of a calamity, how much more so when a long time has passed!

Thus Satan has made it seem good to the misguided and wayward to turn the day of ‘Āshūrā’ into an occasion of mourning, with lamentation, wailing, the recitation of sorrowful poems, and the narration of accounts containing many lies. Even what is true in these accounts serves only to renew grief and partisan zeal, stir up hatred and warfare, and sow discord among Muslims. They use this as a means of reviling the earliest forerunners in Islam and multiplying lies and turmoil in the world. Among the various groups within Islam, none has been known to surpass this misguided and wayward sect in lying, fomenting discord, and helping the unbelievers against the Muslims. They are worse than the renegade Khārijites, concerning whom the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—said:

“They kill the Muslims and leave the idolaters alone.”

These people help the Jews, Christians, and polytheists against the Prophet’s household—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—and the believers of his community. Thus they helped the polytheist Turks and Tatars perpetrate killing, enslavement, and the destruction of homes in Baghdad and elsewhere against the household of prophethood, the wellspring of the message—the descendants of al-‘Abbās and other members of the Prophet’s household—and the believers. No eloquent speaker could enumerate the evil these people commit and the harm they inflict upon the Muslims.

These people were opposed by others who were either Nawāsib, fanatically hostile to al-Husayn and the members of