مقتل مسلم بن عقيل بالكوفة

Muslim ibn Aqil appeared in Kufa in Dhu al-Hijja 60 AH, and about twelve thousand people pledged to him, or it is said eighteen thousand. ¹ His affair ended with his killing at the hand of the governor of Kufa, Ubayd Allah ibn Ziyad. ¹

Ibn Ziyad struck Hani ibn Urwa with a staff and ordered him imprisoned. Muslim called out the slogan "O Victorious" and eighteen thousand men gathered to him. ² Most of them dispersed when Ibn Ziyad besieged him in the palace, and he was left with about a hundred men, then with three. ²

Muhammad ibn al-Ash'ath granted him safe conduct after he had fought until he was wounded, and he was brought to Ibn Ziyad. Ibn Ziyad ordered him taken up to the top of the palace, and ordered Bakir ibn Humran al-Ahmari, whom Muslim had struck, to strike his neck. ³ Hani was taken out to the market and his neck was struck. ⁴

Ibn Ziyad ordered Muslim's body crucified, and his head was sent to Damascus. The book says that he was the first of the Banu Hashim to be crucified and the first head of theirs to be taken to Damascus. ⁵

The book says that his appearance was on Tuesday, eight nights into Dhu al-Hijja, and it is said on the day of Arafa, the ninth of it. ⁵