Abu Saʿīd al-Khudrī said, “Al-Ḥusayn insisted on setting out, and I told him, ‘Fear Allah with regard to your own soul, stay in your house, and do not rise up against your imām.’

Abu Wāqid al-Laythī said, “News reached me that Ḥusayn ibn ʿAlī had departed, so I caught up with him at Malal⦗1⦘ and adjured him by Allah not to go. He was leaving for no justifiable purpose; he was only going out to get himself killed. He answered, ‘I will not turn back.’

Jābir ibn ʿAbd Allāh said, “I spoke with Ḥusayn and said, ‘Fear Allah and do not pit the people against one another; by Allah, you have never approved the results of what you (all) have previously done.’ Yet he would not heed me.

Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyib remarked, ‘Had Ḥusayn not gone forth, it would have been better for him.’

Abu Salamah ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān said, ‘Ḥusayn ought to have known the people of Iraq and refrained from going to them, but Ibn al-Zubayr encouraged him.’

Al-Miswar ibn Makhramah wrote to him, ‘Beware of being deceived by the letters of the Iraqis and by Ibn al-Zubayr’s claim, “Join them, for they will support you.”⦗2⦘ Do not leave the Sacred Precinct; if they truly need you, they will beat the flanks of their camels to reach you, and then you may set out endowed with strength and equipment.’ Ḥusayn thanked him and said, ‘I shall seek Allah’s guidance in the matter.’

ʿAmrah bint ʿAbd al-Raḥmān also wrote to him, magnifying the gravity of what he intended, enjoining obedience and adherence to the community. She warned that if he refused, he would only be driven to his death, and she said, ‘I bear witness that I heard ʿĀʾishah say she heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ declare, “Al-Ḥusayn will be killed in the land of Bābil.”’ When he read her letter he said, ‘Then my death is inevitable,’ and he continued on his way.⦗3⦘

Abu Bakr ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn al-Ḥārith ibn Hishām came to him and said, ‘Cousin! You have seen what the people of Iraq did to your father and your brother, yet you wish to go to them. They are slaves of this world: the very man who has promised to aid you will fight you, while the one to whom you are dearer than his supporters will abandon you. I remind you by Allah with regard to your own life.’ He replied, ‘May Allah reward you, cousin. Whatever Allah decrees shall be.’ Abu Bakr said, ‘We belong to Allah and to Him we return; we now place Abū ʿAbd Allāh in Allah’s care.’

ʿAbd Allāh ibn Jaʿfar then sent him a letter warning him about the people of Kūfah⦗4⦘ and beseeching him by Allah not to go to them. Al-Ḥusayn wrote back, ‘I have seen a dream in which I beheld the Messenger of Allah ﷺ commanding me to do something, and I am proceeding to carry it out. I shall not divulge it to anyone until I meet the outcome myself.’