Battle of Karbala

وقعة كربلاء

61 AH

In 61 AH, at Karbala, Husayn led his companions and al-Hurr ibn Yazid and his army in prayer, then addressed them, saying: “If you fear God and acknowledge the truth for its people, that will be more pleasing to God” ¹. This is the account al-Tabari gives under the events of 61 AH. According to al-Suyuti, Ubayd Allah ibn Ziyad sent an army of four thousand under Umar ibn Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas, but the people of Kufa forsook him. When the fighting bore down on him, he offered to make peace and return, or to go to Yazid and place his hand in Yazid's hand; they refused except to kill him. He was killed on the day of Ashura at Karbala, also called al-Taff, and sixteen men of his household were killed with him. There are accounts about his killer: Sinan ibn Anas al-Nakha'i, grandfather of the judge Shurayk; it is also said a man of Madhhij; and it is said Shimr ibn Dhi al-Jawshan. Khuli ibn Yazid al-Asbahi finished him off, cut off his head and brought it to Ubayd Allah ibn Ziyad. The sun was eclipsed that day, and the horizons of the sky stayed red for six months after it ². Al-Tha'alibi reports from Abd al-Malik ibn Umayr: “I saw in the governor's palace in Kufa the head of Husayn before Ubayd Allah ibn Ziyad on a shield; then the head of Ubayd Allah before al-Mukhtar; then the head of al-Mukhtar before Mus'ab; then the head of Mus'ab before Abd al-Malik.” When I told Abd al-Malik this, he was unsettled by it and moved from his place ³. In al-Mas'udi's account, the people of Kufa wrote to Husayn that they had pledged themselves to his allegiance, and Ibn Abbas advised him to go to Yemen, send out his missionaries, and not take his women and children with him. Husayn replied that being killed at such-and-such a place was dearer to him than violating the sanctity of Mecca. Ibn al-Zubayr said to him, when Ibn Abbas had despaired, “May your eyes be cooled, O Ibn al-Zubayr,” and recited the line: “What a lark you are in Ma'mar; the open air is yours, so chirp and pipe” ⁴. Husayn was found with thirty-three stab wounds and thirty-four blows: Zar'a ibn Shurayk struck his left hand, Sinan ibn Anas stabbed him, and then he cut off his head. Umar ibn Sa'd ordered horses to trample the body, and Ishaq ibn Hayawa volunteered; the people of al-Ghadiriyya of Bani Asad buried him a day after his killing. Eighty-eight of Umar's men were killed. Husayn was killed on the tenth of Muharram in 61 AH, aged fifty-five, or as some say fifty-nine ⁵.