better than his brother and father. This was not Yazīd ibn Mu‘āwiya, who succeeded Mu‘āwiya as caliph; the latter was born during ‘Uthmān’s caliphate and was not one of the Companions, but was named (1) after his uncle. (* Some ignorant people think that this Yazīd was one of the Companions *) (2). Some extremists among them (3) even count him among the prophets, while others regard him as an unbeliever or an apostate. All of this is false; rather, he was an Umayyad caliph (4).
Al-Husayn—may Allah be pleased with him and curse his killer—was unjustly killed as a martyr during Yazīd’s caliphate because of his opposition (5). Yet Yazīd himself neither ordered his killing nor expressed approval of it, nor did he take vengeance against those who killed him.
Al-Husayn’s head was brought before ‘Ubayd Allāh ibn Ziyād, who struck his front teeth with a rod. This is what is established in Sahīh al-Bukhārī (6).
(1) M: wa-lākin kāna yusammā (but he was named).
(2) The text between the two asterisks is omitted in M.
(3) M: ‘ulamā’ihim (their scholars).
(4) N, S, B: khalīfatu Banī Umayya wa-Banī al-‘Abbās (a caliph of the Umayyads and the Abbasids); M: khalīfatun min Banī Umayya wa-Banī al-‘Abbās (a caliph from among the Umayyads and the Abbasids). The margins of S and B indicate that the phrase wa-Banī al-‘Abbās (and the Abbasids) is a scribal addition; the passage reads coherently without it.
(5) N, S, B: khilāfatihi (his caliphate).
(6) The report from Anas ibn Mālik—may Allah be pleased with him—is found in al-Bukhārī, 5:26 (Book of the Virtues of the Prophet’s Companions—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—chapter on the merits of al-Hasan and al-Husayn—may Allah be pleased with them both); Sunan al-Tirmidhī, 5:325 (Book of Merits, chapter on the merits of … al-Hasan … and al-Husayn …—may Allah be pleased with them both); al-Musnad (al-Halabī edition), 3:261; and al-Bidāya wa-l-Nihāya, 8:190.