Then Hurr bin Yazid came up to him and desisted him and his...

Then Hurr bin Yazid came up to him and desisted him and his companions from doing so. And as much as Hurr tried to take them to Kufa, they resisted until they stopped, but they followed in the same way until they reached Ninawa. When Imam Husayn (a.s.) halted there, a rider, equipped with arms and carrying a bow on his shoulder, arrived from Kufa. Everyone stopped and watched him, and when he came, he saluted Hurr and his companions and did not salute Imam and his companions.

Then he handed over the letter of Ubaydullah bin Ziyad to Hurr, whose contents were as follows: “Now then! As soon as my letter and messenger reaches you, be severe towards Husayn. And let him halt at a barren land, devoid of fortresses and water.

I have instructed my messenger not to part with you until you have carried out my orders, Salutations.” When Hurr read the letter of Ubaydullah, he told them, “This is the letter of the commander Ubaydullah, in which he has ordered me to stop you wherev­er this letter reaches me. And this is his messenger, who shall not part with me until I carry out his orders.” (Tabari) Then Yazid bin Muhajir Abul Sha’sa Kindi looked at the messenger of Ibn Ziyad and asked him, “Are you not Malik bin Numayr”?

He replied in the affirmative, while he was from the clan of Bani Kinda. Abul Sha’sa said, “May your mother mourn you! What order have you brought”? He re­plied, “What have I brought, but the orders of my Imam and fulfilled my allegiance to him.” Abul Sha’sa said, “You have disobeyed your Allah and obeyed your Imam in that which will doom you. And you shall earn disgrace and the fire of hell, what an evil Imam you have.

Allah says in the Qur’an: “And we made them Imams who invite unto the (hell) fire, and on the day of Qiyamah they shall not be helped” (Surah al-Qasas, 28:41) while your Imam is one of them. (Irshad) Hurr thus forced Imam and his companions to halt at that place, devoid of habitation nor water. Imam said, “Woe be to you! Leave us, so that we may halt at this village (Ninawa or Ghaziriyyah) or that (Shu­fiyyah).” Hurr replied, “By Allah!

I cannot permit you to do so, they have appointed that man as a spy over me.” Then Zuhayr bin Qayn said, “O son of the Prophet of Allah! I see that the matter will get worse than this. It is much easier for us to fight these people now, than to fight with the group who shall come after them. By my life!