Chapter 17

-Imām Husayn (a.s.) on way to Kufa

Our Shaikh Saduq, through his successive chain of narrators, relates from Umro bin Qays Mashriqi, who says that I along with my cousin came to the presence of Imām Husayn (a.s.) at Qasre Bani Maqātil. We saluted the Imām and my cousin asked him, “The color of your hair is due to the dye or a chemical dye”? Imām replied,

“It is dyed, for we, the Bani Hāshim turn old very soon.”

Then the Imām turned towards us and asked,

“Have you come to assist me”?

I answered, “I have a large family and I also have the trust of other people with me. I do not know what will be the outcome of this, and hence do not desire that the wealth of people (with me) may go waste.” My cousin too said something similar. Then Imām said,

“Then go away from here and do not remain so as to hear our cry or see our gloom, for the one who hears our cry and beholds our gloom and yet does not hasten to assist us, then it is the right upon Allāh, the Honored, the Glorified, to throw him headlong into the fire of hell.”

(Irshād) Then in the last part of the night, Imām ordered water to be taken and left from Qasre Bani Maqātil.

Uqbah bin Sam'ān says, that we went along with the Imām and he took a short nap on the horse's back. Then he woke up and uttered the words:

“Verily we are Allāh's and verily unto Him shall we return. Praise be to Allāh, the Lord of the worlds.”

Then he repeated it twice or thrice. His son Ali bin Husayn (a.s.), who was riding a horse, came up to him and asked, “Why did you (suddenly) praise Allāh and utter the words of “returning to Him”? Imām replied,

“O my dear son! Sleep overtook me, and I saw a rider come up to me from behind and said: These people are proceeding further, while death is advancing towards them. I perceived that they were our spirits informing us of our death.”

Ali bin Husayn said, “O dear father! May your Lord not bring forth evil! Are we not on the right”? Imām replied,

“Why not, by Him towards Whom all servants return.”

Then Ali said, “Then we do not fear, for we shall die on the right.” Imām said,

“May Allāh reward you abundantly, the reward which is due from a father to his son.”

(Irshād and Kāmil) When it dawned, Imām Husayn (a.s.) recited the morning Prayers and hastily ascended his horse and turned towards the left. He tried to dispel his companions (from Hurr's army). Then Hurr bin Yazid came up to him and desisted him and his companions from doing so. And as much as Hurr tried to take them to Kufā, they resisted until they stopped, but they followed in the same way until they reached Ninawā. When Imām Husayn (a.s.) halted there, a rider, equipped with arms and carrying a bow on his shoulder, arrived from Kufā. Everyone stopped and watched him, and when he came, he saluted Hurr and his companions and did not salute Imām and his companions. Then he handed over the letter of Ubaydullāh bin Ziyād to Hurr, whose contents were as follows: “Now then! As soon as my letter and messenger reaches you, be severe towards Husayn. And let him halt at a barren land, devoid of fortresses and water. I have instructed my messenger not to part with you until you have carried out my orders, Salutations.”

When Hurr read the letter of Ubaydullāh, he told them, “This is the letter of the commander Ubaydullāh, in which he has ordered me to stop you wherev­er this letter reaches me. And this is his messenger, who shall not part with me until I carry out his orders.”

(Tabari) Then Yazid bin Muhājir Abul Sha'sā Kindi looked at the messenger of Ibn Ziyād and asked him, “Are you not Mālik bin Numayr”? He replied in the affirmative, while he was from the clan of Bani Kinda. Abul Sha'sā said, “May your mother mourn you! What order have you brought”? He re­plied, “What have I brought, but the orders of my Imām and fulfilled my allegiance to him.” Abul Sha'sā said, “You have disobeyed your Allāh and obeyed your Imām in that which will doom you. And you shall earn disgrace and the fire of hell, what an evil Imām you have. Allāh says in the Qur'ān:

“And we made them Imams who invite unto the (hell) fire, and on the day of Qiyāmah they shall not be helped” (Surah al-Qasas, 28:41) while your Imām is one of them.

(Irshād) Hurr thus forced Imām and his companions to halt at that place, devoid of habitation nor water. Imām said,

“Woe be to you! Leave us, so that we may halt at this village (Ninawā or Ghaziriyyah) or that (Shu­fiyyah).”

Hurr replied, “By Allāh! I cannot permit you to do so, they have appointed that man as a spy over me.” Then Zuhayr bin Qayn said, “O son of the Prophet of Allāh! I see that the matter will get worse than this. It is much easier for us to fight these people now, than to fight with the group who shall come after them. By my life! So many people will come afterwards that it is beyond our strength to confront them.”

Imām replied,

“I shall not (be the first to) fight them.”

Saying this he dismounted, and that was on Thursday, the second of the month of Muharram sixty-first year of migration.

Sayyid ibn Tāwoos says, that Imām Husayn (a.s.) stood amidst his compan­ions and delivered a sermon. He praised and glorified Allāh and sent salu­tations upon his Grandfather and then said,

“You have seen as to what have they brought forth ….. (till the end)”

And he delivered a sermon similar to that which we have quoted earlier when Imām met Hurr.