and I have come to loathe them; they have wearied of me, and I of them. Never do they keep faith. Whoever wins them wins the most unfortunate share. By Allah, they have no true intentions, no steadfast resolve, and no patience when the sword is drawn.
He said:
Al-Musayyab ibn Najabah (1) al-Fazari then arrived with a number of men to see al-Husayn after al-Hasan’s death, and they urged him to depose Muʿāwiyah (2), saying, “We know your view and that of your brother.”
He replied, “I hope Allah will grant my brother, for the sincerity of his wish to hold back, protection, and will grant me, for the sincerity of my wish, the striving against the oppressors.”
Marwān wrote to Muʿāwiyah: “I am not confident that Husayn is not lying in wait for turmoil, and I suspect that your day with Husayn will be a long one.”
So Muʿāwiyah wrote to al-Husayn: “Whoever pledges his right hand and his covenant to Allah must surely keep faith. I have been informed that some people of Kūfah have invited you to dissension. You know the people of Iraq—they ruined matters for your father and your brother. So fear Allah and remember the covenant, for if you contend with me, I shall contend with you.”
Al-Husayn replied: “Your letter has reached me, yet I am not as you have heard. None but Allah guides to good deeds. I have no wish to fight you or to oppose you, but I see no excuse before Allah for abandoning the jihad against you, and I know of no trial greater than your holding authority over this ummah.”
Muʿāwiyah remarked, “If we stir up Abū ʿAbd Allāh, we shall have roused nothing but a lion.” (3)
He also wrote to al-Husayn about other reports that had come to him: “I believe there is an impulse in your head; I wish I could live to witness it so that I might pardon you for it.”
They said: When Muʿāwiyah lay on his death-bed he summoned Yazīd and gave him instructions. He said, “Consider Husayn ibn ʿAlī, the son of Fāṭimah, daughter of the Messenger of Allah. He is the most beloved of people to the people. Maintain ties of kinship with him and treat him gently; his affair will then turn out well for you. Should anything arise from him, I hope Allah will suffice you against him through the one who killed his father and deserted his brother.”
Muʿāwiyah died on the night mid-Rajab in the year 60 AH, and the people pledged allegiance to Yazīd (4). Yazīd then sent, through ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAmr ibn Uways al-ʿĀmiri—of the clan of ʿĀmir ibn Luʾayy—a letter to al-Walīd ibn ʿUtbah ibn Abī Sufyān, who was governor of Madinah:
“Summon the people and have them swear allegiance, beginning with the leaders of Quraysh; let the first of them be al-Husayn ibn ʿAlī, for the Commander of the Believers charged me to deal gently with him and to seek his goodwill.”
At once, in the middle of the night, al-Walīd sent for al-Husayn ibn ʿAlī and ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Zubayr, informed them of Muʿāwiyah’s death, and invited them to pledge allegiance to Yazīd ibn Muʿāwiyah.
They answered, “Let us wait until morning and see what the people do.” Al-Husayn then rose and went out, and Ibn