But Ubaydullah...

But Ubaydullah, left the entire community, and chose me for a very diffi­cult task and I left for it at that very moment. By Allah! I cannot un­derstand, and am stopped at a dangerous turn, which I do not hold dear.

Should I leave the ruler ship of Ray, which I desire, or I should return, with the blood of Imam upon myself, and his murder would be a cause of entering the fire (of hell) which is unavoidable, and the kingdom of Ray is the coolness of my eyes.” Abu Ja’far Tabari and Abul Faraj Isfahani says that when the thirst of Imam Husayn (a.s.) and his companions increased, he called for his brother Abbas bin Ali (a.s.) and sent him with a group of thirty horsemen and twenty foot soldiers with twenty water skins to the river.

They reached the water in the night and Nafe’ bin Hilal Bajali was in the forefront carrying a stan­dard. ‘Amr bin Hajjaj Zubaydi saw him and asked as to who he was. Nafe’ disclosed his identity, to which ‘Amr said, “Welcome O brother! What have you come here for”? Nafe’ replied, “I have come to partake the water which you have blocked from us.” ‘Amr said, “Go ahead and drink it with pleasure.” Nafe’ said, “By Allah!

I shall not drink even a drop from it until Imam and his companions (whom you see) are thirsty.” Hearing this the men with ‘Amr bin Hajjaj turned towards them and ‘Amr said, “There is no way, we have been appointed for this very reason so as to stop them from reaching the water.” When the men of Nafe’ came closer, he told the foot soldiers to fill their water skins. They filled their water-skins quickly and ‘Amr bin Hajjaj and his men attacked them.

Then Abbas bin Ali (a.s.) and Nafe’ bin Hilal attacked them and pushed them to their ranks. Then they said, “Go, we have stopped them.” ‘Amr bin Hajjaj and his men returned back and some of them were driven back. A man named Sada’, who was from among the men of ‘Amr, was wounded by Nafe’ with a spear. He considered the wound to be minor and did not attend to it, but later his wound opened up and he succumbed to it. Thus the companions of Imam took the water skins to him.

(Tabari) Imam Husayn (a.s.) sent ‘Amr bin Qartah Ansari to Umar bin Sa’ad saying, “Come to meet me tonight between the two armies.” Umar came with twenty horsemen, while Imam too went accompanied with the same amount of men. When they reached face to face, Imam told his companions to move far away and Umar too ordered his companions to do so.