The account of al-Ḥusayn ibn ʿAlī (1) and the reason for his departure [with his household] (2) from Makkah [to Iraq] (3) in quest of authority, together with the manner of his martyrdom.

Before that, however, let us first give a brief notice of his life, after which we shall relate all of his merits and virtues.

He is al-Ḥusayn ibn ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib ibn ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib ibn Hāshim, Abū ʿAbd Allah, a Qurayshite Hāshimite, the martyred grandson at Karbalāʾ, the son of the Messenger of Allah’s ﷺ daughter Fāṭimah al-Zahrāʾ (peace be upon her), the sweet basil he cherished in this world.

He was born after his brother al-Ḥasan, whose birth—as mentioned above (3)—occurred in the third year after the Hijrah. Some say that only one interval of purity and the period of pregnancy separated them, so that al-Ḥusayn was born five nights into Shaʿbān of the year 4 AH. Qatādah said: “Al-Ḥusayn was born six years, five months and a half after the dating of the Hijrah, and he was killed on Friday, the day of ʿĀshūrāʾ in Muḥarram of the year 61 AH, at the age of fifty-four years, six months and a half—may Allah be pleased with him.”

It is related that the Prophet ﷺ performed the taḥnīk for him, placed his own saliva in his mouth, prayed for him, and named him Ḥusayn. His father had previously named him Ḥarb, and some say Jaʿfar. Another report states that he named him on the seventh day and offered the ʿaqīqah sacrifice on his behalf.

A group transmitted—through Isrāʾīl, from Abū Isḥāq, from Hānīʾ ibn Hānīʾ—that ʿAlī (may Allah be pleased with him) said: “Al-Ḥasan most resembled the Messenger of Allah ﷺ from the chest upward, whereas al-Ḥusayn most resembled him in what was below that.” (4)

Al-Zubayr ibn Bakkār reported: Muḥammad ibn al-Ḍaḥḥāk al-Ḥizāmī told me, “The face of al-Ḥasan resembled the face of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, while the body of al-Ḥusayn resembled the body of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ.” (5)