THE FIRST DAY OF SAFAR

On the first of Safar, AH 37, the battle of Siffin broke out. According to some narrations, on this day in AH 61, the head of Imam al-Husayn, the chief of martyrs, entered the city of Damascus, the capital of the Umayyad rulers, on spearheads after it had been carried to it from al-Kufah, Iraq. Therefore, the Umayyads betook that day as feast day. A poet says,

كانت مآتم بالعراق تعدهاأموية بالشام من أعيادها

In fact, on this day, the grievances of Imam al-Husayn’s adherents should be aroused.

According to some narrations, on the first, or the third, of Safar, Zayd ibn Ali ibn al-Husayn was martyred.