Hosein’s preparations for defence. 9 Moharram. Oct. 9.
Hosein obtained a day’s respite to send away his relatives from the fated camp. But, one and all, they refused to listen to his entreaty that they would leave him. During the night, his sister Zeinab overheard what was going forward, for his servant was furbishing her brother’s sword, and singing the while snatches of martial verse on the impending combat. Hastily drawing her mantle around her, she stole in the dark to her brother’s tent, and flinging herself upon him in wild grief, beat her breast and face, and fell into a swoon. Hosein poured water on her temples; but it was little that he could do to comfort her. The tents were rudely staked together, and some petty barricades of wood and reeds—the burning of which might briefly check the onset—piled around; a poor defence against the overwhelming foe. Aly, Hosein’s little son, lay sick of a fever, but there was no drop of water to slake his parched lips. The women and children passed the night in fear and crying.
Hosein attacked, and, with all his company, slain. 10 Moharram, A.H. LXI. Oct. 10, A.D. 680.
On the morning of the fatal tenth of Moharram, Hosein drew out his little band for battle. There was a parley; and again he offered to retire, or be led to the presence of the Caliph. Finding that it was all in vain, he alighted from his camel; and, surrounded by his kinsmen, who stood with firm front for his defence, resolved to sell life dear. At length, one shot an arrow from the Kûfic side, and, amid the wailing of the women and little ones, the unequal fight began. Arrows flew thick, and the forlorn company had its numbers gradually thinned. Hosein’s nephew, Câsim by name, a lad of about ten years of age, betrothed to his daughter Fâtima, was early struck by an arrow, and died in the arms of his uncle. One after another, the grown-up sons of Hosein, his brothers, nephews, and cousins, fell before the shafts of the enemy. Some fled for shelter behind the camp. The reeds were set on fire, and the flames, spreading to the tents, added new horror to the scene. For long, none dared to attack Hosein, and to the last it was hoped that he might yet surrender. Towards the close of the conflict, driven by thirst, he sought to gain the river-bank. The troops closed in behind, and he was cut off from his family. The ‘cursed’ Shamir then led the attack. Struck by an arrow, Hosein fell to the ground, and the Kûfic cavalry rode ruthlessly across the corpse.
Trunkless heads cast before the Governor of Kûfa.
Not one of the fighting men of this forlorn band escaped alive. But they fought bravely; and left of their foes, more than their own number dead upon the field. Two sons of Hosein, Aly Akbar[593] and Abdallah, perished early in the day; and, at its close, there were amongst the dead no less than six brothers of Hosein, the sons of Aly; two nephews, sons of his brother Hasan; and six others, descendants of Abu Tâlib, the father of Aly and uncle of Mahomet.[594] The camp was plundered; but no further indignity was offered to the inmates, mostly women and children, who were carried, together with the ghastly load of seventy trunkless heads, to Obeidallah’s palace. A shock of horror, such as never since has ceased to thrill the Moslem world, seized the crowd, when the gory head of the Prophet’s grandson was cast at Obeidallah’s feet. Hard hearts were melted. As the governor turned the head roughly over with his staff (though we must be slow to accept the tales of heartless insult multiplied by Shîya hate), an aged voice from amongst the courtiers was heard to cry: ‘Gently! for it is the Prophet’s grandson. By the Lord! I have seen these very lips kissed by the blessed mouth of Mahomet.’[595]
The ladies and children sent to Medîna.
The sister of Hosein, his two little sons, Aly Asghar[596] and Amr, and two daughters, sole survivors of the family, were treated by Obeidallah with respect; and were sent along with the head of the Pretender to the Caliph at Damascus. Whether sincerely, or to escape the execrations which began already to be heaped upon the actors in the tragedy, Yezîd disowned all responsibility for the death of Hosein, and bitterly reproached Obeidallah for the deed. The ladies and children were honourably received into the Caliph’s household, and sent eventually, with every comfort and consideration, back to their Medîna home. This destination, meant in kindness by Yezîd, turned out badly for the Omeyyad Caliphate. Reaction in favour of Aly’s descendants.At Medîna, there ensued a wild scene of grief and lamentation. Everything tended there to intensify the sense of the catastrophe. The deserted dwellings inhabited heretofore by the family and kinsmen of the Prophet, the widowed ladies, the orphaned little ones, all added pathos to the cruel tale. That tale, eagerly heard by groups of weeping listeners at the lips of the women and children who alone survived to tell it—and coloured, as oft repeated by them, with fresh and growing horrors—was spread by the pilgrims flocking yearly to Medîna, over the whole empire. The tragic story was taken up in every household. It soon was seen that the Governor of Kûfa, in his zeal to suppress the imperial claim of the house of Aly, had overshot the mark. The claim of this line, heretofore unknown, or treated with indifference, struck deep now into the hearts of multitudes; and a cloud of indignation and wrath began to gather, which ere long burst upon the dynasty accused of perpetrating the sacrilegious massacre. The tragedy of Kerbala decided not only the fate of the Caliphate, but of Mahometan kingdoms long after the Caliphate had waned and disappeared. The ‘Moharram’.None who has witnessed the wild and passionate grief with which, as the anniversary each year comes round, Moslems of every land beat their breasts, in vast crowds, the live-long night, vociferating unweariedly the frantic cry, Hasan, Hosein! Hasan, Hosein! in wailing cadence, can fail to recognise the fatal weapon, sharp and double-edged, which the Omeyyad dynasty allowed thus to fall into the hands of the house of Aly and the house of Abbâs.[597]
CHAPTER L.
THE OMEYYAD AND ABBASSIDE DYNASTIES, AND CONCLUSION.
Omeyyad and Abbasside dynasties.