…none of you will ever rule it, and it has only been turned away from you because something better has been reserved for you. So go back.’ But he refused.
Al-Ḥusayn said, ‘These are their letters and their pledges of allegiance.’
Ibn ʿUmar thereupon embraced him and declared, ‘I commend you to Allah—you are going to be killed.’(1)
Events unfolded exactly as ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿUmar had foreseen: no member of the Prophet’s Household ever assumed the caliphate independently and saw the matter firmly settled in his favour. The same statement was made by both ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān and ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib—that none of the Household would ever rule. It is reported from them by Abū Ṣāliḥ al-Khalīl ibn Aḥmad ibn ʿĪsā ibn al-Shaykh in his book “al-Fitan wa’l-Malāḥim.”
I say: As for the Fatimid caliphs who ruled in Egypt, the majority of scholars regard them as mere claimants. Even ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib—though he belonged to the Household—never saw matters settled for him as they had been for the three caliphs before him; his authority did not spread over all the lands, and affairs soon turned against him. His son al-Ḥasan, may Allah be pleased with him, when he advanced with his armies and reached an accord with the Syrians, realised that the greater good lay in relinquishing the caliphate. He therefore surrendered it for Allah’s sake, safeguarding Muslim blood; Allah rewarded him and was pleased with him.
As for al-Ḥusayn, may Allah be pleased with him, when Ibn ʿUmar advised him not to go to Iraq and he declined, Ibn ʿUmar embraced him in farewell and said, ‘I entrust you to Allah—you are a man destined for martyrdom.’ What Ibn ʿUmar sensed came to pass. Once al-Ḥusayn had set out, ʿUbayd Allāh ibn Ziyād dispatched a detachment of four thousand men against him, led by ʿUmar ibn Saʿd ibn Abī Waqqāṣ, after refusing the latter’s request to be excused. They met at a place called Karbalāʾ on the plain of al-Ṭaff. Al-Ḥusayn and his companions took refuge beside a reed-bed, putting it behind them and facing the opposing force.
Al-Ḥusayn requested one of three concessions: that they allow him to return to where he had come from; or let him go to a frontier post to fight there; or permit him to proceed to Yazīd ibn Muʿāwiyah and place his hand in Yazīd’s so that the latter might decide his fate. They rejected all three and said, ‘You must appear before ʿUbayd Allāh ibn Ziyād so he can rule on your case.’ Al-Ḥusayn flatly refused to present himself, fought instead, and they killed him—may Allah have mercy on him.
They carried his head to ʿUbayd Allāh ibn Ziyād, set it before him, and he began prodding its teeth with a stick while Anas ibn Mālik was sitting there. Anas said, ‘Man, take your stick away! How often I saw the Messenger of Allah ﷺ kissing those very teeth.’
ʿUbayd Allāh then ordered that al-Ḥusayn’s family and those with him be sent to Syria, to Yazīd ibn Muʿāwiyah. It is said that he also sent the head, which was placed before Yazīd, who recited:
We smash the skulls of fiercely proud men,
Men who were more wilful and more unjust to us.
Yazīd then commanded that they be escorted to the Prophet’s City. When they entered Madinah, a woman from the daughters of ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib met them, her hair dishevelled, dust upon her head, weeping as she recited: