The first martyr of the tragedy of Karbala :
Shaheed-e-Kufa , Hazrat Muslim Ibne-Aqeel

Imam Husain A.S with His holy caravan or I should say, His holy army had left the city of Madina as He had refused to yield to Yazid. From Madina the caravan approached Mecca on the 3rd of Shabaan in 60 A.H. When Yazid was informed about the arrival of Imam Husain A.S in Mecca , he began his scheme for how to kill Imam Husain A.S in this holy city of Kaaba. Our holy Imam stayed in Mecca for 4 months. During His stay Imam Husain A.S received more than 12000 letters full of allegiance to the Imam from the citizens of Kufa. In this letters they took pledge of to obey Imam Husain A.S and to give their lives for the holy Imam. They pleaded for the guidance of Truth. Imam Husain now decided to send His brother Janabe Muslim as His deputy to later inform the holy Imam about the condition of Kufa. Janabe Muslim obeyed this order from His master at once and got prepared for his journey towards Kufa. At the moment of the seperation he approached Imam Husain A.S , bade farewell and kissed the hands and feet
of his master. Imam Husain A.S with tears in His eyes embraced His cousin and on parting He prayed for the safety and success. Hazrat Muslim left Mecca and entered Madina . At first he paid his visit to the holy grave of the Holy Prophet S.A.W and offered his prayer , thereby he went home and stayed there for the night. At dawn , the time had come to move on to Kufa. Janabe Muslim with his two sons Mohammad and Ibrahim and two more men set off to their direction. During their journey the two men who had joined Janabe Muslim died because of the extreme heat and no water. But Janabe Muslim had to continue his goal as it was the command of Imam Husain A.S. When he arrived in Kufa he was given a warmly reception and within few days 18.000 Kufees had paid their bayat to him. Witnessing this love for Imam Husain A.S , Janabe Muslim wrote a letter to his master and gave the green signal for Him to arrive in Kufa. But did Janabe Muslim knew how soon the Kufees would turn their back to him. Yazid had already
been informed about the the arrival of Janabe Muslim in Kufa and therefore wrote his letter to Ibne-Ziad in Basra. In his letter , Yazid gave his instructions to Ibne-Ziad how to overtake the city of Kufa. Receiving this order from Yazid Ibne-Ziad left his position in Basra but put his brother in his place. Ibne-Ziad hastened towards Kufa and approached this city in disguise.
Ibn-e-Ziad arrived in Kufa with his face covered with a veil. All the Kufees misunderstood who approached them. Because of that they were waiting for the holy Imam , they beleived that Imam Husain A.S had arrived. The people of Kufa cried loudly: "As-salam-O-Alaika Yabna-Rasool-illah!!! Ibne Ziad was furious and uncovered his face. When the Kufees saw this scene they were shocked and the crowd split up and everyone began to run away from him and due to this tumult many were trampled to death. Ibne-Ziad shouted : Ayyohan-Naas ! O' people of Kufa:? Yazid has sent me to be in charge of Kufa .You will now follow my orders and if you refuse I will make you homeless, I will burn your houses and even slaughter you to death."
These threats of Ibne-Ziad terrified the Kufees and the supporters of Janabe Muslim now decreased. Before the evening there were only 30 Kufees by his side and when Janabe Muslim had offered his evening prayer and was about to leave the mosque he found the masjid empty with no one by his side. Janab-e-Muslim was left all alone in Kufa. Everyone had betrayed J.Muslim. The gates of Kufa were closed and watched over. It was impossible for Janabe Muslim to find a way out of Kufa. J.Hani Ibne Orvah, was the good hearted man who let J.Muslim stay in his house when he needed shelter but he was also soon captured and assassinated by Ibne-Ziad. J.Muslim who was homeless ,hungry and thirsty, wandered in the streets of Kufa and had nowhere to rest or stay. Soon he stopped at the door of a pious lady called Tau?a .It was late and she was worried for her son that was why she came to the door on and on. But now she saw J.Muslim sitting outside her door.She asked him gently of his identity? He informed her that he was Muslim Ibne-Aqeel , the nephew of Imam Ali A.S and the cousin of Imam Husain A.S and then asked for a cup of water . When she had brought him water she asked him to leave her house and to go to his family. Janabe Muslim answered her: "Where should I return when I am homeless. Please have mercy upon me and let me stay for the night."
Tau?a immediately invited J.Muslim to enter the house. J.Muslim was given shelter but Tau?a?s son who had fallen into the traps of Ibne-Ziad because of the reward that was announced to be given to the one that captures Janabe Muslim , informed him where J.Muslim was present. Early in the morning the army of Ibne-Ziad had alredy arrived at the door of Tau'a. J.Muslim heard the approach of the soldiers. J.Muslim got prepared and decided to leave the house of the pious lady. When Tau'a asked why, he answered that he didn?t wanted her house to be ruined or to be turned into a battlefield.
Ibne Ziad sent 1.500 soldiers to the capture of Janabe Muslim. But they were not able to defeat him beacuse Janabe Muslim faught so bravely that the army had no chance. When the leader of the army asked Ibne Ziad for more soldiers , he asked them why ? Do you need 3000 soldiers to arrest just one man. But they answered him that:" Have you forgot who we are fighting against ,it is not an ordinary man , it is the lion of Bani Hashim! When Ibne Ziad's army realised that it was impossible for them to capture Janabe Muslim they planned to trick him. They dug a hole and drove J.Muslim near it in where he falled down. Now the soldiers had the chance to surround him and capture him to take him to Ibne Ziad.
When Janabe Muslim entered the castle of Daar-ul-Emarah someone told J.Muslim to give salutations to Ibne Ziad but J.Muslim refused and said that my only master is Imam Husain A.S and I only offer my salutations to Him. Ibne-Ziad said that I don't care if you salute me or not, I will kill you anyway. J.Muslim asked for water and was given water three times but still he couldn't drink it. The first time he tried to drink the water the bowl was filled with blood and this happened again the second time. At his third attempt to drink the water the teeth of Janabe Muslim dropped into the bowl of water. Most shia scholars say that this was better for Janabe Muslim or else Janabe Sakina would have been sad for this action because she was never received water. Ibne Ziad ordered his executor to assassinate J.Muslim . But first J.Muslim told Omar ibne Sa?d his last three wishes. 1) I owe 700 dirhams to the people in Kufa. Pay my debts by selling my horse and my armour. 2) Bury my body . 3) Write a letter to Imam Husain A.S and tell Him that He should not come to Kufa. Omar said : " You have told us your last wishes now it is up to us to fulfil them or not."
The last moment had come , on the 9th Zil-hajj in 60 A.H , J.Muslim was taken to the roof of the castle. Before his martyrdom J.Muslim offered his last prayer and after that he pointed with his forefinger and offered the ziarat of Imam Husain A.S, his last salutations to the holy Imam saying: ?As-salam-Alaika Ya Aba-Abdillah? . The butcher of Ibne-Ziad now struck Janabe Muslim with the sword and the head was cut off and the body was throwed down from the roof. The heads of Janabe Muslim and Janabe Hani bin-Orwah were sent to Yazid in Shaam and the bodies were tied by the legs and dragged through the streets of Kufa. The nearest people of J.Hani later buried the bodies of J.Muslim and J.Hani. Peace be upon them.
When Imam Husain A.S received the news of the martyrdom of Janabe Muslim , He went into the tent where the young daughter of Janabe Muslim , Ruqayya was. The holy Imam approached her and gently took her in His laps and said to Janabe Zainab to get the ear-rings he had bought. When Janabe Zainab brought the ear-rings the Holy Imam put them on the ears of Janabe Ruqayya and said to her: "From now on I will be your father , I will protect and love you just like my own daughter." Janabe Ruqayya sensed that something bad had happened to her father and soon received the news that she had become an orphan. But whenever we hear about how Imam Husain took care of the daughter of Janabe Muslim , our scholars use to add how hostile the environment was when Janabe Sakina received the news of the martyrdom of her father.
Wa-Sayaalamul-Lazeena-Zalamo-Ayya-M unqalabin-Yanqa leboon"
THE SONS OF HAZRAT MUSLIM(A.S)
Hazrat Muslim had taken with him his two sons Muhammad and Ibraheem. After Hazrat Muslim was killed, Muhammad and Ibraheem were also arrested and put into a dungeon. It is said that Muhammad was just eight years old and Ibraheem was ten years old.
On the 20th of Dhul-Hajj in 60 Hijrah, when the jailer came to give the children their evening meal, he saw them saying their prayers. The jailer waited. When the boys had finished their prayers, he asked them who they were. When the jailer learnt that they were the sons of Muslim Ibne Aqeel and the grandsons of Hazrat Ali, he let them escape.The children came out of the prison.
It was a dark night. Their first thought was to go to Imaam Hussain and warn him not to go to Kufa. Everywhere they went, they found the roads blocked by Ibne Ziyad soldiers. It was impossible to get out of Kufa. Now it was almost day-break. Where could these two young boys go?
They found themselves by the side of the river Euphrates. They drank some water from the river and then went up a tree to hide for the day. Just then a woman came to the river to get water. She saw the two young boys and asked them who they were. Ibraheem said, "We are two orphans, could you please leave us alone and not tell any one that you have seen us?" The woman asked them to accompany her to her mistress who would help them.
The woman's mistress was a kind lady. After talking to the boys for a while she realized who they were. She gave them food and said to them, "You can spend the day here and I will try to help you. Unfortunately my husband Harith is working for Ibne Ziyad. He is out at the moment. You can rest in the spare room but make no noise otherwise when he comes back, he will find out you are here".
The children said their prayers and went to sleep. In the evening Muhammad woke up and started crying. Ibraheem asked him why he was crying. Muhammad said "I saw our father in a dream. He was calling out for us". Ibraheem said, "Brother, be patient. I also saw our father in a dream beckoning us to him". They both started weeping. Harith, who had come back heard the children crying. He opened the door and asked the children who they were. On learning they were the sons of Muslim Ibne Aqeel, he tied both the boys to a pillar. Harith's wife tried to stop him, but he beat her up. Harith wanted to collect the reward which Ibne Ziyad had offered to anyone capturing the children.
The children spent the whole night tied to the pillar. In the morning Harith dragged them to the river-bank. He took out his sword. Ibraheem asked him, "Harith, are you going to kill us?". Harith said "Yes !". Ibraheem said, "In that case give us time to finish our morning prayers". The two boys said their prayers. They raised their hands and cried out "Inna Lillaah wa Inna IIay-hi Rajeeoon! O Allah we are coming to you. Give our mother courage when she hears of our death and judge between us and our killers!!" The sword came down! There were splashes in the water. Two young bodies were seen floating away in the waters of the river Furaat.