The letters were identical and were as follows...

The letters were identical and were as follows: “Those who do not stand up to a tyrant and transgressor of the faith will suffer in this life and the life to come. You are aware that the Banu Umayya are impelled by their satanic desire, have perpetuated corruption, usurped the treasury for themselves, transgressed religious injunctions and permitted what is prohibited and prohibited what is lawful in Islam.

You will recall that you wrote to me complaining that you are left without a guide in religion and had invited me to Kufa. Now, I am besieged by Yazid’s army. If you still hold fast to the pledge you made and the affection you promised to show me, know that at your instance I have come.

I will not be surprised if you retract from your pledge, for, you had betrayed my father Ali and my brother Hasan.”[^2] Imam Husayn (a.s.) gathered his small group of companions and said to them, “The course which affairs have taken is manifest to you. The world has changed its colours; virtue has almost vanished. This is the age of Wrong and the followers of Right have passed away.

A time has come when the true believer has to separate himself from the mischievous mutineers and turn towards his Creator. Do you not see that the Divine Commands are neglected and what is forbidden is practiced with relish?

Life under tyrants is hard to live and I consider death a great honor .”[^3] Hilal bin Nafi’ got up and said, “I would prefer to sacrifice my life than to live after you.” Zohair ibn al-Qain said, “If I were to be killed in defending you and then raised to life again a thousand times, I would still defend and not desert you.” The battlefield chronicler Abu Makhnaf records that on the other side, in the course of two days, between the third and the fourth of Muharram, the plains of Karbala were filled with over a hundred and forty thousand warriors from Syria, Iraq, Iran and other countries to oppose Imam Husayn (a.s.).

Umar bin Sa’d bin Abi Waqqas brought an army of six thousand soldiers, four thousand men were headed by Shibth bin Rib’iy, various contingents of between ten and twenty thousand men each headed by Urwa bin Qays, Sinan bin Anas an-Nakh’iy, Hussayn Bin Numair, Shimr bin Thil Joushan, Mudha’ir bin Raheena al-Mazini, Yazid bin Rikab al-Kelbi, Nadhr bin Harasha, Muhammad bin al-Ash’ath, Abdullah bin Hussayn, Khouli al-Asbahi, Bakr bin Ka’b bin Talha, Hajjar ibn Abhur[^4] besides the warriors under the command of Umar bin Hajjaj.