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Hussain ibn Ali: Difference between revisions
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ʿOmar b. Saʿd now prepared for immediate battle in the evening of 9 Muharram/9 October. Hussain was sitting in front of his tent when his brother ʿAbbas informed him that the enemy was advancing towards them. He asked ʿAbbas to inquire about the cause of the change of their attitude. They told him that an order of the governor had arrived to attack unless Hussain and his followers submitted to his authority. Hussain asked for a delay until next morning so they would have time to decide on the option. The account stresses that he did so only in order to arrange his affairs and give counsel to his family. ʿOmar b. Saʿd was consulted and, on the advice of some of the army leaders, agreed to the postponement. Hussain once more encouraged all his supporters to leave and scatter in the desert under cover of the night, releasing them from their oath of allegiance. They might also take the members of his family along. He suggested that the enemy was looking only for him and would not search for them once they found him. Nearly all his followers, however, decided to stay and fight and to protect him. They spent the night in prayer and preparation for the battle. On the next morning, as ʿOmar b. Saʿd arranged the Kufan army in battle order, Hurr b. Yazid challenged him and went over to Hussain. He vainly addressed the Kufans, rebuking them for their treachery to the grandson of the Prophet, and was killed in the battle. | ʿOmar b. Saʿd now prepared for immediate battle in the evening of 9 Muharram/9 October. Hussain was sitting in front of his tent when his brother ʿAbbas informed him that the enemy was advancing towards them. He asked ʿAbbas to inquire about the cause of the change of their attitude. They told him that an order of the governor had arrived to attack unless Hussain and his followers submitted to his authority. Hussain asked for a delay until next morning so they would have time to decide on the option. The account stresses that he did so only in order to arrange his affairs and give counsel to his family. ʿOmar b. Saʿd was consulted and, on the advice of some of the army leaders, agreed to the postponement. Hussain once more encouraged all his supporters to leave and scatter in the desert under cover of the night, releasing them from their oath of allegiance. They might also take the members of his family along. He suggested that the enemy was looking only for him and would not search for them once they found him. Nearly all his followers, however, decided to stay and fight and to protect him. They spent the night in prayer and preparation for the battle. On the next morning, as ʿOmar b. Saʿd arranged the Kufan army in battle order, Hurr b. Yazid challenged him and went over to Hussain. He vainly addressed the Kufans, rebuking them for their treachery to the grandson of the Prophet, and was killed in the battle. | ||
The battle of Karbala lasted from morning till sunset on 10 Muharram 61/10 October 680. ʿOmar b. Saʿd, evidently hoping to isolate Hussain and force him to surrender, did not order a general attack that would inevitably have resulted in a quick massacre. The reports rather describe numerous incidents of single combat, skirmishes, assaults, and retreat. Hussain ordered heaps of wood and reeds to be burnt in a ditch behind the tents to prevent an attack from the rear. From the front he was protected by his men, and he was not involved in actual fighting until close to the end. As the Kufans also suffered losses because of the self-sacrificing bravery of Hussain’s followers, the fighting gradually became more brutal. In one attack the enemy set the tents on fire, but the flames at first hindered their own advance. | The battle of Karbala lasted from morning till sunset on 10 Muharram 61/10 October 680. ʿOmar b. Saʿd, evidently hoping to isolate Hussain and force him to surrender, did not order a general attack that would inevitably have resulted in a quick massacre. The reports rather describe numerous incidents of single combat, skirmishes, assaults, and retreat. Hussain ordered heaps of wood and reeds to be burnt in a ditch behind the tents to prevent an attack from the rear. From the front he was protected by his men, and he was not involved in actual fighting until close to the end. As the Kufans also suffered losses because of the self-sacrificing bravery of Hussain’s followers, the fighting gradually became more brutal. In one attack the enemy set the tents on fire, but the flames at first hindered their own advance. Shimr b. Dhi’l-Jawshan is mostly described as the moving spirit, viciously driving on the assault. Hussain was first wounded by an arrow hitting his mouth or throat as he was trying to reach the Euphrates to drink. After receiving further wounds, he eventually was stabbed with a spear by Senan b. Anas Nakhaʿi. As he fell, Senan and Khawali b. Yazid Asbahi joined to cut his head off. In accordance with ʿUbayd Allah b. Ziad’s instructions, ʿOmar ordered his body to be trampled by horses. Later he was buried by the Banu Asad of the nearby village of Ghazeriya in the spot where the sanctuary of Hussain arose. His head was carried to ʿUbayd Allah b. Ziad in Kufa and then to Yazid in Damascus. Later there were claims in regard to several locations to be its burial place. | ||
The dead on the side of Hussain are said to have numbered seventy or seventy-two. At least twenty descendants of Abu Taleb were among them. The first one of these to be killed was Hussain’s own son [[ʿAli Akbar]]. As a nephew of the caliph Yazid he was offered a safe-conduct, but he refused it, proudly proclaiming that he valued his descent from the Prophet more highly.<ref>Ibn Saʿd, p. 73; Zobayri, p. 58</ref> Hussain’s son ʿAbd-Allah was still a child and is described as having been killed by an arrow while placed on his father’s knees. He can, however, hardly have been a baby as claimed in some accounts. Six of Hussain’s paternal brothers, sons of ʿAli, fell. Four of them were sons of Omm Banin bt. Hezam of the Banu Kelab. Her brother’s son, ʿAbd-Allah b. Abi Mohell b. Hezam, obtained a letter of safety for them from ʿUbayd Allah b. Ziad, but they rejected it. Three sons of Hasan and three sons of ʿAbd-Allah b. Jaʿfar were killed, as well as three sons and three grandsons of ʿAqil b. Abi Taleb. Ibn Saʿd <ref>p. 77</ref> lists among the dead two other Hashemites, a descendent of Abu Lahab, and a descendent of Abu Sofyan b. Hareth b. ʿAbd-al-Mottaleb. Among the survivors of the Prophet’s family, being led off as captives, he mentions two sons of Hasan, a son of ʿAbd-Allah b. Jaʿfar, a son of ʿAqil, and five women. According to Abu’l-Faraj Esfahani <ref>Maqatel, p. 119</ref>, three sons of Hasan survived, among them Hasan b. Hasan, who was severely wounded. Hussain’s other son named ʿAli survived because he was sick and unable to fight on the battle day. He was brought as a captive before ʿUbayd Allah b. Ziad and then before Yazid in Damascus. The latter treated him well and sent him with the women to Medina. He thus became recognized as the fourth Imam of the Shiʿites. | The dead on the side of Hussain are said to have numbered seventy or seventy-two. At least twenty descendants of Abu Taleb were among them. The first one of these to be killed was Hussain’s own son [[ʿAli Akbar]]. As a nephew of the caliph Yazid he was offered a safe-conduct, but he refused it, proudly proclaiming that he valued his descent from the Prophet more highly.<ref>Ibn Saʿd, p. 73; Zobayri, p. 58</ref> Hussain’s son ʿAbd-Allah was still a child and is described as having been killed by an arrow while placed on his father’s knees. He can, however, hardly have been a baby as claimed in some accounts. Six of Hussain’s paternal brothers, sons of ʿAli, fell. Four of them were sons of Omm Banin bt. Hezam of the Banu Kelab. Her brother’s son, ʿAbd-Allah b. Abi Mohell b. Hezam, obtained a letter of safety for them from ʿUbayd Allah b. Ziad, but they rejected it. Three sons of Hasan and three sons of ʿAbd-Allah b. Jaʿfar were killed, as well as three sons and three grandsons of ʿAqil b. Abi Taleb. Ibn Saʿd <ref>p. 77</ref> lists among the dead two other Hashemites, a descendent of Abu Lahab, and a descendent of Abu Sofyan b. Hareth b. ʿAbd-al-Mottaleb. Among the survivors of the Prophet’s family, being led off as captives, he mentions two sons of Hasan, a son of ʿAbd-Allah b. Jaʿfar, a son of ʿAqil, and five women. According to Abu’l-Faraj Esfahani <ref>Maqatel, p. 119</ref>, three sons of Hasan survived, among them Hasan b. Hasan, who was severely wounded. Hussain’s other son named ʿAli survived because he was sick and unable to fight on the battle day. He was brought as a captive before ʿUbayd Allah b. Ziad and then before Yazid in Damascus. The latter treated him well and sent him with the women to Medina. He thus became recognized as the fourth Imam of the Shiʿites. | ||