Haniʾ ibn Haniʾ al-Sabiʿi and Saʿid ibn ʿAbd Allah al-Hanafi, bearing with them a letter that urged him to hasten his journey to them.

Shabath ibn Ribʿi, Ḥajjar ibn Abjar, Yazid ibn al-Ḥarith ibn Ruwaym, ʿAmr ibn al-Ḥajjaj al-Zubaydi, and Muhammad ibn ʿAmr ibn Yahya al-Tamimi also wrote to him:

“To proceed: the gardens have turned green, the fruits have ripened, and the springs are overflowing. Whenever you wish, come to an army already marshalled for you. Peace be upon you.”

All the envoys assembled before al-Husayn with their letters, urging and importuning him to come so that they might pledge allegiance to him in place of Yazid ibn Muʿawiyah. In their correspondence they expressed their delight at Muʿawiyah’s death, vilified him and spoke ill of his rule, and declared that they had not yet pledged allegiance to anyone. They were, they said, merely awaiting his arrival so that they could set him at their head.

At that, al-Husayn dispatched his cousin Muslim ibn ʿAqil ibn Abi Talib to Iraq to verify the truth of the matter and the agreement. If it proved firm and decisive, Muslim was to send word for him to bring his household and kinsfolk and come to Kufah, that he might prevail over those who opposed him. Al-Husayn sent with him a letter to the people of Iraq to this effect.

When Muslim left Makkah he passed through Madinah and there engaged two guides. They led him across barren, trackless wastes. One of the guides was the first to perish, overcome by intense thirst after they lost their way; he died at a place called al-Maḍīq in the valley of Khubayt. Muslim ibn ʿAqil regarded this as a bad omen. He lingered by a water-hole there, and the second guide also died. Muslim then wrote to al-Husayn for advice, and al-Husayn replied, binding him to enter Iraq, meet the people of Kufah, ascertain their situation, and investigate their news.

Upon reaching Kufah, he lodged with a man named Muslim ibn ʿAwsajah al-Asadi—though some say he stayed in the house of al-Mukhtar ibn Abi ʿUbayd al-Thaqafi; Allah knows best. The people of Kufah heard of his arrival, came to him, and pledged allegiance to him on behalf of al-Husayn. They swore to support him with their lives and their wealth. Those who first pledged numbered 12,000; their ranks swelled until they reached 18,000. Muslim wrote to al-Husayn, urging him to come, for the pledge and the circumstances had been secured. Al-Husayn therefore prepared in Makkah to set out for Kufah, as will be related.

Their affair became so widely known that news of it reached the governor of Kufah, al-Nuʿman ibn Bashir. A man informed him, but he turned away from the matter and paid it no heed. Nonetheless, he addressed the people, forbidding division and sedition, commanding them to unity and the sunnah. He said, “I will not fight those who do not fight me, nor attack those who do not attack me, nor seize you on suspicion. Yet—by Allah, besides Whom there is no god—if you forsake your imam and break your pledge to him, I will fight you so long as the hilt of my sword remains in my hand (1).”

A man named ʿAbd Allah ibn Muslim ibn Shubah al-Ḥaḍrami then rose and said to him, “This matter cannot be set right except by stern force (2), and the course you have taken—”