May Allah reward you for your offer to be kind and good to me .

May Allah reward you for your offer to be kind and good to me .”[^6] Realizing that Imam Husayn (a.s.) was ready to sacrifice himself for his cause, Abdullah ibn Ja’far left his two teenaged sons Oun and Muhammad as his representatives to fight against evil.[^7] Then, Abdullah ibn Ja’far and Yahya bin Sa’eed returned to Medina.

Muhammad bin Abu Talib Musavi writes that when al-Waleed bin Utba, the governor of Medina learnt that Imam Husayn (S) was proceeding towards Iraq, he (al-Waleed) who knew the cruel nature of Ubaidullah ibn Ziyad, the recently appointed Governor of Basra and Kufa, wrote to ibn Ziyad as follows:“ Al-Husayn is coming towards Iraq. He is the son of Fatima who is the only child of the messenger of Allah. See that no harm comes to him nor should his family members be harassed in any manner.

If any irreversible damage is caused by you, the world will never forgive or forget you .” Ibn Ziyad read the letter but he did not heed the advice.[^8] Imam Husayn’s caravan stopped at a place called al-Abtah where Yazid ibn Thabit al-Basri met Imam Husayn (a.s.) and learnt about the reasons of the Imam’s migration.[^9] The caravan halted for a short while at some place where Imam Husayn (a.s.) purchased food and other stock from a caravan that brought goods from Yemen.

At a junction of roads called Thatul Araq, Imam Husayn (a.s.) met Bishr bin Ghalib who was coming from Iraq. When Imam Husayn (a.s.) enquired, Bishr said, “ Their (the people of Kufa) hearts are with you, but their swords are against you .”[^10] According to ath-Thahabi, at Thatul Araq, Imam Husayn (a.s.) met the famous poet al-Farazdaq who was going with his mother to Mecca to perform the Hajj. According to some authors, their meeting took place at Mecca near the Kaaba.

Yet, others report that their meeting took place at a place called al-Sifah.[^11] Al-Farazdaq tried unsuccessfully to dissuade Imam Husayn (a.s.) from going to Kufa. When Imam Husayn (a.s.) resumed the journey towards Kufa, he found that all crossroads were manned by ibn Ziyad’s military and check-posts were set up barring all roads except the one leading to Kufa. Hussayn bin Numeir was in charge of these operations.

By doing so, ibn Ziyad ensured that Imam Husayn (a.s.) had no other option but to take only the road to Kufa. Imam Husayn (a.s.) and his caravan reached a place called Tha’labiyyah where he met Abu Hurrah to whom Imam Husayn (a.s.) explained why he had to leave Mecca.