We will fight by your side until we enter the place you shall enter!

We will fight by your side until we enter the place you shall enter! May Allah make life abominable [for us] after your [death]!”[^2] The Stand of His Muslim bin ‘Awsajah al-Asadi[^3] then stood up and said: “If we leave you alone, what excuse would we give to Allah for not fulfilling your rights [on us]? By Allah! [I will fight] till I break my spear in their chests. I will strike them with my sword as long as its hilt remains in my hand. I will not leave you.

If I have no weapon to fight them with, I will throw stones at them in your defence until I die with you!” [After Ibn ‘Awsajah] Sa’id bin ‘Abdullah al-Hanafi said: “By Allah we will not leave you until Allah knows that we have preserved through you [the company of] the Prophet of Allah (S) in his absence. By Allah!

If I knew that I would be killed and then be revived and then be burnt alive and then scattered, and that would be done to me seventy times, I would [still] not leave you until I met my death [fighting] on your behalf! Why should I not do so when it is only [a matter of] getting killed once? Then, it is an everlasting honour.” Zuhair bin al-Qain said: “By Allah!

I wish I would be killed and then revived and again be killed until I get killed like this a thousand times, so that Allah should avert death from you and from these youths of your household!” A group among his companions [then rose] and said: “By Allah! We will not part with you; may our souls be sacrificed for you. We will protect you with our throats, foreheads and hands.

If we get killed, then we would have fulfilled and performed what lies on us.” [Another] group among his companions [also stood] and spoke words to the same effect.[^4] The Imam (as) on the Night of ‘Ashura’ ‘Ali bin al-Husayn bin ‘Ali (as) says: “I was sitting on the night before the morning of the day in which my father was martyred, and my aunt Zainab was looking after me, when my father distanced himself [from us] to a tent erected for him together with his companions.

Huwayy[^5], the slave of Abu Dharr al-Ghaffari, was by his side preparing his sword and putting it right, while my father recited the following verses: O Time! Shame on you as a friend! At the days dawning and the sun’s setting, How many a companion or seeker [of yours] will be a corpse! Time will not be satisfied with any substitute. Indeed the matter will rest with the Mighty One, And every living creature will have to journey along my path. He repeated it twice or three times.