When he came to the station of Ishmael [ Isma‘il ], he said his prayers.

When he came to the station of Ishmael [ Isma‘il ], he said his prayers. After praying, he put his face on the station of Ishmael and began weeping and said, “Your humble slave is at the doorstep of your house! Your humble servant is at your doorstep! A destitute is at your doorstep!” For a long time, he kept repeating these statements. After a while, as he was leaving that place, his sight fell upon some poor people eating crumbs and pieces of bread.

Imam al-Husayn (as) went over to them and greeted them with the ceremonial Islamic greeting of ‘ salam ’. They answered his greeting and invited him to their meal. He sat with them but did not partake of their food.

He said, “If your food had not been from charity [ sadaqah ], I would have partaken of it.” He said to them, “Arise and come with me to my house.” When they arrived at his house, Imam al-Husayn (as) provided them with food and clothes.[^6] It has been narrated that ‘Abd Allah ibn ‘Ubayd ibn ‘Umayr said, “Al-Husayn ibn ‘Ali (as) performed the hajj twenty five times on foot, despite being accompanied by his fine and noble horses.”[^7] Ibn ‘Abd al-Barr says, “Al-Husayn (as) was a highly scholarly and religious man.

He performed prayer, fasting and hajj a lot.”[^8] On his own chain of transmission [ sanad ], Tabari narrates that Ḍaḥḥak ibn ‘Abd Allah Mashriqi said, “When darkness fell at Karbala, al-Husayn (as) and his companions spent the whole night praying, seeking forgiveness, supplicating and entreating Allah…”[^9] Imam al-Husayn’s (as) forbearance It has been recounted that Imam ‘Ali ibn al-Husayn (as) said, “Al-Husayn used to say, ‘If someone vilifies me in my right ear and then apologizes for it in my left ear, I will surely accept his apology because I heard Amir al-Mu’minin ‘Ali ibn Abi Ṭalib (as) narrate a hadith from my grandfather the Prophet of Allah (S) that,[^10] لا يرد الحوض من لم يقبل العذر من محقّ او مبطل.

The one who does not accept apologies, whether the apology is true or not, will not pass the pond [hawd] of al-Kawthar’.” It has been recounted that one of Imam al-Husayn’s (as) slaves had committed an offence that required discipline. The Imam (as) ordered that the slave should be punished for the offence. The slave implored Imam al-Husayn’s forgiveness. He appealed to the Imam (as) by quoting verses of the Holy Qur’an. He said, “O my master!

God, the Exalted, has revealed: ‘And those who restrain their anger’ .”[^11] Imam al-Husayn (as) replied, “Let him go.