Karbala: Difference between revisions

'''Karbala''' is a city in Iraq, some 60 miles southwest of Baghdad, celebrated by the fact that the Prophet’s grandson, [[Husayn 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-) Husayn.

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 Husayn received confirmation of the loyalty of the Kufis from his cousin, [[Muslim ibn Aqil]], he headed toward Kufa. On his way, Husayn learned that his cousin died at the hands of Yazid’s men and that the Kufis had shifted their allegiance to Yazid.

Husayn nevertheless continued in the direction of Kufa. [[Ibn Ziad]], the governor of the Kufa, with one thousand soldiers at his command, told Husayn that he could neither go to Kufa nor return to Mecca, and was permitted only to go to Damascus, the Capital. Instead, Husayn 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]] .

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 Husayn in Karbala. The ‘Ashura (date of Husayn’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. Husayn’s martyrdom has become a source of strength and endurance for Shi’ite Muslims in times of suffering, persecution and oppression .  

After the end of the Battle of Karbala, tribesmen from a nearby village buried Husayn and [[ʿAbbas]] in the battlefield, and as early as 65/684-85 Husayn’s grave became a pilgrimage site for the Shiʿites. Under the early [[ʿAbbasids]], a tomb was built over Husayn’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 Husayn 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 Husayn and prohibited pilgrimage to the sanctuary. However, after his death the graves were rebuilt and Husayn’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.

Karbala played a leading role in the Shiʿite uprising of March 1991 following Iraq’s defeat in the first Gulf War. However, the Baʿth regime defeated the rebels, who lacked internal organization and command structure and did not receive any external support. It inflicted heavy casualties and large-scale destruction upon the city, including the shelling of Imam Husayn’s shrine. During the 1990s, the regime rebuilt Karbala while employing harsh oppression and cooptation of the small clerical community and shrine officials. As part of the Shiʿi south, Karbala suffered disproportionately from the impact of the sanctions imposed on Iraq by the United Nations, since the regime channeled most of its resources to the Sunni areas.<ref>Trip, pp. 255-56.</ref>