“There is kinship between me and you...

“There is kinship between me and you,” said Muslim to him, “and I need a favour of you which you should oblige, and it is a secret between us.” But he refused to listen, whereupon Ibn Ziyad said to him, “Do not hesitate from tending to your cousin's need.” ‘Umar stood with Muslim in a way that enabled Ibn Ziyad to see them both Muslim conveyed his desire to him to sell his sword and shield and pay a debt in the amount of six hundred dirhams[^7] which he had borrowed since he entered Kufa, to ask Ibn Ziyad to give him his corpse to bury it, and to write al-Husayn (‘a) to tell him what happened to him.

‘Umar Ibn Sa’d stood up and walked to Ibn Ziyad to reveal the secret with which he had just been entrusted by Muslim! Ibn Ziyad said to him, “A trustworthy person never betrays you, but you have placed your trust in a treacherous person.”[^8] Then Ibn Ziyad turned to Muslim and said, “O son of ‘Aqil!

You came to a united people and disunited them.” Muslim said, “No, indeed, I did not come to do that, but the people of this country claimed that your father killed their best men, shed their blood, and did what Kisra and Caeser do, so we came to them in order to enjoin justice, and to invite all to accept the judgment of the Book [of Allah].” Ibn Ziyad said, “What do you have to do with all of that?

Have we not been dealing with them with equity?” Muslim said, “Allah knows that you are not telling the truth.

You, in fact, kill when angry, out of enmity, and for mere suspicion.” Ibn Ziyad then verbally abused him and abused ‘Ali (‘a), ‘Aqil, and al-Husayn (‘a), whereupon Muslim said, “You and your father are more worthy of being thus abused; so, issue whatever decree you wish, you enemy of Allah!”[^9] It was then that Ibn Ziyad ordered a Syrian[^10] to go to the top of the mansion and to behead Muslim and throw both the head and the body to the ground.

The Syrian took Muslim to the flat rooftop of the mansion as the latter kept repeating, “ Subhan-Allah! La ilaha illa-Allah! Allahu Akbar! ” He also kept repeating, “O Allah! Judge between us and the people who deceived, betrayed and lied to us,” then he faced Medina and saluted al-Husayn (‘a).[^11] The Syrian struck Muslim's neck with his sword and threw his head and body to the ground[^12] then hurried down. He was very startled. Ibn Ziyad asked him what was wrong with him.