68 DESTINY DISRUPTED
went home that night, they all knew the principle of succession would
never come up for discussion again.
When Yazid succeeded to the throne, however, he knew his father had
not eliminated but merely suppressed rebellious elements. Yazid therefore
kept close tabs on all who might challenge his power, especially Ali's rela-
tives and descendents. Hassan had passed away by this time, but his
brother Hussein was still alive, and just to be on the safe side, the emperor
decided to have this man assassinated on his next pilgrimage to Mecca.
Hussein was now in his forties. He knew his father's partisans consid-
ered him to be the true khalifa; he knew that zealous Muslims looked to
him to keep the spiritual revolution alive; but no one man could shoulder
such a heavy mantle. Hussein had opted out of politics and lived a quiet
life of prayer and contemplation all these years, meditating on his grand-
father's mission.
But when he learned of the plot to have him killed, and that Yazid's as-
sassins planned to murder him in the Ka'ba itself, Hussein could take no
more. He had no troops and no military experience. Yazid had a network
of spies, a treasury, and an army. Even so, in the year 60 AH (680 by the
common calendar), Hussein announced that he was going to challenge
Yazid and left Medina with a force of seventy-two people.
Actually, calling it a "force" goes too far: the seventy-two included
Hussein's wife, his children, and some doddering elderly relatives. Only a
handful of the company were fighting-age males. What was the man
thinking? Did he really imagine he could topple the Umayyad monarch
with this tiny band? Was he perhaps thinking that if he just started
marching, he would ignite a firestorm of revolt and inspire the tribes to
join him?
Probably not. In a final sermon before his departure, Hussein told his
followers that he was sure to be slain but was not afraid, because death
"surrounds Adam's offspring as a necklace surrounds a young girl's neck."^2
He noted a Qur'anic verse that told people to stand up to unjust rulers like
Yazid. If the son of Ali and Fatima, the grandson of the Prophet himself,
did not stand up to tyranny, who would? As portrayed in traditional ac-
counts, therefore, Hussein was determined to make an example of his own
life: right from the start, he saw himself as embarking on a pilgrimage with
ritual significance. In a sense, he was committing noble suicide.