"Meanwhile, Yazid wrote a letter to ‘Ubaydullah Ibn Ziyad who was in Basrah, “Go to Kufah, capture Muslim Ibn ‘Aqil, and see what is appropriate to imprison him, send him to exile, or kill him.”
Ibn Ziyad went with five hundred people from Basrah dressed up like Imam Husayn so that, when he passed through the guards and the people, they would think that he was the Imam. They came to him and said, “O, grandson of the Prophet of God,” but he did not reply at all. When he reached Kufah from the Najaf entrance, people came to him welcoming him with one voice, but he did not reply and continued immediately towards Qasr al‑lmarah, the castle of the governor. People of Kufah realized that it was a trick, he said, “O people! I swear by the Ka′bah that this is Ibn Ziyad, not Imam Husayn!”
The people all ran away to their houses, and in the morning Ibn Ziyad announced a meeting in Masjid al‑Kufah, and made a speech warning them and encouraging the enemies of the Prophet’s House by giving bribes.
He said, “Anyone who helps the enemy of the governor and does not report that to us will be hanged in front of his own house!” Ibn Ziyad immediately went hunting after Muslim. When Muslim heard about the speech of Ibn Ziyad and his threat, he decided to find a new place to stay. That night, he secretly left the house of Mukhtar and went to the house of Hāni Ibn ′Urwah who was Sheikh of the tribe of Murad. When Ibn Ziyad was sure of Muslim’s residence in Hāni’s house, he sent spies to watch the activities outside and inside the house and summoned Hani to castle and captured him. When Muslim heard the news about Hāni he left Hāni’s house and called his followers. They gathered, and there were 4,000 in all. They chanted the slogan of the Muslims at the battle of Badr during the time of the Prophet. Muslim divided them into four groups and they marched towards the castle. Ibn Ziyad had only thirty people. He locked all the doors and told Shurayh al‑Qadi to deceive the people. Shurayh went to the roof of the castle and announced, “O people of Kufah! Do not kill yourselves. An army of reinforcements is coming from the capital Damascus!”
One by one they left, and the four thousand shrank to three hundred, then to thirty, then when Muslim started praying the ′Esha –Evening- Prayer, there were only three people behind him. When he finished praying, there was no one left. He walked around the streets of Kufah, not knowing were to go. Muslim walked alone in the streets of Kufah in the neighborhood of Kindah. After some time, he became tired and stood in the middle of the street. The owner of one of the houses there was a woman called Taw′ah who had a son named Bilal. She was looking for her son to come home but she saw Muslim standing in the street. She did not recognize him at first, but when she realized that he was Muslim Ibn ‘Aqil, she gave him shelter, fed him, and kept him in a different room than her son’s. When her son came home and saw his mother going to the other room, he asked her what was going on, and she refused to tell him. He kept insisting until, after making him promise to keep it secret, she told him.
But, in the morning, her son Bilal went and told Ibn Ziyad where Muslim was. Ibn al‑‘Ash’ath came with seventy soldiers to capture Muslim at dawn while he was praying. When he heard horses galloping, Muslim knew that he was discovered. He finished his prayer and said to Taw′ah, “You have done what you should do, may the Messenger of God intercede for you. Yesterday, I dreamed that my uncle ′Ali, Leader of the Faithful, told me: You will be with me tomorrow.”
The soldiers got off their horses and came in, but Muslim went to them, fought them, and forced them out of the house. He fought bravely, pushing all of the soldiers back into the street and killing forty‑one of them. He fought with the strength of a man that knows it is his last fight. He cut, hit, and pushed soldiers out of his way. Some of them, he grabbed by their hands and threw them onto the rooftops. With more than half of his troops dead and the rest injured, the leader sent a message to Ibn Ziyad requesting more troops.
Ibn Ziyad responded, “What? I sent you out to get one man, not an army!”
The leader replied, “Do you think you want me to catch a grocery boy of Kufah? You want me to capture a sword of the People of Muhammad!”
Muslim fought one‑on‑one and hit Bukayr twice. Bukayr’s sword hit Muslim on his mouth and cut his upper lip. Muslim hit him on his head and neck and killed him. They realized that they could not get him one by one, so they went on the rooftops and hit him with stones. Then, they set reeds on fire and threw them at him.
He said:
“I swear I am not going to die except as a free man!
Though death is a bad thing,
Everyone faces difficulty some day.
Hot and cold would mix one day.
His soul would return to him, and be permanent.
I am afraid that I would be lied to, or deceived.”
He became weak from his wounds and loss of blood and he leaned against a wall. They continued shooting arrows and throwing rocks until he said, “Why do you throw rocks on me and we are the family of the Prophets? We are not unbelievers!”
Ibn al‑‘Ash’ath, the chief of the army, came close to him and said, “Do not kill yourself, you are under my protection.”
Muslim answered, “I am not going to be captured as long as I have power. No! That will never happen!”
Muslim attacked him and the chief ran away. Once he retreated away from Muslim, the chief gave the order and the soldiers all attacked at once from all sides. Someone hit Muslim from behind. He fought and retreated backwards until he fell into a covered pit that they dug as a trap for him. After he fell into the pit, they took his sword from his hand and captured him. When they took his sword away from him, he cried.hey brought him to Ibn Ziyad and when Muslim saw water he asked for some. Bahili said to him, “You are not going to taste this water until you taste the fire of Hell.”
Muslim said, “Who Are You? You are the one who deserves the fire!” And sat at the wall of the castle. Later, a woman named ‘Umarah gave him a bowl of water. Whenever Muslim tried to drink, the bowl became filled with his own pouring blood. After the third time trying to drink the water, all of his teeth fell into the bowl. He gave up and put the bowl down. Then, the guards took him inside and ordered him to say ‘Salaam Alaykum’ to the new governor, Ibn Ziyad. Muslim replied, “Shut up! He is your governor. I say Salaam to whoever follows the truth!”
Ibn Ziyad laughed and said, “If you say ‘Salaam Alaykum’ or not, you are going to die anyway.”
Muslim said, “If you kill me, there have been better people than me killed by worse people than you.”
Ibn Ziyad said, “You have rebelled against your leader, you have divided Muslims and have created disorder.”
Muslim said, “Indeed, Muawiyah and his son Yazid have divided Muslims and created disorder. And your father is the beginning of disorder! I wish to reach martyrdom at the hands of the worst person in the world.”
Then Muslim asked someone in the court to write a will for him. He looked at the people and recognized ‘Umar Ibn Sa’d1 and asked if he would carry his will but ‘Umar refused. Ibn Ziyad ordered him to take it because he wanted to find out for himself what Muslim would write.
Muslim went to ‘Umar and said, “First pay the loan I took when I came to Kufah, six hundred Dirhams. Second, take my body from Ibn Ziyad and give it an Islamic burial. Third, write to Imam Husayn and tell him what happened to me.”
‘Umar Ibn Sa’d immediately went to Ibn Ziyad and revealed it to him. Ibn Ziyad said to ‘Umar Ibn Sa’d, “The trustworthy one never betrays you but sometimes you trust a liar.”
Then, he came to Muslim and said, “You came to people and divided them.”
Muslim replied, “No! Never! I did not come for that, but people of this city claim that your father has killed their best people and we came to bring justice and to implement the Quran.”
Ibn Ziyad said, “That is not your business, we were giving them justice.”
Muslim said, “God knows that you are not truthful and you kill people without justice.”
Then Ibn Ziyad cursed Imam ′Ali and Imam Husayn, and Muslim said, “You and your father deserve that more than anyone else.” Ibn Ziyad ordered a man from Syria to take Muslim to the roof, cut his head off, and throw his body down into the street. He took him to the roof while Muslim was saying, “Subhanallah!2 O God, judge between us and these people who betrayed us, deceived us, and denied us.” Then he turned his face to Medinah and said, “Assalamu ′ala al‑Husayn.”3 The Syrian killed him and dropped his head and his body to the ground.
Ibn Ziyad ordered the bodies of both Muslim and Hāni to be dragged up and down the streets of Kufah, and then hung upside down in a place called Kunnasah. He sent their heads to Yazid who hung them at the city wall of Damascus, his capital.
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