Many times people tried to convince the Imam not to go to Kufah...

Many times people tried to convince the Imam not to go to Kufah, but he always refused, even though he knew he would be killed. Also, on several occasions when the Imam’s camp was faced with a military confrontation, Imam Husayn refused the requests of his people to initiate a battle and kill the enemy. The Imam refused and chose to avoid bloodshed by any means possible. Furthermore, the Imam repeatedly insisted upon his followers to leave and save their own lives.

So, we can see that the Imam was not being manipulated by forces out of his control. As a matter of fact, he was conscious of every decision he made and he always thought carefully before making any decision, because his main concern was to preserve the pure spirituality of the Islamic Nation.

In short, the Imam knew that the people did not fully understand how evil Yazid was, and he knew that the only way to awaken the people was by showing them how far Yazid would go to stay in power that he would even spill the blood of the grandson of . In fact, the martyrdom of Imam Husayn marked the beginning of the end of the Umayyad dynasty.

The Text The following text is a free translation of portions of authentic historical documents into English, focusing primarily on English language equivalence of the subject, in meaning, rather than literal translation. The translation consists mainly of selections of text from Maqtal al‑Husayn, by ′Abdul Razzaq al‑Muqarram, but also includes portions of al-′Amali by Shaykh Abu Ja′far al‑Sadiq, and Mazarat Ahl al‑Bayt .

Al‑Muqarram’s work, Maqtal al‑Husayn, was compiled from a variety of sources. It was chosen for translation because the author includes extensive references to his sources. For translation, the Hans Wehr Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic was consulted, and the Library of Congress System was used for transliteration of Arabic words.

The texts have been rearranged to conform to accurate chronological order and have therefore been divided into three sections: Before Karbāla’ , At Karbāla’ , and After Karbāla’ . The only break in the order of events is chapter six, Muslim’s sons. Although they were captured after the massacre of Karbāla’ , I feel it is appropriate to place them with the chapter of their father.