In Mecca...

In Mecca, he asks the Imam al-Husayn why he has not gone to his supporters, adding that if he had such supporters, he would go to them[^49] . Al-Baladhuri has another report from Wahb b. Jarir which purports to come from a servant of Mu'awiya[^50]. Khalifa b. Khayyat reports the first half of it but prefers Abu Bakr al-Hudhalis account of the actual meeting with al-Walid[^51]. In this report, Zurayq, the servant of Mu`awiya, brings the message to al-Walid from Yazid.

It is a very colourful account which gives details of the clothes all the main characters are wearing. Al-Walid is full of bitter grief at the death of Mu`awiya and sends for Marwan. Marwan advises that the men should be sent for. The Imam al-Husayn arrives first, followed by Ibn al-Zubayr; then a new character arrives, Abd Allah b. Muti`, who is a supporter of Ibn al-Zubayr. Al-Walid announces the death of Mu`awiya and calls upon them to pledge alliegance.

It is Ibn al-Zubayr who takes it on himself to answer and he persuades al-Walid to let them delay it until the morning. Al-Walid does so and they all escape. Clearly these two `Uthmaniyya accounts are meant to build up the reputation of Ibn al-Zubayr at the expense of the Imam al-Husayn. They seem like propaganda. Abu Bakr al-Hudhali gives us as his authority countless scholars of Medina but does not name one of them.

Khayyat, Ta'rikh (2nd ed., Beirut, 1977), pp. 231-6 [^47] Al-Baladhuri, Ansab al-Ashraf (Beirut, 1979), IV/2, 299-301 [^48] Ibid., pp. 302-3; cf. al-Tabari, op. cit., pp. 216-19. [^49] Khalifa b. Khayyat, op. cit., pp. 232-3. [^50] Al-Baladhuri, op. cit., pp. 309-10. [^51] Khalifa b. Khayyat, op. cit., pp. 232. Previous…