Editing Ashura (section)

==Ashura in Shiʿite piety==
After the death of [[Muawiya]] in the spring of 60/680, his son [[Yazid]] succeeded him as [[caliph]]. Yazid’s succession by hereditary appointment rather than election or popular acclaim met with strong opposition in many quarters of a community already torn by conflict and dissension. Among the many dissenting groups was the party (Shiʿa) of [[ʿAli ibn Abi Talib|Ali b. Abi Taleb]], led by his son, Imam Hussain. Hussain’s supporters in Kufa invited him to Kufa; after some hesitation, he answered their persistent entreaties, not simply from political motives, but also because of an idealistic view of Islam that he sought to defend at all cost. His martyrdom has therefore been regarded by Muslims, Sunni as well as Shiʿite, as the model for self-sacrifice in the way of God, a revolt against wrong-doing and oppression. This fact has not been fully appreciated by most Western historians; yet it is crucial for a true understanding of the significance of Ashura for the Muslim community in general, and especially its Shiʿite members.

Hussain left for Kufa with his family and about seventy men. On the second of Muharram, 61/680 he encamped on the plain of [[Karbala]], where he faced an army of about 4,000 men sent to intercept him by the governor of Kufa, [[ʿObaydallah b. Ziad]]. After a week of fruitless negotiations, the head of the army, [[Omar Ibn Sa’d|ʿOmar b. Saʿd]], put the choice to Hussain and his followers of either surrendering to the authority of Ibn Ziad or fighting. The battle that ensued lasted from early morning to mid-afternoon. Hussain and his followers, including the able male members of his family, were killed; the women and children were led captive first to Kufa, then to Damascus. <ref>Tabari [Cairo], II, pp. 295-390; Mofid, Ershad, ed. Sayyed Kazem al-Miamawi, Tehran, 1377/1957-58, pp. 215ff., tr. I. K. A. Howard, London, 1981, p. 370.</ref>  

The death of Imam Hussain produced an immediate reaction in the Muslim community, especially in Iraq. When the people of Kufa saw his head and the pitiful state of the captives, they began to weep and beat their breasts in anguish. <ref> Yaʿqubi, ed. M. S. Baḥr-al-ʿolum, Najaf, 1384/1964, II, pp. 231ff.</ref> Many of them regretted their failure to support Hussain and were filled with remorse; they came to form the movement known as the repenters ([[Tawwabun|al-tawwabun]]). The chaos and bloodshed that followed gives eloquent testimony to the far-reaching effect of the tragedy of Karbala on subsequent Muslim history. <ref>J. Wellhausen, The Arab Kingdom and its Fall, tr. M. G. Weir, Beirut, 1963, esp. pp. 147-200.</ref>  

Among the few who survived the massacre of Karbala was Hussain’s only surviving son, [[ʿAli b. al-Hussain|Ali Zayn-al-ʿabedin]], who was spared of fighting on account of his sickness; he was soon proclaimed fourth [[Imam]] by  considerable segments of the Shiʿite community. His home in Medina became an important center for the growth of the Ashura cults; undoubtedly his piety, political quietism, and continuous sorrow for the tragedy provided the religious basis of the Ashura celebration.