AL-ḤUSAIN (الحسين). The second son of Fāt̤imah, the daughter of Muḥammad, by her husband ʿAlī, the fourth K͟halīfah. A brother to al-Ḥasan, the fifth K͟halīfah. According to the Shīʿahs, he was the third K͟halīfah. He was born A.H. 4, and died at Karbalā A.H. 61, being cruelly slain in his conflict with Yazīd, the seventh K͟halīfah, according to the Sunnīs.
The martyrdom of al-Ḥusain is celebrated by the Shīʿahs every year during the first ten days of the Muḥarram [[MUHARRAM]]; an account of his tragic death is therefore necessary for understanding the intensity of feeling with which the scenes and incidents of the last days of the “Imām Ḥusain” are enacted in the “Miracle Play,” a translation of which has been given in English by Sir Lewis Pelly. The following account is taken from the Preface to this work, p. xi. seqq.:—
“Shortly after the accession of Yezid (Yazīd), Ḥusain received at Mecca secret messages from the people of Cufa (al-Kūfah), entreating him to place himself at the head of the army of the faithful in Babylonia. Yezid, however, had full intimation of the intended revolt, and long before Ḥusain could reach Cufa, the too easy governor of that city had been replaced by Obaidallah (ʿUbaidu ʾllāh ibn Ziyād), the resolute ruler of Bussorah (al-Baṣrah), who by his rapid measures disconcerted the plans of the conspirators, and drove them to a premature outbreak, and the surrender of their leader Muslim. The latter foresaw the ruin which he had brought on Ḥusain, and shed bitter tears on that account when captured. His head was struck off and sent to Yezid. On Ḥusain arriving at the confines of Babylonia, he was met by Harro (al-Ḥurr), who had been sent out by Obaidallah with a body of horsemen to intercept his approach. Ḥusain, addressing them, asserted his title to the Califate, and invited them to submit to him. Harro replied, ‘We are commanded as soon as we meet you to bring you directly to Cufa into the presence of Obaidallah, the son of Ziyad.’ Ḥusain answered, ‘I would sooner die than submit to that,’ and gave the word to his men to ride on; but Harro wheeled about and intercepted them. At the same time, Harro said, ‘I have no commission to fight with you, but I am commanded not to part with you until I have conducted you into Cufa’; but he bade Ḥusain to choose any road into that city ‘that did not go directly back to Mecca,’ and ‘do you,’ said he, ‘write to Yezid or Obaidallah, and I will write to Obaidallah, and perhaps it may please God I may meet with something that may bring me off without my being forced to an extremity on your account.’ Then he retreated his force a little to allow Ḥusain to lead the way towards Cufa, and Ḥusain took the road that leads by Adib and Cadisia. This was on Thursday the 1st of Mohurrum (Muḥarram), A.H. 61 (A.D. 680). When night came on, he still continued his march all through the night. As he rode on he nodded a little, and waking again, said, ‘Men travel by night, and the destinies travel toward them; this I know to be a message of death.’
“In the morning, after prayers were over, he mended his pace, and as he rode on there came up a horseman, who took no notice of him, but saluted Harro, and delivered to him a letter, giving orders from Obaidallah to lead Ḥusain and his men into a place where was neither town nor fortifications, and there leave them till the Syrian forces should surround them.
“This was on Friday the 2nd of Mohurrum. The day after, Amer (ʿUmar ibn Saʿīd) came upon them with four thousand men, who were on their march to Dailam. They had been encamped without the walls of Cufa, and when Obaidallah heard of Ḥusain’s coming, he commanded Amer to defer his march to Dailam and go against Ḥusain. But one and all dissuaded him. ‘Beware that you go not against Ḥusain, and rebel against your Lord, and cut off mercy from you, for you had better be deprived of the dominion of the whole world than meet your Lord with the blood of Ḥusain upon you.’ Amer was fain to acquiesce, but upon Obaidallah renewing his command with threats, he marched against Ḥusain, and came up with him, as aforesaid, on Saturday the 3rd of Mohurrum.
“On Amer sending to inquire of Ḥusain what brought him thither, the latter replied, ‘The Cufans wrote to me; but since they reject me, I am willing to return to Mecca.’ Amer was glad when he heard it, and said, ‘I hope to God I may be excused from fighting against him.’ Then he wrote to this purpose to Obaidallah; but Obaidallah sternly replied, ‘Get between him and the river,’ and Amer did so; and the name of the place where he cut Ḥusain off from the Euphrates was called Kerbela (Karbalā): ‘Kerb (anguish) and belā (vexation), Trouble and affliction,’ said Ḥusain when he heard it.
“Then Ḥusain sought a conference with Amer, in which he proposed either to go to Yezid, to return to Mecca, or, as some add, but others deny, to fight against the Turks. Obaidallah was at first inclined to accede to these conditions, until Shamer stood up and swore that no terms should be made with Ḥusain, adding significantly that he had been informed of a long conference between Ḥusain and Amer.
“Then Obaidallah sent Shamer with orders to Amer, that if Ḥusain would surrender unconditionally, he would be received; if not, Amer was to fall upon him and his men, and trample them under his feet. Should he refuse to do so, Shamer was to strike off Amer’s head, and himself command the attack against Ḥusain.
“Thus passed Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, the 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, and 9th of Mohurrum. On the evening of the 9th, Amer drew up his forces close to Ḥusain’s camp, and himself rode up to Ḥusain as he was sitting in the door of his tent just after the evening prayer, and told him of the conditions offered by Obaidallah. Ḥusain desired Amer to give him time until the next morning, when he would make his answer.
“In the night his sister came weeping to his bedside, and, awaking him, exclaimed, ‘Alas for the desolation of my family! my mother Fatima is dead and my father Ali, and my brother Ḥasan. Alas for the destruction that is past! and alas for the destruction that is to come!’ ‘Sister,’ Ḥusain replied, ‘put your trust in God, and know that man is born to die, and that the heavens shall not remain; everything shall pass away but the presence of God, who created all things by His power, and shall make them by His power to pass away, and they shall return to Him alone. My father was better than me, and my mother was better than me; and my brother was better than me; and they and we and all Muslims have an example in the Apostle of God.’ Then he told his men that Obaidallah wanted nobody but him, and that they should go away to their homes. But they said, ‘God forbid that we should ever see the day wherein we survive you!’ Then he commanded them to cord their tents close together, and make a line of them, so as to keep out the enemy’s horse. And he digged a trench behind his camp, which he filled with wood to be set on fire, so that he could only be attacked in front. The rest of the night he spent in prayer and supplication, while the enemy’s guard patrolled all night long round and round his camp.