The effect of this intense apprehension was most obvious in Kufah and Medina...

The effect of this intense apprehension was most obvious in Kufah and Medina, and it multiplied with the Hirrah tragedy and the intense and merciless crackdown of the popular ‘Medina movement’ by Yazid’s forces. Severe strangulation in the Shi‘ah-populated territories of Iraq and Hijaz especially in Kufah and Medina, was rampant shattering the Shi‘ah cohesion and formation.

In describing this sorrowful condition, Imam as-Sadiq ( ‘a ) says: “After the martyrdom of Imam al-Husayn ( ‘a ), the people dispersed from around the family of the Prophet (S) except three persons, viz. Abu Khalid Kabuli, Yahya ibn Umm at-Tawil and Jabir ibn Mut‘am.”[^8] In describing this period, Mas‘udi the historian also says: “‘Ali ibn al-Husayn assumed the Imamate secretly with utmost dissimulation {…