After the great martyrdom, Ibne Ziyad gathered the people in the great
mosque of Kufa to inform them about the matter. He tried to give a
religious look to the martyrdom of Imam Husain (a.s.) at that time also.
He wore the veil of purity and said, “I thank Allah Who granted victory
to truth and the truthful ones and killed a liar, son of a liar who used
to deceive people.” Ibne Ziyad wanted the people to thank Allah and
hundreds of people did so. However there was a blind man in the
gathering who though unable to see with his physical eyes was very
farsighted. He thwarted Ibne Ziyad’s plan.
The blind man did not let Ibne Ziyad’s trick to succeed
There was a gentleman called Abdullah Ibne Afif.3 May God bless him.
Sometimes, it happens that people dare to lay down their lives and save
the entire world by sacrificing themselves. The case of Abdullah bin Afif is
similar. He could not see from his eyes. He had lost one eye in Jamal and
another in Siffeen fighting alongside Imam Ali (a.s.). He could not work
because of his blindness and could not even participate in Jihad because
of his handicap. Hence he used to spend most of his time in worship. On
that day, he was praying in the Kufa mosque. As soon as he heard the
words of Ibne Ziyad, he got up from his place and said, “O Ibne Ziyad!
You are a liar and your father was a liar.”4 After that, Abdullah bin Afif
continued to speak till people pushed him down and he fell. He was
arrested and got martyred but the veil of Ibne Ziyad was already torn.
Irshad, Shaykh Mufeed, Pg. 244; Lohoof, Pg. 164; Biharul Anwar, Vol. 45, Pg. 119