Muharram Special - Part 10 [Battle of Karbala - Part 4]

Yazeed immediately convened a sitting of his advisers and asked their opinion. The corrupt advisers advised as he wished they would. They said that Numan bin Basheer who was the governor of Kufa was very sympathetic to the Ahle Bait should thus be removed. They also advised that a very hard person should replace him, if not then the entire region of Iraq would be in the control of Imam Hussain Radi Allahu Anhu, and this would be detrimental to Yazeed's empire.

Thus they agreed that the person best suited for the position as governor of Kufa was ibn Ziyaad, who at that was the governor of Basra.

A letter was immediately sent to ibn Ziyadd, who then took control of kufa by relieving Nu'man bin Basheer of his duties. He was also commanded to kill Imam Muslim and all those who supported the Ahle Bait. Ibn Ziyaad was also commanded that when Imam Hussain arrived in kufa, he should be asked to accept Yazeed as the khalifa. If he refused, then he too should be killed like the others ( Allah forbid).

(Chain of Lights Vol 1, translated by Mawlana Afthab Cassim from "Tazkira Masha'ikh Qadria Razvia")