one encountered was anything but in tears.

Marwān at once dispatched a courier to Muʿāwiyah with the news, writing: “They intend to bury him beside the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—but they shall never attain to that so long as I live.”

Al-Ḥusayn then went to the Prophet’s grave and said, “Dig.”

Saʿīd ibn al-ʿĀṣ—the governor of Medina—held back and withdrew, while Marwān cried out among the Umayyads and they armed themselves.

Al-Ḥusayn said to him, “Son of the Blue-eyed woman, what business is this of yours? Are you the guardian here?”

Marwān retorted, “You will not accomplish this while I am alive.”

Al-Ḥusayn thereupon called upon the Pact of al-Fuḍūl; the clans of Hāshim, Taym, Zuhrah and Asad mustered in arms, and Marwān unfurled a banner. Missiles were exchanged between the two sides.

Meanwhile ʿAbd Allah ibn Jaʿfar kept urging al-Ḥusayn: “Cousin, did you not heed your brother’s covenant? I adjure you before Allah not to shed blood.” Still, he refused.

Al-Ḥasan ibn Muḥammad said: I heard my father say, “I saw myself that day wanting to strike off Marwān’s head; nothing restrained me except that I did not deem him liable for it (1). Then I treated my brother gently and reminded him of al-Ḥasan’s will, so he obeyed me (2).”

Juwayriyyah ibn Asmāʾ said: When al-Ḥasan’s bier was brought out, Marwān carried it. Al-Ḥusayn exclaimed, “You carry his bier! By Allah, you used to make him swallow bitterness.”

Marwān replied, “I did that to a man whose forbearance outweighed the mountains.”

It is reported that ʿĀʾishah said, “They shall never have a fourth occupant, for this is my house, and the Messenger of Allah—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—gave it to me during his lifetime.” Its chain of transmission is obscure.

Al-Thawrī narrates—from Sālim ibn Abī Ḥafṣah, who heard Abū Ḥāzim say: “I was present the day al-Ḥasan died. I saw al-Ḥusayn speaking to Saʿīd ibn al-ʿĀṣ, while thrusting at….”