On the seventh day, the siege around the Master of Martyrs (.) and those with him intensified, and they were blocked completely from reaching the water. Their water supply had already depleted, so each one of them had to deal with the flames of the thirst on his or her own. Naturally, the children were moaning on account of the pain of thirst. Some of them were pleading for water while others were trying anything they could think of to quench their thirst. All of this was taking place before the eyes of Abu `Abdull~h and the honourable ones of his family and companions. But what could he have done since swords and lances stood between them and the water? Yet the man who quite often served water to the thirsty could not tolerate that condition any longer. At that juncture, al-H. usain (.) assigned his brother al-`Abb~s to shoulder this responsibility. The latter had already been burning with the desire to do just that. Al-Husain (.) asked him to bring water for the ladies and the children, giving him command over a detachment of twenty men each carrying a water bag. They went to the Euphrates at night paying no attention to those who were charged with guarding the watering place. After all, they were in the company of the lion of Muhammed's Progeny (.). Nafi` ibn Hilal al-Jamli advanced, so `Amr ibn al-Hajjaj shouted at him to identify himself. He said to him, "We came to drink of this water from which you have prohibited us." "Drink then and cool your eyes," said he, "but do not carry of it to al-Husain."
N~fi` said, "No, by All~h, I shall never drink one drop while al-Husain and the Ahl al-Bayt with him and their supporters are thirsty." He then called upon his companions to fill their water bags. It was then that those under the command of Ibn al-H. ajj~j attacked them. Some of them kept watering their bags anyway while others were defending them headed by the one who grew up in the very lap of Hayderi bravery, namely Abul-Fad. l, al-`Abbas. They brought the water while none of their enemies could even contemplate getting near them out of fear of that same brave hero. The ladies and the children, hence, were able to quench their thirst. We cannot overlook the fact that the amount of water brought to them was very little. What could that quantity do to a band that numbered more than a hundred and fifty men, women, and children, or maybe even two hundred, all parched by thirst, drinking no more than once? Soon thirst returned to them; so, to Allah and to His Messenger is one's complaint.
CONCEIT OF IBN SA`D
Al-Hussain (.) dispatched `Amr ibn Qarzah al-Ans.~ri to Ibn Sa`d asking for an evening meeting between both warring factions. Each came out escorted by twenty cavaliers. Al-Husain (.) ordered those in his company, with the exception of al-`Abbas and his oldest son, Ali al-Akbar, not to lag behind. Ibn Sa`d did likewise, keeping his son, Hafs, with him together with his slave. Al-Husain (.) said, "O Ibn Sa`d! Are you really fighting me?! Don't you fear All~h to Whom you shall return?! I am the son of you know very well who. Why don't you come to my side and leave these folks, for that will surely be better for you with Allah?" `Omer ibn Sa`d said, "I fear lest my house should be demolished [if I do so]." "I shall rebuild it for you," was al-Husain's answer. "I fear lest my estate should be confiscated," said Ibn Sa`d. The Imam, peace be upon him, said, "I shall compensate you for it with one even better from my property in Hijaz."2 It is said that the Imam (.) promised Ibn Sa`d to give him his own estate called al-Bughaybgha, a vast tract of land containing palms and many other fruit trees. Mu`~wiyah had offered the Imam (.) one million3 dinars for it, but he refused to sell it to him. Ibn Sa`d then said, "I have in Kufa many children, and I fear lest Ibn Ziy~d should kill them all."
When al-Husain (.) lost all hope of winning him over, he stood up as he said, "What is the matter with you, may Allah soon kill you on your bed, and may He never forgive you on the Day of Gathering?! By Allah! I wish you will only eat a little of the wheat of Iraq." Ibn Sa`d responded by saying sarcastically, "Barley suffices me!"5
The first Sign of Allah's Wrath, which this man witnessed, was the loss of his anticipated post as the governor of Rey. When he returned from Kerbal~', Ibn Ziy~d required him to bring him the covenant wherein he promised to make him governor of Rey, but Ibn Sa`d claimed that he had lost it. He pressured him to bring it to him, so Ibn Sa`d said, "I left it being read for the old women of Quraysh as means to apologize to them.
By Allah! I had advised you with regard to al-Husain with one piece of advice which, had you conveyed it to my father Sa`d, you would have paid him what you owe him." `Uthm~n ibn Ziy~d, `Ubaydullah's brother, said, "Yes, he has said the truth! I wish there is a ring in the nose of each and every person belonging to Banu Ziy~d till the Day of Judgment, and that al-H. usain had never been killed."1
One of the ways whereby al-Mukhtar dealt with him was that when he granted him security, he hired women to mourn the death of al-Husain at the doorstep of `Omer ibn Sa`d's house. This attracted the attention of passers-by to the fact that the person living inside was the one responsible for killing the Master of the Youths of Paradise. This caused a great deal of embarrassment to Ibn Sa`d who requested al-Mukht~r to have them removed from there. Al Mukhtar said to him, "Does not al-Husain (.) deserve to be mourned?"2 And when the
people of Kufa wanted `Omer ibn Sa`d to be their governor, following the death of Yaz§d son of Mu`~wiyah, the women of the tribes of Hamad~n and Rabi`a came to the grand mosque screaming and saying, "Was not Ibn Sa`d satisfied with killing al-Husain so he now wants to be the governor?" People wept, turning away from him.
CALUMNY OF IBN SA`D
Ibn Sa`d attributed to Imam Husain (.) doing something which he actually never did. He wrote Ibn Ziy~d claiming that he desired the reform of the nation and the beauty of unity. He stated the following in his letter: Allah has put out the fire of dissension, united the views, and reformed the nation's affairs. This Husain has offered me to go back to where he had come from, or to go to one of the border towns and be one of the Muslims receiving what other Muslims receive and shouldering the same responsibilities like anyone else, or that the commander of the faithful, Yaz§d, comes and places his own hand in Husain's and both men may discuss their views. All of this meets your pleasure, and there is in it goodness for the nation.
Far away it is that such a man of dignity could do any such thing. He is the one who taught people how to persevere when facing what they dislike and when meeting death. How could he place himself at the service of Marj~na's son or follow the views of the son of the liver-chewing woman?! Al-H. usain (.) had said to his brother, al-Atraf, "By Allah! I shall never submit to lowliness." To Ibn
al-Hanafiyya he said once, "I know of certainty that in that place shall I meet m death and the death of my companions; none shall survive except my son Ali."
To Ja`fer ibn Sulaym`~n al-Zab`i he said, "They shall never leave me till I am dead."
The last statement he made during the Battle of Taff was: The bastard-son and the son of the bastard-son gave me the option to either accept a reward or to succumb to humiliation. Far away it is from us to do that! All~h refuses, and so does His Messenger, and so do the believers. [We are] good and purified families, dignified people, and honourable men who prefer to be killed in dignity rather than obey the abased. him, was suffering. Said he, "I accompanied al-Husain from Med§na to Mecca, and from the latter to Iraq, and I did not part with him till he was killed. I heard all his statements, but never did I ever hear him say what people claim, i.e. that he wanted to put his hand in Yaz§d's hand. I never heard him say so when I was with him in Med§na nor in Mecca or on any highway, in Iraq or at his own camp, till he was killed. Yes, I heard him say,
`Let me go in this spacious land.'"
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