Mukhtar a Biograghy

Chapter 8 - Rampage in Medina Meanwhile in 62 AH, there is a Commission of Inquiry in Medina following the return of Kerbala survivors; in the committee of prominent Medinites is Amir Zobayr (Abdulla Zobayr's brother) and Abdulla Hanzala.

The Commission goes to Damascus to investigate and reports back on the damning conduct of Yazeed: that he is immoral, a drunkard, a gambler and is openly flouting Islamic ways; the Commission was offered large bribes to give a favourable report, but they did not accept any favours and reported the truth.

The Commission's conclusion was - it is immoral and unforgivable for the people of Medina to have given and to continue giving their allegiance to Yazeed; the Medinites now denounce and withdraw their allegiance from Yazeed, and transfer their allegiance to Abdulla Hanzala, who becomes the Governor of Medina.

On hearing of Medina's rebellion, and with Mecca under the control of Abdulla Zobayr, and of unrest in other areas, Yazeed sends troops, first to Medina and then to proceed to Mecca; the army units are under the command of Muslim Aqaba, who is a very staunch supporter of Yazeed and a bitter enemy of the Ahlal-bayt.

Yazeed gives Muslim Aqaba a completely unrestrained rules of engagement and uninhibited orders to bring Medina and Mecca back into Yazeed's rule; the only exception to the orders was that Imam Zainul Abideen (as) and his family should not be touched as Yazeed did not want another Kerbala effect.

Furthermore, if Muslim Aqaba were to die in service, then the command should pass on to Haseen Nameer; Haseen Nameer was the Chief of police in Kufa responsible for tracking down Muslim Aqeel; he was responsible for setting up road blocks to stop Imam Hussein (as) entering Kufa; he was one of the army commanders at Kerbala who headed the units of expert archers; he delivered the fatal lance at Ali Akbar (other sources say it was Kurra Munkidh who delivered the fatal lance).

So in Zilhaj 63 AH Muslim Aqaba with his army advance towards Medina.

Meanwhile, the people of Medina's allegiance is now to Abdulla Hanzala who is their Governor, and there is a lot of unrest against Yazeed's supporters; the people attack all known Yazeed's sympathisers.

Marwan Hakam (who advised Walid, the then governor of Medina, not to let Imam Husein (as) leave without extracting the oath of allegiance there and then from him, as called for by Yazeed), a bitter enemy of the Ahlal-bayt, and a staunch supporter of the Umayyads (he was an Umayyad himself) is under attack from the people of Medina; Marwan sends all the womenfolk in his household to Imam Zainul Abideen (as) for protection (notice the irony in the circumstances); Imam Zainul Abideen (as) willingly and humbly accepts all people who ask for his protection, including his enemies (some reports say a total of about four hundred women, whilst other reports say about four thousand women, took refuge in Imam Zainul Abideen's (as) house/farms).

Marwan himself runs from Medina at night to avoid being lynched by the people; Yazeed's supporters are told to leave Medina for their own safety; outside Medina, Marwan Hakam meets Muslim Aqaba and his army, and Marwan advises Muslim Aqaba that although a revolt is in progress in Medina, the defence is non-existent, and so it is a good opportunity to mount an attack now.

Muslim Aqaba and his army proceed to Medina; on entering the city outskirts, menfolk come out to fight them but stand no chance against the might of Muslim Aqaba; a number of Medinites are killed.

Muslim Aqaba moves into Medina city on 28 Zilhaj 63 AH; people take refuge in the Prophet's Mosque, for all knew that at the Prophet's grave and in the courtyard of the Prophet's Mosque, there is no harassment and everybody is protected; but Muslim Aqaba knows no sanctity of the Prophet's Mosque and the Prophet's grave; he orders his soldiers into the mosque and they kill the people therein.

The Prophet's grave and the Prophet's Mosque are abused to the extreme, with drinking, rape, human and animal foulings, bloodshed; dogs were put on the Mimbar and fouled it; this continued for three days and nights; simultaneously, there is a rampage in the city for three days and nights; the army is given complete freedom to loot, pillage, rape and kill (reports show that about one thousand illegitimate children were born as a result of rape in three days); the whole city was affected (except for Imam Zainul Abideen's (as) household).

After the rampage, Muslim Aqaba asks for allegiance from the people of Medina (except for Imam Zainul Abideen's (as) household) to be transferred back to Yazeed; nobody amongst the common populace dare refuse.

After putting a puppet governor back in power in Medina, Muslim Aqaba and his army leave for Mecca; on the way, Muslim Aqaba becomes ill and dies; Haseen Nameer takes over the command of the army and they advances to Mecca.

Meanwhile in Mecca, just before the rampage in Medina, Abdulla Zobayr now sees that even Medina has fallen from Yazeed's grip; being ambitious, he wants to take advantage of the situation and destabilise the regimes in nearby areas to bring them under his rule; he sends for Mukhtar to come and help him to consolidate Abdulla Zobayr's power.

Mukhtar meets with Abdulla Zobayr and agrees to join forces with him on two conditions:

when Abdulla Zobayr's rule is established, Mukhtar must be consulted in all matters and be given unhindered access to Abdulla Zobayr

the first priority on establishing Abdulla Zobayr's rule is to avenge the perpetrators of Kerbala.

Abdulla Zobayr agrees to the first condition; he now says that the second condition is also his purpose (with the excuse that he refused to support Mukhtar earlier as the rebellions were then only just starting and their plans could have backfired).

Abdulla Zobayr, with the bravery and military exploits of Mukhtar, establishes his rule in Mecca and surrounding areas (my deduction: mostly during late 63/early 64 AH).

After seeing the state of Medina is left after the rampage, and on hearing of the advance of Haseen Nameer to Mecca, Abdulla Zobayr is frightened and flees to hide in the mountains; it is left up to Mukhtar to defend Mecca;

Mukhtar leads the army units and they go just outside Mecca to try and stop the advance of Haseen Nameer into Mecca city and Kaaba.

The attack on Mecca starts on 4 Rabil Awwal 64 AH (about two months after the Medina attack)

The sheer determination of Mukhtar and his outnumbered men slows down, but does not stop, Haseen Nameer's progress into the city; when they are outside the range of Kaaba, they make "petrol" bombs and throw them at the Kaaba; the Kaaba burns; Mukhtar and his men just manage to hold back Haseen Nameer and his men getting near to the Kaaba.

At this point, news gets to Haseen Nameer that his chief commander of his army, that is Yazeed, has died in Damascus (on 14 Rabil Awwal 64 AH); Haseen Nameer and his army pull back and retreat to Damascus to await developments and fresh orders; the date of retreat is a few days after 14 Rabil Awwal, for the Mecca assault started on 4 Rabil Awwal and allowing a few days from 14 Rabil Awwal for the news to get through to Mecca.