The events of Ashura night

This sermon was narrated by al-Tabari from Abu Mikhnaf, who reported it from Dhahhak ibn Abdullah al-Mashriqi. The summary of the Imam’s (peace be upon him) speech on Ashura night is as follows:

The first action the Imam (peace be upon him) took on the night of Ashura was gathering his companions. After praising and glorifying Allah and after praising and honoring his companions and family, and praying for them, he said:

The Sermon of the Imam (as) and the Liberation of His Companions and Family

Tomorrow is the last day of my life, and the enemy is targeting me, not anyone else. You are all free to go. Make use of the darkness of the night, and let each of you take the hand of one of my family members and protect them in your house, in the desert, or in the city until relief comes.

This is not the first time the Imam (peace be upon him) has released people. In “Zubalah,” the Imam (peace be upon him) read his letter to the people and allowed them to leave, and those who had joined him on the way all went and dispersed.

On the night of Ashura, the Imam’s (peace be upon him) supporters were those who had come with him from Mecca and had joined him to seek martyrdom and support him. This group, with the exception of a few—such as Aqba ibn Sam’an and Abdullah ibn Dhahhak al-Mashriqi—were all determined to be killed and had no intention of leaving. They saw happiness in martyrdom.

the speech of al-Abbas ibn Ali (as) on Ashura night

After the Imam’s (peace be upon him) speech ended, the family members stood to respond to the Imam (peace be upon him). The first among them was al-Abbas ibn Ali (peace be upon him), who said:

Why should we leave? Why should we separate from you and abandon you? So that we can live after you?! May God not show us the world after you! The Imam (peace be upon him) then said to the sons of Aqil: The death of Muslim is enough for you, go, I have given you permission!

They said: What will the people say? They will say we abandoned our leader and our cousins and did not participate in the battle with them, and did not know what happened to them. By God! We will not do that, but instead, we will sacrifice our lives, wealth, and families for you, and we will fight by your side, and die with you, and we do not want life after you, for life after you is worthless!

In “Maqatil al-Talibiyyin,” Abu al-Faraj narrates: So the Imam (peace be upon him) and his family all cried, and the Imam prayed for them.

Imam hussain (as) companions’ turn to speak

After the family members, it was the companions’ turn to speak. Muslim ibn Awsaja al-Asadi stood up and said to the Imam (peace be upon him): Should we leave you while we have not yet fulfilled your right?! By God! I must thrust this spear into the chests of your enemies, and fight them with this sword, and I will not leave you, and if I do not have a weapon to fight your enemies, I will fight with stones until I die for your sake!

Saeed ibn Abdullah al-Hanafi said: By God! I will not leave you until God knows that after the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family), we did not abandon his family. By God! Even if I knew that I would be killed and then revived, then burned alive and turned into ashes scattered in the wind, and this act would be repeated seventy times, I would not leave you, so how could I leave you when I know that death only occurs once, and after that, there is the eternal and everlasting mercy of God.

what Zuhair ibn al-Qain said

Zuhair ibn al-Qain said: By God! I wish to be killed, then revived, then killed again, and this act repeated a thousand times, on the condition that you and your family remain safe and are spared from being killed!

And so, the companions of the Imam (peace be upon him) each said something similar to the other, and the content of their words was:

By God! We will not leave you, and we will sacrifice our lives for you, and if we are killed, we will have fulfilled our duty.

In a narration that al-Saduq (may Allah have mercy on him) mentioned in “Illal al-Shara’i,” it is said: The veils were lifted from before their eyes, and they saw their place in Paradise, and from this, they competed to be martyred so that they could reach their place in Paradise more quickly.