Tabari...

Tabari, Tarikh 5/416 [2] Al Futuh 5/177 [3] Al Futuh 5/177 [4] Ansaab al-Ashraaf 3/392 may be able to pray to our Lord during the night to call upon Him and seek His forgiveness. He knows that I have always loved His formal prayer, the recitation of His Book and (making) many invocations to Him, seeking His forgiveness.” His Eminence, Abbas returned to them and conveyed the message of his brother.

Ibn Saad sought the counsel of Shimr in this matter for he feared that if he accepted it of his own accord, Shimr may report the matter to Ibn Ziyad because he was a spy of the governor on Ibn Saad. Or that if Ibn Ziyad were to blame him for giving respite he could claim that even Shimr was an ally in that decision. Anyway, Shimr did not offer any suggestion and the matter was left to the discretion of Ibn Saad.

Amr bin Hajjaj Zubaidi condemned their refusal to accept Imam’s offer and said, “Glory be to Allah! By God, if the Dailam has put forth such a request you’d have found them worthier to be granted their wish.” [1] In his statement the son of Hajjaj did not elaborate the subject and state that they were the Progeny of the Prophet lest the matter be reported to Ibn Marjana and he may be considered to be inclined towards Ahle Bayt.

Thus earning disgrace from the governor and be deprived from material gains… Ibn Ashath supported the view of son of Hajjaj and said to Ibn Saad, “Accept their proposal. By my life, tomorrow they shall be fighting against you.” Ibn Ashath said this because he was under the impression that the Imam was inclined towards submission to Ibn Ziyad that is why he was asking for respite.

However when he realized that the Imam was determined to fight it out, he regretted his words saying, “By Allah, if I knew that they would act in that way, I would never have accorded them any respite.” [2] Ibn Ashath considered his own ethics and the ethics of Kufians to be a standard against which to judge people. And he was of the view that the Imam will accept humiliation and disgrace and turn away from completing his mission.

He did not know that the Imam had inherited his existence and all his attitudes from his Holy grandfather. Battle delayed till the morning next After most commanders expressed willingness to postpone hostilities, Ibn Saad issued the permission to give respite till the next day. He told one of his men to announce this to the Imam’s camp.