However, some historians consider them to be above one hundred and twenty.

However, some historians consider them to be above one hundred and twenty. S.V. Mir Ahmed Ali is an erudite writer from Madras, now called Chennai in South India. His translation and commentary of the Qur’an in English with an excellent introduction running to over three hundred pages is well-known and has been printed several times by the Tahrike Tarsile Qur’an, New York. In his book ‘Husayn; The Saviour of Islam’, S.V.

Mir Ahmed Ali Vafaqani gives a brief note on each of the one hundred and five martyrs by name and a list of one hundred and thirty-eight martyrs classified as follows:[^4] [a] The Hashimites; the progeny of Abu Talib Those who are mentioned in the Ziyarate Nahiya.. 18 Those who are not mentioned in the Ziyarate Nahiya..

13 Three Young children 3 Total: 34 [b] the Number distributed according to the immediate parentage of martyrs: The Holy Imam 1 The sons of the Holy Imam [Two in Karbala; Abdullah martyred later and buried in Asqalan] 3 The sons of Amirul Mo’minin... 9 The sons of Imam Hasan 4 The sons of Aqeel 12 The sons of Ja’far 4 [c] The comrades of the Holy Imam those who are mentioned in the Ziyarate Nahiya... 70 Those who are not mentioned in the Ziyarate Nahiya...

27 The number of martyrs in Kufa 8 Total: 105 Total martyrs: 105 + 34 = 139 S.V Mir Ahmed Ali Vafaqani has taken into account the eight companions who were martyred at Kufa, such as Hani ibn Urwa…etc., to arrive at the figure of 139 martyrs. In addition to giving details of martyrs, Sheikh Abbas al-Qummi gives a list of persons who were present in Imam Husayn’s camp at Karbala on the Tenth of Muharram who did not fight but they escaped alive. The reason for this is manifold.

Firstly, the number, names and details of martyrdom at Karbala were already revealed to the Prophet (S) who in turn had informed Imam Ali, Fatima Imam Husayn, Umm Salama and other members of the Prophet’s family (the Ahlul Bayt ) peace be on them. Sheik Muhammad Saffaar al-Qummi, who died in 290 AH, relates in his book ‘Basayerud Darajat ’ that Huthaifa narrated that he was present with Imam al-Hasan (a.s.) when he was returning to Medina after concluding a treaty with Mu’awiya.

The load on one of the camels was being zealously guarded all the time. Huthaifa inquired the reason for such security given to that particular load, and Imam Hasan (a.s.) informed him that the load consisted of musters of the names of the Shia. Huthaifa wanted to see if his name was in any of those registers.