ʿUbayd ibn ʿUmayr (1) said:

“Al-Ḥusayn ibn ʿAlī performed the pilgrimage twenty-five times on foot while his choice riding camels were led before him.”

Abū Nuʿaym al-Faḍl ibn Dukayn narrated to us; Ḥafṣ ibn Ghiyāth narrated to us, from Jaʿfar ibn Muḥammad, from his father:

“Al-Ḥusayn ibn ʿAlī made the pilgrimage on foot, and his finest mounts were led behind him.”

The correct view, however, is that this description actually pertains to his brother al-Ḥasan, as al-Bukhārī has stated (2).

Al-Madāʾinī said: A dispute arose between al-Ḥasan and al-Ḥusayn, so they stopped speaking to one another. Some time later al-Ḥasan came to al-Ḥusayn, bent over his head and kissed him; al-Ḥusayn then rose and kissed him as well, saying, “What kept me from beginning with you was that I considered you more deserving of virtue than I; I was loath to vie with you for something to which you are better entitled.”

Al-Aṣmaʿī related from Ibn ʿAwn that al-Ḥasan once wrote to al-Ḥusayn, criticizing him for giving money to poets. Al-Ḥusayn replied, “The best wealth is that which safeguards a person’s honour.”

Al-Ṭabarānī narrated: Abū Ḥanīfah Muḥammad ibn Ḥanīfah al-Wāsiṭī told us; Yazīd ibn al-Barāʾ ibn ʿAmr ibn al-Barāʾ al-Ghanawī told us; Sulaymān ibn al-Haytham told us: Al-Ḥusayn ibn ʿAlī was circumambulating the Sacred House. When he wished to touch the Stone (3), the people cleared a path for him. A man asked al-Farazdaq, “O Abū Firās, who is this?”

Al-Farazdaq replied:

This is the man whose footsteps the barren valley knows,
The House, the ḥill and the ḥaram know him too.
He is the son of the best of God’s servants all,
The pious, the pure, the standard high and true.
The Ḥaṭīm’s Corner would almost cling to his palm
Whenever he comes to touch it, out of due.
When Quraysh behold him, someone among them says,
“In this man’s noble deeds all virtues reach their view.”
In modesty he lowers his gaze, and awe makes others bow;
None speaks to him until he smiles, as is his due.
A fragrant cane is in his hand, its scent like musk,
Held by one handsome, tall of nose and stature too.
From the Messenger of God his lineage springs;
Pure are his roots, his nature and his virtues through.
No swift steed can reach the limit of his worth,
Nor can a tribe, however noble, draw thereto.
Who knows God recognises his precedence;
From this house nations learned their faith anew.
What clan is there whose necks do not acknowledge him,
Owe him a prior claim, or grant him gifts in lieu?