19th of Muharram After dispatching the head of Imam Husayn (a), Ubaydullah mobilized the children and ladies and fastened an iron collar in the neck of Imam Ali bin Husayn (a) and dispatched them behind the head along with Makhfar bin Sa'labah A'ezee and Shimr bin Ziljawshan, until they joined the caravan carrying the heads. Imam Zainul Abedeen (a.s.) did not speak to them on the way from Iraq until they reached Syria. Ubayd Allah b. Ziyad sent a group of soldiers along with the captives to Damascus. Famous people such as Shimr b. Dhi l-Jawshan and Tariq b. Muhaffiz b. Tha'laba were among them. Some reports also added that Zahr b. Qays accompanied them.

According to Ibn A'tham and al-Khwarazmi, the soldiers and agents of 'Ubayd Allah b. Ziyad mounted the captives on uncovered howdahs and moved them from city to city, and treated them like infidel captives. Imam al-Sajjad (a) has been quoted: "They mounted me on a crippled skinny camel with a wooden howdah that did not have any mat in it, while the head of Imam al-Husayn (a) was at the top of a spear and the women were behind me and the spears were around us. If any of us shed a drop of tear, they would hit him on the head by the spears; until we arrived to Damascus. When we entered Damascus, I heard someone shouting: 0 people of Damascus! These are the captives of a cursed household!" Sayyid Haider Hilli says in his elegies, "Who will inform the Prophet that indeed, Hazrat Sajjad is captivated? Who will inform to Zahra and notify her of the heartburn of Zainab? Their enemies have been parading them from one city to another, while their hearts are pained and aggrieved. It is stated in the Shi'ah and Sunni books, that when the bearers of the sacred head of Imam Husayn (a.s.) halted at the first place, they started drinking wine and playing and sporting with the blessed head. When suddenly a hand appeared from the wall holding an iron pen, and wrote down in blood the following lines: "The nation which has killed Husayn, still hopes that on the day of Qiyamah his grandfather shall intercede for them?" Seeing this they were terrified and left that place.