Muslim ibn Aqil

Muslim ibn Aqil al-Hashimi was a relative of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. Muslim was the son of Aqil ibn Abi Talib and a cousin of Husayn ibn Ali, the third Shia Imam, who dispatched him to Kufa in Iraq to ascertain their support upon the accession of the Umayyad caliph Yazid. The Kufans welcomed Muslim and overwhelmingly pledged to support Husayn against the Umayyad rule, which they considered illegitimate and tyrannical. In response, Yazid replaced the mild governor of the city with his strongman Ubayd-Allah ibn Ziyad, who soon discovered the hideout of Muslim through an informant. When Ibn Ziyad imprisoned or killed Hani ibn Urwa, who was secretly sheltering Muslim, he came out in open revolt and surrounded the governor's palace with his supporters in September 680 CE. With a combination of threats and promises, however, Ibn Ziyad induced Kufan tribal leaders to abandon Muslim and withdraw their men. A deserted Muslim was arrested after a strong resistance and executed. Before this turn of events, he had written to Husayn and urged him to come to Kufa. Husayn thus left Mecca with his family and a few supporters, but his caravan was intercepted and massacred by the Umayyad forces in October 680 in Karbala, near Kufa. Muslim is revered in Shia Islam for his bravery and moral uprightness. His shrine in Kufa is a destination for Shia pilgrims.