Imaam Hussain's caravan left Madina on 28th Rajab, 60 A.H. and reached Mecca on the fourth of Shabaan. Imaam had not yet made up his mind on where to go. For the time being he decided to stay in Mecca at least until the month of Dhul-Hajj and perform the pilgrimage.

The people of Kufa in Iraq heard of what had happened in Madina. Kufa was an important Shiah centre. The Shiahs there had long suffered under Muawiya. They feared even greater sufferings under Yezid. They felt that slowly Islam would be totally destroyed by the greed for power and glory of these two men. They were anxious to preserve the teachings of the Holy Prophet. They needed an Imaam who would teach the tafseer of the Holy quraan and relate to them the true sayings, ahaadees, of the Holy Prophet.They a held a meeting in the house of Sulayman bin Surad and decided to write a letter to Imaam Hussain inviting him. In this letter they wrote: "We invite you to come to Kufa as we have no Imaam to guide us. Through you Allah will unite us on the path of truth."

A messenger took the letter to Mecca and gave it to Imaam Hussain. A few days later the people of Kufa sent an emissary, a special messenger, to Imaam to persuade him to go to Kufa. His name was Qais ibne Musheer as-Saydawi.

There followed hundreds of other letters and many special emissaries from the people of Kufa to Imaam Hussain.The Governor in Kufa was a man called Nu'amaan bin Basheer. Although he was a follower of Muawiya and Yezid, he was not by nature a cruel man. The people of Kufa believed that Imaam would be safe in Kufa.

When Imaam Hussain received so many petitions and messages from Kufa he decided to send Hazrat Muslim as his emissary to Kufa to study the situation there and report to Imaam. Imaam would go only if there would be no danger to the people of Kufa or to Imaam or any of his companions or family.

He wrote a letter to the people of Kufa and gave it to Hazrat Muslim. In this letter Imaam said, "I am sending my cousin and one of the most trusted ones from my family, Muslim ibne Aqeel, to report to me about your affairs. If his report agrees with what you have writ_ten I will soon be with you. You must be clear of the fact that the Imaam is only one who follows the book of Allah, and serves Allah in all matters and affairs with justice, honesty and truth."

Who was Muslim ibne Aqeel? He was the son of Aqeel ibne Abu Taalib. He was a famous warrior. He married Ruqayya binti Ali, Imaam's sister through another mother. We know of his four children. Abdullah aged about 15 years, Muhammad who was about ten years old, Ibraheem who was eight and young Ruqayya who was just five or six. All these children had travelled with their parents and were in Mecca.

As Hazrat Muslim was preparing for the journey, Imaam Hussain went to him and said: "Muslim, the whole world knows that you are one of the bravest warriors. It is just possible that seeing you in Kufa some people may think that our intention is to fight Yezid. Take your two sons Muhammad and Ibraheem with you. When they see you with such young children, they will know that our intentions are peaceful.

Hazrat Muslim and his two sons said good-bye to all and left Mecca. Their journey through the desert in the heat of summer was very difficult.

They arrived in Kufa towards the end of Dhul Qaad. They were received extremely well by the people of Kufa. Very soon more than eighteen thousand people appeared before Hazrat Muslim and pledged their allegiance to Imaam Hussain as their Imaam.

Hazrat Muslim reported to Imaam Hussain that most of the people in Kufa were ready to receive him as their Imaam and advised that Imaam should proceed to Kufa. Amongst the people of Kufa there were many spies employed by Yezid to report to him direct. When Yezid heard from them of the invitations to Imaam Hussain and the arrival in Kufa of Hazrat Muslim he was filled with fury. He sent a message to his Governor in Basrah, Ubaydullah ibne Ziyad, to go to Kufa and take over the position of Nu'amaan ibne Basheer. Ibne Ziyad was also told to arrest Muslim and kill him and do all that was necessary to suppress the Shiahs in Kufa.

Ibne Ziyad was a cruel and unjust man. He arrived in Kufa on the evening of 2nd Dhul Hajj. On the following day he went to the mosque and addressed the people of Kufa. He first announced his appointment as Yezid's governor. He then threatened any one who was engaged in any activity against the government with immediate death, and ordered them to surrender Hazrat Muslim to him.

Ibne Ziyad sealed Kufa in such a way that no one could go in or out of the city without the governor's permission.

At this time Hazrat Muslim was staying with Al Mukhtar. At the invitation of Hani bin Urwah, another leading member of the Shiah community, he moved to Hani's house. This was done secretly and except for a few people no one knew where Hazrat Muslim was. Through a spy who pretended to be a Shiah, Ibne Ziyad found out where Hazrat Muslim was. Hani was arrested and thrown into prison. Not wishing to endanger the lives of his friends, Hazrat Muslim and his two sons left Hani's house. He left the children with Qadhi Shurayb, a judge, and went into the desert to try and get back to Imaam Hussain to warn him not to go to Kufa. This was the seventh of Dhul Hajj. That whole day and the following day Hazrat Muslim tried to get out of the city. He found all the exists sealed and guarded by Ibne Ziyad Soldiers.

On the eighth, late in the evening, tired, hungry and exhausted, Hazrat Muslim knocked at the door of a house on the outskirts of the city. A lady opened the door. Hazrat Muslim requested for a little water to quench his thirst. The lady gave him water. When she learnt who he was, she invited him in and offered him shelter for the night. This lady was called Tau'aa. She gave Hazrat Muslim some food and water and took him to a room where he might spend the night.

Late that night Tau'aa's son came home. When he learnt that the man Ibne Ziyad was looking for was in his mother's house, he felt that he would be rewarded by the governor if he got Hazrat Muslim arrested. Unknown to his mother he slipped out in the darkness of the night and gave the information to a captain in ibne Ziyad army.Early the next morning, five hundred soldiers surrounded the house of Tau'aa and demanded Hazrat Muslim's surrender. Hazrat Muslim came out holding his sword. Three times he drove the enemy away. Twice Ibne Ziyad had to send in reinforcements.

While Hazrat Muslim was fighting, some soldiers went up the rooftops and began throwing stones and lighted torches at him. Others dug a trench in the path of Hazrat Muslim and covered it with grass. Although badly wounded and totally exhausted, Hazrat Muslim kept on fighting. Then he fell into the trench. More than fifty soldiers pounced upon him and chained him. He was dragged to the court of Ibne Ziyad.

Ibne Ziyad told Hazrat Muslim that he would be killed and asked him if he had any last wishes. Hazrat Muslim said: "I owe a debt which should be discharged by selling off my sword and armour. Secondly I want my body to be given a proper burial. Thirdly I want a message sent to Imaam Hussain advising him not to come to Kufa." Ibne Ziyad agreed to the first request but refused to do anything about the second and third requests. He then ordered Hazrat Muslim to be taken to the roof of the palace to be executed and his body thrown to the ground.

Hazrat Muslim was calm and composed as he was dragged up the steps. He was reciting "Allahu Akber" until the last moment. Then there was an absolute silence followed by a thud as Hazrat Muslim's body fell to the ground.

This was on 9th Dhul Hajj. Immediately after Hazrat Muslim was killed Hani bin Urwah was dragged to the roof top and executed.