If they want to fight, we shall be ready to fight as well!

If they want to fight, we shall be ready to fight as well!” The Imam (a.s) simultaneously sent a letter to the fans of `Uthman of Yemen with a person from the tribe of Hamdan, “I have been informed of your rebellion and headstrong attitude! Abstain from rebellion and go back to the peace of your homes! If you hesitate in doing this, an army is coming to teach you a suitable lesson and crush you.” But those people remained adamant.

When the courier found them reticent, he told them that the Imam (a.s) readied an army under Yazid ibn Qays al-Arhabi which is waiting for me to inform about your reaction. If you do not change your attitude, the troops will rush for Yemen. When they understood that this was not just a threat, they said that if `Ubaydullah and Sa`id were removed from there, midst they will become obedient to the Imam (a.s). This was their trick to save time.

They would not have remained content only with the change of the functionaries. They had already sent a message to Mu`awiyah asking him to send out a contingent to deal with the Shi`ah of Yemen. They promised to cooperate with the army in its operations. Mu`awiyah, who was carrying on his guerilla operations on various towns of Iraq, could not have kept quiet at this initiative of the Yemenis.

He immediately called Busr ibn Arta’ah, who was a tyrant of much ferocity, and sent him with a contingent of 3,000 troops to proceed to Yemen via al-Madinah and Makkah. He had instructions that whichever place he passed through, he should force the people to owe allegiance to Mu`awiyah. Those of the Shi`ah of `Ali (a.s) who refuse his call must be executed forthwith and plunder their homes and hearths. Therefore, commanding the contingent he started for al-Madinah.

On the way, wherever he came across a source of water, he confiscated the camels of the people who were there to water their animals. When he reached near al-Madinah terrorizing and looting the people enroute, the tribe of Banū-Khuza`ah welcomed him and slaughtered camels to feed his contingent. When he entered the environs of al-Madinah, Abū-Ayyūb al-Ansari, the governor went out of the city awed by seeing the huge contingent of troops and escaped towards al-Kūfah.

There was none there to resist him. Busr went straight to the mosque and threatened the people who assembled there. He frightened them so much that they thought that death would come to them any moment.