Mukhtar a Biograghy

Chapter 25 - Tracking Down Ubaydallah Ziyad Mukhtar now concentrates on catching Ubaydallah Ziyad, for he was the architect of the massacre at Kerbala; with Ubaydallah Ziyad were Haseen Nameer and Shabath Rabi.

Mukhtar tells Ibrahim to mobilise an army and head for Mosul to catch Ubaydallah Ziyad; Ibrahim and the army get a huge send-off from the Kufians for they were all praying for a victory in catching Ubaydallah Ziyad.

On the way to Mosul, Ibrahim does battle with people who are vehemently anti-Shia and are openly supporting and praying for Ubaydallah Ziyad's victory and Mukhtar's defeat.

Ibrahim is now preparing for a battle with Ubaydallah Ziyad's side and sets up camp about fifteen miles from Mosul, near a small town of Nasiben, where Hanzala - the local chief of the ttribe- appears very happy to see him for the ruler is a Shia sympathiser; Hanzala tells Ibrahim that just two hours earlier, Ubaydallah Ziyad had passed through the town and had asked Hanzala to put up Ubaydallah Ziyad's family in a safe house, as he (Ubaydallah Ziyad) was going to battle with Ibrahim and did not want his immediate family come to any harm.

Hanzala, who also wanted to see the crimes of Kerbala avenged, takes Ibrahim to the safe house; in the house were Ubaydallah Ziyad's three wives, four elder daughters, two young daughters, four sons and one hundred and twenty household helps.

Ibrahim orders that all of them come out, and executes the eldest son of about twenty years old, in avenging the death of Imam Husein's (as) sons; Ibrahim's men immediately execute all the rest.

Hanzala then has a plan to take Ibrahim alone to Ubaydallah Ziyad's tent where he (Ubaydallah Ziyad) could be killed, thereby avoiding a big battle.

Hanzala and with Ibrahim in disguise, go towards Ubaydallah Ziyad's camp; Hanzala tells Ubaydallah Ziyad that he has come with the news of his family; Ubaydallah Ziyad asks Hanzala and his companion (Ibrahim in disguise) to come to his tent.

Hanzla engages Ubaydallah Ziyad in conversation, in order to give an opportunity to Ibrahim to strike; Hanzala tells Ubaydallah Ziyad that since his departure, Hanzala has heard that Ibrahim was on the way, and that Hanzala feared for the safety of Ubaydallah Ziyad's family; Ubaydallah Ziyad says that he will send reinforcements to cordon off the safe house.

Hanzala sees that Ibrahim has made no attempt to strike, and they therefore leave; Ibrahim explains that it was not possible to strike Ubaydallah Ziyad without the outside guards coming in immediately to Ubaydallah Ziyad's rescue, and so any attempt then would have been suicidal.

Ibrahim returns to his camp; both sides prepare for battle the next day; next day, the battle starts and continuous during daylight for three days.

Amongst the men killed during the three days of fierce fighting is Haseen Nameer, one of the commanders in Kerbala, and who fatally injured Ali Akbar.

The fourth day of battle is 10 Muharram 67 AH; the place is by the bank of river Tigris near Mosul; the battle continues; the final casualty was: Ubaydallah Ziyad's looses about eighty thousand of his men out of the initial number of one hundred thousand men, and the remaining twenty thousand retreat; Ibrahim looses seven thousand men out of his force of twenty four thousand men.

Ubaydallah Ziyad's execution is reported by two sources. The first report says that Ibrahim sees a rider retreating fast, he goes after him and smells the fragrance of Misk and Ambar; only Ubaydallah Ziyad would adorn perfumery in battle; (when Ubaydallah Ziyad had kept the head of Imam Husein (as) on his leg, a blood drop from Imam Husein's (as) head fell on Ubaydallah Ziyad's thighs, which since had caused a septic wound giving off a foul odour; Ubaydallah Ziyad thus used heavy perfumery to neutralise the odour).

Ibrahim realises it is Ubaydallah Ziyad running away, and immediately kills him; after the battle is finished, Ibrahim and his men then go to verify that it is indeed Ubaydallah Ziyad and then behead him.

The second report says that Ibrahim and Ubaydallah Ziyad have a one-to-one battle, and Ubaydallah Ziyad is taken in alive; he has his two legs broken, knee caps broken, hip joints broken, hands cut, head shaved, eyes gorged out, lips cut, cheeks cut, his flesh forced into his mouth, and finally lances are violently probed into him until his whole body is in little pieces.

Ibrahim and his men go into Mosul victorious and are warmly welcomed by the people.

Ibrahim sends the head of Ubaydallah Ziyad to Mukhtar in Kufa; Mukhtar treats the head of Ubaydallah Ziyad in the same way as Ubaydallah Ziyad did for Imam Husein's (as) head; he mounts it on a javelin and parades it through the town, and then for three days mounts it on the same door in the courtyard for the public to see; eye witnesses report that for the three days, they saw a snake slithering from Ubaydallah Ziyad's mouth through to the noise, nipping flesh as it went along.

Mukhtar sends the head to Mohamed Hanafiya in Mecca; at the time Imam Zainul Abideen (as) was also in Mecca and Mohamed Hanafiya sends the head to Imam Zainul Abideen (as); it was 9 Rabil Awwal 67 AH.