He was of noble stock—bold and fearsome—and Saʿīd ibn Qays would sometimes keep him shut up inside his own pavilion. Burayr ibn Khudayr (1) called out to him, “You libertine, since when have you ever been among the righteous?”

Abū Ḥarb retorted, “And who are you—woe to you?”

“I am Burayr ibn Khudayr (1),” he answered.

Abū Ḥarb exclaimed, “To Allah we belong! I am ruined, by Allah. By Allah, O Burayr, it would grieve me to be the one who kills you.”

I said to him, “Abū Ḥarb, will you not repent of your grievous sins? By Allah, we are the pure ones, while you—yes, you—are the wicked.”

He replied, “Yes, and I myself bear witness to that.”

“Woe to you—will that knowledge not benefit you?” I asked.

At that point ʿAzrah ibn Qays, the commander of the detachment guarding us, rebuked him, and he withdrew from us. (2)

They relate that when ʿUmar ibn Saʿd led the dawn prayer with his men on Friday—some say it was Saturday, the very day of ʿĀshūrāʾ—he stood ready for battle. Al-Ḥusayn likewise prayed with his followers—thirty-two horsemen and forty infantry—then arranged their ranks. He placed Zuhayr ibn al-Qayn on the right wing, Ḥabīb ibn Muẓāhir (3) on the left, and entrusted the banner to his brother al-ʿAbbās ibn ʿAlī. The tents, with the womenfolk inside, were positioned behind them. During the night al-Ḥusayn had ordered a trench to be dug behind the tents, filled with fire-wood, timber, and reeds, and then set alight so that no one could break through to the camp from the rear.

As for ʿUmar ibn Saʿd, he placed ʿAmr ibn al-Ḥajjāj al-Zubaydī over his right wing and Shamir ibn Dhī al-Jawshan—whose given name was Sharḥabīl ibn al-Aʿwar ibn ʿAmr ibn Muʿāwiyah of Banū al-Ḍaḍāb ibn Kilāb—over the left; he appointed ʿAzrah ibn Qays al-Aḥmasī over the cavalry and Shabath (4) ibn Ribʿī over the infantry, and entrusted the standard to his freedman Duraid (5).

The two forces halted at that spot. Al-Ḥusayn withdrew to a tent that had been pitched, bathed, removed body hair with lime, and perfumed himself generously with musk. Some of the chiefs entered after him and did the same.

One said to another, “What is this, at such a time?”

Another replied, “[Leave him be; by Allah, this is no time for frivolity.]”

Yazīd ibn Ḥuṣayn said, “By Allah, my people know that I have never loved falsehood—neither as a youth nor as an old man. Yet, by Allah, I rejoice in what we are about to meet. (6) By Allah, nothing lies between us and the maidens of Paradise but for these people to advance upon us and kill us.”

Al-Ḥusayn then mounted his horse, took a copy of the Quran and set it before him, faced the enemy, raised his hands, and supplicated with the words