Upon entering Mecca...

Upon entering Mecca, he recited the glorious verse: "And when he turned his face towards Madyan, he said: Maybe my Lord will guide me in the right path." Holy Qur'an (28:22) He stayed at the house of al-Abdul-Muttalib. Throngs of the faithful gathered to welcome him.(42) Imam Hussein (a.s.) monitored the reactions of the Muslims throughout the Islamic provinces towards the ascension of Yazid to the office of caliphate.

Kufa, the capital of Iraq, was witnessing a revolutionary movement and a remarkable political shake-up. After long periods of terror and suppression the opposition forces stirred seeing it the golden chance to free themselves from the yoke of the tyrants. At the head of these revolutionaries were the followers of the Ahlul-Bait (a.s.).

They held an emergency meeting to discuss the mounting tension in Kufa and the responsibility they should take vis-a-vis the change in the government, after Yazid bin Mu'awiyah had taken the affairs of the ummah into his own hands. Sulaiman bin Sird al-Khuza'i, at whose house the meeting was held, delivered a speech. He informed the gathering of Imam Hussein' s (a.s.) announcement of his opposition to Yazid and that he rejected him as a legitimate caliph.

He told them that Imam Hussein (a.s.) was in Mecca, and since they were his followers and helpers they had to do something. If they were able to support and back him, sparing no effort in doing that, they had to inform him of their position. But were they unable to live up to their principles, it would be most incorrect to write to him and then fail him when the best comes to the worst. The Shi'ites who were present at the meeting declared their full support to the Imam.

They would defend him by any means available. "We fight his enemy, and kill ourselves defending him,"(43) they vowed. After reaching a consensus on this point, the leading men of Kufa wrote a letter in which they declared their total and final rejection of the Ummayyad rule and that they knew no substitute for Imam Hussein (a.s.). Then letters poured in from Kufa carrying the urgent call of the Kufans for Imam Hussein (a.s.) to join them, to take office as the caliphate and Imam of the Muslims.