to his father until the latter was killed. When the caliphate then passed to his brother al-Hasan and al-Hasan resolved to make peace with Muʿāwiyah, this distressed him, and he did not agree with his brother’s judgment; indeed, he urged him to fight the people of Syria. His brother retorted, “By Allah, I have almost decided to confine you in a house and lock its door on you until I have finished with this affair; then I will let you out.” When al-Husayn saw that, he fell silent and yielded.
Once the caliphate was firmly established for Muʿāwiyah, al-Husayn would go to him together with his brother al-Hasan, and Muʿāwiyah treated them with extraordinary honour, greeting them, “Welcome, welcome,” and bestowing generous gifts upon them. On one occasion he granted them two hundred thousand in a single day, saying, “Take it—I am the son of Hind. By Allah, no one before me nor after me will give you the like of it.” Al-Husayn replied, “By Allah, neither you nor anyone before or after you will ever give such a sum to men better than us.” After al-Hasan’s death, al-Husayn continued to visit Muʿāwiyah each year, and Muʿāwiyah would honour him and give to him.
Al-Husayn had been among the army that campaigned against Constantinople with Yazid ibn Muʿāwiyah in the year 51 AH. When pledges of allegiance were taken for Yazid during his father’s lifetime, al-Husayn, Ibn al-Zubayr, ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Abī Bakr, Ibn ʿUmar, and Ibn ʿAbbās all refused to pledge. Ibn Abī Bakr died still resolved upon that refusal. Then, when Muʿāwiyah died in 60 AH and the people were summoned to pledge allegiance (1) to Yazid, Ibn ʿUmar and Ibn ʿAbbās complied, but al-Husayn and Ibn al-Zubayr held fast to their opposition. They left Madinah, fleeing to Makkah, where they took up residence. There the people crowded around al-Husayn—coming to him morning and evening, sitting in his company, and listening to his words—once they had heard of Muʿāwiyah’s death and Yazid’s succession.
Ibn al-Zubayr, for his part, remained in his prayer-place beside the Kaʿbah, yet he would, now and again, join the crowds visiting al-Husayn. He could not act on what he held in his heart so long as al-Husayn was present, for he knew how greatly the people revered al-Husayn and preferred him to himself. Even so, detachments and expeditions were repeatedly dispatched to Makkah on account of Ibn al-Zubayr; but Allah granted him victory over them, as was mentioned earlier. The squadrons withdrew from Makkah in chains, and ʿAbd Allah ibn al-Zubayr prevailed over those of Yazid’s followers who had sought his death. He struck his brother ʿAmr, imprisoned him, exacted retribution from him, and humiliated him. Ibn al-Zubayr’s stature thus rose in the Ḥijāz; his reputation became widespread and his fame far-reaching. Yet, for all that, in the estimation of the people he was not the equal of al-Husayn. Their hearts inclined to al-Husayn, for he was the eminent sayyid, the grandson of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ; on the face of the earth that day there was no one who could rival or match him. The entire Yazidian government, however, stood opposed to him.
A flood of letters now reached him from Iraq, inviting him to come to them. This occurred when news reached them of Muʿāwiyah’s death, Yazid’s accession, and al-Husayn’s move to Makkah to avoid pledging to Yazid. The first to arrive were ʿAbd Allah ibn Sabʿ al-Hamdānī and ʿAbd Allah ibn Wāl, bringing a letter conveying greetings and congratulations on Muʿāwiyah’s death. They reached al-Husayn on the tenth of Ramaḍān that year. After them, they sent another party consisting of Qays ibn Mushir al-Ṣidāʾī, ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿAbd Allah ibn al-Kawāʾ al-Arhabī, and ʿImārah ibn ʿAbd Allah al-Salūlī, carrying with them about 150 letters addressed to al-Husayn, and then they sent