Words of the Commander of the Believers and Imam Ĥusain about His Martyrdom — Hadith 4

4. My father and ‘Ali ibn Ḥusain both narrated to me from Sa’d ibn ‘Abdillāh, from Muḥammad ibn Abil Sahbān, from ‘Abdil Raḥmān ibn Abī Najrān, from ‘Āasim ibn Ḥumayd, from Fuďayl Al-Rassān, from Abī Sa’īd ‘Aqīsā, who said: (One day) ‘Abdullāh ibn Zubayr met with Ḥusain ibn ‘Ali (a. s. ) alone and spoke with him privately for a long time. Thereafter, Ḥusain (a. s. ) came out to the people and said: He (‘Abdullāh ibn Zubayr) is telling me to be like one of the pigeons of the Ḥaram (Masjidul Ḥarām). Verily I would love more to be killed while I am as far as the span of two outstretched arms from the Ḥaram than to be killed while I am as close as the span of an outstretched palm from the Ḥaram. Verily I would love to be killed in Ťaf more than to be killed in the Ḥaram.