How can such Umayyad faces know modesty...

How can such Umayyad faces know modesty, Having shed, by sinning pleasures, their modesty? They subdued, through their might, The offspring of al-Zahra’, and they, Through their swords, dethroned their princes. They overpowered them till they Deprived their corpses of being buried. The world became too small for it so Wherever it went, death was before and behind. The back of death they rode, riding dignity even from The back of the humiliation they rode.

The fangs of death were shown to a band For which the swords were fates and destiny Whose hearts were tested by the Almighty... At a stand where patience and endeavour were put to test. The might and swords of Muhammad's family used to be Against those who cried for help and against the enemy.

Even death hated to meet them in such a way, Yet Allah loved that they should thus meet Him, So they leaped with thirsty hearts that Found nothing to drink except the taste of death Yet I find you, O cloud, spreading your wings On people to shade, satisfying those who thirst, Though the hearts of the Prophet's sons were cracked With thirst in a desolate land, burning their insides.

The worst cup they drank of all the calamity Was the oppressors' unveiling of Muhammad's daughters: The veils of Prophethood and the curtains were violated, So their insides were further burnt even as The hands of the foes vied to grab their garments... How Clement Allah is as He did see How long they kept their wailing and their cries! How Clement Allah is as He did see How in agony they sighed and in grief cried: With one hand each tried to stay alive, With the other she tried to shun the foes.

How painful to Muhammad's heart it must be, How heavy with al-Batool the calamity![^8] Ibn Sa’d posted his horsemen to guard the Euphrates in order to prohibit the Master of Martyrs (‘a) from reaching it. Al-Husayn's followers found no access to water. Thirst bit them severely. Al-Husayn (‘a) took an axe and walked behind the women's tent nineteen steps in the direction of the Qibla then dug a well of potable water from which they drank, but soon it dried up.

Ibn Ziyad sent a letter to Ibn Sa’d saying, “It has come to my knowledge that al-Husayn is digging a well and reaching water, so he and his company are drinking of it. As soon as this letter reaches you, you must prohibit them, as much as you can, from digging wells.