and his aunt said:
“O son of Ziyad! Enough—have you not tired of what you have done to us? Have you not yet been satiated with our blood? Have you left any of us alive?”

She threw her arms around him and pleaded, “I implore you by Allah—if you truly believe—if you must kill him, then kill me with him.”

ʿAli called out to him: “O son of Ziyad! If there is any kinship between you and these women, then send with them a God-fearing man who will escort them with the courtesy that Islam requires.” He stared at them for a while, then looked at the assembly and said, “How astonishing is the bond of kinship! By Allah, I think she would wish that if I killed him I would kill her as well. Leave the boy. Go on—accompany your womenfolk.” ⦗1⦘

He went on: Ibn Ziyad then ordered that al-Ḥusayn’s women, his small children, and his daughters be dispatched to Yazid. He also ordered that ʿAli ibn al-Ḥusayn be chained with an iron collar around his neck, and he sent them off with Muḥfiẓ ⦗2⦘ ibn Thaʿlabah al-ʿĀʾidhi—of the clan of ʿĀʾidhah of Quraysh—together with Shimr ibn Dhī l-Jawshan, may Allah disgrace him.

When they reached the gate of Yazid ibn Muʿāwiyah, Muḥfiẓ ibn Thaʿlabah raised his voice and proclaimed, “This is Muḥfiẓ ibn Thaʿlabah bringing the vile, rebellious lot to the Commander of the Believers!” Yazid replied, “No woman ever bore anyone viler and more contemptible than Muḥfiẓ’s mother.”

When the heads and the captive women were brought before Yazid, he summoned the nobles of Syria and seated them around him. Then he called for ʿAli ibn al-Ḥusayn, al-Ḥusayn’s children, and his women; they were ushered in while the people looked on.

He said to ʿAli ibn al-Ḥusayn, “O ʿAli, your father severed my ties of kinship, denied my right, and contested my authority, so Allah dealt with him as you have seen.” ʿAli replied, “No calamity befalls on earth or within yourselves without its being recorded in a Book, before We bring it into being” (Quran 57:22).

Yazid said to his son Khālid, “Answer him.” Khālid did not know what to say, so Yazid prompted him, “Say: ‘Whatever calamity befalls you is because of what your own hands have earned, yet He pardons much’” (Quran 42:30).

He left him alone for a while, then summoned the women and children. Noticing their wretched state, he exclaimed, “May Allah disgrace Ibn Marjānah! Had there been any bond of kinship or mercy between him and them, he would never have treated them like this or sent you in such a manner.”

Abū Mikhnaf relates, through al-Ḥārith ibn Kaʿb, from Fāṭimah bint ʿAli, who said: “When we were seated before Yazid, he softened toward us, ordered that something be given to us, and treated us kindly.”

Then a ruddy-complexioned man from Syria rose and said to Yazid, “O Commander of the Believers, grant me this girl”—meaning me, for I was a fair-featured maiden. I trembled in fear, thinking the request permissible for them. I clutched the clothes of my sister Zaynab—she was older, wiser, and knew that such a thing was unlawful—

Zaynab said to that man, “You have lied, by Allah, and behaved basely; neither you nor he has any right to her.”

Yazid grew angry and said to her, “You have lied! By Allah, it is within my power; if I wished to do so, I could.” She replied, “Never! By Allah, Allah has granted you no such authority unless you depart from our religion and embrace a faith other than ours.”

She continued: Yazid’s rage flared and he shouted, “Do you address me in this manner? It was your father and your brother who abandoned the religion!”

Zaynab retorted, “Through the religion of Allah, and the religion of my father, my brother, and my grandfather you—and your father and your grandfather—were guided.”

He said, “You lie, enemy of Allah!” She answered, “You are a ruler…"