Upholding his religious obligation...

Upholding his religious obligation, the Imam had no choice but to announce his outright rejection to sanctioning Yezid's appointment [by his father] as Caliph, not least for raising his pure self above that blemish they wanted to stain him with. However, had he agreed to Abdullah bin Abbas's proposition to retire to the mountains of Yemen to escape the troops of Yezid, he would have secured his safety.

On the other hand, he would have absolved himself from condoning the appointment of Yezid as Caliph. And yet, since the issue was one which related to the appeal to him by those hundred thousand people, he had no alternative but to agree to that appeal out of a religious obligation. That is, despite the fact that all the indications were telling him that the Kufans were not up to the task and that they were both inactive and apprehensive.

Nevertheless, his sense of responsibility made it incumbent on him to respond to their call and thus provide the right answer to history. Had he chosen to ignore the plea of the Kufans, we would have stood today criticising him for "not doing so".…