# The Massacre of Karbala: A Historical Analysis - Dr. Yasir Qadhi | 10th November 2013

**Channel:** Yasir Qadhi
**Source:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nm7mKOTZ0qQ
**Transcript page:** https://www.withtranscript.ai/video/nm7mKOTZ0qQ

## Chapters

- 0:24 — Opening Disclaimers and Historical Scope
- 4:15 — Ahl al-Bayt in Sunni Belief
- 11:53 — Husayn's Early Life and Family
- 17:06 — Muawiyah, Yazid, and Succession
- 23:37 — Kufa's Letters and Muslim's Mission
- 32:19 — Ibn Ziyad Crushes the Kufa Uprising
- 42:50 — Muslim's Betrayal and Execution
- 52:47 — Husayn Leaves Makkah Against Advice
- 1:02:43 — Approach to Kufa and First Interception
- 1:09:25 — Negotiations Before the Battle
- 1:18:03 — The Battle and Martyrdom of Husayn
- 1:24:32 — Aftermath and Rise of Shiism
- 1:29:16 — Who Bears Responsibility for Karbala
- 1:36:15 — Sunni View of Yazid's Blame
- 1:42:07 — Hasan's Wisdom and Final Reflections
- 1:47:15 — Closing Remarks and Upcoming Class

## Transcript

**[0:24] Speaker A:** Alhamdulillah bil alameen was salah to assalamu alai sa Muhammad in Wala Ali. He was ahbi ajmain Ammabad. I welcome you to this topic of ours entitled the Massacre of Karbara Historical Analysis. And this is a very long and drawn out topic. So before I begin, and I will begin immediately, I need to make three disclaimers.

**[0:43] Speaker A:** The first disclaimer, this topic is a very contentious one. It raises a lot of emotions. It is potentially possible to stoke the fans of hatred, the flames of anger between Sunnis and Shia. And therefore, I want to state for the record very clearly that I am completely and totally opposed to stirring any bigotry, any hatred against any group. No doubt, I am a Sunni and I'm proud of being a Sunni. And I disagree with Shia theology and their interpretation of history. Yet this disagreement that I have and all of us really have and they have with us, this disagreement should be kept civil and it should never lead to violence or anger or hatred in this world. Sunni and Shia should dialogue and debate, but we should never get violent with one another because of the differences in our belief. And the purpose of this lecture is just to educate, is just to talk about what we as Sunnis believe about Karbala and how we view the incident of Karbala.

**[1:44] Speaker A:** It's not meant to stoke anger or hatred against any group.

**[1:48] Speaker A:** Also, another disclaimer. The second disclaimer. Obviously, Karbala is a very detailed and a very important event in our history. And by its very nature, history is subjective. There's always interpretations, there's always motives being read in and in this short lecture, and I have only one and a half hour, there is no way that we can go into a detailed analysis.

**[2:11] Speaker A:** Variations of history, what book X said compared to book Y. Why does book X say this? Why does book Y say this? What are the strengths and weaknesses of each interpretation? We have no time for any of that.

**[2:22] Speaker A:** And it is very Easy to give 10 lectures just on Karbala. I am only giving you one lecture. So by the very nature of this lecture, we have to condense, we have to summarize. And I am not going to be mentioning variations as I do in my Seerah class. You're literally just gonna have to trust me and my authority for today's lecture that I'm giving you one interpretation.

**[2:44] Speaker A:** But I just want to point out the interpretation that I will be giving is the standard interpretation of so Sunni Islam. It is taken from the writings of Ibn Hajar, of Ibn Kathir, of the important historians of Sunni Islam. And by and large it is agreed upon. And the third and final disclaimer that the other version, we have this version, there is another version that is popularized by the Shia and most of this comes from one particular person. The details of that version comes from one person.

**[3:17] Speaker A:** And this person was a very early Muslim historian who, who was also Shia. And his name is abu Mihnaf Lut Ibn Yahya and he died 157 hijra. And Abu Mihnaf Lut Ibn yahya was the first early historian to write a detailed booklet about the massacre of Karbala. And he called it Maqtalu Hussain. And this booklet, Maktalu Husayn became the standard version full of lurid details, full of a lot of things that allegedly took place.

**[3:46] Speaker A:** And from our perspective, this author and his book are not authoritative. All of our scholars have said that this person is not somebody that can be trusted in narrations because he theologically is inclined towards the other group and therefore he has a version of events that we do not agree with. And we will not really be concentrating on that version of events. As I said, our version will be by and large Ibn Kathir and Ibn Hajjar and the standard Sunni historians.

**[4:15] Speaker A:** Now we begin our talk and I want to begin by mentioning what is our perspective with the Al Ul Bayt with the family of the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam Ahlus Sunnah Wal Jama' ah firmly believe that the Alul Bayt have a very high rank and are the most blessed of all families.

**[4:36] Speaker A:** We love them with a genuine love. We love them with a genuine love. Between the two extremes, on the one hand we have those and they did exist and they still exist who consider the Al Ul Bayt to be like any other family or even worse than this Astaghfirullah. They curse them. And that has been a trend that has existed and there are still some people like this.

**[4:59] Speaker A:** And on the other hand we have the other trend of Islam. And this trend considers the Al Ul Bayt to be above and beyond other families in a supernatural manner. And they give them powers and they give them privileges and, and they give them attributes that we believe only belong to Allah. We believe that the Al Ul Bayt are the most respected family in the whole world if they are righteous. So the Mu' Mins and the Muslims amongst them have a double blessing.

**[5:28] Speaker A:** They are believers and they are Al Ul Bayt and the companions amongst them have a triple blessing such as Ali Ibn Abi Talib and Fatim and others that they are Al Bayt and they are Sahabah and they are believers. And therefore we love them with a love that is triple if they are characterized by all of these characteristics. And we firmly affirm the blessings mentioned regarding them in the Quran and in the Sunnah. And as for the Quran, Allah says in the Quran.

**[6:05] Speaker A:** That Allah wants to purify you of any filth and Allah wants to cleanse you a good cleansing. This is in the Quran and in the Hadith. We firmly believe that the Prophet called Fatima and Ali and Hassan and Hussain and this is called the hadith of the cloak Hadith ul kisa. And this is in our sources and we believe in it that he called Ali and Fatima and Hasan and Hussain and he put them under a cloak and he said, o Allah, these are my ahlabayti, these are my family. So we affirm this and we say that they are the most blessed family.

**[6:39] Speaker A:** And we firmly believe and we implement what our Prophet said as narrated in Sahih Muslim that he said to the Sahaban and those after them that I remind you, by Allah and by the rights of Allah for the rights of my family.

**[7:00] Speaker A:** He repeated this through three times. So we love them with a love that is above and beyond any other family love. Abu Bakr Siddiq radiallahu ta' ala anhu he said to Ali IBN Abi Talib, I swear by Allah, I would rather be kind and generous to the Al Ul Bayt than to my own family. Abu Bakr Al Siddiq said, I would rather be kind and generous to the Al Ul Bayt and he's speaking to Ali than to my own family. And Umar IBN Al Khattab radiallahu ta' ala an when he wrote down the dawaween and the dawaween was a schedule of who will get how much money.

**[7:37] Speaker A:** It was a schedule of stipends. When he wrote down the dawaween, the number one category and the highest amounts were to the Al Bayt. And the Al Ul Bayt got more than even he himself got as a salary. The Al Ul Bayt were the number one category. And this shows us that the love that Abu Bakr and Umar had for the Al Ul Bayt and Umar loved the Al ul Bayt so much that he actually wanted to establish kinship with them.

**[8:03] Speaker A:** And that is why he proposed to the daughter of Ali IBN Abi Talib and he married Umm I Kulthum Binti Ali. There could be no animosity between Umar and Ali when Umar is proposing and Ali is accepting the marriage of his own daughter to Umar. And so Umar married the daughter of Ali. And one of the reasons he gave, he said I wanted to have some relationship with the Al Ul Bayt. So we are Ahlis Sunnah wal jama'. Ah. We love the Al Ul Bayt with the genuine love. And this has been the position of all Sunni scholars of Islam. Ibn Taymiyyah says of the fundamentals of Ahlul Sunnah is to love the family of the Prophet Sallallahu alaihi wasallam. But we also say that if a person is not righteous, if a person is sinful, then it doesn't matter what his bloodline is.

**[8:55] Speaker A:** His sins are one thing and his bloodline is another. And a person's bloodline will never save him from the consequences of his own deeds. And we base this on what our Prophet Muhammad said. Hadith is in Tirmidhi that whoever's deeds pulled him back, his blood will not push him forward. Whoever's deeds pulled him back, his blood will not push him forward.

**[9:22] Speaker A:** So we say that just because a person is of the descendants of Al Ul Bayt it doesn't make him an angel. It is possible that some of the Al Ul Bayt will commit sins and those sins they are responsible for. And historically this has been the case. And to this day there are dynasties and there are lineages that claim to be Al Ul Bayt and some of those claims are valid. And we see these people have sins and they have good deeds.

**[9:45] Speaker A:** Just because a person belongs to Al Bayt does not make him an angel. He can be just like and she can be like any Muslim. We with good and bad, when they're righteous, we love them with the double love. When they are other than that then we say Allah Azzawajal will take charge of their affair. Also there is a fundamental difference between the definition of Al Ul Bayt for us and for the Twelver Shia.

**[10:07] Speaker A:** As for us, as for them, excuse me, primarily the Al Ul Bayt really is the descendants of Fatima. That's really what they concentrate on, the descendants of Fatima, Hassan and Hussain. As for us, we say the Al Ul Bayt no doubt is Hasan and Hussain and they are the gist of the Al Ul Bayt, the crux of the Al Ul Bayt. But the Al Ul Bayt is broader than them. We have many categories of Al Ul Bayt and first and foremost by the testimony of the Quran and the Sunnah, the wives of the Prophet are inside The Al Ul Bayt.

**[10:40] Speaker A:** The very verses that talk about Al ul Bayt in the Quran is that you Ahlulbayt? The very context is about the wives of the Prophet Yanisa and Nabi, Yaanisa and Nabi, Yanisa and Nabi. And Allah says in the same surah his wives are their mothers. So the wives are from the Al Ul Bayt. Fatima and Hassan and Ali and Hussain are the jist, the kernel, the main part of the Alul Bayt. And we also affirm this. But we also affirm Aqeel, the cousin of or the brother of Ali and Ja' Far, the brother of Ali and their children are Al Bayt. And we also affirm Abbas, the uncle of the Prophet and his descendants or Al Ul Bayt. For us all of these lines are Al Ul Bayt. And we are not allowed to give charity to any of the Al Ul Bayt out of respect to them.

**[11:27] Speaker A:** We do not give Zakat to any of the descendants of Fatima and Ali and Ja' Far and Aqeel and and Abbas. All of these descendants for us are Al Ul Bayt. And as for them, they do not really consider the descendants of Abbas to be Al Ul Bayt and others as well. There's a lot of rivalry between the Al, the Shiatu Ali and the Al Abbas for historical reasons, for us the Al Abbas are also Al Bayt.

**[11:53] Speaker A:** Now as for Hussain IBN Ali and he is the subject of our talk today.

**[11:57] Speaker A:** Hussain IBN Ali was born in Sha Ban of the fourth year of the Hijra less than one year after Hassan was born. Hassan was born in Ramadan of the third year and barely had Fatima become cleansed of the delivery when she became pregnant again with Hussain. So Hasan and Hussain are less than a year apart and there are many ahadith that our Prophet praised Hasan and Hussain. And with regards to Hasan and Hussain, the Prophet said Hassan and Hussain are the leaders of the young men of Paradise, Sayyida, Shababi, Ahlul Jannah. And once he hugged the both of them and he said, Hassan and Hussain are my two sweet flowers, fragrances of this world.

**[12:45] Speaker A:** They bring me comfort. They're sweet, they're blessed. These are my two blessings in this world. And we affirm for them all that the Prophet affirmed for them. Hussain was born in Medina and he lived in Medina until Ali became Khalifa.

**[13:00] Speaker A:** And when Ali became Khalifa he moved to Kufa. So Hussain moved to Kufa with him. And Husayn witnessed the two battles of Jamal and Sifin along with his old brother Hasan and then Ali was assassinated, as you know, by the Khawarij. When Ali was assassinated, Hassan was given the oath of allegiance by the people of Kufa and Muawiyah was given the oath of allegiance by the people of Syria. For the first time in the Muslim world there were two Khalifahs.

**[13:28] Speaker A:** Hassan on the one side and Muawiya on the other. And Muawiya and Hassan were about to go to war again. But Hassan resigned. Hassan, after six months he resigned and he did not want any further bloodshed. And so the Al Bayt returned to Medina after Hassan's resignation and Hussain moved to Medina and he lived there until the death of of Muawiyah in 60 AH, and 60 after the Hijra and Yazid coming to power after which Hussain left Medina.

**[14:01] Speaker A:** So Madina, Kufa, Madinah and then he left Medina. And we'll talk about his leaving once we get to Yazid and how he came to power. There is no doubt that Hussain was greatly respected in his lifetime by all of the companions. Abdullah IBN Amr Ibn Al as was once sitting in the shadow of the Ka' Aba and he saw Hussain coming and he said, this man is the most beloved man on earth to the inhabitants of the heavens. There's nobody more beloved to those up there than this man. And this is coming from Abdullah IBN Amr Ibn Al Aus. Now let's talk a little bit about Yazid and the coming of power to Yazid before we get to now the problems between the two. We are all aware vaguely, even though many of us have not studied this in detail, that towards the end of the time of the Khulafa al Rashidun civil war broke out between the Sahaba.

**[14:53] Speaker A:** And more Muslims lost their lives in this civil war in Jamal and Sifin than all of the Muslims who had participated in gazoo against the Kuffar. More Muslims lost their lives in these two wars than all of the Muslims before this time fighting against the Sassanids and the Farisiyoun and the Room, all of those Muslims were less than the Muslims who died in Jamal and Sufin. It was a very traumatic civil war and the quantity of Muslims that died was just horrendous. Now as we said, when Hasan came to power in 41, Hijra and Muawiyah came to power the same year. The two of them almost went to a third civil war, a third battle. There was Jamal, there was Sifine. There was going to be a third battle bigger and more horrendous than the previous two.

**[15:46] Speaker A:** When after much contemplation, Hassan said, no, no more blood is going to be spilled. Khalas, you wanted that bad Muawiyah, Take it. I will give up. And we, as Ahlul Sunnah, believe that Hasan was more entitled to be the Khalifa than Muawiya. And Hasan was more righteous than Muawiyah. But Hasan was also, because of his righteousness, he did not want to spill any blood, and so he voluntarily gave up. And the Kufiyoon, the people of Iraq had a difficult time accepting his own surrender because he's their leader. But he managed to quell them down, he managed to calm them down. And with a great deal of difficulty, the people of Iraq grudgingly decided to Khalas, throw their towel in with the rest of the Ummah. And Hassan retired peacefully to.

**[16:38] Speaker A:** To where? To Medina. He retired to Medina. And Hussain, it is said, was not happy with his brother's decision. And he expressed this. But Hassan calmed him down and said, this is better for the Ummah. And out of respect for his older brother, Hussain did not do anything while his brother was alive. And he also lived a quiet life. And hassan died in 50 Ah, 50 after the hijra. Hassan passes away in Medina.

**[17:06] Speaker A:** Now, after the death of Hasan, Yazid IBN Muawiya was nominated by his own father to become the successor. And who is Yazid? And who is Muawiya? Yazid IBN Muawiya Ibn Abi Sufyan, Ibn Sakhar, Ibn Harb, Ibn Umayya. Right. The Banu Umayyah and the Banu Umayyah and the Banu Hashim were the most elite of the Quraish. And even though they were cousins, there was also, as always the case between cousins and brothers, some type of rivalry between the two. And this is known throughout the Seerah. And that is why when the Prophet conquered Makkah, he made the house of Abu Sufyan one of the most noble houses, to give the honor to the Banu Umayya, to give them the izzah that they wanted. And Abu Sufyan is, of course, Yazid's grandfather, right? Abu Sufyan is the leader. The Badr took place because of Abu Sufyan's caravan.

**[17:58] Speaker A:** Uhud. He was the leader, Abu Sufyan. Right. So Abu Sufyan's grandson is Yazid. Abu Sufyan's son is Muawiyah. Muawiyah's son is Yazid. Yazid, by unanimous consensus of all the scholars of Islam, is not a Sahabi. He's not a companion. He was born in the year 26 Hijra. 26 after the Hijrah. So more than 15 years after the death of the Prophet, the sallallahu alaihi wasallam. And the first thing that we hear about him as a young man was that his father put him in charge of attacking the famous Roman city of Constantinople which is now called Istanbul, the city of Constantinople. His father Muawiya put Yazid as a young man in his 20s, in charge of the army that will attack Constantinople in the heart of the Roman Empire.

**[18:48] Speaker A:** Empire. And it was in this battle that Abu Ayyub Al Ansari passed away. And that is why to this day Abu Ayyub Al Ansadi his grave is in one of the suburbs of Istanbul. To this day, Abu Ayyub Al Ansadi, his grave is in the suburb of Istanbul. Because it is said that when Abu Ayyub was about to die, he told Yazid that charge in as far as you can go and wherever you get, just bury me there, as close to the walls of Constantinople as you can.

**[19:15] Speaker A:** And that's exactly what Yazid did, that he charged in as far as he could go. And he then buried Abu Ayyub Al Ansari over there. Now, not ironically, but very interesting, Hussain actually participated as well in this ghazoo. So Yazid and Muawi are on the. Sorry. Yazid and Hussain are on the same side fighting against the Romans. And yet history would have a different turn 30, 40 years later. Now there's also a hadith, by the way, that we need to be aware of about this incident. And it is reported in Bukhari. Our Prophet said, the first army from my Ummah to attack the city of the Caesar shall be forgiven.

**[20:02] Speaker A:** The first army that shall attack the city of Caesar which is Constantinople shall be forgiven. And this is really the one blessing that we have to give to Yazid that he was the leader of this army. And no doubt along with his other issues that we will talk about and we are fair, we look at the good and the bad, the one positive that he has. And even Imam Al Zahabi, who is overall very negative of Yazid, he says with all of his evil he got this one blessing and that is the blessing of participating in the army of attacking Constantinople. Now obviously it was not successful and they came back, but it was the first attack on Constantinople.

**[20:41] Speaker A:** Now Muawiya, after the death of Hasan, decided to nominate Yazid to be The Khalifa after him. And this issue has a lot of talk, pros and cons, which is beyond the scope of this class. And the bottom line, that I will just say quite categorically, and there's no question about this, we firmly believe that there were far more people qualified to be the Khalifa than Yazid. That Ibn Umar was alive, Ibn Zubayr was alive, Hussain was alive, all of these people were alive. And it is something that we firmly believe that these people were more qualified and righteous.

**[21:14] Speaker A:** And yet we also believe that it is allowed for a person of lesser stature to be the Khalifa in the presence of those who are of higher stature. This is called Imam. A person who's of lesser stature is allowed to be the Khalifa. It's not the best, it's not ideal. It's allowed over those who are better than him.

**[21:36] Speaker A:** And we do not have to agree with Muawiyah's decision. This is a very fundamental point of Sunni theology. We respect the Sahaba in their Islam, but we do not have to agree with every political decision they made. We have to be very clear about this right. We have every right to say, look, that wasn't the best decision, or that was the best decision.

**[21:58] Speaker A:** But what we cannot do is to cast aspersions on the Niyya and the character of Muawiya. He is a Sahabi, end of story. He did what he did out of some concern for the Ummah. Whether he is right and wrong, we have the right to discuss. But we cannot doubt his Niyya that deep down inside he wanted some benefit for the Ummah. And of what the benefits he wanted, which are pretty obvious, he has witnessed the worst civil wars that were caused because of politics. He wants to close this chapter. And so he says, khalas, let there be no more fighting. My son shall be the Khalifa after me. And he reasoned to himself, if Hasan can become the Khalifa after Ali and Hassan and Ali are father, son and father, well, then why can't I? And that's his reasoning. But that's. We don't have to agree with it, but we must give him the benefit of the doubt.

**[22:49] Speaker A:** This is what our religion requires of us, that the Sahaba, by and large, we must consider them to be people who loved Islam and love the Prophet and are not traitors. But we do not have to agree with their political decisions. The goal was unity. The goal was avoiding bloodshed. And Muawiyah felt, if I nominate my son, nobody can then go to civil war. And so in the lifetime of Yazid while he's alive. Muawiyah's alive, Yazid's alive. Muawiyah announces every one of you must agree that after I die, my son Yazid shall become the Khalifa after me. By and large, the bulk of the Muslim world agreed. But Makkah and Medina, the provinces of Makkah and Medina refused and Muawiyah let it linger. He didn't really force it too much on them. He just said insha' Allah Bayt. He probably felt that when I die they will have to follow along.

**[23:37] Speaker A:** And in Makkah there was Abdullah IBN Zubayr, the son of Zubair Ibn Al Awam. And in Medina there was the Al Bayt, Hussain and the other Al Bayt. And they both felt that they are more qualified to be the Khalifa than Yazid. But in the lifetime of Muawiyah, they didn't do anything political.

**[23:54] Speaker A:** They just let it be. Muawiyah died in Rajab of 60. Ah, we're going in chronological order here. Rajab of 60 he died and there were three people that the Ummah was looking at to see what are they going to do. There were three people who had enough clout, enough respect, enough political capability that if they caused a hue and cry, the Umayyads are in trouble.

**[24:21] Speaker A:** Who are these three people? Number one on the list. And most of us ignore him because he was apolitical. Abdullah IBN Umar, the son of Umar Ibn Al Khattab. Abdullah Ibn Umar was the senior most Sahabi that was alive at this time.

**[24:38] Speaker A:** He is the senior most, the most respected Sahabi. Remember Hussain, his respect primarily is lineage. But he was barely 6, 7 years old when the Prophet passed away. Remember? Right.

**[24:50] Speaker A:** His respect is his blood, his lineage, and that is a high respect. But Ibn Umar participated in Ghazawat, Ibn Umar participated in UHUD and all the battles afterwards. Ibn Umar is a faqi, he's a scholar. And we're not comparing, no doubt, but each has the points. And Ibn Umar was senior to Hussain in terms of experience, age and basically participating in Ghazawat. Right? And of course Hussain is senior in terms of blood. Nobody can deny that. So Ibn Umar was the main person that the Ummah was looking at. And Ibn Umar decided to be apolitical.

**[25:24] Speaker A:** And that is why Ibn Taymiyyah, for example, praises Ibn Umar as having the most wisdom that not having any bloodshed, that Ibn Umar said, let me not get involved, let the Ummah has suffered enough. And he gave his Bay' ah to Yazid, but he never took part in politics. And he said to his children that look, if there's good in Yazid, then Alhamdulillah good. If there's bad, then we will be patient at his evil and, and will let Allah judge him. He was not pro Yazid, but he didn't make a stand anti Yazid. He just lived his life with Ibadah and ILM and Tahajjud. And he didn't get involved in politics. The second person was Abdullah IBN Zubayr. And again, Abdullah IBN Zubayr is senior to Hussain in age. Only in age, obviously. Otherwise he is senior to Hussain in age. And he also has done much.

**[26:08] Speaker A:** And his father's a Sahabi, his mother's a Sahabi, his grandfather. His whole family is a family of prestige. Abdullah IBN al Zubayr. And he was also a political person from a young age. And Abdullah IBN Zubayr decided to revolt and he revolted in Makkah. And the third person on this list, which is the one that we're going to discuss, is Hussain IBN Ali IBN Abi Talib. So let's talk about Hussain now. What happened?

**[26:35] Speaker A:** Muawiyah dies. And the Governor of Medina knows the tension between Hussain and the Umayyads. So the governor of Medina calls Yazid to his residence, his house and sorry, not Yazid, Hussain. The Governor of Medina calls Hussain to his house and he asks him to give the oath of allegiance in public tomorrow in the masjid. Let's quell any problems. Give me the oath of allegiance. And he kept on insisting, insisting, insisting, but Hussain refused. And Hussain, when he saw the pressure coming, he said, okay, give me some time. Let me think, let me see what I can do. And the governor was a soft man. We know who he is and everything. He's a soft spoken man. He was not a very harsh person. And so he let it go. Hussain immediately left to his house and informed his family to pack. And they were leaving in two hours.

**[27:27] Speaker A:** Literally, like they're just gonna leave the whole city. And the same night, Husayn, along with the immediate family, left for Makkah in the middle of the night. Husayn left for Makkah in the middle of the night and he made his way to Makkah. Why did he go to Makkah?

**[27:46] Speaker A:** Because Makkah was relatively less under the control of the Umayyads. There was still a little bit more tension. The sympathizers of Abdullah IBN Zubayr as well were over. There. And therefore he wanted to go to Makkah in order to flee the stronghold of Medina.

**[28:03] Speaker A:** So within the same night, he fled to Mecca. News became public that Hussain had fled and he had not given the oath of allegiance to Yazid, the governor, which is Yazid, meaning, you know, the governor on behalf of Yazid. And when this spread to Iraq, the people of Iraq, and in particular the people of Kufa, they rejoiced because they were waiting for rebellion. The people of Kufa were never happy with the Umayyads. And when they heard this, it was now Ramadan of 60 hijrah. So now it's Ramadan. So the message comes to them that Hussain has refused the allegiance. Their hopes soar, and they start sending letters and delegations to Hussain in Makkah telling him that the time is now ripe. We will be behind you Come and we will fight against the forces of the Umayyads. And it is said in our books that more than 60 messages came to him from the people of Kufa on a daily basis.

**[29:07] Speaker A:** People kept on sending every tribe, the tribe of Kinda and the tribe of all of the major tribes of the region of Kufa. They sent their representatives. And they're telling him that, come over. We need you to lead us against the rebellion and against the Umayyads. And they sent many promises and threats as well. The threats being that, look, we're not even going to pray jumu' ah until you come. What is the issue of praying jumu'? Ah? Praying jumu' ah was also a political act in that the Khalifa or the governor led jumu' ah prayer. Right. So in those days, the governor was the one who led jumu' a prayer. And therefore, by not praying Jumu', a, you are sending the message. We don't consider you to be legitimate. We're not gonna pray behind you. So they sent a message to Hussain.

**[29:47] Speaker A:** We're not even praying Jumu' ah until you come. And that's the message. Like, you had better come. We are desperate for your attention. And lists upon lists of noblemen signed their names that come and we will be with you fighting against the Umayyads. Now, remember the city of Kufa. What is Kufa? Kufa was a very unique and peculiar place. And in the year 37, it was the year that Ali shifted his caliphate to Kufa. And ever since that time, Kufa became the place of sympathy for the Al Bayt.

**[30:21] Speaker A:** And it was in Kufa that the political movement known as Shi' ism Began. Let me repeat. It was in Kufa that the political movement known as Shia Tu Ali began. In the beginning it was a political movement. No theology, no aqeedah, no cursing of the sun, nothing like this. It was just politics. We think Al Bayt should be the Khalifa, right? And this they call themselves Shia to Ali, Ali himself had a lot of trouble with his own Shia. And there are many recorded conversations and many, you know, expressions of frustration from Ali himself that you're not, you know, doing what you can. There's a lot of you're not listening to me as well as you should.

**[31:03] Speaker A:** And there's a lot of Akbar about Ali's own tensions with the people of Kufa. Now, as we had said, when Hassan gave up or not. Sorry? When Hassan resigned. Not gave up. When Hassan resigned, the people of Kufa were not happy and they wanted rebellion. But Hassan calmed them down and they were still wanting a rebellion. Hassan passes away. Hussain now takes charge. So they say to Hussain, your brother didn't do it. You come and do it. Come and we will fight you. So a fight with you, behind you, against the Umayyads. Now, Hussain, after getting all of these, all of these letters, he decided to send his cousin to check out. Is it really worth it for me to go?

**[31:43] Speaker A:** Are we sure that we're able to go? And he sent his cousin, Muslim Ibn Aqeel, Ibn Abi Talib. So Aqeel is his older brother, is his uncle. Sorry, older uncle. And Aqeel is of course the brother of Ja' Far and Ali, right? Jafar Ali. Aqeel. Aqeel is his brother, the brother of Ja' Far and Ali. So the son of Aqeel, his name is Muslim. So Muslim IBN Aqeel is the first cousin of, of Hussain, clear?

**[32:08] Speaker A:** So he sends one of the Al Bayt, he is an Al Bayt. And he says to him, check out is Kufa ready or not? Are they really serious about this or not?

**[32:19] Speaker A:** So Muslim IBN Aqeel left with a small group, one or two people, that's it. Just to find. It's like an. It's like not a spy, but basically it's a scout is what I'm telling you. Scouting mission, right? Find out is it worthwhile or not. And so Muslim arrives in Kufa in the month of Dhul Qa'dah. 60. Ah, look at how time is coming up now we know Muharram61 is all going to come to an end. Look, now we're already in Dhul Qa'dah, right. Two months away from the massacre. We can see what's building up here.

**[32:50] Speaker A:** So he arrives in Kufa in the month of Dhul Qa'dah and the people rejoice like they have never rejoiced before. And thousands upon thousands of people at Tabari says more than 12,000 people in the course of the next two weeks gave the oath of allegiance directly to Muslim. And when you give the oath of allegiance, this basically means khalas, we are with you, end of story. No matter what happens, you are our leader. They gave the oath of allegiance to Muslim on behalf of Hussain, basically that were on the side of Hussain.

**[33:25] Speaker A:** And these 12,000 people, they represented the bulk of Kufa over 30, 40,000 because each one is representing a mini tribe. So every person who shakes the hand, there's 10 people, 15 people behind him. You get the point here, right? This is how they would do the bay' ah that the, the leader or the elder would come and give the bay'. Ah. So the Bulk of Kufa, 30, 40,000 people have now claimed that we are with Hussain. Muslim Ibn Aqeel is overjoyed. He's never seen this enthusiasm and support. And so he writes back a letter that you can sense his excitement. And he writes to Hussain that all of the people of Kufa are behind you.

**[34:06] Speaker A:** So as soon as you get this letter, do not delay, come immediately. He's excited, he's seen all of this. The people are just buzzing with excitement. So he says, okay, we are going. As soon as you get this letter, come forth, do not delay and make your way to make your way to Kufa.

**[34:24] Speaker A:** Now we're gonna talk about the letter in a while. Let's finish up the story of Muslim. What happens to Muslim. Okay, so he sends this letter sometime in Dhul Qaada, the end of dhul qa'dah of 60. Ah, now rumors of all of this, you cannot hide this from the people.

**[34:40] Speaker A:** Eventually it reaches Yazid in Damascus. Remember, Yazid is in Damascus, Hussain is in Medina and his supporters are in Medina and Makkah Hussain is in Mecca right now. Sorry. And his supporters are in Kufa, right? So remember the basic geography here.

**[34:57] Speaker A:** Now rumors of this beginnings of an uprising eventually reach the ears of Yazid. And so Yazid, the first thing that he does, he sends in the most vicious politician he knows. Get rid of the mediocre or the average guys. I want the shrewdest, the most vicious, the one who's gonna Solve it. And that was a person who's infamous in early Islam and his name is Ubaydillah IBN Ziyad, Ibn Abihi. He's known as Ibn Ziyad, he's known as Ibn Ziyad. And Ibn Ziyad was really a Machiavellian politician. He got the job done regardless of the costs. He was loyal to the Umayyads completely at this time. And his only goal in life really was to rise in the ranks.

**[35:43] Speaker A:** He just wanted to do whatever was the job and basically rise in the ranks of the era of politics. And nobody really has any respect for Ibn Ziyad amongst the historians in terms of his morals, in terms of his political abilities. No doubt he was shrewd, that's why he was put in. So the first thing Zazid does, he gets rid of the governor of Kufa who was actually again a gentle, nice person by and large, gets rid of him, says, you get out of here. And he sends Ibn Ziyad with an entourage, a grand total of 17 people.

**[36:16] Speaker A:** That's it. Ibn Ziyad doesn't need an army right now, he needs brains. He sends Ibn Ziyad with a grand total of 17 people. So Ibn Ziyad was well known, as we said, to be vicious. He was also rash and hot tempered and he was also very young.

**[36:33] Speaker A:** He's going to become the governor of Kufa. And do you know how old he was? 28 years old. And young men generally speaking are very rash. Young men don't act wisely, right? Young men are quick in their temper and their anger. And at this young age Yazid is putting him in charge of the situation. And there is no doubt this was one of the most dangerous decisions that really led to immediately to Karbala. And that is putting this young, tempestuous, basically overzealous person in charge of the whole situation. So Ibn Ziyad enters Kufa in the month of dhul qa'dah see, 60. Ah. And he tells the governor basically, here's the letter of your resignation. You get out. I'm in charge now, right? I'm going to deal with this.

**[37:22] Speaker A:** And it is said he entered Kufa after Fajr prayer and he entered Kufa with the turban around his face as they would typically do. And when he entered in the middle of the basically not middle of the night but early morning and he had an entourage, the people thought he might be Hussain. So the people began chanting and praising Assalamu Alaika, Yabin, Rasulillah, Marhaban you know, welcome, O son of the messenger of Allah. We welcome you and you have come to the noble place. And. And so Ibn Ziyad understood that these rumors are. These rumors are true, that there is a plot, that things are happening here. They're waiting for Hussain to come. Until finally one of the entourage, and he's quiet. You can see his shrewdness. He's trying. One of his entourage gets angry and says, shut up, be quiet. This is it. Hussain, this is your governor, Abd al Rahman Ibn Ziyad.

**[38:11] Speaker A:** And that's when people realized something is going on here, that the plot has been exposed.

**[38:17] Speaker A:** So Ibn Ziyad takes his residence in the fortress that was the governor's office. And he figures out, what am I going to do now? The first call to order. Get to Muslim Ibn Aqeel. Who's Muslim Ibn Aqeel? The scout. Get to Muslim Ibn Aqeel and find out what's really happening. But how can he figure out where is Muslim Ibn Aqeel in this large city? How is he gonna get to him? Notice his shrewdness.

**[38:39] Speaker A:** He takes one of his 17 men, Anonymous, that was not known to the people, and he dresses him like a traveler. And he gives him a sack of gold coins, lots of money, and he gives him the plot. You shall pretend that you are Ahla Shia from Sham, you are Shia to Ali coming from Syria, and you make yourself known to the Shia. And until you say I have to hand this money to the one in charge, this is an amana. I have a lot of money from the Shia of Sham.

**[39:12] Speaker A:** And until I get to the person in charge, I'm not going to give this money to him. So this spy, and this is a spy now, this spy spent the next few days basically getting into the houses of the people that were Shia to Ali. And when we say Shia, remember, right now, this is a political movement right now. It's not a theology. Right now this is like Democrats and Republicans. Like you have people with a lot of anger and blood between Democrats and like not just, you know, two tame political parties here. And he makes his way slowly but surely to the house of the host of Muslim Ibn Aqeel, the host of Muslim who's hosting him. Lo and behold, one of the noblemen of Kufa who pretended to be on the Umayyad side was secretly a Shia. And this nobleman was known to the.

**[40:00] Speaker A:** To the governor.

**[40:01] Speaker A:** You see, he's playing a game here. Now, one of the rich and elite pretends to be Pro Umayyad. In reality, he is pro Hussein. And his name was. His name was Hani Ibn Urwah. Hani Ibn Urwah. So Hani Ibn Urwah was one of the noblemen, the leaders. He was like, if you like consider him to be in our days, it would be like a senator or a congressman of the city. Like he's known to everybody. And publicly he's pro Umayyad. And he's visiting the governor's mansion every few days, right? Sipping tea with him. But in reality, he is pro Shia, he's pro Hussain. So lo and behold, this spy uncovers that Muslim Ibn. Sorry, Hani Ibn Urwah is the main person organizing it. And Hani insists, you have to hand it to me. I'm not gonna let you see Muslim Ibn Aqeel. Hand it to me.

**[40:51] Speaker A:** So he hands him the money. Because now he's figured out this is the head, right?

**[40:56] Speaker A:** Soon as he hands him the money, he then basically slinks away, disappears, goes and tells Ibn Ziyad the culprit is Hani Ibn Urwah. He's the brains. And so Ibn Ziyad calls Hani to his residence. And after the civil drears are over, Ibn Ziyad calls him. You are the one who is housing Muslim Ibn Aqeel. Hand me over Muslim and I might forgive you. He denies. He denies. I don't know what you're talking about. Then he calls the spy out.

**[41:25] Speaker A:** And so Hani sees this plot has been exposed. The spy comes out and he goes, I'm the one who gave you the money, right? You're gonna now deny it to my face. So he realizes the plot has been exposed. And Ibn Ziyad takes his spear and causes him to bleed. He doesn't kill him on the spot. And he beats him up because in his eyes he's a traitor. That we thought you were a respected person. It turns out that you're backstabbing us. When the news that that Hani is being beaten and he's being tortured spreads in the city, the tribesmen of Hani come to the governor's residence and they demand, you have to hand over our leader or else we will rebel.

**[41:59] Speaker A:** And Ibn Ziyad negotiates with them. And he says, no, no, I have no intention to harm him. I'm just finding out where is Muslim Ibn Aqeel. And we're not going to do anything to him. Don't worry. So he calms them down and the tribesmen go back. In the meantime, of course, Muslim Ibn Aqeer realizes the plot's exposed. The plot's exposed. Realizing that Khalas, there's no going back, he sends the secret message to his followers. There's a secret code that had been put into place because again realized the and one of the reasons why later on Shia believed in this thing called Taqiyyah and hiding it what not. They really did go through political repression. They went through a lot of difficult times. So they had to invent a doctrine of hiding, of kitman, of keeping things secret. So he had a secret code. And that code was Ya Mansoor Amit.

**[42:46] Speaker A:** Ya Mansoor Amit was the code that we're going to attack.

**[42:50] Speaker A:** Come to arms and come prepared for battle. This was the secret code. So when he realizes that Hani has been imprisoned in the house of the governor Ibn Ziyad, he sends forth the cry. Now remember, 12,000 had given him bay' ah by their hand, 30, 40,000 of the city was technically behind him.

**[43:09] Speaker A:** Well, when the cry comes out, a semi respectable 4,000 come forth. Out of the 12,000 that actually gave the bay', ah, 4,000 come armed to the hilt, ready for battle. And that's still okay. 4,000 against a small entourage of Ibn Ziyad, you might actually get somewhere. So these 4,000 come forth and they agree they're going to march to the the fortress, the battle they free, they're going to free Hannah and they're going to kill Ibn Ziyad.

**[43:38] Speaker A:** Now Muslim Ibn Aqeel comes with his entourage of 4,000 and they camp outside the gate of the fortress. Ibn Ziyad, the Shoor politician that he is, he assesses who is out there, which tribes are out there. And from every, every one of the tribes that he sees, he finds a sympathizer in his own group and he negotiates a deal with them to cut off one tribe after another, right? You realize the Arabs at that time were tribes and every tribe is going to follow its leader. And so what he does is he works out with every single tribe.

**[44:12] Speaker A:** What do they need that they're going to not support Hussain and the Shia or the uprising against him? And slowly but so much so Al Tabari and others they mention, he even used mothers and fathers against their children, that he sent the mothers in to say that come home now. Can't you see there are so many people. Don't worry about it. I don't want to lose you. It's emotional blackmail. And the fathers also said to their sons that what are you gonna do when the Syrians arrive with their troops. Are you gonna die in battle? For what cause? Come home now.

**[44:44] Speaker A:** So he used whatever means that he can. And one by one, and in front of his very eyes, Muslim Ibn Aqeel's eyes, people began deserting the army. Until within that day, beginning in the morning at 4000, by the time ASR comes along, less than 70 men are left from 4000. And again, remember, they are leaving in droves because, sorry, Ibn Ibn Ziyad is negotiating with every tribe and he's sending them bribes and he's doing whatever he can. You stop and I'll give you this. You remove your men and I'll give you that. And with a little bit of bribes, they all dispersed. And by the time Muslim ibn Aqeed prays Maghrib, barely 30 people prayed Salah behind him. And when he turned around and darkness has fallen from 30, it is now 10. And he is obviously fuming and angry and he is remonstrating with them.

**[45:39] Speaker A:** How could you have done this and that? Now what are we gonna do? 10 people outside the gate, right? And he decides to basically regroup and spend the night in the quarters of the Kindah. The Kindah was one of the main supporters of Shiatu Ali, the tribe of Kindah. And in those days, the city was divided into different tribes. Like each tribe lived in its own area. So he left the fortress and he walked his way back to kinda with these 10 people and subhanallah under the COVID of night. And as he's walking in the alleyways, every one of these ten slinks away until he literally finds himself alone, discarded, without even a shelter over his head, without even money or food or drink, like literally. To the last man, they abandoned the cousin of Hussain. And that is Musnab IBN Aqeel, the grandson of Abu Talib.

**[46:28] Speaker A:** Muslim Ibn Aqeed IBN Abi Talib. This is the grandson of Abu Talib. They abandoned him down to a last man. How long did it take them?

**[46:37] Speaker A:** 12 hours. What would it require? Just money and bribes. That's all was required. And they all disappeared.

**[46:43] Speaker A:** And Musab IBN Aqeed is literally left penniless in a city that had promised 40,000 men. He doesn't even have food and water. And after a while, in the middle of the night, tired, hungry, thirsty, he is forced to go to an anonymous door, Put his tawakkul in Allah. He knocks on the door and an old lady of Kindah opens up and he says, I am a beggar wanting some food and water. Subhanallah this is the cousin of Hussain.

**[47:09] Speaker A:** I need some food and water. He's hungry. What is he gonna do? And so the lady gives him whatever, some water and whatnot. And then he remains standing.

**[47:16] Speaker A:** She says, shoo, get away. I gave you what you wanted. But clearly something he. You can tell this isn't just a beggar. And he decides to risk it. And he tells her. And it's an old lady. He tells her, I am Muslim Ibn Aqeel. Can you help me? Begging from an old lady. Because there's no other. There's nothing else he can do. The lady has pity on him and she says, come, I will protect you. So he goes into her house and the next morning her son comes from work to visit his mother. And there's a man in the house. So she has to explain. And she says, my son, please, I beg you, do not expose this man. He is Muslim Ibn Aqeel, but the son is greedy for money as well. And the son, within a day or two, he makes an excuse.

**[48:01] Speaker A:** He has to go to the masjid because he doesn't want to tell his mother that, you know, he's going. So he pretends to go to the masjid. He actually does go to the masjid. In the Masjid, he sees the lieutenant of Ibn Ziyad and he tells the lieutenant that I have Muslim Ibn Aqeedir in my house. Send the troops. And so the next thing Ibn Aqeel knows, his whole house is surrounded by troops.

**[48:21] Speaker A:** He tries to fight whatever he can, but obviously one man against a convoy. And also they threaten to burn the house down. And he doesn't want to cause harm to the old lady. And so he exits and he surrenders. And one of the people who is famous, but again these names have to just be glossed on.

**[48:38] Speaker A:** His name is Abd al Rahman IBN Muhammad Ibn Al Ashath, a very famous Ibn Al Ash', ath, well known to the historians. He was the leader of this entourage. To arrest him, he promises him, I won't harm you. Even though he was to break the promise. And so he surrenders.

**[48:53] Speaker A:** Ibn Aqeed surrenders. And on his way to the governor's house, Ibn Al Ashath, he has a lot of pros and cons and he has, again, historians have a lot to talk about him. But he did have some. Some soft spot in the end of the day. And he made Ibn Aqeel, made Ibn Al Ash' Adh promise.

**[49:10] Speaker A:** One thing, Just one thing. Whatever you do with me, just one thing. Get the message to Hussain that Ibn Aqeel has sent you that he has been taken prisoner and for all he knows he might be killed. And the message is get back to Mecca, go away. The people of Kufa will betray you.

**[49:31] Speaker A:** Leave, leave, leave. Flee for your lives. This is the message, right? And Ibn Al Ash' ath promised okay, whatever happens I will get this message to him, right? Don't worry then that you have from me. And in fact as we will see he did do that. So Ibn Aqeel says to Ibn Al Ash' ath go tell Hussain he's on his way. I sent him a letter, he must be on his way now go tell him that the Kufans have lied, they've betrayed me and flee back to Makkah and Medina. Do not step foot in Kufa. So later on in that day after he goes to the governor and the governor also beats him up and is harsh and rude to him.

**[50:08] Speaker A:** And that day was the day of Arafat, the 9th of Dhul Hijjah in the 60th year of the Hijra. So we have one year left or sorry one month left before the massacre on the 9th of Dhul hijjah on the holiest day of the year. Mustab IBN Aqeel, the grandson of Abu Talib, the son of the cousin of the Prophet, the first cousin of Hussain he is taken to the highest ramparts on the fortress and in front of the whole city he is thrown to his death to be killed in a humiliating manner. And the last words that he said before Istighfar and Tahlil and Shahada, the last word that he said he said O Allah, you be the judge between us and our own Shia, our own people, they deceived us and they deserted us. He said that's the last thing he said before the Kalima and before the Shahada.

**[50:53] Speaker A:** You be the judge of Allah. They promised, they promised, they promised and now here I am, not a single man to defend me. And of course Hussain is on his way and he has just now Muslim Ibn Aqeed has been killed. Hussain has no way of knowing this now, right? The only letter he got was now remember this is obviously before the age of telephones, Internet, media.

**[51:13] Speaker A:** It will take at least two and a half weeks from Kufa to Makkah at least two and a half weeks to get a message there, right? And therefore Hussain gets the message. Come immediately. Khalas, he packed his bags as we'll talk about. He left, right?

**[51:28] Speaker A:** He has no idea what's happening in Kufa. The people have been betrayed. His cousin has been killed. The host that hosted him as well was not just killed but crucified in the city center. And a number of other key players were killed and their bodies put in the city center for everybody to see.

**[51:48] Speaker A:** And the message is being given that this is what's going to happen if you turn against the Umayyad dynasty. Now remember, Ibn Ziyad had entered Kufa with only 17 men. And the infrastructure basically agreed to follow Ibn Ziyad. He didn't have the police entering. He didn't have the army right now.

**[52:09] Speaker A:** He didn't have any group. This was an instantaneous message that Yazid sends Ibn Ziyad with a small entourage. It was just the fear of what might happen if they disobey Ibn Ziyad that caused and of course bribery that caused all of the Kufans to basically disappear when they were most needed. And this was but a sign of what is about to happen. The killing of Ibn Aqeel and the betrayal of Ibn Aqeel was just one sign of what's going to happen now. All of this took place in Kufa. Let's now go to Medina. What's happening in Medina? Ibn Aqeed was killed either 9th or 10th of Dhul Hijjah.

**[52:47] Speaker A:** And Muslim Ibn Aqeed of course has sent the letter to Hussain. Hussain has already gotten the letter weeks ago, right before his death, before the death of Muslim Ibn Aqeed. And he makes his preparation to leave. And he announces that I am going now. Makkah is a bit safer. The Umayyas don't have that much control over Makkah.

**[53:06] Speaker A:** So he can make some announcements. The people are more free to do as they please. He makes an announcement he is going to Kufa in Mecca. Every single one of the senior Sahaba that was alive advised him against it. And we have so many narrations even in books of hadith, not just books of history.

**[53:24] Speaker A:** In books of Hadith we have narrations that Abdullah IBN Abbas especially. And Abdullah IBN Abbas is also Al Bayt, right? Abbas is the uncle of the Prophet. Abdullah bin Abbas is the cousin of Ali, his father's cousin. Abdullah bin Abbas is way senior to Hussain in terms of age and wisdom and participation in the Ghazawat. Abdullah IBN Umar, Jabir Ibn Abdullah comes to Makkah and warns him. Abu Said Al Khudri, every one of the Sahaba that was in the Hijaz and they heard that he's preparing to basically because this is a preparation that is now is going to be war. You're going to Kufa. You're going to have the people of Kufa behind you and Umayyah is on the other side. This is going to be war.

**[54:06] Speaker A:** All of the Sahaba were opposed to this. They've been through enough and they feel that Hussain is being a little bit rash, that he was young when Sulfin and Jamal took place. He's not old enough to realize the dangers or whatnot. Hussain, calm down. Hussain, this is not the way to go forward.

**[54:21] Speaker A:** You're going to cause destruction. You're not going to bring about any good. But Hussain was insistent and he showed them the letters of the people of Iraq. And he said, look at all of these letters. And he had two bags full. Now, what are bags? These are the massive bags you put on the camels. These are like huge, you know, leather cases that the camel has one bag on one side, the other bag on the other. He said, look, all of these letters have come from Kufa. Surely I have support.

**[54:46] Speaker A:** And Jabir said to him, do you not know how they betrayed your own father? Don't you remember the problems your own father had with the people of Kufa? But he said, no, they wouldn't do this now. This is now clearly they're going to support me. So he left with his family.

**[55:01] Speaker A:** On the 8th of Dhul Hijjah one day before Muslim Ibn Aqeel is thrown from the top right on the 8th of Dhul Hijah, he leaves Makkah and he takes with him his younger brothers. Now Ali had married after Fatima and Ali had children that were younger than Hussain. The most famous of these was Muhammad IBN Al Hanafiyyah. Muhammad IBN Al Hanafiyyah is a brother of Hasan and Hussain. But not through.

**[55:28] Speaker A:** Not through Fatim, right? That's why he's called Ibn Al Hanafiyyah. His mother was from the tribe of the Banu Hanifa. And there were other brothers as well that were even younger than Muhammad. Muhammad is the most famous of them and the oldest of them after Hussain.

**[55:38] Speaker A:** And he also takes with him his nephews from the other brothers. Sorry, his nephews from Hassan. Hassan's children. He takes some of Hassan's children and he takes as well some of Ibn Aqeel's children. These are all young men now, right? Muslim Ibn Aqeel has just died. They don't know this. He takes Ibn Aqeed's children and he takes Abdullah IBN Ja' far's children. Ja', Far, remember Ja' Far, the cousin who died, when did he die? We just did it in the Seerah.

**[56:08] Speaker A:** When did he die? Oh, we didn't do it in this year, sorry, Battle of Muta, we're doing that soon. That's why the Battle of Muta, he died, right. Ja' Far passed away. These are the sons of Ja' Far and the grandsons of Ja'. Far. So the Al Ul Bayt come forth. The total entourage when they left Mecca was over 100 people. Over 100 people, including women and children. Now the books of history, Ibn Sa', Adina Al Sabaqat, he mentions that Muhammad IBN Al Hanafiya, his younger brother, went with him walking outside the city, persuading or trying to persuade him to the very last minute that don't go, don't go, this is not gonna bode well for you.

**[56:48] Speaker A:** And he said, and it's also mentioned that Abdullah IBN Abbas, who was in Medina at the time when he found out that Hussain is going to Kufa, he actually intercepted the caravan outside of Medina, basically, you know, finding where it is. And he went from Medina and he intercepted the caravan. The senior, one of the senior most Sahaba. And he is also al Bait. Abdullah Ibn Abbas is also Al Bayt.

**[57:15] Speaker A:** And the both of them, Muhammad IBN Al Hanafiyah and Abdullah IBN Abbas are very senior in the Al Bayt. And they're convincing Hussain not to go, this is gonna be bloodshed. And Hussain answers the both of them with a phrase that clearly shows what he has in mind and what his intention was. And that is, I would rather die elsewhere than to open up the door for the Haram to become an area of bloodshed. Meaning what?

**[57:42] Speaker A:** If he remains in Mecca, they'll come to Makkah. And so out of respect for Makkah, I don't want a civil war to take place in Makkah. I would rather die anywhere in the world, then open up the Haram to become blood. Bloody right. And so out of respect for Makkah, but he has his mind that he wants to try to get to the power, but he doesn't want to open it up in the Haram. So he goes, even if I die, that's fine. I'm not going to die in Makkah and cause bloodshed in Mecca. And as we said, Ibn Abbas, even Ibn Umar, other of the Sahaba, in fact, Ibn Umar, Ibn Umar, who was, as we said, the senior most companion alive. Abdullah Ibn Umar is the most respected Sahabi alive. During this incident, Ibn Umar tracks him down on the way.

**[58:33] Speaker A:** And Ibn Umar says to him something very profound. And this is mentioned in our books of hadith, Ibn Iban and others. This is in a hadith book. It's not even in the books of Seerah. It's also there, but it's also in hadith books. Ibn Umar says to him the very final thing when he's given up all hope. He says, okay, Khalas, let me tell you a hadith I heard from the Prophet and I've never told anybody this hadith before. You're the first person I am telling. Now this hadith is known to all of us, but when he said it, it wasn't known to him, right? Now we all know this hadith. What is this hadith? He said, when the Prophet was on his deathbed, Jibreel came to visit him. And Jibreel gave him the choice. If you want this dunya, you shall have it. And if you want the Akhirah, you shall have it too.

**[59:18] Speaker A:** We know this hadith that right at the end of the life of the process, Jibli allowed him. Do you want to live longer and get the dunya or do you want to meet Allah? Subhanahu wa ta'. Ala. Right? We know this hadith, right? And of course, what did the Prophet choose to meet Allah? He doesn't want this dunya. Then what did Ibn Umar derive from this? Ibn Umar said, and you are a part of the Prophet.

**[59:38] Speaker A:** You are the grandson, right? So when the Prophet chose the Akhirah, he chose for you, basically, right? And so you will not get any share of power because the Prophet said, I don't want the dunya, I want the Akhirah. And you yahoosayn, are a part of him. So when he chose the Akhirah, you guys are not meant to be kings.

**[1:00:04] Speaker A:** That's what he's telling him, right? You are not meant to be kings. Now, he didn't say the word king, but he said, but you shall not share any matter of that meaning of power. And Allah has only turned it away from you to give you something better instead. Meaning it is for your own benefit that you are not kings. And wallahi, this is so true. Brothers and sisters, we believe this, that when you are a king or a ruler, politics always makes people unpopular. Politics, Nobody likes politicians. This is a general rule, right? Politics brings about Sab and Shatam and Ta' Al and this and that. And the Al Bayt should be preserved from that. The Al Bayt are above this. The Al Bayt are righteous and pure and so Ibn Umar is saying you are not meant to become kings. You're meant to be righteous people.

**[1:00:51] Speaker A:** Allah has meant something higher for you.

**[1:00:53] Speaker A:** Don't go. And so he's trying to convince him to the very last. And then he said to him, and as for the people of Iraq, don't you remember the treachery they gave to your own father? Have you forgotten now? The treachery they gave to Ali is beyond the scope of this class. You should just realize that Ali always complained about the people of Iraq and the problems that he had with them. But he still refused to listen. So everybody has told him it's not a wise idea. Including his own brother, Muhammad IBN Hanafiyah. And that is why Muhammad IBN Al Hanafiyah Ra refused to allow any of his own sons to go.

**[1:01:27] Speaker A:** Muhammad IBN Hanafiyyah. None of his own sons went to help Hussain. What happened at Karbala because he thought this is not a wise decision, right? And the point here is very clear, brothers and sisters. And that is contrary to what the other group says. It's not a black and white issue. It's not a black and white. It's not that you're either on this side or on that side. We are on the side of Hussain in that we love him him. But we say this decision wasn't in the best interest of Hussain or of the Al Ul Bayt or of the Ummah.

**[1:01:57] Speaker A:** We are not on the side of Yazid. If anybody were on the side of Ibn Abbas and Ibn Umar, right, that don't like Yazid, this is, this is our position as I'll come to the end. Yazid Astaghfirullah is not our hero but Hussain, we love him. But we say his emotions got the better of him. And it would have been better for him and the Al Bayt if he listened to the other Al Bayt. The senior Al Bayt such as Ibn Abbas or the senior Sahaba such as Ibn Umar. Nobody can accuse Ibn Abbas of being pro Yazid. Nobody can accuse Ibn Umar of being pro Yazid. But they were also anti Khurooj of Hussain. They weren't anti Hussain. They were saying this isn't the best decision. Nonetheless, he refused and he persisted to go forward.

**[1:02:43] Speaker A:** And when he comes close to Iraq he sends a messenger to the people of Kufa that basically guys, I'm coming, right? Be ready. I am coming now.

**[1:02:52] Speaker A:** Ibn Ziyad is now back in Kufa. He is waiting for Hussain to come. And anybody who's entering the city Is being monitored extra now. Right now Hussain has no idea that Ibn Ziyad is in charge. Even he still thinks the old governor is in charge. Hussain has no idea that Ibn Aqeer has been killed. Hussain has no idea the plot has been exposed. He's in the middle of the desert. He's going there. Who's going to send him a message? As of yet nothing happens. So he sends a messenger. The messenger is caught by the forces of Ibn Ziyad and executed. Now the messenger doesn't return. He sends a second messenger again.

**[1:03:24] Speaker A:** Because Ibn Ziyad is on the prowl. Once again this messenger is caught and is executed. But the second messenger, he actually manages to get the message to the people that Hussain is just coming. You had better prepare yourselves. And how does he do this as a brave man?

**[1:03:38] Speaker A:** That he too was taken to the height of the tower to be thrown away. But the last thing that he said, he shouted out to the people that O people of Kufa, Hussain is on his way. He's just about to come. Prepare yourselves. So he's still hoping that they might do something right.

**[1:03:55] Speaker A:** So on his way down, basically he warns them that Hussain is on his way. And prepare yourself now. Eventually Hussain is very close to Kufa. And it is here that finally Ibn Al Ashat's messenger reaches him. Who's Ibn Al Ashat?

**[1:04:11] Speaker A:** The lieutenant who captured Ibn Aqeel. Right. He was faithful to this one request. Even though he killed him, he was still faithful. He made him promise that you must send Hussain.

**[1:04:21] Speaker A:** So finally the message reaches Hussain. And the whole episode is now in front of his eyes. Ibn Aqeel has been killed. Your followers have. The main leaders have been crucified in the compound in the middle of the city.

**[1:04:35] Speaker A:** And none of the Kufans has supported Ibn Aqeel. And you have been betrayed. And the message from Ibn Flee and go back to Mecca. Do not step foot in Kufa. And he is persuaded now to abandon very close to being now Khala. There's nobody in Kufa to do it. But now the dialogue begins in his own camp. And remember, Muslim Ibn Aqeels are own sons are part of the group now. Their father has just been killed and they want revenge. And they say we are not going to go back.

**[1:05:06] Speaker A:** We are going to avenge the death of our father. And while this is going on, another person in the party remarks that O Husayn, you are not like Ibn Aqeel. When the people of Kufa see you, there's no way they would Abandon you. You are the Sibtan Nabi. You are Ibn Rasulullah. Ibn Rasulullah, meaning metaphorically, grandson, you are, you are, you are. And so the anger of the death of Muslim Ibn Aqeel and the encouragement of this other crowd and Wallahi, it makes sense. I mean, really, if you think about it from his perspective now, what is really key here for us as Sunni Muslims, in contrast to the Shia, their interpretation, we do not believe that Hussain marched to a suicide. We believe Hussain really thought he would win. You see the difference here, right?

**[1:05:56] Speaker A:** From the Shia perspective, they say Hussain knew he was marching to his death. But we say no. Hussain genuinely believed that when he got to Kufa, the people would support him and the people would then fight him against the Umayyads. And he's still hoping because remember, Kufa is a, the one of the largest cities of the Muslim world at the time, right? We said around 30, 40,000 people have, you know, proverbially, we basically supported the uprising of Hussein.

**[1:06:24] Speaker A:** So he, he decides to march forward and that was of course, the mistake he made. He decides to march forward and bismillah, let's see if we can get to Kufa. Now meanwhile, when, when, when the people of Kufa hear that Hussain is coming, Ibn Ziyad requests backing and reinforcement. And Ibn Ziyad gets a large amount of troops that were sent to fight one of the Turkish provinces called the province of Daylam. The Dalamites, that they were going to wage Gazu against the Dalamites, 4,000 men.

**[1:07:01] Speaker A:** And Ibn Ziyad intercepted them and he got permission from Yazid that I need them against. Against Hussein. Right. So these people were not sent from Damish to fight Hussein. They were sent to fight the Dalamites, the Turkic group, up south. I mean east, Sorry, east and northeast. Right. They were sent to fight a Turkish group northeast. And he got permission. Northwest, Northwest.

**[1:07:28] Speaker A:** It is northwest from Kufa. Northeast or northwest? I don't remember whether it's northwest. Yes, northwest, you're right. Northwest. Yes. Daylam is northwest, you're right. So the point being northwest, northeast, they weren't sent to fight Hussein. Their Niyyah was to fight the Dalamites. And he got permission to intercept this large group of troops and use them to basically threaten Hussein.

**[1:07:54] Speaker A:** So Hussein basically makes his way to Kufa and it is in the plains of Karbala where these 4,000 men intercept Hussain. Right? These 4,000 men intercept Hussain. Now Karbala is literally, metaphorically, a stone's away from Kufa. It is very close to Kufa. These days you can drive between Karbala and Kufa. A short drive. It's not something that is a far away distance. So Hussain makes his way basically to a stone's throw outside of Kufa. And on the 3rd of Muharram in the year 61 Hijra, this is when the forces of Ibn Ziyad intercept the small entourage of Hussain.

**[1:08:46] Speaker A:** And we had said that there were 100 people and along the way more and more people joined because they're excited when the messenger of Ibn Al Ashath came and said to him, flee and run and go back. Hussain made an announcement that, look, whoever wants to leave can leave because we have got the message that the situation is precarious. So guess what, everybody left once again, except for the Al Bayt, the blood relatives once again everybody basically left. And so they moved down once again to probably around 70 or 80 people at this point in time.

**[1:09:25] Speaker A:** And the leader of the army that was sent to Daylam, the leader of the army was Umar Ibn Sa'd Ibn Abi Waqqas. So Sa' Ied Ibn Abi Waqas, the famous Sahabi, right? His son is Umar. Now Umar is not a Sahabi. So whatever he did, didn't do has nothing to do with the Sahaba. His father died long time ago and this has nothing to do with his father. His father and him are basically two separate people. This is Umar, the son of Sa' Ad Ibn Abi Waqqas and Umar is the military commander. So we need to now keep the hierarchy here. The governor is Ibn Ziyad. The military commander, Umar IBN Saad. Ibn Abi Waqqas, Umar IBN Sa'd. And from the books of history, at least from our version of events, Umar IBN Sa'd, he was reluctant to basically trap Hussain and continue doing what was ordered to be done.

**[1:10:13] Speaker A:** But he also didn't stand up and say no. And so this makes him really guilty in his own way. But he wasn't the one encouraging.

**[1:10:21] Speaker A:** He basically was, as they say, the loyal soldier that he tried his best. But he in the end did what he was told. And what he was told to do was obviously very wrong to do. Nonetheless, Umar IBN Sa'd intercepts the entourage of Hussain and this takes place on what day? 3rd of Muharram.

**[1:10:41] Speaker A:** 61 Ah, right. Now contrary to the other reports of the Abu Mihnaf and other reports that the siege lasted for 40 days and Ali was starving and thirst and whatnot, these are, you know, exaggerations that really are very, you know, they're very painful when you hear them, but there's no authenticity to them. The actual siege lasted five days, six days max. Right? The actual siege was not drawn out for weeks and weeks. It's not even possible, if you calculate it out, it's not even possible to have a siege that long. Knowing that Ali left Madina, Hussain left Medina at this time. He would have reached Karbal at that time. It's not even possible for a siege to last for 40, 50 days at this point in time. The siege, it's not even a siege. It's basically they're stopped and they're surrounded. Call it a siege in its own way, but they're stopped and surrounded.

**[1:11:23] Speaker A:** On the 3rd of Muharram, Ramad Ibn Sa'd sends a messenger to Hussain, why have you come? Why have you left Mecca? And Hussain says, I have come at the invitation of the people of Kufa and here are their messages. And he has those two big bags of hundreds of messages. Here are their messages that I didn't come of my own accord. They don't want the Umayyads. They have asked me to be their leader and I have come to be their leader. Honest, there's no. This is Hussain. He's not going to Stagfirullah, lie or be a coward. He told them the truth. They don't want you. They told me to be their leader and I'm here to be their leader.

**[1:12:02] Speaker A:** And he said to Umar that. And he sees the situation is tense. He says that, look, if they no longer want me, if they have abandoned me, as I have heard, then I will abandon them and I will go back as well. Let me go back now, now that you surrounded me. I'm not gonna. I don't have an army to fight you. Let me go back. So Umar IBN Sa'd sent a messenger to Ibn Ziyad. Now, again, this message is going to take a few. Half a day, less than half a day. Go back to the city, come back here. And Ibn Ziyad sends the message back that tell Yazid. Sorry, tell Hussain. Excuse me, tell Hussain he must come to me in the palace and give me the oath of allegiance on behalf of Yazid. So Ibn Ziyad is arrogant beyond reason.

**[1:12:53] Speaker A:** Now, very clear point here. This took place probably on the 3rd of Muharram itself, maybe even the 4th of Muharram. Right. It is impossible that a message would have come from Kufa to Damascus and Yazid and then Yazid Sends a message back about what you to do. What we believe is that the main culprit of this entire episode is Ibn Ziyad.

**[1:13:21] Speaker A:** This is the main culprit that Ibn Ziyad acted impulsively and we'll talk about Yazid in a while. And he insisted, you must bring Hussain to me now. What arrogance. Who are you? You 28 year old kid.

**[1:13:36] Speaker A:** You're going to ask the grandson of the Prophet to come humbly to you after he has said no to Muawiyah directly and Yazid directly. Now he's going to come and kiss your hand. Wallahi. This is arrogance and we would not expect Hussain to do this. He said, no, I'm not going to do this. I'm not going to go to Ibn Ziyad and kiss his hand and give the bay' ah to him on behalf of Yazid, right? So when the message came from Ibn Ziyad, he must come to me. Hussain then says to Sa'd, Umar IBN Saad. Excuse me. He says to Umar IBN Sa'd, look, go back and tell him one of three options.

**[1:14:08] Speaker A:** I give you three options. Choose whichever you want. Number one, let me go back to Makkah Khalas, okay. I wasn't able to get the people of Kufa. Let me go back the way I was, okay?

**[1:14:21] Speaker A:** Number two, if you refuse to do this, then take me to Yazid directly and I will speak to him directly. Now this is actually a sign of bravery. And it's also a sign, by the way, and this is very key here, that Hussain felt more comfortable negotiating directly with Yazid than with this impetuous governor Ibn Ziyad. Because Hussain and Yazid have a history. They've known each other, not friends, right?

**[1:14:50] Speaker A:** But Hussain and Yazid have negotiated together. Hussein knows Yazid's stance, Yazid knows Hussein's stance. And Muawiya, his father had been very careful about making Hassan and Hussain irritated that he was very respectful. He gave them stipend, whatever he could do to just basically give them some respect. And he told Yazid that be careful of Hussain and show him the utmost respect. Make sure he never flips against you. So Yazid Hussain actually said, let me go to him directly and I'll negotiate something. And if he had gone, we don't expect him to have compromised. He would have been firm. But it is our estimation that Yazid would never have killed Hussain directly. This is our estimation, right. And the books of history tend to prove this. As we will see, this is the second option. Then there's the third option. If you refuse this or that, then send me into exile into one of the faraway lands.

**[1:15:47] Speaker A:** If you're not going to let me live in Mecca or take me to Yazid, then Khalas, let me be. Okay, you have one. And I will just worship Allah in some faraway land right now these three conditions were so reasonable that one of the close friends of Umar IBN Saad said, wallahi, if the Turks and the Daily gave you one of these three conditions, you would be forced to accept them. How reasonable? What more do you want?

**[1:16:14] Speaker A:** And Umar IBN Sa' Ad became happy that, okay, now we're gonna solve this. And he went personally to Ibn Ziyad and he said, okay, choose one of these three. Which one? Ibn Ziyad refused all three. And Ibn Ziyad said, either war or my hand.

**[1:16:31] Speaker A:** These are the two options you have. You either come and you put your hand in mine and you give the bay' ah on behalf of Yazid. Or else there is no other alternative. And Ibn Ziyad sent one of his close entourage. And this really was the ruthless warrior Shimr.

**[1:16:49] Speaker A:** Shimir is his name that he sent. Shimr Ibn Dhiljan was his name. Shimir IBN Dil Joshan. And this really the way that history portrays him. And Wallahi every right to do so as being the barbaric, cruel warrior that he was bloodthirsty.

**[1:17:04] Speaker A:** And we have no reason to doubt this. This is the way he was that he sends Shimr to basically become the shadow of Umar IBN Sa'd. Because Umar Saad seems to have a soft spot, right? So he sends Shibr to basically monitor Umar IBN Sa'd. And he sends Shimr that these are the two conditions. He had two options. You either come to me humbly and put your hand in mine, or else there is war. And by the time Shimmer comes, this is the 9th of Muharram, the 9th. So for six days, five, six days, five and a half days, back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. Finally, on the 9th of Muharram, Shimr comes and says, you either come to Ibn Ziyad or else tomorrow there will be war, right?

**[1:17:47] Speaker A:** And there was a lot of tension. And many of the people on the side of Umar IBN Sa'd either abandoned the army of Yazid or the army of Ibn Ziyad. And. And a small group of them actually defected over to the side of Hussain.

**[1:18:03] Speaker A:** A small group of them. We didn't come to fight the grandson of the Prophet. Now you're gonna. A small group of them came over to the side of Hussain. Right? Now, the people of Kufa know full well what's going on.

**[1:18:14] Speaker A:** It's happening under their nose. Literally under their nose. Six days go by and not a single one of them comes forth to help the very person whom they have promised. It's literally happening there. And nobody comes to help Hussain IBN Ali. And so of course, Hussain refused to go to Ibn Ziyad. And Wallahi, this is exactly what we expect. Wallahi, this is exactly what we expect. Hussain was not a coward. Hussain is not. When he was at a time of peace and security, at a time of Izzah, he refused to give Bay't Yazid. Now you expect him to when his life is threatened? No way. This is the grandson of the Prophet. If you're gonna kill him, you're gonna kill him with dignity. And Karam. And there's no doubt that he chose the braver of the two option. Now that he's trapped, his back is to a wall.

**[1:19:03] Speaker A:** He's not gonna go begging for his life in the hand of this young, impetuous governor. And so he refuses.

**[1:19:09] Speaker A:** And he says, be as it may, I am not going to go give Bay' ah to Ibn Ziyad on behalf of Yazid. And so it came to pass on the morning of the 10th of Muharram of 61 Hijra that a cruel and pitiless battle took place. On the one hand you have barely 60, 70 men, and on the other hand you have 3,4000 people. On the one hand you have the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad, and the other hand you have a bunch of rebels and army generals and whatnot. And so it came to pass that the grandson of the Prophet, what his own grandfather said about him came true.

**[1:19:49] Speaker A:** Because it is authentically narrated in our own Sunni books of Hadith that Ali IBN Abi Talib once came to the Prophet and he saw him crying. And he said, why are you crying, O Messenger of Allah? Tears are coming out of his eyes. Why are your tears coming out of your eyes? So he said, and this Hadith is in Muslim Imam Tabaran. It is authentic. He said, jibreel just came to me and he told me that my own Ummah shall kill Hussain next to the Euphrates river. And he brought me some of that sand where he will be killed. And this is what has made me cry. And the narrator of the Hadith said that, and we knew that that sand, we later knew that the sand was the sand of Karbala.

**[1:20:39] Speaker A:** And so the army zoomed in on the camp, the entourage, and there was no. There was no warriors or fighters here. These are just a small group of men, most of whom are Al Bayt. And Hussain, in the beginning was protected by the Al Bayt. And they fought on his behalf. But one by one, as they were killed and Hussain is left standing. And in the very final act, Hussain kept on charging on. And who amongst them would dare come forth and raise a sword against the grandson of the prophet? Sallallahu alaihi wasallam. And so everybody was just trying to avoid his own sword, Hussain's sword. Who's gonna raise his hand until it was that infamous, that evil, that brute. It was Shimr IBN Abil Joshen that gave the commands to attack. And Shimr led a small group of three or four people along with the person they say who actually dealt the actual final blow.

**[1:21:32] Speaker A:** His name is Sinan IBN Anas, somebody in the books of history, Sinan IBN Anas, who gave him the final death blow. And as a final act of brutality, as a final act of brutality, Shimer and Sinan, they cut off the head of Hussain IBN Ali, IBN Abi, Taliban, and they sent it to Ibn Ziyad on a plate as a gift.

**[1:21:55] Speaker A:** And Ibn Ziyad, when he got this plate with the head, and this is the first time in Islamic history such a barbaric Jahili act was done. This is the first time ever this was done. And it shows you the mentality of the people who did this. And when Ibn Ziyad got this head on a plate, he took a stick and he began poking the head of Hussain and saying things, vulgar things. And Anas IBN Malik was there in Kufa at the time. He was an old man, Anas IBN Malik, the famous Sahabi. And he could not stand this. And he stood up in the gathering and he said, wallahi, I saw the Prophet kiss those very lips that you are now hitting with this stick. And he said that nobody resembled the Prophet more than Hussain and Wallahi. Our hearts cry for Hussain and Wallahi.

**[1:22:48] Speaker A:** We are the Shia of Hussain, the real Shia of Hussain and Wallahi. I swear by Allah that if we had been there, we would hope to Allah that we would defend the grandson of the prophet against anybody who dares raise his hand against him. Wallahi, we are the true Shia of Hussain. And those who killed Hussain, those who killed Hussain, they will have to answer to Allah for one of the worst murder is committed. This child that the Prophet played with and he put him on his back and he kissed him all over.

**[1:23:15] Speaker A:** And now his head is on a plate and Ibn Ziyad is poking it. Anas Ibn Malik could not stand this. And he said, this very lips that you are making fun of and you are poking. I saw the Prophet kiss those very lips. And he said that Hussain resembled the Prophet most in his manners.

**[1:23:31] Speaker A:** And there are some reports as well that Ibn Ziyad sent it to Yazid. But these reports seem to be a confusion. It was not Yazid who poked the face of Hussain. It was Ibn Ziyad. This seems to be the correct version of events.

**[1:23:45] Speaker A:** Yazid did not poke the face of Hussain. It was Ibn Ziyad. And in total, over 70 people were killed in the party of Hussain. Fifteen of them Al Bayt. And all of the women and children were protected. None of them were harmed. The only male survivor was the son of Hussain Ali, known as Zayn Al Abideen. Ali Zayn Al Abideen. And the reason why he was saved from the massacre, he was sick with a very high fever. And he was in the tent of the women and he was just tossing and turning in bed with that fever.

**[1:24:19] Speaker A:** And so when the massacre took place, he was actually in the tent of the women. So he was basically then spared. And so the progeny of Hussain to this day goes through Ali, Zayn Al Abideen. And then matters went on from there.

**[1:24:32] Speaker A:** Analysis and brief comments before we conclude, what are some of the effects of this massacre?

**[1:24:39] Speaker A:** Many effects. Most importantly, four years after the death of Hussain, 65 hijra, the people of Kufa who call themselves Shiatu Ali, this is the origin of the term Shiatu Ali. We are the party of Ali. They kept on feeling guilty, guilty, guilty for what they had done. And in the 65th year of the Hijra, on the 10th of Muharram, a group emerged from amongst them who called themselves the Tawwaboon or sorry, the Repenters.

**[1:25:07] Speaker A:** And they made it their duty to extract vengeance on those who had killed Hussain. And they said they're gonna kill everybody who participated in the massacre of Hussein. And on their way to Syria to kill Ibn Ziyad, they passed by Karbala. And of course the body of Hussain is most likely buried in Karbala. And they spent the whole night lamenting and crying and singing poetry and beating themselves.

**[1:25:39] Speaker A:** Why? For having failed to protect Hussain when Hussein needed their help. And with this incident we can mark the beginnings of theological Shi' ism up until this point in time. Shi' ism is a political movement. Political.

**[1:26:00] Speaker A:** They don't say that the Al Bayt are this and that. They don't say that Abu Bakr, no, all of this is not there. It's just Umayyads versus Al Bayt. And these are pro Al Bayt and anti Umayyad. That's it.

**[1:26:10] Speaker A:** With this incident, slowly but surely theology got added into it. It and you know, the issue of making the descendants of Ali into imams and into, you know, figures that we consider to be above and beyond what is our Sharia says this began after the death of Hussain. With the death of Hussain is the birth of theological Shi' ism, that from this day on a theology began to be, you know, devised. And then from there, of course, another turn took place. And this incident, believe it or not, was very similarly repeated. A deja vu took place in 122 AH from the son of Ali Ibn Al Hussein, Zain abideen, and his name is Zayd. When Zayd, the son of Ali, the son of Hussain, the son of Ali, the son of Ibn. See the lineage, right? Zayd was once again in Medina. And the people of Kufa promised him the same thing.

**[1:27:03] Speaker A:** His older relatives said, don't go, don't go, don't go, go. And Zayd said, no, this time is going to be different. So in 122 Ah Zayd did the same journey from Medina to Kufa. And in Kufa the people quizzed him and they, most of them rejected him. Why?

**[1:27:21] Speaker A:** Because they said to him, do you curse Abu Bakr and Umar? Why? Because in Kufa theology is changing. In Kufa they're making a theology out of it. And Abu Bakr and Umar become the worst people.

**[1:27:31] Speaker A:** So they said, do you curse, Curse Abu Bakr and Umar. And Zayd IBN Ali said, wazirayu rasoolallahu. These were the Wazirs of the Prophet. You want me to curse Abu Bakr and Umar? Not possible.

**[1:27:41] Speaker A:** I am simply against the Umayyads, basically. Right? And this shows us the real clash between theological Shi' ism and political Shi'. Ism. The Al Ul Bayt were Shia politically, not theologically.

**[1:27:54] Speaker A:** And the Shia of Kufa became Shia, what we call Shia. The irony of irony is when Zayd came, they rejected their own imam as being too Sunni. Basically, they rejected their own imam that you don't curse Abu Bakr, Umar, how can we fight behind you? So they did not fight behind him. And the Umayyads came. Sorry the Abbasids this time, not the Umayyads. Abbasids came and the Abbasids massacred Zayd. And this was the beginning of what we call Zaidi Shi'. Ism. Zaidi Shi' ism is a different branch of Shi'. Ism. It is still strong and powerful in Yemen. The only country in the world where you have Zaidi Shia is Yemen. And you have the Ith Nasheri Shia, which is the Shia of Pakistan and Bahrain and Iran and Iraq. This is 12 Shi'. ISM. You compare the doctrines of Zaydi shi' ism with 12 rashi' ism and you see the reality between political Shi' ism and theological Shi'.

**[1:28:46] Speaker A:** Ism. Zaydi Shi' ism respect Abu Bakr and Umar. Zaidi Shi' ism does not curse the Sahaba.

**[1:28:52] Speaker A:** Zaidi Shi' ism don't consider the Imam to be infallible. And there's one Imam and Allah. All of this is not there in Zaidi Shi'. Ism. Right?

**[1:29:00] Speaker A:** Zaydi Shi' ism is the real Shi' ism of the Al Bayt. There's no theology that the 12 or Shi' ISM went a whole different way. And that's the story beyond the scope of this. The final point, and it will take 5, 10 minutes. The final point.

**[1:29:16] Speaker A:** Who is to blame?

**[1:29:19] Speaker A:** Who is to blame for the massacre of Hussain? The Sahaba that were alive at the time, they knew exactly who to blame. The Companions squarely placed the blame on the people of Kufa. The number one culprits were the very people who claim to be the partisans of Ali. And it is authentically narrated in the books of Hadith, not even the books of history.

**[1:29:51] Speaker A:** Muslim. We have these in the books of Hadith that when Umm Salama, who is Umm Salama, the wife of the Prophet. When she heard of the death of Hussain and the martyrdom Hussain, she said, may Allah's la' na be upon the people of Iraq. They were the ones who murdered him.

**[1:30:09] Speaker A:** They killed him. May Allah subhanahu wa ta' ala curse them. They seduced him, they promised him and then they abandoned him right at the very end. And we have the even more famous narration of the senior most Sahabi who is Abdullah IBN Umar, the most respected of the Sahaba alive. He's not pro Yazid.

**[1:30:30] Speaker A:** He doesn't like the Umayyads. He doesn't like the politics going on. And the famous. This Hadith is In Bukhari. This hadith is in Bukhari. And Muslim, what is it? When a group of Hujjaj came to Makkah, right? And Ibn Umar was there. And they said, oh, this is Umar. Let's ask him a question.

**[1:30:46] Speaker A:** So one of them comes and he says, oh, Ibn Umar, if I swat a mosquito and the blood comes, is my ihram broken? Now remember, in Ihram you're not supposed to hunt, right? So. And of course I mean Sunni fiqh. I don't know any fiqh.

**[1:31:04] Speaker A:** Mosquitoes are not hunting. You don't hunt mosquitoes, right? So you can swat a fly in mosquitoes. If I swat a mosquito, do I have to pay dumb Fidya for this blood? And he was shocked. He goes, where are you from? He said, from Kufr, from Iraq. He said, wa ajaban. Amazing. Are you people?

**[1:31:21] Speaker A:** Amazing. Are you people. You kill the grandson of the messenger of Allah. You murder him. And now you come and ask me about the blood of a mosquito.

**[1:31:34] Speaker A:** Now who is he blaming? The people of Kufa and Wallahi. This is crystal clear. And we have to say this. No matter how painful or awkward it is, this is the truth.

**[1:31:45] Speaker A:** And that is why this group beats themselves to this day. This is the truth that nobody can deny. And the Sahaba that were alive, none of them is pro Yazid. Wallahi, it's impossible for a believer to be pro Yazid. But being anti Yazid doesn't necessarily mean we agree with everything that happened there. No, not at all. We say that the people who promised Hussain should have been the ones that lived up to the promise. Where were they when Iqeel is thrown? Where were they when Hussain is camped outside their city for six solid days? Where were they instead of cursing everybody else in the world, even those who were born before Hussain Wallahi, they need to look at their own selves.

**[1:32:23] Speaker A:** Wallahi. This is the truth. They need to look at what they themselves have done and their betrayal and their cowardice and the fact that they were bribed so easily from what they promised him. So the number one culprit, according to our own sources and their own sources, that's why they beat themselves on that day and they continue to do so. The number one culprits are those who seduced, those who promised, those who swore the most solemn oaths. And then they disappeared. Bayna, Ashiyat and Muduhaha. Between the morning and an afternoon, they all disappeared from Ibn Aqeel. And not one of Them showed up. When Hussain is camped outside.

**[1:32:59] Speaker A:** These are the people. Instead of cursing those who were born before Hussain, Wallahi, they need to look at themselves and what they have done. That's number one. Okay? They're cowards.

**[1:33:08] Speaker A:** They're traitors who betrayed Hussain. Okay? But they didn't pull the trigger. As we say. They didn't fight with the sword.

**[1:33:15] Speaker A:** So who then is the one who is guilty of the blood? They're guilty of cowardice and betrayal. And Wallahi, that's the biggest guilt. Because if they had stood up, Karbala would not have happened. If the people of Kufa had stood up, they would have protected Hussain. They would have had to negotiate something. Would have done. So that's the number one culprit. Number two, who is the mastermind? Clearly the mastermind is Ubayd.

**[1:33:39] Speaker A:** Ibn Ziyad is the main culprit, the governor. This impetuous, arrogant young man that was placed to be the governor. And Ibn Ziyad, we give him the lion's share of the blame. And there is no doubt it is clear even in his own lifetime that Allah punished him. His whole lifetime was just uprisings and intrigue and backstabbings until he died a miserable death.

**[1:34:03] Speaker A:** The forces of Mukhtar, Thakafi and other internal uprisings. He was killed by the forces of Mukhtar. And notice the irony of ironies. And this is Sunnah Tallahi fi Khalkhal kihi. His own head was decapitated.

**[1:34:14] Speaker A:** And his head was brought in front of the people of Mukhtar on a plate. And it was shown just like the head of Hussain was shown to him. And this isn't Sunnah Tirmidhi. This isn't even the books of history. And they say when the head was brought in front of the Majlis, everybody was terrified.

**[1:34:31] Speaker A:** Why? Because out of nowhere a snake came into this grand audience and made its way straight into the head and went into the nose and resided in the skull of Ibn Ziyad. This isn't Tirmidhi. It's not even the books of history. Sunnah Nat Tirmidhi mentions that the head of Ibn Ziyad was punished in this way in front of the people to see.

**[1:34:50] Speaker A:** So this is Ibn Ziyad. Ibn Ziyad is the brains. But he didn't actually come to the battle. Ibn Ziyad is the brains and he has the lion's share. And if he wasn't so stubborn then might have taken another turn.

**[1:35:02] Speaker A:** Who gets the lion's share of the physical blame? No Doubt. The leader of the army, Umar IBN Sa'd, we accuse him of being a coward. To Ibn Ziyad, from the books, it seems he was very reluctant. He tried his best to get out, but when push came to shove, he didn't get in the way.

**[1:35:20] Speaker A:** And when Umar IBN Sa'd was a little bit too cowardice, as we said, Ibn Ziyad sent Shimr. So Umar IBN Sa'd, we don't say he's innocent. He could have done something. But whatever his, whatever got in the way and he didn't really get between them. So there is some share on him.

**[1:35:36] Speaker A:** But when it comes to the actual sword and the blood on the sword, there is no doubt that it is Shimr IBN Dhil Joshan Shimr. And then they say Anas IBN Sinan is one of his thugs as well that was with him. These were the two people that really. And along with three, four other people there, I mentioned some of them by name, but it was Shimir who charged for it. The first person to raise his sword and, and go towards Ibn Rasool.

**[1:35:58] Speaker A:** Everybody else was respectful. Everybody else who's gonna raise the sword against Hussain, Right. It was Shimmer who did that and charged. And when he charged, his three, four thugs basically charged with him and him along with Anas and the two, three, they're the ones who killed him. So all of these are guilty.

**[1:36:15] Speaker A:** Okay, we went down, we need to now go up. And with this we conclude we need to go up, we went down Ubaid, Al Ana Ziyad and Umar. How about up? Who's the one? Where does the buck stop?

**[1:36:26] Speaker A:** Yazid. Yazid Ibn Abi Sufyan, what is our position about Yazid Ibn Abi SufYan? There's a whole spectrum of opinion. Yazid Ibn Muawi, excuse me. There's a whole spectrum of opinion within Sunni Islam and there is not one unanimous consensus within Sunni Islam.

**[1:36:45] Speaker A:** You have those within Sunni Islam who curse him by name and call him a kafir. And they say he is the worst person to ever have existed. And let us also be honest here, and it really saddens me to say this, but we also have the opposite extreme. We have those to this day, they make every excuse for Yazid and they make him out to be a righteous man who circumstances were beyond his control. And they try to exonerate him from every single crime that he is accused of. And wallahi, this is bordering on the fitna called nasibism. This is beyond the Scope of this class. But this is beyond. This is ridiculous. You're gonna say Yazid was innocent. The buck stops there. Yazid was in charge. Yazid was the boss. Yazid sent Ibn Ziyat. We cannot overlook this fact.

**[1:37:35] Speaker A:** Now therefore, in my humble opinion, and this is the position of Ibn Hajar and Al Zahabi and Ibn Kathir and Ibn Taymy, this is the standard moderate Sunni position. This is what I believe as well. We believe. I believe it's up to you to take your own position. And I'm following here, Ibn Hajar and the majority of scholars that Yazid takes a share of the blame.

**[1:38:00] Speaker A:** But he did not intend for Hussain to be killed. He sent the ruthless guy to be ruthless with anything less than actual murder he didn't desire. He didn't tell Ibn Ziyad to kill Hussain. But here's the flip side. Now we're not exonerating him.

**[1:38:21] Speaker A:** We. When the death of Hussain came to him, he did not punish a single person for that. And had he really been that sorry and that angry, he would have made an example of Ibn Ziyad and Shimer and Sina. He would have done something, but he didn't lift a finger. And the fact of the matter, therefore is that there is no doubt that Yazid takes a good share of the blame.

**[1:38:50] Speaker A:** And this is really what the majority of Sunni scholars said as well. That it is narrated in our books that when the news of Hussain's death reached Yazid, he said, I did not command you to kill him. I would have been content with the allegiance of Kufa. And you could have left Hussain alone. You didn't have to force him into this, you know, either this or that. As long as the Kufan people were not with him. That's all that I wanted. Basically right. And historically this makes sense. Hussain was surrounded by Ibn Ziyad on the 3rd of Muharram. And he was killed on the 10th of Muharram, seven days. It is impossible to get a message to Yazid and back from Kufa to Damascus. What is to be done? Impossible. There is no way Yazid could have known the details. There's no way Yazid could have had an input in what happened.

**[1:39:36] Speaker A:** But when he found out what happened, neither did he do anything. Ibn Taymiyyah says Yazid did not order the killing of Hussain nor did he show happiness on this, even though he showed sadness. Still, he did not support Hussain nor did he exact any revenge or punishments on those who killed Hussain. And this is historically true, that he said shouldn't have happened. I'm sorry he said it. I'm sorry he expressed regret. But of what use is expression when the guilty culprits go away? And therefore Imam Ahmad was asked about Yazid. His son asked him. Abdullah, his son said, o O Abati, oh my dear father, are we supposed to love Yazid? Is it a part of our theology to love Yazid? Listen to Imam Ahmad's response and does anybody with Iman love Yazid? This is Imam Ahmed IBN Hanbut. Does anybody with Iman love Yazid?

**[1:40:35] Speaker A:** So then his son flipped the question. He said, so should we curse him? So Imam Ahmad said, have you ever heard your father curse anybody by name? And so the message was clear. We don't love Yazid.

**[1:40:48] Speaker A:** But another person asked him, should we curse Yazid? And he said, it is not Sunnah to curse people by name. We curse generically, we should say.

**[1:41:02] Speaker A:** So. He said he didn't defend Yazid. He said, curse generically and leave it at that. And it is not of our methodology to curse people by name. Yazid.

**[1:41:15] Speaker A:** The fact of the matter was a king, a politician, like other politicians and the blood on his hand is no more or great in terms of quantity. In fact it is less than the blood of many later kings. But what's the difference? The quality of blood? The fact of the matter is that these uprisings are a common motif of Umayyad and Abbasid times.

**[1:41:36] Speaker A:** And people after Yazid killed more than Yazid. But the people that Yazid killed are not your average people. They were the grandson of the Prophet. Ibn Taymiyyah says, we are just in this regard. We don't curse him.

**[1:41:50] Speaker A:** And he was like the other kings. He had good and he had bad. And in our religion, Allah will accept the good. And his affair with his Allah he might punish, might be punished for the bad. We leave his affair to Allah, subhanahu wa ta'. Ala. And we do not curse him by name, we may say, and we leave it at that.

**[1:42:07] Speaker A:** And a final point is that no doubt we love Hussain and we are saddened by his death. But our love for Hasan is greater than our love for Hussain. And the ahadith about Hasan are more than the ahadith about Hussain. And it is authentically narrated in Bukhari that once the Prophet was giving a khutbah and Hasan walked in and he tripped and he fell down. And the Prophet stopped the khutbah and came down and picked Hasan up. Hasan. And he kissed him on the mimbar. And he said that I could not bear to see my son fall down. And then he said, this son of mine shall be a true leader.

**[1:42:52] Speaker A:** Even if Muawiyah doesn't consider him a leader, the world considers him a leader. He is the Sayyid over and above Muawiyah. This is something we have no doubt about. This son of mine is the Sayyid. And perhaps Allah will bring reconciliation between two large groups, groups of Muslims through him.

**[1:43:09] Speaker A:** Hassan was the better of the two men. Hassan again, Muawiyah meaning Hasan and Muawiyah. Hassan was the one who stood up and said, no more bloodshed. You want the power, Take it. I'll retire. I don't want Muslims to be killed. This was maturity. This was iman and wisdom. And Hussain had iman. But the wisdom of Hasan was more than Hussain.

**[1:43:30] Speaker A:** And this is what we believe, that Hasan had the more wise methodology. And Hussain no doubt was a brave man. And he did what he did. And Allah Azzawajal will accept from him his martyrdom. Isha Allah.

**[1:43:43] Speaker A:** To conclude, the tragedy of Karbala is a great tragedy. Our hearts bleed for the death of Hussain. But the tragedy of Karbala is a historical tragedy, not a theological one. The fact of the matter is that the murder, an assassination of Uthman IBN Affan caused more harms to the Ummah and more doors of Fitna were opened up than the murder and assassination of Hussain IBN Ali. And our love for the Al Bayt does not cause us to go to the two extremes. We are between the two extremes. We love them for the love of Allah, Subhanahu wa ta'. Ala. And we are angry at all those who oppose them. And we say to those who oppose, abandon him at the very last hour. You are the primary culprits in the death of Hussain.

**[1:44:29] Speaker A:** Don't curse, Abu Bakr. Don't curse, Umar. Don't curse Uthman. You were the people who abandoned the very person whom you promised to help. You have the lion's share of the blame.

**[1:44:40] Speaker A:** And therefore this is something that we clearly and firmly believe. And we, I conclude by saying that we are the true followers of Al Bayt. We are the true lovers of Al Bayt. We. We are the true Shia of Ali IBN Abi Talib. We go between the two extremes and we pray that Allah subhanahu wa ta' ala extols their ranks and causes them to enter Jannah and causes us to be along with them in Jannah Allah Masali Ala Muhammad wa ala Ali. Muhammad wa ala Ali Ibrahim Innaka Hamidum Majid. And with this, my dear brothers and sisters, the fact that matter is wallahi. I've gone way beyond what I need to. We need to break in five minutes. So I will just take two questions inshaallah and then we need to break. I do apologize but we are late and we also have to pray ASR.

**[1:45:29] Speaker A:** We are late for ASR. So just two questions. The first question we have that what happened to the.

**[1:45:35] Speaker A:** What happened to the head of Hussain? What happened to the head of Hussain? So the head of Hussain. There's a whole treatise written by Ibn Taymiyyah called the treaties on the head of Hussain. And what appears to be the case inshaallah ta' ala is that the head of Hussain was sent to Yazid wrapped in a silk cloth. He did not dishonor it and he handed it to the family of Hussain and the family of Hussain took it to Medina and they buried it in Baqi al Gharkad next to the body of Hasan. So the body of Hasan and the head of Hussain they are buried in the Medina. This is what seems to be the strongest, the strongest opinion. And Allah Subhanahu wa ta' ala knows best. And we also have a question over here that is the salvation of a Muslim dependent upon acknowledging the martyrdom of Hussain.

**[1:46:31] Speaker A:** So we said before, the martyrdom of Hussain is a Hindu historical tragedy of the highest magnitude. But it is not a theological issue, it is a historical tragedy. And our heart bleeds historically for what happened. But our theology, our aqeedah, our fiqh, our laws do not change by the death of Ali or Hussain or Uthman or any of those Sahaba who passed away. Our Aqeedah does not change at that and therefore their martyrdom will be accepted by Allah. Subhanahu wa ta' ala inshaallah. But it is not something that changes our beliefs and our theology and Allah Subhanahu wa ta' ala knows best.

**[1:47:15] Speaker A:** I do apologize, there's no time for more questions but we really do have to conclude. And so with this wa ahru Dawan and Alhamdulillahi Rabbil Alameen Wassalamualaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh. Yes.

**[1:47:28] Speaker B:** Before you go, I wonder if you could just speak on your topic for IM summit being that you're going to be coming to the uk Inshallah.

**[1:47:36] Speaker A:** So I will be teaching a class in England for ILM summit. In the month of December. It is an intensive class about the development of political and theological Shi'. Ism.

**[1:47:46] Speaker A:** And we'll talk about this from an academic manner, about what exactly happened and how these changes came about and how did these ideas come about the Imam and being the Masoom and infallible and the evolution of all of these ideas. We will talk about it bit by bit and go into the history of the evolution of Shi' ism and go down every single branch. The 12 Shiites, the Zaydis, the Fatimites, the Ismailis, the Aga Khanis, the Duruz, every single group. The Nusaydis and Alawis. How do they differ?

**[1:48:14] Speaker A:** We'll talk about it historically and theologically and inshaallah, we'll talk about it in an academic manner, not an emotional manner, as you even saw today. Inshaallah, we are talking about this in an academic style. And our goal is not to incite hatred or, you know, animosity. Our goal is to preach what we believe to be the truth, which is Akumullahu Khairan. And with that, Amar, I need to hang up over here because it's time for the salah.

**[1:48:38] Speaker A:** So.