[Either] we would give consent to it and do what you want...

[Either] we would give consent to it and do what you want from us and are insisting upon; or we would dislike it and therefore reject it.” By doing so [al-Husayn (as)] intended to keep them away that night so that he might [have the opportunity to] give his instructions and make his will to his family. ‘Umar bin Sa‘d said: “O Shamir! What do you think?” He said: “It is up to you.

You are the commander and the decision lies with you.” [‘Umar] said: “I wish I had not been there!” He then turned to his army and said: “What is your opinion?” ‘Amru bin al-Hajjaj bin Salamah al-Zubaidi said: “Glory be to Allah! By Allah! [Even] if they were from Dailam and had asked from you such [a thing], it would have been incumbent on you to grant them their demand.” Qais bin Ash’ath[^4] said: “Grant them their request.

I swear by my life that they are definitely going to fight you tomorrow morning!” [Ibn Sa‘d] said: “By Allah, if I knew that they are going to do so, I would not have left them for tonight.”[^5] ‘Ali bin al-Husayn (as) says: “Then a messenger came to us from ‘Umar bin Sa‘d and stood at a point where he could be heard. He said: ‘We have granted you a day until tomorrow. If you surrendered, we will send you to our governor, ‘Ubaidullah bin Ziyad.

But if you refused to do so, then we are not going to leave you!”[^6] [^1]: We mentioned him when discussing those among the followers of the Imam (as) who wrote to him from Kufah. [^2]: We have given his biography when mentioning those among the hypocrites of Kufah who had written to the Imam (as). [^3]: This is the first report related to the events of Karbala’ in which this title has been attributed to Zuhair bin al-Qain.

This is the first title that caused disunity among the Muslims in their differences about whether ‘Uthman was on the right or wrong. Accordingly, one who followed ‘Ali (as) was called ‘alawi or shi’i, while the one who followed ‘Uthman and believed that he was on the right and was killed unjustly, came to be known as ‘uthmani. [^4]: Al-Tabari: On the day of ‘Ashura’ he was leading the quarter of Kindah and Rabi’ah (5:422).

He was the one who plundered the Imam’s silken cloak and came to be known after that as ‘Qais of the cloak’ (5:453). He was with Shamir bin Dhi al-Jaushan, ‘Amru bin al-Hajjaj and ‘Azarah bin Qais in carrying the heads of the companions of the Imam (as) to Ibn Ziyad in Kufah (5:456). He was leading the Kindah who were carrying thirteen of these heads (5:468).