Husayn ibn Ali

• 1. Introduction

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  Husayn ibn Ali was born on the 3rd of Sha'ban 4 AH, the 11th of January 626, in Medina, to a family that sat at the very center of the new Islamic world. His mother was Fatima, the daughter of the prophet Muhammad. His father was Ali, Muhammad's cousin and eventual caliph. His grandfather carried him on his shoulders and kissed him on his belly, and named him himself, despite Ali having other names in mind. Muhammad called him and his brother Hasan the leaders of the youth of paradise.

  Fifty-four years later, on the plain of Karbala, Husayn would be killed alongside most of his family and companions by a vastly larger army loyal to the caliph Yazid. He was fifty-four years old. The wound that moment tore open has never closed.

  This is the story of how a grandson of Muhammad came to refuse allegiance to a caliph, what drove him to march toward an army he knew would kill him, and how his death on the 10th of October 680 transformed a political faction into one of history's most enduring religious identities.

• 2. The Prophet's Household

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  Muhammad sacrificed a ram to celebrate Husayn's birth, and Fatima shaved the newborn's head, donating the equivalent weight of his hair in silver as alms. These were not ordinary rituals. They marked a child understood, even at birth, to carry extraordinary significance.

  Islamic tradition holds that Husayn is mentioned in the Torah as "Shubayr" and in the Gospels as "Tab." Whether or not one accepts that, the hadiths preserved in the canonical Sunni collection Sunan al-Tirmidhi are unambiguous: al-Hasan and al-Husayn are named as the sayyids, the chiefs, of the youth in paradise.

  The scholar Madelung notes numerous narrations showing Muhammad's love for the two boys, carrying them on his shoulders, putting them on his chest. Some of these reports may imply a slight preference for Hasan, Madelung suggests, perhaps because Hasan was judged more similar to his grandfather in temperament. Husayn, by contrast, was considered more like his father Ali.

  In the year 10 AH, corresponding to 631 or 632, a Christian delegation from Najran in what is now northern Yemen came to Muhammad to debate the nature of Jesus. When the debate reached an impasse, Muhammad reportedly received a revelation instructing both parties to engage in mubahala, a ritual mutual cursing in which each side calls on God to destroy the liars. The Qur'anic verse that resulted, verse 3:61, speaks of "our sons, our women, and ourselves." In the Shia tradition, "our sons" refers specifically to Hasan and Husayn, placing them at the center of a moment with deep theological weight.

  Muhammad is said to have taken Ali, Fatima, Hasan and Husayn under his cloak during this event and declared them free from sin and pollution. The title that arose from this act, the Family of the Cloak, is one Husayn would carry for the rest of his life, into the heat of Karbala.

• 3. Years of Restraint

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  During the caliphate of Ali, Husayn accompanied his father through the military campaigns of the First Fitna, the civil war that reshaped early Islam. He was among Ali's closest allies, alongside his brothers and his cousin Abdullah ibn Ja'far. When Mu'awiya I ordered that Ali's supporters be publicly cursed, Husayn was among those named.

  After Ali was assassinated, his brother Hasan signed a treaty with Mu'awiya I. The key provision was that Mu'awiya would not appoint a successor; the Islamic community would choose. Madelung believes Husayn initially refused to recognize this treaty, but eventually accepted it under pressure from Hasan. He would hold to its terms for the next decade, even as provocations mounted.

  At one point, after signing the peace, Mu'awiya delivered a sermon in Kufa in which he openly declared he had violated every provision of the treaty and insulted Ali ibn Abi Talib. Husayn wanted to respond publicly. Hasan stopped him and delivered the reply himself.

  For the nine years between Hasan's abdication in AH 41 and his death in AH 49 or 50, the two brothers retreated to Medina, trying to stay clear of political involvement. Small groups from Kufa visited periodically, asking them to lead an uprising. They declined each time.

  Hasan was poisoned. He refused to tell Husayn the name of his suspected killer, probably Mu'awiya, for fear of provoking bloodshed. Even burial became a confrontation: Marwan ibn al-Hakam swore he would not permit Hasan to be buried near Muhammad while Uthman lay in the cemetery of al-Baqi. After Hasan's death, when Kufans again turned to Husayn about an uprising, he told them to wait as long as Mu'awiya was alive. He had given his word.

• 4. Yazid and the Breaking Point

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  Before he died in April 680, Mu'awiya I appointed his son Yazid as successor. This violated the treaty with Hasan outright. Husayn was one of five prominent figures who refused to pledge allegiance to Yazid during his father's lifetime.

  Mu'awiya cautioned Yazid in his final days that Husayn and Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr might challenge his rule. He told his son to treat Husayn with caution and not to spill his blood, since he was Muhammad's grandson. Yazid did not follow this advice.

  Immediately after Mu'awiya's death on the 15th of Rajab 60 AH, the 22nd of April 680, Yazid charged the governor of Medina, Walid ibn Utba ibn Abu Sufyan, to secure allegiance from Husayn by force if necessary. Husayn answered the summons but refused to pledge allegiance in private, insisting it should be done in public. Marwan ibn al-Hakam told Walid to imprison or behead him. Walid, unwilling to act against the grandson of Muhammad, did nothing.

  A few days later, Husayn left for Mecca without acknowledging Yazid. He arrived at the beginning of May 680, accompanied by his wives, children, brothers and the sons of Hasan. He would stay there until the beginning of September.

  While in Mecca, letters arrived from Kufa, dozens of them, then hundreds. The Kufans described Umayyad rule as oppressive. They had no rightful leader, they wrote, and they pledged their allegiance to Husayn. They asked him to come and lead them in revolt. He sent his cousin Muslim ibn Aqil to assess the situation. Ibn Aqil found widespread support and reported back that Husayn should join them.

• 5. The Road to Karbala

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  Abd Allah ibn Abbas warned Husayn plainly: the Kufans had abandoned both his father and his brother. He suggested Husayn go to Yemen instead, or at least not take women and children if he was determined to go to Iraq. Husayn refused on all counts.

  His reasons are preserved in a letter he wrote to Muhammad ibn al-Hanafiyya before departing: "I did not go out for fun and selfishness and for corruption and oppression; Rather, my goal is to correct the corruptions that have occurred in the nation of my ancestors. I want to command the good and forbid the bad, and follow the tradition of my grandfather and the way of my father Ali ibn Abi Talib."

  He left Mecca on the 8th or 10th of Dhu al-Hijjah 60 AH, the 10th or the 12th of September 680, performing Umrah rather than Hajj, slipping out while the governor of Mecca was away performing Hajj himself. Fifty men capable of fighting accompanied him, along with women and children.

  On the road, the poet Farzadaq told him bluntly that the hearts of the Iraqi people were with him but their swords served the Umayyads. Husayn did not turn back. When news arrived of the execution of Ibn Aqil and the collapse of support in Kufa, he told his followers what had happened and gave them permission to leave. Most who had joined him on the road departed. Those who had come from Mecca stayed.

  At the area of Zabalah, he learned that his messenger to Kufa had been caught and killed by being thrown from the roof of the palace. Still he pressed on, saying that things were in God's hands.

  Near Qadisiyya, south of Kufa, a force of about 1,000 men led by Al-Hurr ibn Yazid Al-Tamimi intercepted his caravan. Husayn showed them the letters he had received from the Kufans. Hurr denied any knowledge of them. He would not let Husayn enter Kufa, nor return to Medina, but allowed him to travel elsewhere. Husayn kept moving, and Hurr followed.

  At Naynawa, orders came from the governor Ibn Ziyad: force Husayn to halt in a waterless, unfortified place. On the 2nd of October 680, the 2nd of Muharram 61 AH, Husayn arrived at Karbala, a desert plain 70 km north of Kufa, and set up camp. Within a day, a Kufan army of 4,000 under the command of Umar ibn Sa'd had arrived. Umar initially refused to fight. Ibn Ziyad threatened to revoke his new appointment as governor of Rayy. He complied.

• 6. The Battle of Karbala

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  For three days before the battle, Husayn and his companions were cut off from the Euphrates river by 500 of Ibn Sa'd's horsemen. A group of fifty men led by Husayn's half-brother Abbas ibn Ali finally reached the river and returned with twenty water-skins.

  Negotiations continued. Ibn Sa'd proposed terms to Ibn Ziyad, who is reported to have agreed, until Shimr ibn Dhi al-Jawshan intervened and argued that allowing Husayn to leave would demonstrate weakness. Ibn Ziyad reversed himself. He sent Shimr with orders to demand allegiance one final time, and if Husayn refused, to kill him, disfigure him and characterize him as a rebel.

  On the evening of the 9th of October, Ibn Sa'd's army advanced. Husayn sent Abbas to ask for one night's delay so his people could pray. The request was granted. That night, Husayn told his companions they were free to leave under cover of darkness; his opponents wanted only him. Very few left. A ditch was dug behind the tents and filled with wood to be set alight against attack.

  After morning prayer on the 10th of October, both sides took positions. Husayn appointed Zuhayr ibn Qayn to command the right flank and Habib ibn Muzahir the left. Abbas carried the standard. By most accounts, Husayn's force numbered thirty-two horsemen and forty infantrymen. Ibn Sa'd commanded 4,000.

  Husayn delivered a speech reminding his opponents of his lineage as Muhammad's grandson and reproaching them for inviting him and then abandoning him. He asked to be allowed to leave. The answer was that he must submit to Yazid's authority. He refused. His speech moved Hurr, the commander who had intercepted him on the road, to defect to his side.

  The battle opened with volleys of arrows. Duels followed, and several of Husayn's companions were killed. The Kufan right wing attacked and was repulsed. Shimr's left wing attacked and was repulsed after taking losses on both sides. Ibn Sa'd then deployed armored cavalry and five hundred archers. Husayn's horses were shot from under their riders. When Ibn Sa'd ordered the tents burned, his own advance was hindered by the flames. Shimr wanted to burn the last tent, the one sheltering Husayn's family. His own companions stopped him.

  After the noon prayer, Husayn's companions were encircled and nearly all killed. His son Ali Akbar, nineteen years old, was killed. His half-brothers, including Abbas, were slain. A young child sitting on Husayn's lap was struck by an arrow and died.

  The Umayyad soldiers hesitated to strike Husayn himself. He was hit in the mouth by an arrow as he went to the river to drink. He collected his blood in his cupped hand and cast it toward the sky. He was struck on the head by Malik ibn Nusayr, who took his bloodied cloak. Husayn wrapped his turban around his head to stop the bleeding. He kept fighting.

  Husayn's sister Zaynab called out to Ibn Sa'd: will Abu Abd Allah be killed while you stand and watch? Ibn Sa'd wept and did nothing. Shimr finally shouted to his soldiers in frustration and they rushed Husayn. He was wounded on his hand and shoulder, fell face-down, and was stabbed and beheaded by a soldier named Sinan ibn Anas.

• 7. Aftermath and Identity

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  Seventy or seventy-two people died on Husayn's side. About twenty were descendants of Abu Talib ibn Abd al-Muttalib, the father of Ali. This group included two of Husayn's sons, six of his paternal brothers, three sons of Hasan ibn Ali, three sons of Jafar ibn Abi Talib and three sons and three grandsons of Aqil ibn Abi Talib. Reports describe more than sixty wounds on Husayn's body. The bodies of his companions were decapitated. His body was trampled with horses, per Ibn Ziyad's prior instructions.

  Husayn's surviving son Ali al-Sajjad had not fought because he was ill. Shimr wanted to kill him. Ibn Sa'd stopped it. The heads of the dead and the captive women were sent first to Ibn Ziyad, who poked Husayn's mouth with a stick and again threatened to kill Ali al-Sajjad. Zaynab pleaded for his life and he was spared. They were then sent to Yazid in Damascus. Yazid also poked the mouth with a stick. The historian Henri Lammens has suggested this detail was duplicated in the sources. Yazid wept over the women, cursed Ibn Ziyad for the killing and said that had he been present, he would have spared Husayn. The historian Wellhausen argues this display was purely for show, and that responsibility for the killing lay with Yazid, not Ibn Ziyad.

  The killing of Muhammad's grandson sent a shock through the Muslim community. The image of Yazid collapsed. Heinz Halm has written: "There was no religious aspect to Shi'ism prior to 680. The death of the third imam and his followers marked the 'big bang' that created the rapidly expanding cosmos of Shi'ism and brought it into motion."

  In Kufa, survivors felt crushing guilt for having invited Husayn and then failing to protect him. A movement arose called the Tawwabin, the Penitents, led by Sulayman ibn Surad, a companion of Muhammad. They fought the Umayyads at the Battle of Ayn al-Warda in January 685 and were mostly killed, including Ibn Surad himself. Leadership of the Kufan pro-Alid movement passed to Mukhtar al-Thaqafi. In October 685 Mukhtar seized Kufa. He executed those involved in Husayn's killing, including Umar ibn Sa'd and Shimr. Ibn Ziyad, leading an Umayyad army sent to reconquer the province, was killed at the Battle of Khazir in August 686. Mukhtar himself was killed in April 687.

• 8. Commemoration and Legacy

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  Husayn ibn Ali's tomb stands in the city of Karbala, roughly 90 km southwest of Baghdad. The site probably took formal shape two centuries after the battle, and was rebuilt and expanded through successive rulers including Abbasid caliphs, Dailami princes and Ottoman rulers. The city of Karbala grew around it.

  The first historically recorded pilgrimage to the tomb was made by Sulayman ibn Surad and the Penitents before their departure to fight the Umayyads. They lamented, beat their chests and spent a night beside the grave. For several decades the practice was limited to Shia imams; it gained broader momentum under the sixth Shia imam Jafar Sadiq.

  The earliest recorded public procession in commemoration of Karbala took place in Baghdad in 963, during the reign of the first Buyid ruler Mu'izz al-Dawla. These processions do not trace to the time of the battle itself; they arose in the tenth century. They begin at a husayniyya, a gathering hall built for this purpose, and participants walk barefoot through the streets wailing and beating their chests before returning for a majlis, a formal gathering at which the story is narrated and elegies are recited by professional reciters called rawda khwan. In South Asia, a riderless horse called Zuljenah, representing Husayn's battle horse, is led through the streets. In Iran, the battle is performed on stage in a ritual called ta'ziyeh.

  Ayatollah Ali Khamenei banned self-flagellation in Iran in 1994, reflecting a broader scholarly criticism of that practice as a later innovation without roots in the early tradition.

  Anthropologist Michael Fischer has described the commemoration not as simple retelling but as something that provides Shi'a Muslims with what he calls the Karbala Paradigm: life models and norms of behavior applicable to all aspects of life. The scholar Olmo Golz characterizes this paradigm as an embodiment of the battle between good and evil, justice and injustice, carrying heroic norms and a martyr ethos into the present.

  Husayn's daughter Sakinah, born of his first wife Rubab bint Imra al-Qais, survived the battle as a captive. After Husayn's death, Rubab spent a year in grief at his grave and refused to marry again. His surviving son Ali al-Sajjad became the fourth Shia Imam and is reported to have spent the rest of his life weeping for his father. Through Ali al-Sajjad and through Hasan's line, every person who traces descent back to Muhammad does so through Husayn or his brother; they are the only male descendants through whom the line continued. One of the prayers attributed to Husayn, the Du'a Arafah, is described by William C. Chittick as the most famous Shia prayer in terms of beauty and spiritual structure, recited each year on the Day of Arafah by Shia pilgrims during the Hajj season, the very occasion on which Husayn first recited it.