Ibn Ziyad ordered Imam al-Sajjad (as)...

Ibn Ziyad ordered Imam al-Sajjad (as), Zaynab al-Kubra (as), and the other captives to be brought into his court, where he hurled the most contemptible insults at the sacred head of Imam al-Husayn (as) and the captives of Karbala, and displayed his meanness and baseness to its highest degree, and exposed his nasty nature as vividly as it really was.

The Message of Blood and Martyrdom Upon having conversed with the captives of Karbala in his court, Ibn Ziyad, or as he is famous with, son of Marjana, ordered his men to transfer them to a jail next to the Grand Mosque of Kufa, and ordered the sacred head of Imam al-Husayn (as) to be carried around in town in order to intimidate the people.

In reply to the letter from Ibn Ziyad who had written to him about the martyrdom of Imam al-Husayn (as) and his companions and capturing his household, Yazid demanded that Imam al-Husayn (as)'s head and those of his companions together with captives be sent to Sham. Imam Sajjad (as) was chained on the hands, feet, and neck and seated on a camel, and the household were placed on unsaddled camels like the captives of Byzantine and Zanzibar and dispatched to Sham.

The Infallible (as) arrived in Sham through Ba‘albak. The first day of Safar, 61 A.H, while Damascus was filled with rejoice and exultation because Yazid had introduced captives of Karbala, the pure progeny of the Prophet (S), as alien rebels in his claws. Yazid had the captives and heads of the martyrs passed by Jayrun, which was his countryside amusement place and debauchery resort. With much pleasure and delight, he watched the captives led by “Jayrun,” feeling like an indisputable conqueror.

Along the streets, people stood watching the captives. A Shami old man stepped forward and stood before the caravan of the captives and said: “Thanks God your men were killed and the cities of Islam got rid of their evil and Yazid the commander of the faithful became victorious over you.” In reply to the old man who had at that age not been secure from the Umayyads' poisonous propaganda, Imam Zayn al-‘Abidin (as) said: “O Shaykh! Have you read the Qur’an?” “Yes,” replied the old man.

Imam (as) asked him if he had read this verse, ﴾Say, “I do not ask you any reward for it except love of [my] near of the kin.”﴿ (Al-Qur’an, 42: 23).