Mukhtar a Biograghy

Chapter 21 - Ibrahim Malik Ashtar Captured and Escapes In Basra, Masa'b Zobayr writes to his brother Abdulla Zobayr in Mecca about his defeat against Ibrahim and the death of Abdulla Muti; Abdulla Zobayr replies that he is occupied with his own troubles at home and cannot spare any reinforcements.

Masa'b Zobayr then writes to Abdul Malik Marwan Hakam in Damascus (who is now the governor there), and gets a favourable reply; Abdul Malik sends an army of seventy thousand men under the command of Amir Rabia to Kufa to confront the army of Mukhtar and Ibrahim; Amir Rabia camps just outside of Kufa.

Now, there was a squad of fourteen killers planted in the army of Mukhtar for an opportune moment to kill Mukhtar.

Amir Rabia sends a spy to Mukhtar's army to convey the written order to this squad that they should now make an attempt on Mukhtar's life.

This spy is sent under the guise of a soldier thrown out from his own side; he dresses himself in tattered clothes with the story that Amir Rabia tried to kill him but managed to escape and comes to find refuge with Mukhtar.

Mukhtar takes pity on this spy and gives him new clothes and money and sets him free; the spy is overwhelmed with Mukhtar's sincerity and generosity and has a change of heart; he shows the written orders of Amir Rabia to Mukhtar and tells him of the squad of fourteen killers planted in Mukhtar's group; the fourteen killers are identified and executed.

The spy then suggests a plan to Mukhtar that he would take Mukhtar, in a disguise, back to Amir Rabia's camp; the spy would say to Amir Rabia that the order has been delivered, and at a distance away, one of the fourteen squad members has come to personally verify the order with Amir Rabia himself; this squad member would not come to the main camp site so Amir Rabia should go to him; this way Amir Rabia would be lured away from his guards, and can then be attacked easily.

Mukhtar refuses to this plan on the grounds that he would be instantly recognised by the opposite side; however, Ibrahim likes the plan and the next day, the spy and Ibrahim (in disguise), leave to go to Amir Rabia's camp, without the knowledge of Mukhtar.

The spy and Ibrahim are stopped by the guards of Amir Rabia; they recognise the spy as being one of their own man, but not the accompanying man; so they are both arrested and brought to Amir Rabia; Amir immediately recognises Ibrahim through his disguise and orders for his execution, but his adviser tells him to imprison Ibrahim overnight so that the public can see the execution of this gallant person the next morning.

Ibrahim and the spy are therefore imprisoned, where they are chained and the chains in turn are nailed to the ground, ready for execution the next morning; the guard nods off and has a dream seeing Imam Husein (as) and as result, becomes sympathetic to the prisoners and now does not wish to be responsible for keeping Ibrahim in prison.

The guard therefore removes all the chains and frees Ibrahim and the spy, and tells them to run as fast and far as possible; after some time, the guard raises alarm saying on checking the cell, he found the prisoners gone.

Ibrahim and the spy keep running but each takes take a different route to throw off their trail; Ibrahim keeps running, and during daylight, he comes across the army searching for him, so he hides himself on a high tree; here he sees a soldier, of high rank judging from his uniform, taking shelter under the tree, and cursing the Shias.

Ibrahim gets angry, climbs down from the tree, and confronts the soldier only to see that it was one of the notorious commanders of the Syrian army who was with Amir Rabia; Ibrahim kills him and beheads him, taking the head with him back to Kufa.

Meanwhile, Mukhtar is worried, for Ibrahim had left without leaving any word, and had not returned for three days; Mukhtar groups an army of thirty thousand men to go in search and to the aid of Ibrahim.

Just as the group was about to depart, Ibrahim rides in with the head of the commander whom he had confronted under the tree, and relates developments to Mukhtar; soon after, the spy rides in with the head of one of the executioners (of Amir Rabia's unit) whom he had engaged in fighting.

Both Mukhtar and Ibrahim are happy that they have managed to eliminate two notorious people, but Ibrahim says he must go back to help the guard who had freed him, for the guard would surely now be in trouble.

Before Ibrahim could set off, the same guard is seen riding in and relates his escape: after releasing Ibrahim, and raising the alarm, Amir Rabia naturally suspected him for treachery, but the guard made up a story that it was in fact Amir Rabia's adviser, the one who had asked for the execution of Ibrahim to be held the next morning, who was in fact responsible for Ibrahim's escape for it was the adviser after all who requested the postponement of the execution.

This guard knew very well that Amir Rabia was not as dangerous as that adviser who directed everything, so it was advantageous to get rid of this adviser who was a threat to Mukhtar and Ibrahim; Amir Rabia was angry at the apparent double-cross of his adviser, and despite the protests of his innocence, he gets the adviser executed.

Ibrahim then takes his army to go and finish the battle with Amir Rabia; Ibrahim and his men come back victorious.