When asked what he meant by the action...

When asked what he meant by the action, he said: “It is the place where I will at last fall from my horse and will lay to be slain!

I wanted to see if my lying there wounded to be slain by Shimr who will be seated on my breast, will be visible to the ladies in my camp, for Zainab, my Sister, and will then be standing at the doorway of her tent, shouting for me.” The Holy Imam took his brother ‘Abbas around and pointed out the various spots in the plain where each one of his comrades would fall and be slain.

Husayn Purchases the Site for the Graves of the Martyrs The holy Imam gathered the people of the surrounding places, the owners of the plain of Karbala, and purchasing the land from them gifted the same to the people. Addressing the males among them he said: “On the Tenth day of this month ye shall see us lying here slain, our bodies lying on the plain with our heads severed and taken away.

I request you to kindly bury us, and when our devotees come to visit our graves, hold them in honour as your guests and point out to them the places of our burial?” He then addressed the ladies: “O' Virtuous ladies! If your husbands, fearing the wrath of Yazid do not bury us, you kindly encourage them to do it or do it yourselves.” The Holy Imam then turned to the young children in the gathering and addressing them said: “O' Innocent ones!

If your parents, out of fear of the wrath of the Ruler, do ito: bury us, you may, by way of playing bring some mud in your laps and throw it upon our bodies and hide them.” The appeal was so touching that the whole gathering wept. Arrival of Yazid's Forces The brute Ibn Ziad at Kufa got the information of Husayn's getting out of the control of Hurr and also learnt that the, helpless Imam had camped near the River Euphrates.

Regiment after regiment began to pour in on the plain of Karbala from all sides and ultimately the enemy’s forces compelled Husayn to shift his camp from the bank of the river to the interior of the burning desert. Husayn's brother, the lion-hearted ‘Abbas, objected to this demand from the enemy, claiming priority of occupation and the right of the son of the Holy Prophet, the Holy Imam, to stay where he had first camped.