—al-Ḥusayn—and rightly so—refrained, together with Ibn Abī Bakr and Ibn al-Zubayr, from giving the oath of allegiance until Muʿāwiyah subdued them and wrested their pledge by compulsion; they were overpowered and lacked the means to resist the ruling authority.

When Muʿāwiyah died, Yazīd assumed the caliphate and most people swore allegiance to him. Ibn al-Zubayr and al-Ḥusayn, however, would not; they deemed it unseemly and each hoped to claim the office for himself. The two of them therefore slipped out of Medina by night.

Sufyān ibn ʿUyaynah, on the authority of Ibrāhīm ibn Maysarah, from Ṭāwūs, from Ibn ʿAbbās, said:

“Al-Ḥusayn consulted me about setting out, and I said, ‘Were it not that people would disparage you and me, I would seize you by the hair of your head.’ He replied, ‘To be killed in such-and-such a place is dearer to me than to profane its sanctuary’—meaning Mecca. That is what consoled my soul regarding him.” (1)

Yaḥyā ibn Ismāʿīl al-Bajalī (2) narrated to us: al-Shaʿbī said:

“Ibn ʿUmar arrived in Medina and was told that al-Ḥusayn had set out for Iraq. He caught up with him after two nights’ journey and asked, ‘Where are you heading?’ He replied, ‘To Iraq,’ carrying bundles of letters with him. Ibn ʿUmar said, ‘Do not go to them.’ Al-Ḥusayn answered, ‘These are their letters and their pledges.’ Ibn ʿUmar said, ‘Allah offered His Prophet the choice between this world and the Hereafter, and he chose the Hereafter. You are a part of him; none of you will ever govern this matter, and Allah has diverted it from you only for what is better for you. So turn back.’ But he refused. Ibn ʿUmar then embraced him and said, ‘I entrust you to Allah, O man destined for martyrdom.’ (3)

Al-Ḥasan ibn ʿUyaynah added to this report, relating from Yaḥyā ibn Ismāʿīl, from al-Shaʿbī: