Majma al-Zawaid — Hadith 15137

Al-Dahhak bin Uthman said: Sayyiduna Imam Husayn bin Ali (may Allah be pleased with them both) set out for Kufah, being opposed to the rule of Yazid bin Mu'awiyah. Yazid bin Mu'awiyah wrote to Ubaydullah bin Ziyad, who was his appointed governor over Iraq: "News has reached me that Husayn has set out for Kufah. This trial has come in your time out of all times, and in your city out of all cities, and you, out of all the officials, have been tested with it. Through this trial you will either be freed, or you will return to being a slave, the way slaves are enslaved." So Ubaydullah bin Ziyad had Imam Husayn martyred and sent Imam Husayn's head to Yazid. When Imam Husayn's head was placed before him, he recited, as an illustration, these verses of al-Husayn bin Humam al-Murri: "We split the skulls of men who are dear to us, while they were the more undutiful and the more unjust."
Imam al-Tabarani recorded it, and its narrators are thiqat (trustworthy), except that al-Dahhak did not live in the time of this event.