b. From Makka to Karbala: Finale
As Husayn and his small party proceeded towards Kufa in Iraq, the certainty of the futility of discussion became increasingly apparent to all. He sent another messenger to the people who invited him to come and assume leadership, and with them to fight against the rule of Yazid which was not yet recognized by many Muslims. The messenger was discovered on the road taking him to Ibn Ziyad who ordered him to curse 'Ali and his family or be killed.
He went up on the roof of the palace and instead blessed 'Ali and his family and cursed Yazid and Ibn Ziyad and called the people to the support of Husayn. He was thrown down and killed. Muslim also waged a valiant fight against the soldiers of Ibn Ziyad and came close to victory until some notables from the palace balconies threatened the people with the Syrian armies and everybody left Muslim at the last moment. He roamed the streets aimlessly and in the end was betrayed by the son of a woman who gave him shelter and treacherously put to death. Through threats and bribery of the people Ibn Ziyad gained full control of the situation just before Husayn arrived in Karbala. So Ibn Ziyad sent first an army under the leadership of Hurr Ibn Ziyad ar‑Riyahi who was ordered to compel Husayn to give allegiance to Yazid and bring him alive to Ibn Ziyad.
Thus Husayn was sure of what was to come. He therefore gathered his followers and relatives and asked them to flee for their lives and leave him alone as he was the only one wanted. "Behold the night has come, take advantage of it as you would a camel for you and let every one of you take the hand of one of my family and scatter through out the land. For they want me alone and if they take hold of me they would not seek to harm any of you". When before he hesitated and thought of going back, the sons of Muslim said: "No by God! we shall not go back until we either avenge the blood of our father or suffer his fate." Husayn answered: "There is no good in life after you.[18]"
This was the last real chance for him to be saved from death and he refused it. His followers and relatives, likewise, al! in one voice cried out that they would not abandon him but would rather die with him or live with him.
The tendency by later writers has been to deny any such hesitation on the part of Husayn and his followers. This however, is a thing unecessary, for whatever we say of Husayn he was a man who, like all men, loved life and wished to avoid suffering and death. The real test is rather whether even when later 'Umar Ibn Sa'd and his generals urged him to accept the Caliphate of Yazid and submit to Ibn Ziyad he would have really given up his struggle. This he did not do and it is in this that his greatness lies, and that his opposition could be truly called a revolution. During the last days of his life when death was imminent, and even to the last moment, he sought rather to save his opponents from committing such a grievous sin against the grandson of the Prophet, his family and pious followers.
Husayn reached the spot of Karbala on the second of Muharram 61 A.H. Later traditions record the story that when his horse reached the spot it refused to move any further. Husayn asked what the place was called and people answered Naynawa. He asked again whether it was known by any other name. He was told that it was also known as al‑Ghadiriyya. Is there any other name by which it was known? he asked. This time the answer came: "Karbala". He then remarked:
"We are God's and to Him we return. This is the spot of Karb (sorrow) and Bala (calamity). This is the last station of our journey, this is the place wherein our blood will be shed,"
then to his followers,
"Let us make this our halting place[19]".
Karbala was on the banks of the Euphrates, and there the two armies struck camp facing one another.
The orders came to Hurr and later to Ibn Sa'd to prevent Husayn from reaching the waters of the Euphrates so that thirstwould compel him to surrender. For a few days this order was not enforced and little clashes between Husayn's men and those of Ibn Sa'd took place as the former forced their way to the river. But Husayn's main aim was not to fight, but to admonish, thus he insisted that he shall not be the first to start hostilities. He mounted one day after prayers his horse and in an important short discourse summed up his purpose in coming to them and set forth his entire philosophy in these words:
"Oh men, the messenger of God, on whom God prayed and said peace, said: 'anyone who sees an Imam in authority, tyranical and wrongdoing (ja'iran), permitting what God had prohibited and prohibiting what God had permitted, opposed to the Sunna of God and his apostles, and committing transgression against the servants of God; if such a man is not opposed by another in word and deed, God will bring this other man to the punishment he well deserves".[20]
He then contrasted himself, the son of the daughter of the Prophet, with the men to whom they now shifted their allegiance, men who abode in the obedience of Satan and forsook the obedience of the Merciful, who annulled the limits of divine decrees and transgressed against divine law. Then he asked who was the more worthy of the Caliphate, was it Yazid or himself? Rerhinding them, furthermore, of their letters and messengers they had sent, urging him to come. When they denied having written these letters he called out and two sacks full of letters were displayed before them.
This evidence confounded them and a hush of deep shame and regret fell over the people. Still however they did not have the courage to heed the voice of their own consciences and the words of admonition and threats of God's punishment addressed to them. Then Husayn in deep chagrin and despair spoke again and said:
You see what has befallen us in this matter. Do you see how the world has changed and taken on a false character, how its good is diminished so that no more is left of it but as the grass of a poor pasture. Do you see how men abide not by the truth, and how falsehood is not abandoned. Let then the believer seek the company of his Maker in truth. Yea, I consider life with the wrongdoers a burden (barman) and death a blessing, a martyrdom preferred.[21]
Ibn Sa'd was reluctant to accept the assignment of fighting against Husayn. But he, like others, sold his own conscience to fear and worldly goods. It was for him to choose between the governorship of the Rayy, a rich province and kill Husayn, or lose that prestige and gain instead God's pleasure and a place in history beside Husayn and his fellow martyrs.
Ibn Sa'd and Husayn met on several occasions privately at night between the two camps. In one conversation Husayn tried to disuade Ibn Sa'd from the evil deed he has been assigned against him. The latter confessed however that he wished not to fight against him yet he was afraid that Ibn Ziyad would take away his large estates, destroy his house or harm his family. In another quite controvertial conversation, (whether it was public or private, historians are not agreed) Husayn offered to go back to where he was, go to Yazid and settle matters with him, or go and live in any country they chose for him as one of its inhabitants. Some have understood his statement "to put my hand in Yazid's hand" to imply giving Ba'a. But on the authority of his client (mawla) 'Uqbah b. Sam'an, he offered only to be left to" ... roam God's broad earth until we see what will be decided in this matter among the people. "[22]
Ibn Sa'd, still attempting to avoid a direct confrontation with Husayn, wrote to Ibn Ziyad of Husayn's wish to give up the struggle. Here again, what he wrote and the answer he received is a matter of controversy. Be that as it may, Ibn Ziyad decided to score a complete victory over Husayn and would have it only that the latter come before him as a captive, then he would decide what to do with him.
He therefore sent another man, Shamir b. Dhi‑Jawshan, the Judas of the martyrdom of Husayn, who insisted on carrying out the orders of Ibn Ziyad. He was instructed to kill Ibn Sa'd and take his place as leader of the army, if the former would not comply with the orders of the Amir. Thus on the eve of the 10th of Muharram the horsemen of Ibn Sa'd started towards Husayn's camp meaning to bring matters to a head.
He was dozing outside his tent, and again saw the Prophet Muhammad in a dream who announced to him that tomorrow his main meal (iftar) will be with him and the rest of his family in Paradise. Husayn was awakened by his sister Zaynab, and sent his brother al‑'Abbas to ask Ibn Sa'd to leave them until the next morning so that they can pray to God that night and think matters over. We are told that on that night one could hear from their camp, human voices like the humming of bees, in prayer, reading of the Qur'an and cries of farewell. Still another time Husayn asked his followers to escape with their lives and leave him alone to his fate. But again they all cried with one voice reasserting their loyalty and determination to fight with him until they taste his martyrdom. Some said, and the statement is attributed with some variations to most of them, that they would rather be killed a thousand times and not abandon him. He then accepted their sincerity and devotion to his cause and begged God's mercy on their souls.
So, it was on Friday or Saturday, the 10th of Muharram, 61 A.H. that the greatest tragedy in Islam took place. Ibn Sa'd, after ordering his men to prepare for battle, himself shot an arrow in the direction of Husayn's camp saying: "Bear witness for me with the Amir (Ibn Ziyad) that I was the first to shoot an arrow.[23]”
The battle started and Husayn's followers fell one after another, mostly in single combat. Their valour, devotion and selfsacrifice provide the theme of many a story for the imagination of later writers and folklore among the pious.
The first to die of Husayn's own family was his eldest son 'Ali al‑Akbar. Then al-'Abbas, his brother seeing the suffering of the women and children from thirst made his way to the water among swords and spears, and under a barrage of arrows. He got the water for the thirsty ones, but on his way back he was attacked and killed after a desperate and courageous fight. It is said that first his hands, one after another, were struck off, then he grasped the sword with his teeth and fought; killing men before he was struck with an iron bar on the head and then cut to pieces by the angry and excited mob.
Husayn called for his infant son 'Abd Allah, perhaps born during the first days of Muharram in the camp, to embrace him and beg for a drink of water for the languishing child. A man shot an arrow into the child's neck which slew him in his father's lap. Husayn filled his cupped hands with the blood and threw it up towards Heaven, according to many traditions, not a drop of it returned to earth.
Husayn continued to the last moment to try to move the hearts of his enemies with one cry after another of prayer to God for help, and reproach to them for their cruelty. Some of these cries and discourses would most eloquently speak for themselves. I shall therefore give here one of two examples.
Just before the battle, he addressed the Kufans praising God and praying on His Apostle, and apologising for his coming to them, and offerinq to go back if they would leave him alone. He said:
Do therefore remember who my ancestors were and know who I am, then return to your own consciences and reprimand them. Behold whether it is lawful for you to kill me and violate my sanctity (hurmah). Am I not the son of your Prophet, the son of his legate (wasi) and cousin who was the first to believe in God and confirm His Apostle in what He revealed to him. Is not Hamzah the first of martyrs my father's uncle and is not Ja'far of the two wings flying in Paradise my uncle? Did no good man among you relate to you the saying of the Apostle of God concerning me and my brother 'these two are the masters of the youths of the people of Paradise'? So if you believe not what I say, and it is the truth; for by God I never told a lie since I knew that God (exalted be He) loathes lying and harms by it only those who abide in it. But if you belie me, there are those among you whom you could ask . . . (here he enumerates most of the still living companions of the Prophet and then continues) they can tell you that they heard this saying from the Prophet concerning me and my brother. Is there not in this a cause to prevent you from shedding my blood? [24]
Shamir, the main architect of this cruel massacre, answered that he does not understand what Husayn meant. A follower of Husayn, Habib lbn Muzahir, remarked that Shamir tells the truth, for God had sealed the hearts of these men so that they would not understand and their torment be increased for all the sins they committed against His servants.
Among the people whose hearts were indeed moved was al‑Hurr, the man first sent by Ibn Ziyad to compel Husayn to surrender. His death was indeed a moving act of courage as were all the others who displayed great valour in contrast with the cowardice of the Kufans who came in the thousands to buy the pleasures of Ibn Ziyad and his material gifts with the innocent blood of these people. It is generally agreed that four thousand men were sent to fight against Husayn with his small following of no more than seventy‑five fighting men.
These were quickly killed and Husayn was left alone standing on the battle‑field in dispair and confusion. He raised his hands to Heaven with the Book of God before him and prayed saying:
Oh God! Thou art my help in every calamity, and my hope in every difficulty. Thou art for me a trust in every problem that faces me. Every sorrow that weakens the heart and leaves no way out, and makes a friend forsake his friend and enemies rejoice. All these I bring before Thee with my complaints as I come to Thee, to Thee alone and no other. Thou hast always taken away my grief. and removed my difficulties, for Thou art the source of every mercy and grace and the end of every wish. [25]
At the end of the day Shamir urged men to kill Husayn who had already received many arrows and stabs by sword and spear. Some traditions have it that as Husayn lay dying on the ground spattered with his blood and nodding his head up and down as. if in a doze from weakness, no man wished to be the one to kill him and meet God with his blood.
It was Shamir who came forward, knelt on his chest, stabbed him many times with his sword, while the other laughed saying: "Praise God who had sent the most eveil of his creatures to kill him," and then cut off his head.. Other traditions attribute the final beheading of Husayn to other men, but all agree. that it was at least at the instigation of Shamir. The head was sent with the other heads of Husayn's followers first to Ibn Ziyad who despatched them along with the women and children as captives to Yazid in Damascus. Only 'Ali, Zayn al‑'Abidin, then a sick boy, survived this tragedy.
Most traditions agree that Yazid wept for the death of Husayn, cursed Ibn Ziyad, and sent the women and children to Medina with good provisions returning to them all that they were robbed of by the Kufan mobs. Yet the fact that he did not punish Ibn Ziyad for his deed, nor even tried to prevent it, his sorrow has been interpreted by many as just a pretense, or at least an act of diplomacy to please the people.
Be that as it may the death of Husayn has provided food for thought and devotion for many generations up to this day. It has received countless interpretations, and every generation sees its struggle in the light of his struggle. In this sense Husayn triumphed and Yazid lost.
Notes:
[11] Al‑Khawarizmi, op. cit., Vol. I, 187
[12] Al‑Khawarizmi, op. cit., Vol. I, 187.
[13] Al‑Khawarizmi, op. cit., Vol. I,192
[14] Tabari, Tarikh Vol, VI, 219.
[15] Tabari, Tarikh Vol, VI, 219.
[16] Al‑Khawarizmi op. cit., Vol I, 213
[17] Al‑Khawarizmi op. cit., Vol I, 223
[18] Tabari, op. cit., 217
[19] Tabari, Tarikh, op. cit.,p. 229
[20] Tabari, Tarikh, op. cit.,p. 229
[21] Tabari, Tarikh, op. cit.,p. 229
[22] Tabari, Tarikh, op. cit., 235
[23] Al‑Khawarizmi, op. cit., Vol. II, 25
[24] Tabari, Tarikh, op. cit., 242‑243
[25] Tabari, Tarikh, op. cit.,241‑242
