‘Abd Allah ibn Yaqtar Humayri, Imam al-Husayn’s foster brother'

 Adapted from: "The Uprising of Ashura and Responses to Doubts" by: "‘Ali Asghar Ridwani"

Biographers write, “Imam al-Husayn sent ‘Abd Allah ibn Yaqtar Humayri to Kufah to deliver the reply he had written to Muslim ibn ‘Aqil. Ibn Ziyad’s notorious spy, Hasin ibn Tamim, arrested him in an area called Qadissiyyah near Karbala. Hasin ibn Tamim took him to ‘Ubayd Allah ibn Ziyad. ‘Ubayd Allah asked ‘Abd Allah ibn Yaqtar Humayri what Imam al-Husayn (as) had sent him to do. He did not give any answer to this question.

‘Ubayd Allah ibn Ziyad ordered him to the top of the palace where he must curse ‘the lying son of the liar’ [kadhdhab ibn kadhdhab]. (By this ‘Ubayd Allah meant Imam al-Husayn.) ‘Ubayd Allah said, “Then you must come down and get the judgement I will issue for you.”

He went on top of the palace, turned to the people and addressed them, “O people! I am a messenger from al-Husayn son of Fatimah the daughter of Allah’s Prophet. I have been sent to you. The message he entrusted to me to give to you, the people, is that he requests you to help and support him in his uprising against the sons of Marjanah and Sumayyah.”

At this point, ‘Ubayd Allah gave orders to his agents that they should drop ‘Abd Allah ibn Yaqtar Humayri from the top of the palace to the ground. When they did this, his bones were broken. Then, as he was breathing his last, ‘Abd Allah ibn ‘Umayr, a faqih (religious jurisprudent) of Kufah, cut his head off. When the people criticized him for doing so, he sarcastically replied, “I wanted to put him out of his misery.”

No comments