After the death of Uthmaan, people prevailed upon Hazrat Ali to accept Khulafah. Uthmaan died on 24th Muharram in 35 Hijrah and Hazrat Ali became Khalifah in the same month. The first thing he did after becoming the Khalifah was to dismiss all the corrupt governors and other officials. Muawiya, who was the Governor of Syria, did not accept the dismissal and responded by gathering together a Syrian army of fifty thousand soldiers to fight Hazrat Ali. Hazrat Ali marched from Kufa with an army of twenty thousand. The battle took place North of Kufa at a place called Siffeen on the banks of the river Furaat. At one time during the battle, Hazrat Ali's army captured Furaat. Muawiya and his army were cut off from water. When Hazrat Ali heard that Muawiya soldiers were suffering from thirst, he ordered his army to let Muawiya army come to the river saying, "Every living being is entitled to water". Immediately Hazrat Ali's army made a way for Muawiya and his soldiers to come to the river and take as much water as they needed, and also to water their horses and camels.

From Asr until sunset Muawiya soldiers were at the river bank drinking water, watering their animals and filling their mashks. When Hazrat Ali's officers complained to him, Hazrat Ali replied, "To deprive any human or animal of water is a sin Allah will never forgive".

Yazeed was at Siffeen, so was Imaam Hussain. When the Muharram of 60 Hijrah came, Yazeed sent a secret order to ibne Ziyad to force Imaam Hussain away from Furaat and then cut off Imaam Hussain, his family and his companions from water. Ibne Ziyad gave orders to Umar Sa'ad to do so. On the third of Muharram, Umar Ibne Sa'ad asked Imaam Hussain to move his camp away from Furaat. Imaam Hussain and his camp were cut off from water, while 25 years earlier, his father had allowed Yazeed's father and the army of 50,000 freedom to go to the river and take as much water as they had wanted.

The children in Imaam Hussain's camp were soon crying out "Al-atash! al atash!" .Burair Hamdani was a companion of Imaam Hussain. He was present at Kerbala. On the night before Ashura, he could no longer stand the cries of "Al-atash, Al-atash". In the dark of the night he made his way to the river. He filled his mashk and secured the cap. He too was very thirsty but did not even think of drinking water when he was at the river bank. How could he when the grand-son of the Holy Prophet and his children were thirsty!

On his way back, he was seen by two of the guards posted to make sure that no water reached Imaam Hussain's camp. They tried to stop him. He attacked and killed them both. He brought the mashk to Imaam Hussain's camp. He called Bibi Fizza and asked her to take the mashk to the children. They were more than fifty children in Imaam Hussain's camp. They were all very thirsty. When they heard that water had come, they rushed. They put their cheeks on the mashk to cool themselves. In this rush the cap flew open and the water spilled. The children looked with pain and disappointment as the water disappeared into the desert sand. Burair was desolate. He raised his hands to the sky and cried, "Oh Allah! I had hoped that this Your humble servant would tonight earn the du'aas of the children of Imaam. Oh how very unfortunate Burair the son of Hamdani is!" Imaam consoled Burair, "My friend, you have earned the du'aas of Fatimah's son for your brave effort !".