103 – Al-Ḥusayn narrated to us; ʿAbd Allah narrated to us; my father narrated to me, from Hishām ibn Muḥammad, from Abū ʿAbd Allah al-Jaʿfī. He said: ʿUrwah ibn ʿAbd Allah narrated to us, from Zahr ibn Qays:

Al-Ḥasan ibn ʿAlī, may Allah be pleased with him, sent me to al-Madāʾin, where al-Ḥusayn ibn ʿAlī was staying. When I reached him, he asked, “Zahr, why do I see your face so changed?”

I replied, “I have left the Commander of the Believers in the last day of this world and the first day of the Hereafter, and this is al-Ḥasan’s letter to you.”

Zahr continued: When I spoke to him about ʿAlī and the blow that struck him, he said, “Woe to you! Who killed him?”

I answered, “A renegade, wicked man from the tribe of Murād called ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Muljam.”

He asked, “Did the man actually kill him?”

I said, “Yes.”

He then pronounced the takbīr (Allāhu akbar), and said, “Indeed we belong to Allah and to Him we return. Praise be to Allah, Lord of all worlds. How enormous this calamity is! Yet the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, ‘When any one of you is afflicted by a misfortune, let him remember his misfortune with me, for none will ever match it.’ The Messenger of Allah ﷺ spoke the truth: no calamity after the Messenger of Allah ﷺ has equalled that one, and we shall never be struck by the like of it for as long as I live. Tribulation hastens to us, the People of the House; Allah is the One from whom help is sought. ⦗88⦘”

Zahr said: “There are people here who think they will not die until they rise up, and I fear them for your sake. Gather them so I may read al-Ḥasan’s letter to them.” A call went out among the people; they assembled, and al-Ḥusayn, may Allah be pleased with him, was present. I stood and read the letter to them. Then a man known as Ibn al-Sawdaʾ of Hamdān—his name was ʿAbd Allah ibn Sabāʾ—exclaimed, “By Allah, were I to see the Commander of the Believers in his grave, I would know that he will not depart until he appears again!”

The gathering was shaken with istirjāʿ (saying, “Indeed we belong to Allah and to Him we shall return”), weeping, seeking forgiveness for ʿAlī, and offering condolences to al-Ḥusayn. I then set off, returning with the people to Kūfa.