[3] When Ali agreed to talks under pressure from his supporters in response to arbitration proposal from the army of his rival, Mu'awiya, Ibn Surad strongly opposed the decision.
Following the death of Ali in January 661, his eldest son Hasan was elected caliph, but shortly afterwards abdicated in favor of Mu'awiya.
Husayn was killed along with his small band of followers, a few among them Kufans, by the Umayyad forces at the Battle of Karbala on 10 October 680.
Five senior among them met at Ibn Surad's house and decided to fight the Umayyads to atone for their sin, hence the term Tawwabin (penitents).
[5] Since Kufa was under strong grip of the Umayyad governor Ubayd Allah ibn Ziyad, the Tawwabin movement remained secret for some time.
Every Friday, they would gather at Ibn Surad's house and he would address them: Do it, like the old Israelites, after they worshiped the golden calf!
When Moses said to them, "You have sinned severely, atone through death!”, they patiently stretched out their necks and offered themselves to the knife, realizing that this was the only way they could free themselves from their guilt.
Although his soldiers wanted to wait for their comrades from Basra and al-Mada'in, Ibn Surad refused further delay.
Undeterred by decreasing numbers, Ibn Surad exclaimed that departure of such people from their ranks was good, and ordered his companions to march.
[7] They took route along Euphrates and met the Umayyad army led by Ibn Ziyad at Ayn al-Warda, on the border of Syria.