Over the years, there have been some Zakireen who have fabricated riwayaat to give their listeners more grief... this is completely wrong due to the fact that the event of Ashura was perfect the way it happened!

Any queries on this or any other aspects of Ashura are welcomed.

Salaamun Alaykum,

My brother, Sheikh Tahir Redha Jaffer, had come for a visit recently, and I had the opportunity to discuss this topic with him. He revealed some interesting information on the subject.

There are those who after reading just one or two maqtals, feel that the zakir on the mimbar is giving false riwayats (I did this as well). But Sheikh Tahir told me that there were many maqtals, in fact I found a list of Maqtals from wikipedia:

* Maqtal al-Husayn, Abi Mikhnaf died in 157 AH (774 CE)
* Maqtal al-Husayn, Ibn Sa'd died in 230 AH (845CE)
* Maqtal al-Husayn, Baladhuri died in 892 CE
* Maqtal al-Husayn, Dinawari
* Maqtal al-Husayn, Ibn A'tham died in 314AH (926-27 CE)

Old maqtals that are not extant today:

* Maqtal al-Husayn of Muhammad bin Amr Waqidi (d. 207 or 209 AH), a mention of which book has been made by Ibn Nadim and Yaqut al-Hamawi
* Maqtal al-Husayn that was written by Abu ‘Ubaydah Mu‘mmar bin Muthannà (d. 209 AH) and which was in the possession of Ibn Tawus (d. 664 AH)
* Maqtal al-Husayn written by Nasr bin Muzaham Manqari (d. 212 AH). This maqtal has been mentioned in the works of Ibn Nadím and al-Najashi.
* Maqtal al-Husayn, Abi Ubayd Qasim bin Salim Hirawi (d. 224 AH)
* Maqtal al-Husayn, Abi al- Hasan Ali bin Muhammad Madaini (d. 224/225 AH) a mention of which has been made by Ibn Shahr Àshêb.
* Maqtal al-Husayn, Abdullah ibn Muhammad, known by his epithet of Ibn Abi al-Dunya (d. 281 AH)
* Maqtal al-Husayn, Ya'qubi who has made a brief reference to battle of Karbala in his book Tarikh had also written a separate book under the name Maqtal al-Husayn.
* Maqtal al-Husayn, Abi Abdullah Muhammad ibn Zakariyya al-Ghalabi (d. 298 AH)
* Maqtal al-Husayn, Abi Abdullah ibn Muhammad ibn Shahanshah Baghawi Baghdadi (d. 317 AH) had also written a book called Maqtal al-Husayn

Now with all these maqtals, and those which are not present today, we have to rely on our ulama to tell us the authentic from the not authentic.

Iltemase dua,
Zuhair.