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Karbala: Difference between revisions
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'''Karbala''' is a city in Iraq, some 60 miles southwest of Baghdad, celebrated by the fact that the Prophet’s grandson, [[Hussain b. ʿAli]] was killed and his decapitated body buried there. In fact, Karbala is one of the four Shi’ite shrine cities (with [[Najaf]], Kazemayn, and Samarra) in Iraq known in Shi’ite Islam as [[‘atabat]]-e ‘aliat. When it became a place of pilgrimage, Karbala became known as Mashhad (al-) Hussain. | '''Karbala''' is a city in Iraq, some 60 miles southwest of Baghdad, celebrated by the fact that the Prophet’s grandson, [[Hussain ibn Ali|Hussain b. ʿAli]] was killed and his decapitated body buried there. In fact, Karbala is one of the four Shi’ite shrine cities (with [[Najaf]], Kazemayn, and Samarra) in Iraq known in Shi’ite Islam as [[‘atabat]]-e ‘aliat. When it became a place of pilgrimage, Karbala became known as Mashhad (al-) Hussain. | ||
==Battle of Karbala== | ==Battle of Karbala== | ||
When the first Umayyad Caliph, [[Mu’awiya]], died in 680 C.E., his son [[Yazid]] came to power. The majority of Muslims saw the nomination of Yazid to the [[Caliphate]] as a usurpation of the notion of consensus (ijma’), the legitimate means of choosing a Caliph. When Hussain received confirmation of the loyalty of the Kufis from his cousin, [[Muslim ibn Aqil]], he headed toward Kufa. On his way, Hussain learned that his cousin died at the hands of Yazid’s men and that the Kufis had shifted their allegiance to Yazid. | When the first Umayyad Caliph, [[Mu’awiya]], died in 680 C.E., his son [[Yazid]] came to power. The majority of Muslims saw the nomination of Yazid to the [[Caliphate]] as a usurpation of the notion of consensus (ijma’), the legitimate means of choosing a Caliph. When Hussain received confirmation of the loyalty of the Kufis from his cousin, [[Muslim ibn Aqil]], he headed toward Kufa. On his way, Hussain learned that his cousin died at the hands of Yazid’s men and that the Kufis had shifted their allegiance to Yazid. | ||
Hussain nevertheless continued in the direction of Kufa. [[Ibn Ziad]], the governor of the Kufa, with one thousand soldiers at his command, told Hussain that he could neither go to Kufa nor return to Mecca, and was permitted only to go to Damascus, the Capital. Instead, Hussain led his heavily out-numbered and underequipped followers to battle in Karbala, where they were slain mercilessly on the battlefield. This event played an important role in the development of Shi’ite theology and has been the source of dissension among Muslims. The battle of Karbala accentuated the split between the two major branches of [[Islam]]. The event forged in Shi’ite Muslims an identity as believers who are subjected to persecution for the sake of the true [[succession]] of [[Muhammad]] . | Hussain nevertheless continued in the direction of Kufa. [[Ibn Ziad]], the governor of the Kufa, with one thousand soldiers at his command, told Hussain that he could neither go to Kufa nor return to Mecca, and was permitted only to go to Damascus, the Capital. Instead, Hussain led his heavily out-numbered and underequipped followers to battle in Karbala, where they were slain mercilessly on the battlefield. This event played an important role in the development of Shi’ite theology and has been the source of dissension among Muslims. The battle of Karbala accentuated the split between the two major branches of [[Islam]]. The event forged in Shi’ite Muslims an identity as believers who are subjected to persecution for the sake of the true [[succession]] of [[Muhammad]] . | ||
==Significance== | ==Significance== | ||
The Karbala tragedy became the constitutive event of [[Shiʿism]] as a religion and the symbol of the victory of the oppressive majority over the righteous few, symbolizing whatever went wrong in Islamic history. A cult off [[martyrdom]] is linked to the death and downfall of Imam Hussain in Karbala. The ‘Ashura (date of Hussain’s martyrdom) was elaborated upon and systematized in the articulation of Shi’a theology. Every year, during the first ten days of the month of hijra, the battle of Karbala is commemorated by Shi’ite Muslims during Muharram and many go on [[pilgrimage]] to Karbala. Hussain’s martyrdom has become a source of strength and endurance for Shi’ite Muslims in times of suffering, persecution and oppression . | The Karbala tragedy became the constitutive event of [[Shiʿa|Shiʿism]] as a religion and the symbol of the victory of the oppressive majority over the righteous few, symbolizing whatever went wrong in Islamic history. A cult off [[martyrdom]] is linked to the death and downfall of Imam Hussain in Karbala. The ‘Ashura (date of Hussain’s martyrdom) was elaborated upon and systematized in the articulation of Shi’a theology. Every year, during the first ten days of the month of hijra, the battle of Karbala is commemorated by Shi’ite Muslims during Muharram and many go on [[pilgrimage]] to Karbala. Hussain’s martyrdom has become a source of strength and endurance for Shi’ite Muslims in times of suffering, persecution and oppression . | ||
==History== | ==History== | ||
After the end of the Battle of Karbala, tribesmen from a nearby village buried Hussain and [[ʿAbbas]] in the battlefield, and as early as 65/684-85 Hussain’s grave became a pilgrimage site for the Shiʿites. Under the early [[ʿAbbasids]], a tomb was built over Hussain’s grave, and its custodians were endowed by the pious benefactions of Omm Musa, mother of the caliph Mahdi (d. 158/764), who attempted to heal the rift between the ʿAbbasids and ʿAlids.<ref>Tabari, III, p. 752.</ref> However, during its long history the tomb of Hussain was desecrated several times and had to be restored. In 236/850-51, the caliph [https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/encyclopaedia-of-islam-1/al-mutawakkil-SIM_4949?s.num=402&s.start=400 al-Matawakkil] (r. 232-47/847-61), destroyed the tomb of Hussain and prohibited pilgrimage to the sanctuary. However, after his death the graves were rebuilt and Hussain’s tomb restored.<ref>Tabari, III, p. 1407; Mostawfi, p. 32; tr., p. 39; Ibn Ḥawqal, p. 166.</ref> Sulayman the Magnificent visited the tomb in 1534 and 1535 and participated in its restoration. At the end of the eighteenth century, Agha Muhammad Khan, the founder of the [https://www.britannica.com/topic/Qajar-dynasty Qajar dynasty], covered the dome in gold and the manara of the sanctuary. In April 1802, twelve thousand Wahabbis under Shaykh Sa’ud invaded Karbala, killed over three thousand inhabitants and sacked the city. | After the end of the Battle of Karbala, tribesmen from a nearby village buried Hussain and [[ʿAbbas]] in the battlefield, and as early as 65/684-85 Hussain’s grave became a pilgrimage site for the Shiʿites. Under the early [[ʿAbbasids]], a tomb was built over Hussain’s grave, and its custodians were endowed by the pious benefactions of Omm Musa, mother of the caliph Mahdi (d. 158/764), who attempted to heal the rift between the ʿAbbasids and ʿAlids.<ref>Tabari, III, p. 752.</ref> However, during its long history the tomb of Hussain was desecrated several times and had to be restored. In 236/850-51, the caliph [https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/encyclopaedia-of-islam-1/al-mutawakkil-SIM_4949?s.num=402&s.start=400 al-Matawakkil] (r. 232-47/847-61), destroyed the tomb of Hussain and prohibited pilgrimage to the sanctuary. However, after his death the graves were rebuilt and Hussain’s tomb restored.<ref>Tabari, III, p. 1407; Mostawfi, p. 32; tr., p. 39; Ibn Ḥawqal, p. 166.</ref> Sulayman the Magnificent visited the tomb in 1534 and 1535 and participated in its restoration. At the end of the eighteenth century, Agha Muhammad Khan, the founder of the [https://www.britannica.com/topic/Qajar-dynasty Qajar dynasty], covered the dome in gold and the manara of the sanctuary. In April 1802, twelve thousand Wahabbis under Shaykh Sa’ud invaded Karbala, killed over three thousand inhabitants and sacked the city. | ||
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==BIBLIOGRAPHY== | ==BIBLIOGRAPHY== | ||
* Honigmann E. “Karbala’.” In Vol. IV, The Encyclopaedia of Islam. Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1978. | |||
* Jafri, S. H. M. The Origins and Early Development of Shi’a Islam. New York: Longman, 1981. | *Honigmann E. “Karbala’.” In Vol. IV, The Encyclopaedia of Islam. Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1978. | ||
* Momen, Moojan. An Introduction to Shi’i Islam. New Haven, Conn.:Yale University Press, 1985. | *Jafri, S. H. M. The Origins and Early Development of Shi’a Islam. New York: Longman, 1981. | ||
* Mirza Abu Ṭaleb Khan Eṣfahāni, Masir-e ṭālebi yā safar-nāma-ye Mirzā Abu Ṭāleb Ḵān, ed. Ḥosayn Ḵadiv Jam, Tehran, 1973. | *Momen, Moojan. An Introduction to Shi’i Islam. New Haven, Conn.:Yale University Press, 1985. | ||
* ʿAbbas ʿAzzawi, Taʾriḵ al-Erāq bayn al-eḥtelālayn, 8 vols., Baghdad, 1354-75/1935-55. | *Mirza Abu Ṭaleb Khan Eṣfahāni, Masir-e ṭālebi yā safar-nāma-ye Mirzā Abu Ṭāleb Ḵān, ed. Ḥosayn Ḵadiv Jam, Tehran, 1973. | ||
* Ofra Bengio, “Shiʿis and Politics in Baʿthi Iraq,” Middle Eastern Studies 21/1, 1985, pp. 1-14. | *ʿAbbas ʿAzzawi, Taʾriḵ al-Erāq bayn al-eḥtelālayn, 8 vols., Baghdad, 1354-75/1935-55. | ||
* ʿAliqoli Mirza Eʿtezad-al-Saltana, Eksir al-tawāriḵ: tāriḵ-e Qājār az āḡāz tā 1295, ed. Jamšid Kayānfar, Tehran, 1991. | *Ofra Bengio, “Shiʿis and Politics in Baʿthi Iraq,” Middle Eastern Studies 21/1, 1985, pp. 1-14. | ||
* ʿAbd-al-Jawad Kalidar, Taʾrīḵ Karbalāʾ wa ḥāʾer al-Ḥosayn ʿalayh al-salām, Najaf, 1387/1967. Jaʿfar khalili, Mawsuʿat al-ʿAtabāt al-moqaddasa, Baghdad and Beirut, 1965-70; 2nd ed., 12 vols., Beirut, 1987, the section on Karbalā. | *ʿAliqoli Mirza Eʿtezad-al-Saltana, Eksir al-tawāriḵ: tāriḵ-e Qājār az āḡāz tā 1295, ed. Jamšid Kayānfar, Tehran, 1991. | ||
* Meir Litvak, “Continuity and Change in the Ulama Population of Najaf and Karbala, 1791-1904: A Socio-Demographic Study,” Iranian Studies 23, 1990, pp. 31-60. | *ʿAbd-al-Jawad Kalidar, Taʾrīḵ Karbalāʾ wa ḥāʾer al-Ḥosayn ʿalayh al-salām, Najaf, 1387/1967. Jaʿfar khalili, Mawsuʿat al-ʿAtabāt al-moqaddasa, Baghdad and Beirut, 1965-70; 2nd ed., 12 vols., Beirut, 1987, the section on Karbalā. | ||
* Ḥamd-Allah Mostawfi, Nozhat al-qolub, ed. Guy Le Strange, Leyden and London, 1915; tr. Guy Le Strange as The Geographical Part of Nuzhat-al-qulub, Leyden and London, 1919. | *Meir Litvak, “Continuity and Change in the Ulama Population of Najaf and Karbala, 1791-1904: A Socio-Demographic Study,” Iranian Studies 23, 1990, pp. 31-60. | ||
* Yitzhak Nakash, The Shiʿis of Iraq, Princeton, 1994. | *Ḥamd-Allah Mostawfi, Nozhat al-qolub, ed. Guy Le Strange, Leyden and London, 1915; tr. Guy Le Strange as The Geographical Part of Nuzhat-al-qulub, Leyden and London, 1919. | ||
* Charles Tripp, A History of Iraq, Cambridge, 2000; 2nd ed., Cambridge and New York, 2002. | *Yitzhak Nakash, The Shiʿis of Iraq, Princeton, 1994. | ||
*Charles Tripp, A History of Iraq, Cambridge, 2000; 2nd ed., Cambridge and New York, 2002. | |||
==Sources== | ==Sources== | ||
* Diana Steigerwald (2004). Encyclopedia of Islam and Muslim World. Edited by Richard C. Martin. USA: Macmillan; P: 387. ISBN 0-02-865912-0. | |||
* [http://iranicaonline.org/articles/karbala Encyclopaedia Iranica] | *Diana Steigerwald (2004). Encyclopedia of Islam and Muslim World. Edited by Richard C. Martin. USA: Macmillan; P: 387. ISBN 0-02-865912-0. | ||
*[http://iranicaonline.org/articles/karbala Encyclopaedia Iranica] | |||
[[Category:Geographical Span]] | [[Category:Geographical Span]] | ||
[[Category:Shi’a Holy Cities]] | [[Category:Shi’a Holy Cities]] | ||