The next night a similar meeting took place in which Imam Husayn (a.

The next night a similar meeting took place in which Imam Husayn (a.s.) explained that he had come only in response to the invitation of the people of Kufa; that it was his Divinely entrusted mission, as an Imam, to guide Muslims and that he had no other aspirations.[^8] Umar bin Sa’d wrote to Ibn Ziyad, “ By God’s grace, an inevitable conflict and unnecessary bloodshed has been avoided in my dialogue with al-Husayn.

He showed me over twelve thousand letters written by the people of Kufa inviting him to guide and lead them in religious matters. Al-Husayn has not come with any ulterior motive of grabbing power, but only to perform his religious obligation as an Imam. If, however, the people of Kufa say that they do not need him, he intends to go back to Medina or to any far-off place or even to any foreign country.

As a last alternative, al-Husayn suggested that there should be a meeting between him and Yazid and the matter of leadership of the…