Hanzala sees that Ibrahim has made no attempt to strike...

Hanzala sees that Ibrahim has made no attempt to strike, and they therefore leave; Ibrahim explains that it was not possible to strike Ubaydallah Ziyad without the outside guards coming in immediately to Ubaydallah Ziyad's rescue, and so any attempt then would have been suicidal. Ibrahim returns to his camp; both sides prepare for battle the next day; next day, the battle starts and continuous during daylight for three days.

Amongst the men killed during the three days of fierce fighting is Haseen Nameer, one of the commanders in Kerbala, and who fatally injured Ali Akbar.

The fourth day of battle is 10 Muharram 67 AH; the place is by the bank of river Tigris near Mosul; the battle continues; the final casualty was: Ubaydallah Ziyad's looses about eighty thousand of his men out of the initial number of one hundred thousand men, and the remaining twenty thousand retreat; Ibrahim looses seven thousand men out of his force of twenty four thousand men. Ubaydallah Ziyad's execution is reported by two sources.

The first report says that Ibrahim sees a rider retreating fast, he goes after him and smells the fragrance of Misk and Ambar; only Ubaydallah Ziyad would adorn perfumery in battle; (when Ubaydallah Ziyad had kept the head of Imam Husein (as) on his leg, a blood drop from Imam Husein's (as) head fell on Ubaydallah Ziyad's thighs, which since had caused a septic wound giving off a foul odour; Ubaydallah Ziyad thus used heavy perfumery to neutralise the odour).

Ibrahim realises it is Ubaydallah Ziyad running away, and immediately kills him; after the battle is finished, Ibrahim and his men then go to verify that it is indeed Ubaydallah Ziyad and then behead him.

The second report says that Ibrahim and Ubaydallah Ziyad have a one-to-one battle, and Ubaydallah Ziyad is taken in alive; he has his two legs broken, knee caps broken, hip joints broken, hands cut, head shaved, eyes gorged out, lips cut, cheeks cut, his flesh forced into his mouth, and finally lances are violently probed into him until his whole body is in little pieces. Ibrahim and his men go into Mosul victorious and are warmly welcomed by the people.