Pro-Alid Kufans had urged Husayn to revolt against the Umayyad caliph Yazid but then failed to assist him when he was killed in the Battle of Karbala in 680.

They were deserted by most of their supporters shortly before the departure to northern Syria where a large Umayyad army under the command of Ubayd Allah ibn Ziyad was preparing to launch an assault on Iraq.

In the three-day long battle that ensued at Ras al-Ayn, the small Penitent army was annihilated and its senior leaders, including Ibn Surad, were killed.

Hereditary succession was alien to Arab custom, where the rulership passed within the wider clan, and Islamic principles, where the supreme authority over the Muslim community was not the possession of any man.

Opposition was led especially by the sons of a few prominent companions of Muhammad, who, according to Islamicist G. R. Hawting, could lay "some claim to be considered as caliphal candidates" by virtue of their descent.

[6][7] There Husayn received letters from the Iraqi garrison town of Kufa with the invitation to revolt against Yazid and regain his rightful place as the leader of the Muslim community which his father, caliph Ali (r. 656–661), had previously held.

[8][9] Some of Husayn's supporters in Kufa, who called themselves Penitents, blamed themselves for the disaster and decided to atone for their perceived sinful abandonment of their leader.

Considering the prohibition of suicide in Islam, they decided to sacrifice themselves in a fight against the perpetrators of the massacre, to achieve salvation and martyrdom.

With no suitable Sufyanid[c] candidate to succeed him, Umayyad loyalists in Syria chose Marwan ibn al-Hakam, a cousin of Muawiyah I, as the caliph.

Marwan's accession was challenged by several north-Syrian tribes led by Banu Qays who supported the cause of the Mecca-based counter-caliph Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr.

Given the large numerical disparity, Zufar urged him to avoid a pitched battle and instead divide his cavalry into small detachments and conduct constant skirmishes against their flanks, "firing arrows at them and thrusting at them in an open space for they outnumber you and you cannot be sure that you will not be surrounded".

[21] At this point, the Penitents received the news that their supporters from al-Mada'in and Basra were on the way to join them,[22] but they had been completely destroyed by now, so instead of waiting for the reinforcements, Rifa'a retreated with a few survivors and escaped to al-Qarqisiya during the night.

[13] They went over to join another pro-Alid leader, Mukhtar al-Thaqafi, who had earlier been prevented by the Umayyad governor from assisting Husayn in the Battle of Karbala.

He had long-term plans and a more organized movement; he appropriated the Penitents' slogan of "Revenge for Husayn", but also advocated for the establishment of an Alid caliphate in the name of Ali's son Muhammad ibn al-Hanafiyya.