In the Footsteps of Martyrs 177Before Walid could act upon Marwan’s advice, Husayn hastily
gathered the members of his family and, along with a handful of sup-
porters, headed off to Kufa. He never made it.
Having uncovered Husayn’s plans to raise an army against him,
Yazid sent his troops to Kufa to arrest and execute the leaders of the
rebellion and to make sure the population of the city understood that
any attempt to rally support for Husayn would be swiftly and merci-
lessly crushed. The threat worked. Long before Husayn and his fol-
lowers were intercepted at Karbala, just a few kilometers south of
Kufa, the insurrection had been quelled. Just as Husayn had pre-
dicted, the Kufans abandoned him to his fate. And yet, even after he
had received news of the revolt’s collapse, after he had been aban-
doned by those whom he came to lead, Husayn continued to march
toward Kufa and certain death.
The events at Karbala sent shock waves through the Muslim lands.
After the massacre, Yazid’s troops made a point of parading the sur-
vivors, including Husayn’s only remaining son, Ali—so ailing he had
to be strapped to a camel—through the streets of Kufa as a cautionary
message to Husayn’s supporters. When Husayn’s severed head was
displayed to the crowd, the Kufans wailed and beat their breasts, curs-
ing themselves for betraying the family of the Prophet. But even those
factions who had strenuously opposed the leadership claims of the ahl
al-bayt were aghast at this demonstration of Caliphal might. This was,
after all, the family of the Messenger of God, people said; how could
they have been starved and massacred like animals?
Almost immediately, rebellion erupted throughout the Empire.
The remaining Kharijite factions denounced Yazid as a heretic and set
up their own separate régimes, one in Iran and one in the Arabian
Peninsula. In Kufa, a brief yet bloody uprising to avenge the massacre
at Karbala was instigated in the name of Muhammad ibn al-Hanafiyyah
(the son of Ali but not of Fatima). In Mecca, Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr—
the son of the man who had, along with Talha, fought with Aisha
against Ali at the Battle of the Camel—raised an army and declared
himself the Amir al-Mu’manin (Commander of the Faithful). The
Ansar promptly followed Ibn al-Zubayr’s example by declaring their