The number of Ibn Sads army

Sayyid Ibn Tawus (may Allah have mercy on him) narrates in his book “Luhuf” that Omar ibn Sa’ad entered Karbala with four thousand men, and afterwards, Ibn Ziyad sent reinforcements, so that by the sixth of Muharram, twenty thousand men had gathered.

Although we do not know exactly how many were in the army of Kufa, al-Tabari reports from Abu Mikhnaf that Tarmakh ibn ‘Adiyy said to Imam (peace be upon him): “Yesterday, I saw a crowd behind Kufa that I have never seen before. I asked who they were, and they said it was an army prepared to fight against Hussein and was on its way to him.”

This indicates that the army of Kufa was very large. Kufa was always a center for large armies. Tarmakh ibn ‘Adiyy bin Hatem al-Tai was the chief of his tribe and had seen large armies before, so his report suggests that the number was quite significant, and mentioning figures like twenty or thirty thousand is not exaggerated. Given that there were a thousand horsemen as scouts or searching for the Imam (peace be upon him) in the desert, and by the third of Muharram, four thousand horsemen arrived with Ibn Sa’ad, and reinforcements continued to arrive until the evening of Tasu’a, and Ibn Ziyad himself left Kufa to establish a camp in Nukhayla, it is not surprising that thirty thousand enemies were present.

In this context, Sheikh al-Saduq (may Allah have mercy on him) reports two Hadiths indicating that the enemy’s army numbered thirty thousand:

1. Hadith 1:
   “From Ali al-Hamdhani, from Ali ibn Ibrahim, from al-Yaqutani, from Yunus ibn Abd al-Rahman, from Ibn Isbat, from Ibn Salim, from his father, from al-Thumali, from al-Sajjad (peace be upon him) in a narration that says: … There was no day like the day of Hussein (peace be upon him). Thirty thousand men gathered around him, claiming to be from this nation, each seeking to get closer to Allah by shedding his blood, while he reminded them of Allah but they did not take heed until they killed him out of envy, oppression, and aggression.” According to this narration, Imam al-Sajjad (peace be upon him) said that there was no day more difficult than Ashura, when thirty thousand people gathered around Hussein (peace be upon him), all claiming to be Muslims and seeking to shed Hussein’s blood for the sake of Allah. Despite Hussein reminding them of Allah and advising them, they did not heed his words until they killed him out of oppression and enmity.
2. Hadith 2:
   “From Ahmad ibn Harun al-Fami, from Muhammad al-Humairi, from his father, from Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Yahya, from Muhammad ibn Sinan, from al-Mufaddal ibn Umar, from al-Sadiq (peace be upon him), from his father, from his grandfather (peace be upon them): One day, Hussein ibn Ali ibn Abi Talib (peace be upon him) visited al-Hassan (peace be upon him). When he looked at him, he cried. Al-Hassan asked: ‘Why are you crying, O Abu Abdullah?’ Hussein (peace be upon him) replied: ‘I am crying for what will happen to you.’ Al-Hassan (peace be upon him) said: ‘I will be poisoned and killed, but your tragedy is the greatest. Thirty thousand men will come to you, claiming to be from the nation of our grandfather, Muhammad (peace be upon him and his family), and they will claim to follow the religion of Islam. They will gather to kill you, shed your blood, violate your sanctity, capture your women and children, and plunder your belongings. At that point, the curse will befall the Umayyads.'” According to this narration, Imam Hussein (peace be upon him) visited his brother Imam Hassan (peace be upon him) and cried upon seeing him. Imam Hassan asked why he was crying, and Imam Hussein (peace be upon him) replied that he was mourning what would happen to him. Imam Hassan (peace be upon him) said he would be poisoned and killed, but Hussein’s tragedy was worse. Thirty thousand men would come, claiming to be from the nation of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), and they would gather to kill him, shed his blood, violate his sanctity, capture his family, and plunder his possessions. This would result in a curse upon the Umayyads. These two Hadiths suggest that the number of the enemy’s army was thirty thousand.