‘By Allah, killing the men alone will satisfy your commander.’

He said: ‘Who are you?’ I replied, ‘I will not tell you who I am’—for I feared that, were I to name myself and he recognized me, he would harm me with the authorities. (1)

Zuhayr ibn al-Qayn, together with a group of al-Husayn’s companions, then charged at Shimr ibn Dhi l-Jawshan and forced him from his post. [They killed Abū ʿAzza al-Ḍibābī—one of Shimr’s men. Whenever a man from al-Husayn’s side was felled, a clear gap opened in their ranks; but when large numbers from Ibn Ziyad’s forces were slain, it scarcely showed because of their multitude.] (2)

When the noon hour came, al-Husayn said, ‘Tell them to cease fighting until we perform the prayer.’ A man from Kufa retorted, ‘It will not be accepted from you.’ Ḥabīb ibn Muẓāhir answered, ‘Woe to you! Will it be accepted from you and not from the family of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ?’

Ḥabīb then fought with great ferocity [until he killed a man called Budayl ibn Ṣuraym of the Banū ʿUqfān (3), all the while reciting:

I am Ḥabīb, son of Muẓāhir—
A horseman of turmoil, a firebrand of war.
Your numbers and equipment are greater,
Yet we are the truer and more steadfast.
Our proof is higher, more evident—
In truth, purer and more immaculate. ] (4)

A man of Banū Tamīm then charged at Ḥabīb and thrust his spear at him, and he fell. When he tried to rise, al-Ḥuṣayn ibn Numayr struck him on the head with a sword and he collapsed. The Tamimi dismounted, severed his head, and carried it to Ibn Ziyad. The son of Ḥabīb saw his father’s head and recognized it. He said to the bearer, ‘Give me my father’s head so that I may bury it,’ and he wept (and he said to the killer, ‘By Allah, you have slain him, and he was better than you’). (5)

The narrator said: The boy lived on until he reached manhood, and thereafter had no concern except to slay his father’s killer.

He continued: In the time of Muṣʿab ibn al-Zubayr (6), the youth entered Muṣʿab’s camp and found his father’s killer in a pavilion. He went in upon him while the man was resting (7) and struck him with his sword until he was dead.

Abū Mikhnaf said: Muḥammad ibn Qays related to me, ‘When Ḥabīb ibn Muẓāhir was killed, it shook al-Husayn, who said at that moment, “I count myself [among those whose reward is with Allah].” Al-Ḥurr then chanted to al-Husayn:

I have sworn you shall not be killed until I am killed,
Nor shall I today be struck except face-to-face.’