المجالس العاشورية في المآتم الحسينية

The younger boy began to shake the elder and said: Get up, my beloved one, for by God we have fallen into what we feared. He said to them: Who are you two? They said to him: O sheikh, if we tell you the truth, will we have safe conduct? He said: Yes. They said: The safe conduct of God and of His Messenger (peace be upon him and his family), and the covenant of God and of His Messenger? He said: Yes. They said: And is Muhammad ibn Abdullah a witness to that? He said: Yes. They said: And is God a guardian and witness over what we say? He said: Yes. They said to him: O sheikh, we are of the progeny of your prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him and his family). We fled from the prison of Ubaydullah ibn Ziyad to escape being killed. He said to them: From death you fled, and into death you have fallen. Praise be to God who has granted me victory over you both.

He rose to the two boys and bound their arms, and the two boys passed their night with their arms tied. When the dawn broke, he called a black slave of his named Falih and said: Take these two boys, go off with them to the bank of the Euphrates, strike off their necks, and bring me their heads, so that I may go with them to Ubaydullah ibn Ziyad and receive the reward of two thousand dirhams.

So the slave took up the sword and walked ahead of the two boys. They had not gone far when one of the two boys said: O black one, how your blackness resembles the blackness of Bilal, the caller to prayer of the Messenger of God (peace be upon him and his family)! He said: My master has commanded me to kill you. So who are you two? They said to him: O black one, we are of the progeny of your prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him and his family). We fled from the prison of Ubaydullah ibn Ziyad to escape being killed. This old woman of yours took us in, and your master wishes to kill us. So the black slave threw himself upon their feet, kissing them and saying: My soul be a ransom for your souls, and my face a shield for your faces, O progeny of God's chosen Prophet! By God, Muhammad (peace be upon him and his family) shall not be my adversary on the Day of Resurrection. Then he ran and flung the sword from his hand to one side, threw himself into the Euphrates, and crossed to the other side. His master cried out to him: O slave, you have disobeyed me! He said: O my master, I obeyed you only so long as you did not disobey God. But when you disobey God, I am free of you in this world and the next.

So he called his son and said: O my son, I am gathering the world, its lawful and its forbidden, for you alone, and the world is something craved.

Take these two boys to you, go off with them to the bank of the Euphrates, strike off their necks, and bring me their heads, so that I may go with them to Ubaydullah ibn Ziyad and receive the reward of two thousand dirhams. So the boy took the sword and walked ahead of the two boys. They had not gone far when one of the two boys said: O young man, how I fear for this youth of yours from the fire of Hell! He said: O my beloved ones, who are you two? They said: We are of the progeny of your prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him and his family). Your father wishes to kill us. So the boy threw himself upon their feet, kissing them, and said to them as the black slave had said. He flung the sword to one side, threw himself into the Euphrates, and crossed. His father cried out to him: O my son, you have disobeyed me! He said: That I obey God and disobey you is dearer to me than that I disobey God and obey you.

The sheikh said: No one shall undertake your killing but me. He took the sword and walked ahead of them. When he reached the bank of the Euphrates, he drew the sword from its sheath. When the two boys saw the sword unsheathed, their eyes welled with tears, and they said to him: O sheikh, take us to the market and profit from our price, and do not wish for Muhammad to be your adversary tomorrow on the Day of Resurrection. He said: No, rather I will kill you both and take your heads to Ubaydullah ibn Ziyad and receive the reward of two thousand dirhams.

They said to him: O sheikh, will you not honor our kinship with the Messenger of God (peace be upon him and his family)? He said: You have no kinship with the Messenger of God. They said to him: O sheikh, then take us to Ubaydullah ibn Ziyad that he may judge in our case as he commands. He said: There is no way to that except by drawing near to him with your blood. They said to him: O sheikh, will you not have mercy on our young age? He said: God has placed no mercy for you in my heart. They said: O sheikh, if it must be so, then let us pray a few rak'ahs. He said: Pray what you wish, if prayer will avail you.

So the two boys prayed four rak'ahs, then raised their eyes to the heavens and called out: O Living One, O Forbearing One, O Most Just of judges, judge between us and him with the truth.

He rose to the elder and struck off his neck, took his head and placed it in his bag. The younger boy began to roll in his brother's blood, saying: That I may meet the Messenger of God (peace be upon him and his family) stained with the blood of my brother.

He said: Do not fear, I will soon join you to your brother. Then he rose to the younger boy and struck off his neck, took his head and placed it in the bag, and threw both their bodies into the water, dripping with blood.

He went on until he brought them to Ubaydullah ibn Ziyad, who was seated upon a chair of his, with a rod of bamboo in his hand. He placed the two heads before him. When he looked at them, he rose, then sat, then rose, then sat—three times. Then he said: Woe to you, where did you come upon them? He said: An old woman of ours had taken them in as guests. He said: And did you not honor their right as guests? He said: No. He said: And what did they say to you? He said: They said: O sheikh, take us to the market and sell us and profit from our price, and do not wish for Muhammad (peace be upon him and his family) to be your adversary on the Day of Resurrection. He said: And what did you say to them? He said: I said: No, rather I will kill you both and take your heads to Ubaydullah ibn Ziyad and receive the reward of two thousand dirhams. He said: And what did they say to you? He said: They said: Take us to Ubaydullah ibn Ziyad that he may judge in our case as he commands. He said: And what did you say? He said: I said: There is no way to that except by drawing near to him with your blood. He said: Could you not have brought them to me alive, that I might have doubled your reward for you and made it four thousand dirhams?

He said: I saw no way to that except to draw near to you with their blood. He said: And what else did they say to you? He said: They said to me: O sheikh, honor our kinship with the Messenger of God (peace be upon him and his family). He said: And what did you say to them? He said: I said: You have no kinship with the Messenger of God. He said: Woe to you, and what else did they say to you? He said: They said: O sheikh, have mercy on our young age. He said: And did you not have mercy on them? He said: I said: God has placed no mercy for you in my heart. He said: Woe to you, and what else did they say to you? He said: They said: Let us pray a few rak'ahs. So I said: Pray what you wish, if prayer will avail you. So the two boys prayed four rak'ahs. He said: And what did they say at the end of their prayer? He said: They raised their eyes to the heavens and said: O Living One, O Forbearing One, O Most Just of judges, judge between us and him with the truth.

Ubaydullah ibn Ziyad said: Then the Most Just of judges has judged between you. Who will deal with this wicked one? A man from the people of Syria stepped forward and said: I will deal with him. He said: Then take him off to the place

where he killed the two boys, strike off his neck, do not let his blood mingle with theirs, and hasten his head to me. The man did so, and brought his head and set it upon a spear. The children began to pelt it with arrows and stones, saying: This is the killer of the progeny of the Messenger of God (peace be upon him and his family)
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How excellent are the words of Sheikh Salih al-Kawwaz al-Hilli, may mercy be upon him, when he says:

The First Gathering, of the Fifth Day
The Journey of Imam Hussein (peace be upon him) to Karbala
So over the most pure ones of the household of Muhammad and Ali, may God bless them and their families, let the weepers weep, and over them let the mourners lament, and for the likes of them let the tears flow, and let the criers cry out, and the wailers wail, and the lamenters lament. Where is Hassan, and where is Hussein? Where are the sons of Hussein—righteous one after righteous one, truthful one after truthful one? Where is the path after the path? Where is the chosen one after the chosen one? Where are the rising suns? Where are the shining moons? Where are the brilliant stars?

Where are the banners of religion and the foundations of knowledge
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The authority Sheikh Muhammad Husayn Al Sumaysim al-Najafi, may God Almighty have mercy on him, said:

The Sayyid and Ibn Nama, may God have mercy on them both, said concerning the journey of Hussein (peace be upon him) to Karbala: Then he (peace be upon him) traveled until he passed by al-Tan'im, where he met a caravan carrying a gift that Buhayr ibn Raysan al-Himyari, the governor of Yemen, had sent to Yazid ibn Mu'awiya—he being his governor over Yemen. It was laden with dye-plant and garments. He (peace be upon him) took it, for the governance of the affairs of the Muslims belonged to him. He said to the men of the camels: Whoever of you wishes to set off with us to Iraq, we will pay him his hire and give him good company; and whoever wishes to part from us at this place of ours, we will give him hire according to the distance he has traveled of the road. So some went on, and others declined.

Then he (peace be upon him) traveled until he reached Dhat Irq, where he met Bishr ibn Ghalib, returning from Iraq. He asked him about its people, and he said: I left the hearts with you, and the swords with the Umayyads. He said: The brother of Banu Asad has spoken truly. God does what He wills and decrees what He desires.

He said: Then he, God's blessings be upon him, traveled until he descended at al-Tha'labiyya at the time of midday. He laid down his head and slept, then awoke and said: I saw one who called out, saying: You are hastening, and the deaths are hastening with you to Paradise. His son Ali said to him: O father, are we not upon the truth? He said: Indeed, O my son, by Him to whom is the return of His servants. He said: O father, then we care nothing for death. Hussein (peace be upon him) said to him: May

God reward you, O my son, with the best that a child is rewarded for a father. Then he (peace be upon him) spent the night in that place.

When morning came, a man from the people of Kufa, known as Abu Harra al-Azdi, came to him and greeted him, then said: O son of the Messenger of God, what has brought you out of the sanctuary of God and the sanctuary of your grandfather Muhammad (peace be upon him and his family)? Hussein (peace be upon him) said: Woe to you, Abu Harra, the Umayyads have seized my wealth, and I was patient; they have insulted my honor, and I was patient; and they have sought my blood, and so I fled. By God, the transgressing faction shall kill me, and God shall clothe them in an all-encompassing humiliation and a cutting sword, and shall set over them one who will humble them until they are baser than the people of Saba, when a woman of them ruled over them and disposed of their wealth and their lives
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Muhammad ibn Abi Talib said: The news reached al-Walid ibn Utba, the governor of Medina, that Hussein (peace be upon him) had set out for Iraq. So he wrote to Ibn Ziyad: As to what follows—Hussein has set out for Iraq, and he is the son of Fatima, and Fatima is the daughter of the Messenger of God (peace be upon him and his family). So beware, O Ibn Ziyad, of bringing harm upon him, lest you stir up against yourself and your people in this world a matter that nothing can hold back, and which the elite and the common folk will never forget so long as the world endures. He said: But Ibn Ziyad paid no heed to al-Walid's letter.

In a narration from al-Riyashi, by his chain from the narrator of his account, who said: I performed the pilgrimage, then left my companions and set off, taking a rough road alone. While I was traveling, I raised my eyes and saw tents and pavilions, so I made for them until I reached the nearest. I said: To whom do these tents belong? They said: To Hussein (peace be upon him). I said: The son of Ali and the son of Fatima (peace be upon them)? They said: Yes. I said: In which of them is he? They said: In that pavilion. So I went toward it, and there was Hussein (peace be upon him) reclining at the door of the pavilion, reading a letter before him. I greeted him and he returned my greeting. I said: O son of the Messenger of God, may my father and mother be your ransom, what has brought you down in this barren land, in which there is neither cultivation nor protection? He said: These people have frightened me, and these are the letters of the people of Kufa, and they are my killers. When they do that and leave not a sacred thing of God

unviolated, God will send against them one who will kill them until they are baser than the menstrual rag of a slave-woman.

Ibn Nama said: Uqba ibn Sam'an related: Hussein (peace be upon him) departed from Mecca, and the messengers of Amr ibn Sa'id ibn al-As, led by Yahya ibn Sa'id, intercepted him to turn him back. But he refused them, and they struck at one another with whips, and he (peace be upon him) pressed on in his course. They confronted him and said: O Hussein, do you not fear God, going out from the community and dividing this nation? He said: I have my deeds, and you have your deeds. You are free of what I do, and I am free of what you do.

He said: It has been related to me that al-Tirimmah ibn Hakim said: I met Hussein after I had gathered provisions for my family. I said: I remind you for your own sake—do not let the people of Kufa deceive you. By God, if you enter it you will surely be killed, and I fear you will not even reach it. If you are resolved on war, then descend at Aja, for it is a fortified mountain. By God, no humiliation ever befell us in it, and my clan all hold the view of supporting you, and they will protect you for as long as you stay among them. He said: Between me and these people there is an appointment that I am loath to break. If God wards it off from us, then long has He bestowed favor upon us and sufficed; and if what is inevitable comes to pass, then it is triumph and martyrdom, God willing. Then I carried the provisions to my family and gave them instructions concerning their affairs, and set out intending to reach Hussein (peace be upon him). But Sama'a ibn Zayd al-Nabhani met me and informed me of his killing, so I turned back.

Sheikh al-Mufid, may God have mercy on him, said: When the coming of Hussein (peace be upon him) from Mecca to Kufa reached Ubaydullah ibn Ziyad, he sent al-Husayn ibn Numayr, the commander of his guard, who encamped at al-Qadisiyya and arrayed the cavalry from al-Qadisiyya to Khaffan, and from al-Qadisiyya to al-Qutqutana. He said to the people: This is Hussein, intending Iraq.

When Hussein (peace be upon him) reached al-Hajir of Batn al-Rumma, he sent Qays ibn Mushir al-Saydawi—and it is said that he sent his foster-brother Abdullah ibn Yaqtur—to the people of Kufa, and wrote with him to them: In the name of God, the Most Merciful, the Most Compassionate. From Hussein ibn Ali to his brethren among the believers and the Muslims. Peace be upon you. I praise to you God, besides whom there is no god. As to what follows—

the letter of Muslim ibn Aqil has reached me, informing me of your good resolve, and the gathering of your assembly to support us and to seek our right. I have asked God to do well by us and to reward you for that with the greatest of reward. I have set out toward you from Mecca on Tuesday, the eighth day of Dhu al-Hijja, the Day of Tarwiya. So when my messenger comes to you, press forward in your affair and strive earnestly, for I am coming to you in these days of mine. Peace be upon you, and the mercy of God and His blessings.

Muslim had written to him twenty-seven nights before he was killed, and the people of Kufa had written to him that he had here a hundred thousand swords, so do not delay.

Qays ibn Mushir set out with the letter of Hussein (peace be upon him) until, when he reached al-Qadisiyya, al-Husayn ibn Numayr seized him and sent him to Ubaydullah ibn Ziyad at Kufa. Ubaydullah ibn Ziyad said to him: Ascend and revile Hussein ibn Ali
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The Sayyid said: When he approached the entrance to Kufa, al-Husayn ibn Numayr intercepted him to search him. Qays brought out the letter and tore it to pieces. So al-Husayn carried him to Ibn Ziyad. When he stood before him, he said to him: Who are you? He said: I am a man among the partisans of the Commander of the Faithful, Ali ibn Abi Talib, and his son (peace be upon them). He said: Then why did you tear up the letter? He said: So that you would not know what was in it. He said: From whom is the letter, and to whom? He said: From Hussein ibn Ali to a group of the people of Kufa whose names I do not know. Ibn Ziyad grew angry and said: By God, you shall not part from me until you tell me the names of these people, or ascend the pulpit and curse Hussein ibn Ali and his father and his brother; otherwise I will cut you to pieces, limb from limb. Qays said: As for the people, I will not tell you their names; and as for cursing Hussein and his father and his brother, I will do it. So he ascended the pulpit, praised God, sent blessings upon the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family), and abundantly invoked mercy upon Ali and his children, God's blessings be upon them. Then he cursed Ubaydullah ibn Ziyad and his father, and cursed the tyrants of the Umayyads, every last one of them. Then he said: I am the messenger of

Hussein to you, and I have left him at such-and-such a place, so answer him
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Then Sheikh al-Mufid, may mercy be upon him, said: So Ubaydullah ibn Ziyad ordered that he be cast down from atop the palace. He was thrown down and was broken to pieces. And it is related that he fell to the ground bound, and his bones were shattered, yet some breath remained in him. A man named Abd al-Malik ibn Umar al-Lakhmi came to him and slaughtered him. He was reproached and blamed for that, and he said: I wished to give him relief.

Then Hussein (peace be upon him) came on from al-Hajir, traveling toward Iraq, until he reached one of the waters of the Arabs, and there was Abdullah ibn Muti al-Adawi encamped at it. When Hussein saw him, he rose to him and said: May my father and mother be your ransom, O son of the Messenger of God, what has brought you? And he embraced him and helped him dismount. Hussein (peace be upon him) said to him: There was, in the death of Mu'awiya, that which has reached you, and the people of Iraq have written to me calling me to themselves.

Abdullah ibn Muti said to him: I remind you of God, O son of the Messenger of God, and of the sanctity of Islam, lest it be violated. I implore you by God, for the sanctity of Quraysh; I implore you by God, for the sanctity of the Arabs. By God, if you seek what is in the hands of the Umayyads, they will surely kill you; and if they kill you, they will never fear anyone after you, ever. By God, it is the sanctity of Islam that will be violated, and the sanctity of Quraysh, and the sanctity of the Arabs. So do not do it, and do not go to Kufa, and do not expose yourself to the Umayyads. But Hussein (peace be upon him) refused anything but to press on.

Now Ubaydullah ibn Ziyad had given orders, and the way was seized from Waqisa to the road of Syria and to the road of Basra, so that they let no one come in nor anyone go out. Hussein (peace be upon him) came on, unaware of anything, until he met the Bedouins. He asked them, and they said: By God, we know nothing except that we are unable to come in or go out. So he (peace be upon him) traveled straight on his course.

A group of the Fazara and the Bajila related, saying: We were with Zuhayr ibn al-Qayn al-Bajali when we came up from Mecca, and we were traveling alongside Hussein (peace be upon him). There was nothing more hateful to us than to

share a halting-place with him. When Hussein (peace be upon him) traveled and halted at a place, we found no choice but to share it with him. So Hussein halted on one side, and we halted on another. While we were sitting, eating from food of ours, a messenger of Hussein (peace be upon him) came up, greeted us, then entered and said: O Zuhayr ibn al-Qayn, Abu Abdullah Hussein has sent me to you that you may come to him. Each of us threw down what was in his hand, as though birds were perched upon our heads. His wife said to him—the Sayyid said: she was Daylam bint Amr—Glory be to God! The son of the Messenger of God sends for you, and you do not go to him? Were you to go to him and hear his words, then return.

So Zuhayr ibn al-Qayn went to him, and it was not long before he came back rejoicing, his face shining. He gave orders concerning his tent, his baggage, and his belongings, and they were taken down and carried to Hussein (peace be upon him). Then he said to his wife: You are divorced. Join your family, for I do not wish that anything but good befall you on my account.

The Sayyid Ibn Tawus, may mercy be upon him, added: I have resolved to accompany Hussein (peace be upon him), to ransom him with my spirit and shield him with my self. Then he gave her her property and handed her over to some of her cousins to convey her to her family. She rose to him weeping and bade him farewell, and said: May God choose well for you. I ask you to remember me on the Day of Resurrection before the grandfather of Hussein (peace be upon him)
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Sheikh al-Mufid said: Then he said to his companions: Whoever of you wishes to follow me, let him; otherwise this is the last covenant. I shall tell you a story. We went raiding by sea, and God granted us victory, and we gained spoils. Salman, may God have mercy on him, said to us: Did you rejoice at what God granted you and at the spoils you gained? We said: Yes. He said: When you reach the master of the youths of the household of Muhammad, then be more joyful in your fighting alongside him than at the spoils you gained today. As for me, I commend you to God. They said: Then, by God, he remained among the company with Hussein until he was killed, may God have mercy on him
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In al-Manaqib: When he (peace be upon him) descended at al-Khuzaymiyya, he stayed there a day and a night. When morning came,

his sister Zainab came to him and said: O my brother, shall I not tell you of something I heard last night? Hussein (peace be upon him) said: And what is that? She said: I went out during part of the night for a need, and I heard a caller calling out, saying:

The Sayyid, may mercy be upon him, said: The news of Muslim (peace be upon him) reached him at Zubala. Then he traveled, and al-Farazdaq met him, greeted him, then said: O son of the Messenger of God, how can you rely upon the people of Kufa, who are the ones who killed your cousin Muslim ibn Aqil and his partisans? He said: Then Hussein (peace be upon him) shed tears, weeping, then said: May God have mercy on Muslim, for he has gone to the repose of God and His sweet fragrance, His greeting and His pleasure. As for him, he has fulfilled what was upon him, and there remains what is upon us. Then he began to recite:

Sheikh al-Mufid, may mercy be upon him, said: Then he waited until, when it was the time before dawn, he said to his young men and servants: Take much water—so draw water and take a great deal of it. Then they set out, and he traveled on until he reached Zubala, where the news of Abdullah ibn Yaqtur reached him.

The Sayyid said: He shed tears, weeping, then said: O God, grant us and our partisans a noble abode, and gather us with them in a settled place of Your mercy. Truly You are powerful over all things.

Sheikh al-Mufid, may mercy be upon him, said: He brought out a letter to the people and read it to them, and in it was: In the name of God, the Most Merciful, the Most Compassionate. As to what follows—there has come to us a terrible piece of news: the killing of Muslim ibn Aqil,

and Hani ibn Urwa, and Abdullah ibn Yaqtur. He went on to say (peace be upon him): So whoever of you wishes to depart, let him depart without blame; he is under no obligation.

So the people dispersed from him and took off right and left, until there remained with him his companions who had come with him from Medina, and a small number of those who had joined him.

He did that only because he (peace be upon him) knew that the Bedouins who had followed him had followed only thinking that he was going to a land whose people's obedience had become settled for him. So he disliked that they should travel with him except knowing what they were coming to. When it was the time before dawn, he ordered his companions, and they drew water and took a great deal of it. How excellent are the words of Sheikh Kazim al-Azri, may mercy be upon him, when he says:

The Second Gathering, of the Fifth Day
The Descent of Imam Hussein (peace be upon him) at Karbala
It is stated in the book al-Mazar by al-Mashhadi, may mercy be upon him, in one of the noble pilgrimage-prayers: And I bear witness that you fulfilled the covenant of God and His pledge, and all that He stipulated upon you in His Book; that you called to His path, and exhausted your power in seeking His good pleasure; that you led the creation upon the way of prophethood and the paths of the message, and traveled in it by the conduct of the prophets and the ways of the legatees—yet no command of yours was obeyed, and no ear was inclined to you. So may the blessings of God be upon your spirits and your bodies
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Another said:

Sheikh al-Mufid, may mercy be upon him, said: Then he (peace be upon him) traveled until he passed by Batn al-Aqaba and halted there. An old man of Banu Ikrima, named Amr ibn Lawdhan, met him and asked him: Where do you intend? Hussein (peace be upon him) said to him: Kufa. The old man said: I implore you by God to turn back, for by God you will go forward only upon spear-points and the edges of swords. As for these people who have summoned you—had they spared you the trouble of fighting and prepared matters for you, so that you came to them, that would have been sound counsel. But in this state which you describe, I do not see that you should do it. He said to him: O servant of God, sound counsel is not hidden from me, but God Almighty cannot be overcome in His affair.

Then he (peace be upon him) said: By God, they will not leave me until they draw out this clot from my insides; and when they

do that, God will set over them one who will humble them until they are the basest of the factions of the nations.

Then he (peace be upon him) traveled from Batn al-Aqaba until he descended at Sharaf
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. When it was the time before dawn, he ordered his young men, and they drew water and took a great deal of it. Then he traveled on until midday. While he was traveling, a man of his companions exclaimed "God is greatest!" Hussein (peace be upon him) said to him: God is greatest! Why did you say it?

He said: I saw palm trees. A group of those who accompanied him said to him: By God, we have never seen a single palm tree in this place. Hussein (peace be upon him) said: Then what do you see them to be? They said: By God, we see them to be the points of spears and the ears of horses. He said: And I, by God, see that.

Then he (peace be upon him) said: Is there not a refuge to which we can retreat and put at our backs, so that we face the people from a single direction? We said to him: Yes—here is Dhu Jashm beside you. Turn toward it on your left, and if you reach it first, it is as you wish. So he turned to the left toward it, and we turned with him. It was no sooner than the vanguard of the horsemen appeared to us. We made them out and turned aside; and when they saw us turn off the road, they turned toward us, as though their spear-points were dragonflies, and their banners the wings of birds. We raced toward Dhu Jashm and outstripped them to it. Hussein (peace be upon him) ordered his tents, and they were pitched. The people came, about a thousand horsemen, with al-Hurr ibn Yazid al-Tamimi, until he and his horsemen halted facing Hussein (peace be upon him) in the heat of the midday, while Hussein and his companions were turbaned, girt with their swords.

Hussein (peace be upon him) said to his young men: Give the people water and quench their thirst from the water, and sprinkle water for the horses, little by little. So they did, and they came filling the bowls and basins with water, then bringing them near to the horse; and when it had drunk three or four or five gulps, it was drawn aside, and another was given to drink, until they had watered them, every last one.

Ali ibn al-Ta'an al-Muharibi said: I was with al-Hurr that day, and I came among the last of those who came

of his companions. When Hussein (peace be upon him) saw the thirst that was upon me and my horse, he said: Make the water-skin kneel—and by "the water-skin" he meant the bearer. Then he said: O nephew, make the camel kneel. So I made it kneel. He said: Drink. But every time I drank, the water poured out of the skin. Hussein (peace be upon him) said: Bend the skin's mouth—that is, fold it back. I did not know how to do it, so he rose and bent it himself, and I drank and watered my horse.

Al-Hurr ibn Yazid had come from al-Qadisiyya, for Ubaydullah ibn Ziyad had sent al-Husayn ibn Numayr and ordered him to encamp at al-Qadisiyya, and had sent al-Hurr ahead of him with a thousand horsemen to meet Hussein (peace be upon him) with them. Al-Hurr continued in step with Hussein (peace be upon him) until the time of the noon prayer arrived, and Hussein (peace be upon him) ordered al-Hajjaj ibn Masruq to call the adhan.

When the time for the iqama came, Hussein (peace be upon him) came out in a waist-wrap, a cloak, and sandals. He praised God and extolled Him, then said: O people, I did not come to you until your letters came to me, and your messengers reached me, saying: Come to us, for we have no imam; perhaps God may gather us through you upon guidance and truth. If you are upon that, then I have come to you. So give me what I can rely upon of your covenants and your pledges. But if you do not, and you are averse to my coming, I will turn back from you to the place from which I came to you.

But they were silent toward him and did not speak a word. So he said to the caller: Make the iqama. He made the iqama for the prayer. He said to al-Hurr: Do you wish to pray with your companions? Al-Hurr said: No, rather you pray, and we will pray following your prayer. So Hussein (peace be upon him) led them in prayer. Then he went in and his companions gathered around him, and al-Hurr returned to his place, entering a tent that had been pitched for him. A group of his companions gathered to him, while the rest returned to their ranks where they had been. Then each man of them took hold of his horse's rein and sat in its shade.

When it was the time of the afternoon prayer, Hussein (peace be upon him) ordered them to prepare for departure, and they did. Then he ordered his caller, and he called to the afternoon prayer and made the iqama. Hussein (peace be upon him) stepped forward and stood and led the people in prayer, then gave the salaam