they are a single bloc against you, for the bribes they have taken are enormous and their saddle-bags are stuffed full; by means of that their affection has been won and their counsel secured. Thus they stand as one confederate mass (1) against you, whereas the rest of the people—though their hearts incline toward you—will unsheathe their swords against you tomorrow.
He then asked them, “Have you any news of my messenger?”
They said, “And who is your messenger?”
He replied, “Qays ibn Mushir al-Saydawi.”
They said, “Yes. Al-Husayn ibn Numayr seized him and sent him on to Ibn Ziyad. Ibn Ziyad ordered him to curse you and your father, but instead he invoked blessings upon you and your father, cursed Ibn Ziyad and his father, summoned the people to support you, and informed them of your imminent arrival. Ibn Ziyad thereupon commanded that he be thrown from the top of the palace, and he died.”
Al-Husayn’s eyes filled with tears and he recited Allah’s words: “Among them are those who have fulfilled their vow, and among them are those who are still waiting…” [Al-Ahzab 33:23].
He then said, “O Allah, place their abodes in Paradise and gather us together with them in a station of Your mercy and among the choicest stores of Your reward.”
After that, al-Tirmah ibn ʿAddi said to al-Husayn, “I look and see no one with you except this small band, and I do not consider those who travel alongside you to be a match for those arrayed against you. Moreover, the outskirts of Kufah are filled with cavalry and armies ready to advance upon you. I adjure you by Allah: if you can avoid moving toward them by even a single span, then do so. If you wish to lodge in a land where Allah will protect you [until you decide what course to take], then travel with me until I settle you in the impregnable fastness of our mountain, Ajja—Allah protected us there (2) from the kings of Ghassan and Himyar, from al-Nuʿman ibn al-Mundhir, and from every black and red foe. By Allah, no humiliation has ever entered it. I will journey with you until I place you in al-Qurayyah; then summon the men of Ajja and Salma from the tribe of Tayy. Stay among us as long as you wish, and I guarantee you ten thousand Tayy swords striking before you. By Allah, so long as even one of their eyes still blinks, no one will ever reach you.”
Al-Husayn answered, “May Allah reward you with goodness,” yet he did not deviate from the course he had chosen, and al-Tirmah bade him farewell.
Al-Husayn pressed on. When night fell he ordered his young men to draw enough water for their needs, and then he continued the night journey until he dozed in the saddle and his head drooped. He awoke saying, “Indeed we belong to Allah and to Him we return; praise be to Allah, Lord of all worlds.”
He then said, “I saw a horseman riding a steed who was proclaiming, ‘The people are marching, and destinies of death are marching toward them.’ I understood that our souls have just been mourned to us.”
At dawn he led his companions in prayer, hastened to mount, and veered leftward until he reached Nineveh. There a horseman, a bow slung across his back, arrived from Kufah. He greeted al-Hurr ibn Yazid but did not greet al-Husayn, and handed al-Hurr a letter from Ibn Ziyad. Its contents instructed him to make al-Husayn encamp in open country (3)—neither village nor fortress—until Ibn Ziyad’s envoys and troops should arrive. That was Thursday, the second of Muharram, in the year 61 AH.
The next day ʿUmar ibn Saʿd ibn Abi Waqqas arrived with four thousand men. Ibn Ziyad had originally equipped these forces for a campaign against the Daylam, and they were camped on the outskirts of Kufah. When he came, Ibn Ziyad said to him concerning al-Husayn, “March against him; then, once you have finished with him, proceed to Daylam.” ʿUmar ibn Saʿd sought to be excused from