Rafed English
site.site_name : Rafed English

As soon as people of Kufa heard the news of Muawiya's death, they exulted openly and held a popular conference at the house of their chief, Sulaiman ibn Sard al-Khuzaai, and delivered enthusiastic speeches in which they referred to the various sorts of persecution and torture that they suffered during the reign of Muawiya, and agreed on paying homage to Imam al-Hussein (a) and rejecting Yazid's power. In the same time, they sent a delegation to Mecca to urge the Imam to come to them for forming a government and declaring their city as the capital of the Islamic State as it was during the reign of Imam Ali (a).

Furthermore, people of Kufa sent thousands of messages in which they expressed their serious determination to support the Imam and sacrifice their souls and fortunes for him. They also charged him with the responsibility of what they had suffered if he would reject.

In the sight of Imam al-Hussein (a), all these matters impose on him the legal responsibility of responding to the calls of the persecuted people.

Hence, he decided to send his cousin Muslim ibn Aqil to Kufa for inspecting the real situation there. After the report of Muslim, the Imam would see whether it is obligatory upon him to lead that revolt or not.

As he arrived in Kufa, Muslim resided in the house of al-Mukhtar ibn abi-Ubaida ath-Thaqafi. As the Shia knew about this matter, they hurried to al-Mukhtar's house, received Muslim warmly, gathered around him, and appealed to him to accept their declarations of allegiance to Imam al-Hussein (a).
Responding to their request, Muslim opened a register in which he recorded the names of signers whose number reached eighteen thousand on the first few days. Day by day, the number was increasing.

It is worth mentioning that the ruling authorities of Kufa, though they knew everything about these procedures of revolution, kept silent because their head, an-Numan ibn Bashir al-Ansari, did not show loyalty to Yazid who opposed Ansar and because an-Numan's daughter was the wife of al-Mukhtar whose house was the center of Muslim.

Naturally, the pro-Umayyad hypocrites did not like this situation; therefore, they contacted with the capital and informed Yazid about everything. They also demanded him with dismissing an-Numan and appointing a new governor who would be able to eradicate the revolution and subjugate people of Kufa to his government. These news terrified Yazid who summoned Sirjawn, his personal consultant, and asked for an advice. The skillful consultant advised Yazid to appoint Ubaidullah ibn Ziyad, the terrorist, for holding the position of governorship of Kufa. Like his father, Ubaidullah, who was the governor of Basra, was empty of any human tendency. He was ready to commit the ugliest crimes against humanity. Yazid, hence, wrote the decree of naming Ubaidullah ibn Ziyad as the governor of Kufa besides Basra. Ubaidullah was also ordered to direct towards Kufa for eradicating the revolution there and killing the envoy of Imam al-Hussein; Muslim ibn Aqil.

Adopted from the book : "Al-Abbas"