The Kufian Hosts

Different accounts of he full number of al-Husayn’s camp range from seventy-two to a hundred fighters…, but how many were al-Husayn’s foes?! Omer ibn Sa’d was dispatched to Karbala’’ to fight the Imam with 6,000 strong. Then Shabth ibn Rab’i went there to take charge of the largest fighting force of 24,000 men. The commanders’ names and the numbers of their troops are here provided for the kind reader:

1. Omer ibn Sa’d 6,000
2. Shabth ibn Rab’i 24,000
3. Urwah ibn Qais 4,000
4. Sinan ibn Anas 4,000
5. Haseen ibn Nameer 9,000
6. Shimr ibn Thul-Jawshan 4,000
7. Mazar ibn Ruhaynah 3,000
8. Yazid ibn Rikab 2,000
9. Najr ibn KharShi’ah 2,000
10. Muhammad ibn al-Ash’ath 1,000
11. Abdullah ibn Haseen 1,000
12. Khawli ibn Yazid al-Asbahi 1,000
13. Bakr ibn Kasab ibn Talhah 3,000
14. Hijr ibn Abjar 1,000
15. Hurr ibn Yazid ar-Riyahi 3,000

TOTAL: 68,000

The reader can notice that some of these commanders had already written al-Husayn (ﻉ) inviting him to go to Kufa so that they would support him in putting an end to the tyranny of the Umayyads. The details of how those men changed heart and the amounts of money they received are too lengthy to include in this brief account.