Ashura

The Battle and Its Related Events

3 :part

The narrator says that the soldiers of Ibn Sa’ad mounted their horses. Husayn (a.s.) sent Burair towards them so that he may admonish them. But his admonition was useless.

Husayn (a.s.) mounted his horse or camel, and stood before the army of enemy and asked them to be quiet. They became silent. Then he praised Allah and remembered His virtues and attributes, and invoked blessings on Muhammad (S) and the angels, and the messengers, and gave an impressive speech,

“Be you destroyed O group of the people! May you remain constantly in sorrow and grief! You sought justice from us with extreme distress and called upon us to help you. We speedily rose to help you. These swords, which are now in your hands, should have swung in our favor, not against us. This fire, which you have ignited to harm us, should have engulfed our enemies and your foes. Now you have befriended your foes without getting any justice or any usefulness from them!”

“Beware! Woe unto you. You left us even before the battle begins, and the storm of tyranny could stop. This is absurd and crazy. Yet you attended them like the forest locusts and gathered around them like moths!” “Go away, you slaves of bondmaids, the evil sects, those who have banished the Book, those who have changed the Word, you germs of sin and students of devil, and destroyers of the traditions.” “Have you imagined that the enemy is strong and so you turned away from us?”

“By Allah! Your trickery and unfaithfulness is indeed old. You shall be the worst sorrow for one who sees and the most unpalatable case for the tyrant.” “Behold! Verily the bastard, and the son of bastard, has cornered me between two options, either battle or death with honor, or accepting disgrace and contempt! How far is disgrace from us? Allah does not like dishonor for us. Similarly His messenger, the faithful people, the poor bodies and souls, and the high personalities who are most precious always prefer martyrdom to slavery by the mean people.”

“Now, verily, I am proceeding towards Allah and martyrdom along with my family members and insufficient friends.”

Then Imam added the following poem of Farwah Ibn Masik Muradi14:

If we win, we have been among the winners from the past;

And if we fail, we would never be actually defeated;

Fear has no room in our souls;

However, our death would precede the kingdom of others;

Whenever death spares someone it does grab another one;

Death of the brave nobles destroyed my community;

As was the case with the predecessors;

Were the kings everlasting, we too would have lasted forever;

And were the good people immortal; we also would have been alike;

Tell the evil wishers to rest assured regarding us;

As what has befallen us shall come to you also.

Then he added: “By Allah! You will not be given except a short time before you will be pressed by the passage of time. Yes, this is a promise from my father and my grandfather. So resolve upon your affair and (gather) your associates, and let not your affair re- main dubious to you. Then have it executed against me and give me no respite."15

“Rightfully, I have relied on the One Who is My Lord and your Lord. There is no living thing, out of His control. Justly, my Lord is on the right path.” “O Allah! Prevent the clouds from raining on them and make them suffer a famine like that of the time of Joseph. O Lord! Impose the child of Thaqif (Hajjaj Ibn Yusuf) on them so that he may make them taste all kinds of disgrace, indignity, injustice, and oppression as they have refuted me, and they have left me without friends. O? God! On you do we rely, and to you do we turn, and to you is the eventual coming."16

Then Imam came down and called for the horse named Mortajaz. He rode it and prepared his friends for the battle.

It is reported from Imam Baqir (a.s.) that the total number of Imam’s army was 45 horsemen and 100 persons on foot. Other things have also been reported