Al-Hurr b. Yazid al-Riyahi: Difference between revisions

"When we departed from the region Sharaf, in the middle of the day, we noticed the scout of an army from far away, the Imam asked his companions: is there a safe haven nearby so that we can get stationed in it, and confront this army from one direction? They replied: yes, to the left, there's a campsite called Dhu Husam. Taking the left direction of the road, the Imam moved toward Dhu Husam; likewise, the opposite army hurried toward that position. However, Imam al-Husayn's caravan reached that site earlier and Imam ordered his companions to camp there. Al-Hurr arrived there along with his soldiers at noon and they were thirsty. Although they lined up in battle stations, the Imam's reaction was not confrontational. He ordered his companions to give water to the army of al-Hurr, both soldiers and their horses. Then al-Hurr requested to pray the noon prayer, along with his soldiers, behind the Imam; Imam al-Husayn (a) accepted and they prayed their noon prayer with the caravan of Imam al-Husayn (a), the Imam being the leader of prayer. Al-Hurr told the Imam about his mission. Imam al-Husayn (a) emphasized on the fact that the people of Kufa have invited him to Kufa by sending frequent letters and requested him to take over the affairs; however, the Imam explicitly stated that if the Kufans regret their decision, he would return.

When the Imam decided to continue his travel, al-Hurr stopped him from either heading toward Kufa or going back to [[Hijaz]], al-Hurr suggested Imam to take a third route, neither to Kufa nor to Hijaz, so that he can ask Ibn Ziyad for further instructions. al-Hurr told the Imam: "I have not been ordered to battle against you, but I am ordered not to let you go and take you to Kufa; yet if you refuse, take a third route rather than Kufa and Hijaz, so that I write a letter to Ibn Ziyad. If you wish, you can also write to Yazid; that might help the situation end in peace. To me this seems better than getting involved in a battle against you."

Then al-Hurr distanced from 'Umar b. Sa'd and went to a corner of the army and little by little, got close to the other side. Muhajir b. Aws –a member in Umar's army- asked al-Hurr: "do you want to attack?" Al-Hurr did not reply and was shaking. Muhajir became suspicious and said: "by God I have never seen you in any war like this, if I was asked who the bravest man of Kufa was, certainly I wouldn't miss your name. Now, what is this state I see you in?" al-Hurr said: "truly I see myself between paradise and hellfire; and by God, if I get torn apart and burned, I will not choose anything but paradise." Upon saying this, al-Hurr directed his horse toward the campsite of Imam al-Husayn (a).

After repentance, al-Hurr turned toward 'Ubayd Allah b. Ziyad's army and addressed them: "O people! Haven't the suggestions given by al-Husayn (a) prevented you from fighting with him?" they said: "tell your word to 'Umar b. Sa'd." Al-Hurr repeated the same question for 'Umar, he replied: "I am eager to fight al-Husayn (a) and if I had any other choice, I would do that." Then al-Hurr addressed the army: "O people of Kufa! may your mother grieve over you! Did you summoned this good man to yourselves and said you will help him to fight his enemies, now he has come to you, you refrain from helping him, and have lined up against him and want to kill him? You have grabbed his soul, won't let him breathe, surrounded him from every angle and prevented him from going to the vast cities and lands of God, in such a way that he is like a captive in your hands, he cannot do anything positive for himself nor protect himself from harms, and you have prevented him and his family and children from drinking the water of the Euphrates, from which Jews and Christians and Magus drink and in which black pigs and dogs swim, to the point that he has lost his energy due to thirst; how badly you observe and respect the right of (Prophet) Muhammad (s) in his progeny! May God not quench your thirst on the day of thirst (judgement)." At this point, the archers in Umar's army throw arrows toward him and he retreated and stood in front of [[Imam al-Husayn (a)]].

According to [[Sayyid Muhsin al-Amin]], when some members of the tribe [[Banu Asad]] were burying the bodies of Karbala martyrs, some members of al-Hurr's tribe didn't allow them to bury his body with the rest of the martyrs, and buried al-Hurr's body in a further location, which was called Nawawis at the time. Therefore, his body was buried at a distance of around one league from the holy tomb of [[Imam al-Husayn (a)]].

In one account, it is reported that after he conquered Iraq and went to [[Karbala]], the king became suspicious about the story of al-Hurr and his tomb. To investigate its truth, he ordered to exhume al-Hurr's grave. Upon the exhumation, they saw a body wearing bloody clothes and the wounds were still fresh. There was a sword-made wound on his head and a piece of cloth was fastened over it. Since it had been reported in historical sources that this cloth belonged to Imam al-Husayn (a) and he had fasted it over al-Hurr's head, the king ordered to open it and replace it with another piece of cloth. However, when they opened it, the wound started bleeding, they fastened it with another piece of cloth but the flow of blood did not stop. Inevitably, they fastened the same piece of cloth that belonged to Imam al-Husayn (a) and the blood stopped. The king only took a little part of that cloth... and ordered to build a more respectful shrine over the tomb of al-Hurr.