Mukhtar a Biograghy

Chapter 26 - Mukhtar Martyred When Masa'b Zobayr, with Abdulla Muti, was defeated against Ibrahim Malik Ashtar, Masa'b Zobayr had retreated to Basra; Mohamed Ashath had joined him at Basra.

Mukhtar wishes to see that Mohamed Ashath is caught, but he has no quarrel with Masa'b Zobayr; Mukhtar sends a letter to Masa'b Zobayr asking for the extradition of Mohamed Ashath or a battle will ensue.

Masa'b Zobayr sends the reply that he will not release Mohamed Ashath and he also writes to his brother, Abdulla Zobayr, the ruler in Mecca, that he needs help to repel Mukhtar's army when it comes.

Abdulla Zobayr sends reinforcements of about fifteen thousand men under the command of Muhlab, one of the governors of a province under his rule; Muhlab advises Masa'b Zobayr to bide time for sooner or later, Abdul Malik in Damascus would take his revenge on Ibrahim, and without Ibrahim, Mukhtar would be a relatively easy target.

Masa'b Zobayr dismisses the idea, but writes to Ibrahim, offering him money and position if Ibrahim sides with Masa'b Zobayr against Mukhtar; Ibrahim obviously refuses and sends his reply back to Masa'b; Ibrahim also sends a message to Mukhtar informing of the impending war preparations from Masa'b Zobayr.

Masa'b camps with his army just outside Basra; Mukhtar camps with his army just outside Kufa and waits for Ibrahim whom he had requested to come and join the force.

Ibrahim replies that he cannot come for Abdul Malik has surrounded Mosul and is heading there with about forty thousand men; Ibrahim advises Mukhtar not to leave Kufa but to send a deputy to lead the army against Masa'b Zobayr; this way Kufa will be contained by Mukhtar and Mosul will be contained by Ibrahim.

Mukhtar appoints Ahmer Shomit and Abdulla Kamil as his commanders and sends them off towards Basra, while Mukhtar returns back to Kufa; the date is Jamadil Awwal 67 AH.

Masa'b and his army also advance forward and both sides camp near Madar, about three-quarters way from Kufa to Basra.

Next day, the battle starts and Ahmer Shomit has two rounds of victory in killing and repelling Masa'b Zobayr's forces.

Masa'b then sends a spy to assess the numbers on Mukhtar's side and whether Mukhtar himself is present; the spy reports back the relatively smaller number of men and the absence of Mukhtar, both of which pleases Masa'b Zobayr.

Abdulla Kamil then takes to the battle field, and he manages to inflict damage on Masa'b Zobayr's forces; Mohamed Ashath is injured and flees from the battle field.

Ahmer Shomit and his unit of men then come back to the field; Masa'b Zobayr then targets Ahmer Shomit and orders his men to surround and attack simultaneously on Ahmer Shomit, who gets killed.

Abdulla Kamil and his men are disheartened by Ahmer Shomit's death, but bravely fight on; Masa'b Zobayr though launches a two pronged attack, from the front and back, which effectively wins him the battle.

Abdulla Kamil with his men return to Kufa, defeated.

Masa'b Zobayr is now victorious and confidently heads towards Kufa; the Kufians are dejected by the defeat and death of Ahmer Shomit, despite Mukhtar's encouragement.

Masa'b Zobayr sends a letter to Mukhtar telling him to surrender now; Mukhtar and his commanders in Kufa refuse to do so and are willing to fight on.

Mukhtar sends the reply that there is to be no surrender; he takes about twenty thousand men and camp on the Kufa border at Harura; both sides are now ready for the ensuing battle.

Mukhtar lays a trap for Masa'b Zobayr's men, in order to reduce the number of men on Masa'b Zobayr's side; Mukhtar is to argue very loudly with Mohamed Saad, one of his commanders, to go and immediately attack Masa'b Zobayr's side to which Mohamed Saad refuses, and then deserts Mukhtar and walks away with his units of men; the plan was that Masa'b would hear about the disagreement and desertion and would follow Mohamed Saad, at which point they would be attacked by surprise from behind.

Next day, the plan goes into action and Masa'b Zobayr falls for the trap and sends one of his commander Rabia with about five thousand men to attack Mohamed Saad; they are ambushed from behind by Mukhtar's men and all of them are killed.

A fierce battle between the two sides takes place but neither side wins convincingly.

On the second day, the battle continues.

On the third day, Mukhtar himself is in the battlefield fighting; Mohamed Ashath is killed; Masa'b Zobayr then launches a concentrated attack on Mukhtar's men; Mukhtar looses a number of his men and has to retreat to Kufa with only about six thousand men remaining in his army.

Masa'b Zobayr follows them and blockades the city of Kufa at the borders; no supplies are getting through and people become despondent; they refuse to answer the call of Mukhtar to fight on and would now rather submit to Masa'b Zobayr than continue facing the hardships.

When Masa'b Zobayr hears about the demoralised Kufians, he enters the city wanting to surround Mukhtar's palace.

Abdulla Hatim was a local Chief with about four hundred gallant men; they manage to slow down Masa'b Zobayr's entry at the district of Kanasa within Kufa, killing about one thousand of Masa'b Zobayr's men before the Chief himself and all his men are killed.

In the governor’s palace, Mukhtar has only a small number of his close friends, about thirty in all, (the six thousand men who came back to Kufa with him had deserted but were subsequently killed by Masa'b Zobayr's men) ready to defend Mukhtar; they all fight valiantly to their death.

Mukhtar continues to fight until he is the last one from his side, when he is finally set upon and has his head cut; the date was 14 Ramadhan 67 AH (Mukhtar became the governor of Kufa, with the aim to avenge the Kerbala perpetrators on 14 Rabil Awwal 66 AH).

Mukhtar is buried behind Muslim Aqeel in Kufa, adjoining the Kufa Mosque, where pilgrims go to pay homage.

It is reported that Mukhtar managed to bring to justice about eighteen thousand perpetrators of Kerbala during his time as governor.

Masa'b Zobayr then sends the head of Mukhtar to Abdulla Zobayr in Mecca.

History reports that later on, Masa'b Zobayr is in turn killed by the forces of Abdul Malik Marwan Hakam, the governor of Damascus; Masa'b Zobayr's head is then sent to Abdul Malik who is in the governor's palace in Kufa.

An old man at the courtyard in Kufa, who witnessed the going-ons, said: in this very court yard in Kufa, I saw Imam Husein's (as) head before Ubaydallah Ziyad, the head of Ubaydallah Ziyad before Mukhtar, the head of Mukhtar before Masa'b Zobayr, and now the head of Masa'b Zobayr before Abdul Malik; on hearing this, Abdul Malik regards the courtyard in the palace as a bad omen and orders that the governor's palace be burnt down.