Qadisiyya

Qadisiyya (Arabic: القادسیة) is a station on the way between Kufa and Mecca. Here al-Husayn b. Numayr arrested Qays b. Mushir al-Saydawi, al-Hussain's envoy to the people of Kufa. After leaving Udhayb al-Hijanat, Imam al-Hussain continued his path through Qasr Bani Muqatil and sent his envoy to Kufa via Qadisiyya.

Template:Imam Hussain root to Karbala

LocationEdit

Qadisiyya is located 15 miles from Kufa and 4 miles from Udhayb al-Hijanat. At the time of 'Umar b. al-Khattab, the Battle of Qadisiyya between the army of Persia and Muslim Arabs occurred in this area in 14/635.

EventsEdit

At al-Qadisiyya, al-Husayn b. Numayr al-Tamimi arrested Qays B. Mushir al-Saydawi, al-Hussain's messenger to the people of Kufa. Al-Husayn had been ordered by ibn Ziyad to station cavaliers to guard the area between Khafan[1] and Qatqatana. When he wanted to search the messenger, the latter took the letter out and shredded it.

He was brought to ibn Ziyad who asked him why he had shredded the letter. He told ibn Ziyad that he did so in order that they would not know what it contained. But ibn Ziyad insisted that he should tell him about its contents. Qays refused, whereupon ibn Ziyad said to him, “Ascend the pulpit and curse al-Hussain and his father and brother; otherwise, I will cut you to pieces.”

Qays ascended the pulpit, praised and glorified Allah and blessed the Prophet and his Progeny and was profuse in imploring Allah's blessings on the Commander of the Faithful and on al-Hasan and Al-Hussain.

Moreover, he cursed ‘Ubaydullah ibn Ziyad and his father and all Banu Umayyah, then he said, “O people! I am the messenger of Al-Hussain to you! I have left him in such-and-such a place; so, you should rush to his aid.” ibn Ziyad ordered him to be thrown from his mansion's rooftop. He was thrown; his bones were crushed, and he died.[2]

Some accounts say that he did not die immediately, so ‘Abd al-Malik B. ‘Umayr al-Lakhmi slit his throat [as stated above]. When he was blamed for doing so, he said, “I only wanted to put an end to his suffering.”[3]

SourceEdit

Abd al Razzaq al-Muqarram, Maqtal al-Hussain: Martyrdom Epic of Imam al-Hussain

ReferencesEdit

  1. According to Vol. 3, p. 451, of Mu’jam al-Buldan, Khafan is a place near Kufa where there is a well near a village inhabited by the offspring of ‘Eisa Ibn Musa al-Hashimi. On p. 125, Vol. 7, al-Qatqatana is located more than twenty miles from Ruhayma.
  2. al-Mufid, Al-Irshad. al-Fattal, Rawdat al-Waizin. Ibn Kathir, Al-Bidaya, Vol. 8, p. 118. al-Tabarsi, I’lam al-Wara, p. 136 (first Iranian edition). It is stated on p. 151, Vol. 1, of al-Thahabi's book Mizan al-I’tidal, that Abd al-Malik Ibn ‘Umayr al-Lakhmi was made governor of Kufa after al-Sha’bi, but his memory was weak, and he was prone to err quite often. On p. 309, Vol. 1, of al-Nawawi's book Thahthib al-Asma’, he died in 136 A.H./754 A.D. at the age of a hundred and three.
  3. al-Mufid, Al-Irshad. al-Fattal, Rawdat al-Wa’izin.