Then he called out to them: “March in the name of Allah, the Exalted!” So they set out on Friday afternoon, five days into the month of Rabiʿ al-Awwal⦗1⦘.
In his sermon he proclaimed, “Whoever among you has come out for the world—its gold and its emeralds—will find nothing he is seeking with us. All we have are swords slung across our shoulders, spears in our hands, and provisions just sufficient until we meet our enemy.” In this spirit they pledged to listen and obey.
He added, “Your first target is the profligate Ibn Ziyād; nothing awaits him but the sword. Even now he is coming from Syria toward Iraq.” The people concurred and firmly adopted this view.
Once the decision was made, ʿAbdullāh b. Yazīd and Ibrāhīm b. Muḥammad—the governors of Kūfah on behalf of Ibn al-Zubayr—sent word to Sulaymān b. Ṣurad, saying, “We wish for our hands to be united against Ibn Ziyād. We intend to dispatch a force to reinforce you in your objective, so wait for us until we arrive.” They also sent a courier instructing him to delay until their arrival.
Sulaymān readied himself to receive them, surrounding himself with the leading commanders. He sat in full regalia while the armies encircled him. ʿAbdullāh b. Yazīd and Ibrāhīm b. Muḥammad⦗2⦘ b. Ṭalḥah then came with the notables of Kūfah, excluding those who had slain al-Ḥusayn, lest those men presume to join. Throughout those days ʿUmar b. Saʿd b. Abī Waqqāṣ spent every night in the governor’s palace with ʿAbdullāh b. Yazīd, fearing for his life.
When the two governors met Sulaymān, they advised him: “Do not leave until our hands are united in fighting Ibn Ziyād and an army is equipped to accompany you. The Syrians are a vast, formidable host and will zealously defend him.” Sulaymān declined their counsel, saying, “We have set out for a cause; we shall neither turn back from it nor delay.” The two governors therefore returned to Kūfah.
Sulaymān and his companions then waited for the allies they had appointed from Basra and al-Madaʾin, but not one of them arrived. Sulaymān therefore rose to address his men, urging them to advance toward the goal for which they had departed.
He said, “If your brothers were to hear of your departure, they would hasten to join you.” Thus Sulaymān and his followers left al-Nukhaylah on Friday, five days into Rabiʿ al-Awwal in the year 65, travelling in stages toward Syria. Yet with almost every leg of the journey a group from among them fell behind.
When they passed by the grave of al-Ḥusayn they cried out in unison, wept profusely, and spent the night there praying and supplicating. The following day they continued to invoke Allah’s mercy and forgiveness for him, express their satisfaction with him, and wish that they had died alongside him as martyrs.
The author remarks: Had this resolve and gathering taken place before al-Ḥusayn reached that stage, it would have benefited and supported him far more than Sulaymān and his followers convening to aid him four years later.