Batn al-'Aqaba
Baṭn al-ʿAqaba (Arabic: بَطن العَقَبَة) is a way station on the way from Mecca to Kufa. In the event of Karbala, Imam al-Husayn (a) met 'Amr b. Lawdhan in this station. 'Amr informed Imam al-Husayn (a) that 'Ubayd Allah b. Ziyad's soldiers ambushed somewhere between Qadisiyya and 'Udhayb, and tried to dissuade the Imam (a) from going to Kufa, but the Imam (a) refused his suggestion and went on to Sharaf.[1] Ibn Athir quoted the content of this conversation as involving an Arabian man, without mentioning 'Amr b. Lawdhan.[2]
On the way from Mecca to Kufa, this station is located after Zubala and before 'Amiyya.[3]
Imam al-Husayn (a)'s conversation with 'Amr b. Lawdhan in Batn al-'Aqaba
- 'Amr b. Lawdhan: Where is your destination?
- Imam al-Husayn (a): Kufa.
- 'Amr: I swear to God that you should go back, since only spears and swords will welcome you there. If those who wrote letters to you and invited you prevented the war and paved the way for you, then you could go on to Kufa, but in current circumstances, I do not find it wise to go there.
- Imam al-Husayn (a): O' the servant of God! This all is not unknown to me. But the divine command cannot be changed. I swear to God that they will not abandon me until they kill me, and when they do so, God will humilate them by a ruler so that they will be the most humilated people.[4]
Notes
References
- Ibn Athīr al-Jazarī, ʿAlī b. Abī l-Karam. Al-Kāmil fī l-tārīkh. Beirut: Dār Ṣādir, 1385 AH-1965.
- Ibn Qūlawayh, Jaʿfar b. Muḥammad. Kāmil al-zīyārāt. Edited by ʿAbd al-Ḥusayn Amīnī. Najaf: Dār al-Murtaḍawīyya, 1356 Sh.
- Jaʿfarīyān, Rasūl. Aṭlas-i Shīʿa. Tehran: Intishārāt-i Sāzmān-i Jughrāfīyāyī-yi Nīrūhā-yi Musallaḥ, 1387 SH.
- Mufīd, Muḥammad b. Muḥammad al-. Al-Irshād fī maʿrifat ḥujaj Allāh ʿalā l-ʿibād. Qom: Kungira-yi Shaykh al-Mufīd, 1413 AH.
- Ṭabarī, Muḥammad b. Jarīr al-.Tārīkh al-umam wa l-mulūk. Edited by Muḥammad Abu l-faḍl Ibrāhīm. Second edition. Beirut: Dar al-Turāth, 1387 AH.