Abdullah bin al-Zubayr had a long private meeting with [Imam] Hussain bin Ali and [Ibn al-Zubayr] conversed intimately with [Hussain] for a long time. Then Hussain came to the people and said: “He [Abdullah] is telling me to be like a pigeon of the Holy Sanctuary [Masjid al-Haram] [i.e. take refuge near the Ka’ba in Mecca]. But I prefer being killed while I am as far as the span of two outstretched arms from the Holy Sanctuary than to be killed while I am as close as one span from the Holy Sanctuary. It is more beloved to me to be killed in al-Taff [Karbala] rather than in the Holy Sanctuary.”
حدثني ابي رحمه الله و علي بن الحسين جميعا عن سعد بن عبد الله عن محمد بن ابي الصهبان عن عبد الرحمن بن ابي نجران عن عاصم بن حميد عن فضيل الرسان عن ابي سعيد عقيصا قال سمعت الحسين بن علي ع و خلا به عبد الله بن الزبير و ناجاه طويلا قال ثم اقبل الحسين ع بوجهه اليهم و قال ان هذا يقول لي كن حماما من حمام الحرم و لان اقتل و بيني و بين الحرم باع احب الي من ان اقتل و بيني و بينه شبر و لان اقتل بالطف احب الي من ان اقتل بالحرم
Sources
Kamil al-Ziyarat, ch. 23, hadith 4.
