When the news of Muslim bin Aqil's
arrival in Kufa and people taking ba'it spread, Abdullah bin Muslim Al-Hadharmi
called on Noman bin Bashir and said to him, O Amir! You should not show
slackness in the caliph's affairs. Several days have passed since Muslim bin
Aqil arrived in Kufa and he has been taking bay'at for the Caliphate of Imam
Husain (رضي الله عنه). You should kill
Muslim bin Aqil or arrest him and send him to Yazid and punish those who have
taken ba'it." Noman bin Bashir (رضي الله عنه)
said, "I do not want to expose the work which they are doing secretly. I
shall not attack them unless they come out for a fight." Hearing this
Abdullah wrote the following letter to Yazid.
Muslim bin Aqil (رضي الله عنه) has arrived in Kufa and has been taking
ba'it for the caliphate of Husain bin Ali (رضي الله
عنه) and the people have been responding favorably. Husain bin Ali
(رضي الله عنه) is also expected to
come. Noman bin Bashir is showing weakness in this affair. If you want to keep
Kufa under your control, send some strict governor to Kufa so that he might
slay Muslim bin Aqil and suppress the ba'it and stop Husain bin Ali (رضي الله عنه) from entering Kufa. If you delay, then
deem Kufa to have gone out of your control.
Ammara bin Oqba bin Abi Moeet also
sent a letter to Yazid of similar content. These letters made him thoughtful
and disturbed him very much. There was a man named Sarjoon who was a liberated
slave of Amir Muawiya (رضي الله عنه).
Amir Muawiya (رضي الله عنه) used to seek his
counsel on some complicated and important affairs to his great advantage. Yazid
called him, and showing him Abdullah bin Al-Hadhrasmis letter he sought his
opinion. Here at this point, as a parenthesis it is worth mentioning that Yazid
had always been displeased with Zeyad bin Abi Sufyan. After Zeyad, he resented
and hated Obaidullah bin Zeyad. Amir Muawiya (رضي الله
عنه) made Obaidullah bin Zeyad the governor of Basra. Yazid was
thinking of removing him from that post and installing somebody else instead.
When the horrible news from Kufa came, Yazid consulted Amir Muawiya's liberated
slave, he said:
"At this moment, Iraq is about
to go out of your hands. If you want to save Iraq, none other than Obaidullah
bin Zeyad can help you. I know that you will dislike my counsel. But who ever
other than Obaidullah bin Zeyad you send to Kufa as governor, he will not be
able to save it. Furthermore, just as Amir Muawiya (رضي
الله عنه) had assigned the governorship of both Basra and Kufa together
similarly you should also assign him the dual charge and you need not select
any other governor for Basra."
Yazid hesitated a moment after
hearing this advice, and then wrote instructions to Obaidullah bin Zeyad.
"I hereby assign you the
governorship of Kufa along with that of Basra. You should leave someone as your
deputy in Basra and go to Kufa at once Muslim bin Aqil has been there taking
ba'it for Imam Husain (رضي الله عنه).
Make him a captive or kill him and if those who took ba'it from him, refuse to
recant their ba'it they should be put to death and by this way we will ward off
all further dangers."
Obaidullah bin Zeyad was sure that
Yazid was going to remove him from the governorship of Basra. He was surprised
to read the contents of the letter. He was pleased as well as wary because that
order obviously indicated a danger that Yazid might be trying to get him out of
Basra by this pretext. Yet, he thought it necessary to obey the order. He made
up his mind to leave his brother Uthman bin Zeyad in his place in Basra and he
set out for Kufa the next day. Meanwhile Mundhir bin Al-Harith came running to
him saying that Husain bin Ali's messenger had come and had been taking ba'it
for Imam Husain (رضي الله عنه) and was doing it
secretly. Obaidullah bin Zeyad through deception arrested Imam Husain's
messenger and the next day collected the people and made this speech.
Husain bin Ali's emissary has come
to Basra with his letters to a number of people here. I have arrested them. I
have extracted the names of those people here who have received these letters
and I have also prepared a list of those who have taken ba'it for Imam Husain (رضي الله عنه). You know I am Zeyad bin Abi Sufyan's
son. Muslim bin Aqil (رضي الله عنه)
is in Kufa. I am going to him. I shall kill all those have taken ba'it at his
hands. If the whole of Kufa has entered into his ba'it, I shall spare none. At
this moment, I make a concession to you that except for Husain bin Ali's emissary,
i will not say anything to anybody. But if anyone speaks anything after I have
left, it will not be good for him.
Saying this he brought Imam Husain's
messenger and killed him in front of them all. No one made a sign indicative of
disapproval. Satisfied with this act, he went to Kufa. Imam Husain (رضي الله عنه) sitting in Makkah thought that the people
were taking ba'it for him in Basra but instead his messenger was actually being
killed. Obaidullah bin Zeyad reached Qadisya and left his cavalry there, and
along with his father's liberated slave rode a camel and rushed to Kufa and
entered it in between Maghrib and Isha time. He purposely put on a turban like
the people of the Hijaz. In the mean time, the people were waiting for the
arrival of Imam Husain (رضي الله عنه).
The dominance of the followers of Ali and Husain were too great and Noman bin
Bashir locked the doors of his court on that same evening, he sat with a
selected few of those close to him and posted slaves at the door with
instructions to first ask any visitor's name and address and if they deserved
entry, they should be let in, if not, they should be refused. When Obaidullah
bin Zeyad entered Kufa, the people thought that the man for whom they were
waiting for, Imam Husain (رضي الله عنه)
had arrived in Kufa. Wherever Obaidullah's camel passed by, the people they
said: "Peace be upon you, O son of the Prophet (صلى
الله عليه وسلم)." Obaidullah reached the court on his camel. He found the
door closed. He knocked at the door and said nothing. Noman bin Bashir (رضي الله عنه) was sitting on the roof with his friends.
He rose and coming to the edge of the roof, looked down. As the entire city was
awaiting Imam Husain (رضي الله عنه)
he also mistook Obaidullah to be Imam Husain (رضي الله
عنه). He said, "O son of the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم)! Please go back and don't create an evil
disorder. Yazid will never hand over Kufa to you." Noman's friends who
were sitting on the roof said to him, "Please don't be impolite to Imam
Husain (رضي الله عنه). At least open the
door and let him in because he is coming from a journey directly to you as your
guest." Noman bin Bashir said, "I do not like to give the people any
chance to say that during Noman's regime Imam Husain was slain in Kufa."
Obaidullah took off his turban and said, "O unfortunate one! Open the door
at least." Hearing Obaidullah's voice, they at once recognized him. They
opened the door and then dispersed. He entered and after some time, his army,
which he had left behind, started entering Kufa. At the same time, Muslim bin
Aqil (رضي الله عنه) was informed of the
arrival of Obaidullah bin Zeyad's army. He left the house where he had been
staying, which was known to the people, and took refuge in Hani bin Urwa's
house. By that time, the number of people who had taken ba'it at his hands in
Kufa, had reached eighteen thousand. The next morning Obaidullah bin Zeyad
spoke to the crowd and read Yazid's orders that came from Basra. Obaidullah
said:
"My father is well known to you
and also the style of politics that he used to practice. All his features are
present in me. You know me also and I fully know the names, houses and freed
slaves of each of you. You cannot hide anything from me. I don't like to shed
blood in Kufa and kill you. I know that you have taken bay'at for Husain bin
Ali (رضي الله عنه) at Muslim bin Aqil's
hands. I give protection to all of you provided you recant your ba'it and don't
give shelter to those who are bent upon revolving otherwise every giver of
shelter will be killed at his own door."
After this speech, Obaidullah asked
about Muslim bin Aqil's whereabouts. No one answered. At last he was informed
by his spies that he was hiding in Hani bin Urawa's house. Obaidullah gave a
purse of three thousand dirhams to Maqal, a liberated slave of the Tamim tribe
and and was unknown to anynone in Kufa, and told him to call at Hani bin Urwa's
house and tell him, "I have to tell you something in private" and
when in private tell him: "Such and such person of Basra has sent me to
you and has given me three thousand dirhams to give to Muslim bin Aqil in Kufa
and tell him that I have go to Kufa from such and such date and that on that
same date Imam Husain (رضي الله عنه)
would also reach Kufa. Don't worry we shall enter Kufa along with Imam Husain (رضي الله عنه) and take this three thousand dirhams as a
gift from us for your needs. So, please take me to Muslim bin Aqil so that I
may give all these messages and this money to him and leave Kufa at once
because Obaidullah bin Zeyad has arrived and as he knows me, I am in danger of
being arrested".
Maqal took this purse and called on
Hani. He was sitting at his door.
Hearing his message, he took him to
Muslim bin Aqil. Muslim bin Aqil was glad to receive the purse and hearing the
message saw Maqal off. Maqal came direct back to Obaidullah and told him that
he had given the purse to Muslim bin Aqil and that he had talked to him. He was
present in Hani's house. Obaidullah bin Zeyad called Hani and inquired about
Muslim bin Aqil's whereabouts. He called Maqal and made him repeat his statement
in front of everybody. Hani was ashamed and said,
"Yes, Muslim bin Aqil has taken
refuge with me but I cannot bear the insult of handing him over to you".
Obaidullah arrested Hani then and
there. The news spread in the city that Obaidullah killed Hani. Hani's women
folk started lamenting. When Muslim bin Aqil witnessed all of this, he could
bear it no more, he came out with sword in hand and he called all those who had
taken bay'at at his hands. Only four thousand people out of eighteen thousand
collected. He called the rest also but each of them answered. "At the time
of ba'it it was agreed that we would not fight until Imam Husain رضي الله عنه arrived. You should also wait and watch
until he comes." As Muslim bin Aqil came out, he could not go back into
hiding again. He surrounded Obaidullah bin Zeyad with the four thousand people
who responded to his call. Obaidullah bin Zeyad was at the governor's
headquarters with thirty or forty people. They climbed on the roof and started
showering arrows on those surrounding the place. The relatives and friends of
Muslim bin Aqil's supporters began to persuade them to desist from their self-destruction.
In short, all of them parted little by little until only thirty or forty
supporters remained with Muslim bin Aqil.
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