b.

al-Qayn went (across) to him.

It
was not long before he

returned to announce that he was heading east.

He
ordered his tent

(to be struck) and (called for) his luggage, mounts and
equipment.

His tent was pulled down and taken to al-Husayn, peace be on
him,

then he said to his wife: "You are divorced, go back to
your family,

for I do not want anything to befall you except good.

"

Then he said to his companions:

Whoever wants to
follow me (may do so), otherwise he is

at the end of his
covenant with me (i.

e.

released from

obedience to
follow Zuhayr as the leader of his tribal

group).

I
will tell you a story (of something which happened

to me once): we
were raiding a rich land.

God granted us

victory and we won
(a lot of) booty.

Salman al-Farsi, the

mercy of God be on
him, said to us: 'Are you happy with the

victory which God
has granted you and the booty you have won?'

We said: 'Yes.

'
Then he said: 'Therefore when you meet the

lord of the young
men of the family of Muhammad be happier to

fight with them
than you are with the booty which you have obtained

today.

' As for
me.

I pray that God may be with you.

"

He remained among the people with al-Husayn until he was
killed.

[Abd Allah b.

Sulayman and al-Mundhir b.

Mushamill
both from

Asad, reported:]

When we had finished the pilgrimage, there was no concern
more

important to us than to join al-Husayn, peace be on him, on
the road,

so that we might see what happened in his affair.

We
went along

trotting our two camels speedily until we joined him at
Zarud.

As we

approached, there we (saw) a man from Kufa who had changed
his

route when he had seen al-Husayn, peace be on him.

Al-Husayn,

peace be on him, had stopped as if he wanted (to speak to)
him, but

(the man) ignored him and went on.

We went on
towards the man.

One of us said to the other: "Come with us to ask this
man if he has

news of Kufa.

"

We came up to him and greeted him.

He returned out
greeting.

"From which (tribe) do you come, fellow?" we asked.

"(I am) an Asadi," he answered.

"We also are Asadis," we said.

"Who
are you?"

"I am Bakr b.

so and so," he answered and
we told him our lineage.

"Tell us of the people (you have left) behind you?"
we asked.

"Yes," he replied, "I only left Kufa after
Muslim b.

'Aqil and Hani'

b.

'Urwa had been killed.

I saw them
being dragged by their legs into

the market-place.

"

We went on to join al-Husayn, peace be on him, and we were

travelling close to him until he stopped at al-Thalabiyya in
the

evening.

We caught up with him when he stopped and
we greeted

him.

He returned our greeting.

"May God have mercy on you," we said, "we have
news.

If you

wish, we will tell it to you publicly or if you wish,
secretly.

"

He looked at us and at his followers.

"There is no veil for these men," he answered.

"Did you see the rider whom you were near, yesterday
evening?"

"Yes," he answered, "I had wanted to question
him.

"

"We have got the news from him and spared you (the
trouble of)

questioning him," we said.

"He was a man
from our (tribe), of sound

judgment, honesty and intelligence.

He told us that
he had only left

Kufa after Muslim and Hani' had been killed, and he had seen
them

being dragged by their legs into the market-place.

"

"We belong to God and to Him we shall return; may God
have

mercy on them both," said al-Husayn, and he repeated
that several

times.

"We adjure you before God," we exhorted him,
"for your own life

and for your House that you do not go from this place, for
you have

no one to support you in Kufa and no Shia.

Indeed
we fear that such

men (will be the very ones who) will be against you.

"

"What is your opinion," he asked, looking towards
the sons

of 'Aqil, "now that Muslim has been killed?"

"By God," they declared, "we will not go back
until we have taken

our vengeance or have tasted (the death) which he tasted.

"

Al-Husayn, peace be on him, came near us and said:
"There is

nothing good (left) in life for these men.

"

Then we knew that his decision had been taken to continue the

journey.

"May God be good to you," we said.

"May God have mercy on you both," he answered.

Then his followers said to him: "By God, you are not the
same as

Muslim b.

Aqil.

If you go to Kufa, the
people will rush to (support)

you.

"

He was silent and waited until daybreak.

Then he
ordered his boys

and servants to get a lot of water, to give (the people) to
drink and

more for the journey.

They set out (once more) and
went on to

Zubala.

News of Abd Allah b.

Yuqtur
reached him.

He took out a

written statement to the people and read it to them:

In the name of
God, the Merciful, the Compassionate,

News of the
dreadful murder of Muslim b.

Aqil Hani' b.

Urwa, and Abd
Allah b.

Yuqtur has reached us.

Our Shia

have deserted us .

Those
of you who would prefer to leave

us, may leave
freely without guilt.

The people began to disperse from him to right and left until
there

were only left with him those followers who had come with him
from

Medina, and a small group of those who had joined him.

Al-Husayn

had done that because he realised that the Arabs who had
followed

him had only followed him because they thought that he was
going to

a land where the inhabitants' obedience to him had already
been

established.

And he did not want them to accompany
him without

being (fully) aware of what they were going to.

At dawn, he ordered his followers to provide themselves with
water

and with extra (supplies of it).

Then they set out
until they passed

Batn al Aqaba.

He stopped there and was met by a
shaykh of the

Banu Ikrima called Amr b.

Lawdhan.

"Where are you headings.

" he asked.

"Kufa," replied al-Husayn, peace be on him.

"I implore you before God," exhorted the shaykh,
"why are you

going there? You won't come to anything there except the
points of

spears and the edges of swords.

If those who sent
for you were enough

to support you in battle and had prepared the ground for you,
and

you came to them, that would be a wise decision.

However,
in the

light of the situation as it has been described I don't think
that you

ought to do it.

"

Servant of
God," he answered, "wise decisions are not

hidden from me.

yet
the commands of God, the Exalted,

cannot be
resisted.

By God, (my enemies) will not leave

me till they have
torn the very heart from the depths

of my guts.

If
they do that, God will cause them to be

dominated and
humiliated until they become the most

humiliated of the
factions among nations.