প্রথম অধ্যায়: সুদূরবর্তী আলামত যা অতীতে প্রকাশ পেয়ে অতিবাহিত হয়ে গেছে

...and whoever agreed with them. Later, I came across the biographical entry of Yazid, may the Glorious Sovereign render him abhorrent, in the book 'al-Wafi bi al-Wafayat'. In it, I found that which clearly indicates the disbelief (kufr) of the foolish Yazid. Among the gravest of his atrocious abominations and hideous outrages that I encountered was what is cited in the aforementioned book from Ibn al-Qifti: that when the captives arrived from Iraq before Yazid, he went out and met the children and women from the progeny of 'Ali and al-Husayn, while the heads were mounted upon the points of spears, appearing over the pass of Thaniyyat al-'Uqab. When he saw them, the vile man began to recite:

"When those litters appeared, and those heads arose over the ridge of Jayrun,"

"The raven croaked, so I said: 'Croak or croak not, for indeed I have exacted my debts from the Messenger!'"

Meaning: that he killed [them] in retribution for those whom the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) killed on the day of Badr, such as his grandfather 'Utbah, his maternal uncle the son of 'Utbah, and others like them. At that moment, I became decisively certain of Yazid's disbelief, a certainty beyond which nothing can be added, and I knew that whoever utters such words has cast off the yoke of Islam beyond any shadow of doubt; and Allah the Exalted knows best.

Note: Al-Qurtubi mentioned that the one who directly carried out the killing of our master al-Husayn (may Allah be pleased with him) was Sinan ibn Abi Sinan al-Nakha'i, who was the grandfather of the judge Sharik. He said: And truthful in this regard is the saying of the poet:

"And what calamity could ever equal [the tragedy of] Husayn, on the morning when the two hands of Sinan destroyed him?"

Khalifah ibn Khayyat said: "The one who killed al-Husayn was Shimr ibn Dhi al-Jawshan, and the commander of the army was 'Umar ibn Sa'd. Shimr was a leper. The one who dealt him the finishing blow was Khawli ibn Zayd al-Asbahi of Himyar; he severed his head and brought it to 'Abdullah ibn Ziyad."