The History of Karbala

The Battle of Karbala took place on 10 Muharram, 61 Hijri, corresponding to 10 October 680 CE, on the plain called Karbala in present-day Iraq. The battle was fought between a small band of supporters and relatives of Husayn ibn Ali (RA), the grandson of the Prophet of Islam Muhammad (SAW), and the vast army of the Umayyad caliph Yazid I, whose allegiance Husayn (RA) refused to acknowledge. In this battle Husayn and all his supporters, including his six-month-old infant son Ali al-Asghar ibn Husayn, were killed, and the women and children were taken captive. According to Muslim belief, all the slain are honoured as 'martyrs' (shahid), and this battle occupies a central place in the history and tradition of the Shia.

Yazid ibn Muawiya was appointed caliph by his father Muawiya (RA), but this appointment was influenced more by the tradition of monarchy than by the spirit of Islam. For that reason Husayn (RA) did not pledge allegiance to him. When the people of Iraq received this news, they sent letters and envoys to Husayn saying that they wanted him, not Yazid, as caliph. Having received the letters of his supporters, Husayn (RA) sent his cousin Muslim ibn Aqil to Kufa to assess the situation. Muslim saw that many people indeed wanted Husayn (RA) as their caliph, and he informed Husayn (RA) of this. Meanwhile some over-eager people began accepting pledges of allegiance on behalf of Husayn at Muslim's hands in the house of Hani ibn Urwa. When this news reached Yazid in Syria, he sent Ubaydullah ibn Ziyad, the governor of Basra, to suppress the rebellion of the people of Kufa.

Ubaydullah went to Kufa and found the reports to be true. Muslim ibn Aqil, with four thousand supporters, laid siege to the palace of Ubaydullah ibn Ziyad. At this point Ubaydullah stood up and delivered a speech, frightening the people with the might of Yazid's army. Fearing Yazid's punishment, the people of Kufa gradually began to slip away. After sunset, Muslim ibn Aqil found that not one of the so-called supporters of Husayn remained. Ubaydullah ordered his arrest and execution. Before his death, Muslim sent a letter to Husayn:

"O Husayn! Return home with your family. Do not be deceived by the people of Kufa, for they have lied to you. They did not tell me the truth either."

Meanwhile, although Muslim ibn Aqil had died, it was on the strength of his first letter that on the 8th of the month of Dhul-Hijjah Husayn (RA) set out from Makkah towards Kufa. Many Companions tried to stop him from leaving. Among them the names of Abdullah ibn Abbas, Abdullah ibn Umar, Abdullah ibn Zubayr, Abdullah ibn Amr and his brother Muhammad ibn al-Hanafiyyah deserve special mention.

Sufyan as-Thawri narrates through an authentic chain from Ibn Abbas (RA) that Ibn Abbas (RA) said to Husayn: were it not for the fear of people's reproach, I would have held you back by your neck. Abdullah ibn Zubayr (RA) said to Husayn: Husayn! Where are you going? To people who killed your father and struck down your brother?

On the journey, Muslim's letter at last reached Husayn. Having read it, he abandoned the road to Kufa and set out on the road to Syria, towards Yazid. Along the way, Yazid's troops, led by Amr ibn Sa'd, Shimr ibn Dhul-Jawshan and Husayn ibn Tamim, halted Husayn's (RA) progress on the plain of Karbala. Invoking Allah and citing his own standing, he put three proposals before the troops that had come:

1. He should be allowed to go to Yazid's court, where he would accept Yazid's hand in the pledge of allegiance; for he knew that Yazid did not wish to kill him.
2. Or he should be allowed to return to Madinah.
3. Or he should be allowed to proceed toward the frontier of some Islamic territory, where he would wage jihad and guard the borders of the Islamic realm.

Yazid's troops would accept none of these proposals without the verdict of Ubaydullah ibn Ziyad. On hearing this, one of Ubaydullah's commanders, Hur ibn Yazid, said: will you not accept the proposal they are putting before you? By Allah, even if the Turks and the Daylamites had made this petition to you, it would not have been lawful for you to refuse it. Yet even so, they did not accept these eminently reasonable proposals. That commander mounted his horse and departed from there; having greeted Husayn (RA) and his companions, he fought on Husayn's side against Ubaydullah's soldiers and was killed.

In numbers there was a vast difference between Husayn's companions and Yazid's soldiers. With Husayn (RA) were:

1. The sons of Ali ibn Abi Talib (RA) — Abu Bakr, Muhammad, Uthman, Jafar and Abbas.
2. Husayn's (RA) own sons — Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman, Ali Akbar and Abdullah.
3. From among the sons of Hasan (RA) — Abu Bakr, Umar, Abdullah and Qasim.
4. From among the children of Aqil — Jafar, Abdur Rahman and Abdullah ibn Muslim ibn Aqil.
5. From among the children of Abdullah ibn Jafar — Awn and Abdullah.

Every member of this small band of Companions and Tabi'un fought bravely and was killed. In the end no one remained alive except Husayn (RA). Shimr ibn Dhul-Jawshan, a savage brute, struck Husayn's (RA) body with a spear and brought him to the ground. At last, under the combined assault of Yazid's forces, this fearless hero was martyred in accordance with the fate written for him by Allah. Husayn (RA) said nothing unjust and did nothing unjust. May the wrath of Allah surround his killers and all who aided the killing — may they be destroyed! May Allah Ta'ala cover the martyr Husayn (RA) and his companions with His mercy and pleasure.

This episode is a shameful chapter in the history of the Muslim nation, presented to us by the treacherous people of Kufa. Afterwards they coloured it with fabricated tales — blood flowing when a stone is turned over, a solar eclipse, the horizon turning red, stones falling from the sky and the like. Had Allah willed, He could have protected Husayn (RA) and his companions without any such fantastic occurrences.

Shaykhul Islam Imam Ibn Taymiyyah (RA) says: by the consensus of all Hadith scholars and historians, Yazid ibn Muawiya did not order the killing of Husayn (RA). Rather, he told Ubaydullah ibn Ziyad to prevent Husayn from establishing authority in Iraq. That was the whole extent of his role. According to the sounder opinion, when news of Husayn's (RA) killing reached him, he expressed regret. He did not reduce any woman of Husayn's (RA) family to captivity or slavery; rather he made arrangements for all the surviving members of the family to be sent to Madinah with honour.

It is narrated from Ibn Abi Nu'm that he said: I was once present with Abdullah ibn Umar. A man then asked him about the ruling on killing mosquitoes. He asked the man: which country are you from? He said: from Iraq. Ibn Umar (RA) then said to those present: pay attention to this man — he asks me for a ruling on killing mosquitoes, while they killed the grandson of the Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. And I heard the Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, say: these two (Hasan and Husayn) are the two flowers of my world. (Bukhari, Hadith no. 5994)

Before Husayn (RA) was killed, he said to the people of Iraq:

Did you not call me to come here through your letters? Did you not promise to help me? May misfortune befall you! The very weapons with which we together fought the enemies of Islam, you now turn against us? Just as flies fly away, you withdraw from the pledge of allegiance you gave me, breaking every promise and covenant. Destroyed be the bands of tyranny of this ummah!

He also pronounced a curse against his former supporters:

"O Allah! If You prolong their lives, then divide them into factions; scatter them into contending parties; and never make their rulers content with them. They called us to come, saying they would help us, and then rose up to kill us."

Husayn's (RA) prayer proves that Yazid was not directly involved in the killing of Husayn (RA). For in the prayer he said: O Allah! never make their rulers content with them. From this it appears that the Shia of Iraq betrayed Husayn (RA) in the hope of winning the favour of the Umayyad rulers. Allah, Subhanahu, accepted Husayn's (RA) prayer. Later, Ubaydullah ibn Ziyad too was killed by Yazid's order.