And we left their bodies naked...

And we left their bodies naked, clothes smeared in blood, faces upon the ground, while the sun scorched them, and the wind scattered sand upon them, and the wild birds of the severe desert would turn upon them”.[^1] Hearing this, Yazid bowed his head for sometime, then lifting his head said, “I would have been pleased with you even if you had not killed Husayn. Beware! If I had been there with him, I would have let him go. May Allah have mercy upon Husayn”.

Then he did not bestow any gift upon him. Sayyid Shiblanji in his Noorul Absar, and Sibt Ibn Jawzee in his Tazkirah say, that Yazid removed him (Zahr bin Qays) from his presence and did not give him anything. We (the Author) say, that his (Zahr bin Qays) end was already predicted. Zuhayr bin Qayn relates, that when I joined Imam Husayn (a.s.), he said, “O Zuhayr! Know thou, that here the place of my pilgrimage will be raised.

And my head will be taken by Zahr bin Qays to the presence of Yazid in greed of reward, but he will not get anything.” After dispatching the head of Imam Husayn (a.s.), Ubaydullah mobilized the children and ladies and fastened an iron collar in the neck of Imam Ali bin Husayn (a.s.) and dispatched them behind the head along with Makhfar bin Sa’labah A’ezee and Shimr bin Ziljawshan, until they joined the caravan carrying the heads.

Imam Zainul Abedeen (a.s.) did not speak to them on the way from Iraq until they reached Syria. Sayyid Haider Hilli says in his elegies, “Who will inform the Prophet that indeed, Hazrat Sajjad is captivated? Who will inform to Zahra and notify her of the heartburn of Zainab? Their enemies have been parading them from one city to another, while their hearts are pained and aggrieved”.

It is stated in the Shi’ah and Sunni books, that when the bearers of the sacred head of Imam Husayn (a.s.) halted at the first place, they started drinking wine and playing and sporting with the blessed head. When suddenly a hand appeared from the wall holding an iron pen, and wrote down in blood the following lines: “The nation which has killed Husayn, still hopes that on the day of Qiyamah his grandfather shall intercede for them?” Seeing this they were terrified and left that place.