He knew that he had only two alternatives...

He knew that he had only two alternatives: to give allegiance to Yazid, and thus disobey a divine command and live the life of a coward and a traitor, or to resist and be killed if necessary. He left Mecca before completing his pilgrimage rites. Just outside Mecca, he met the famous poet, al-Farazdaq, who, with great surprise, inquired why he had left Mecca before completing his pilgrimage.

Al-Husayn answered, “Have I not left in haste I would have been arrested.”[^4] To another man who asked the same question, al-Husayn gave a revealing answer. “The Umayyad usurped my possessions, and I bore that patiently; they reviled my honor and I bore that patiently too. Then they sought my life, and so I left.”[^5] Al-Husayn pressed on swiftly and directly toward Iraq. He sent Qays b. Mushir al-Saydawi (or 'Abd Allah b. Yaqtur his foster brother) to Kufa.The envoy of al-Husayn b.

'Ali was arrested and sent to Ibn Ziyad. He ordered him to go up the pulpit and curse al-Husayn. Qays b. Mushir al-Saydawi went up the pulpit, praised, and glorified God. Then he said, “People, this man, al-Husayn b. 'Ali, the best of God's creatures, the son of Fatima, the daughter of Messenger of God is nearby. I am his messenger to you, answer him.” Ibn Ziyad ordered to have him thrown from the top of the palace.

They threw him and he was smashed to pieces.[^6] Al-Husayn and his companions were proceeding towards Kufa, when they came across a man from Kufa, he told them that he had only left Kufa after Muslim and Hani had been killed, and he had seen them being dragged by their legs into the market place. News of Qays b. Mushir al-Saydawi (or 'Abd Allah b. Yaqtur) also reached him.

He gathered his men and took out a written statement to the people and read it to them, “In the name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful. News of the dreadful murder of Muslim b. 'Aqil, Hani b. 'Urwa, and 'Abd Allah b. Yaqtur has reached us. Our Shi'ite have deserted us.

Those who would prefer to leave us may leave freely without guilt.” Most of those who attached themselves to al-Husayn, thinking him to be a victorious conqueror and hoping for much booty, began to disperse from him to right and left until there were only left with him those followers who had come with him from Medina, and a small group of those who had joined him.[^7] Ibn Ziyad sent al-Hurr b. Yazid al-Riyahi with a thousand equestrians to intercept al-Husayn and bring him captive to Kufa.