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Imam Husayn عليه السلام, the Prophet’s younger grandson, refused to give allegiance to Yazid ibn Mu‘awiya and was martyred with his family and companions at Karbala on 10 Muharram 61 AH. His stand for justice and for the reform of his grandfather’s community is commemorated every year by millions at Ashura and Arba‘in.
Early life
Husayn’s zahoor was in Medina in Sha‘ban 4 AH, in the house of Ali and Fatima. The Prophet’s love for him is recorded in many reports, among them the saying that Husayn is from him and he is from Husayn. He was present at the Mubahala and under the cloak at the revelation of the Verse of Purification.
With his father and brother
He fought beside his father at the Camel and Siffin. After his brother’s treaty with Mu‘awiya, he honoured its terms throughout Mu‘awiya’s lifetime, while protesting the injustices of Umayyad rule.
Refusal of allegiance
When Mu‘awiya died in Rajab 60 AH and Yazid demanded allegiance, Husayn refused and left Medina for Mecca. Letters arrived from Kufa inviting him to lead them; he sent his cousin Muslim ibn Aqil ahead. Muslim was betrayed and killed in Kufa by its new governor, Ubayd Allah ibn Ziyad.
Husayn left Mecca for Iraq on 8 Dhu al-Hijja 60 AH. On the way his party was intercepted by a cavalry force under al-Hurr ibn Yazid al-Riyahi and diverted to the plain of Karbala, where they arrived on 2 Muharram 61 AH. The full account is given on the Karbala and Ashura page.
Ashura
On 10 Muharram 61 AH, after three days without access to the Euphrates, Husayn and his small band — family members and companions, commonly numbered at seventy-two — faced the army of Umar ibn Sa‘d. They were killed one by one; al-Hurr crossed to Husayn’s side that morning and was among the martyrs. Husayn was killed in the afternoon. The women and children, with his ill son Ali ibn al-Husayn, were taken captive to Kufa and Damascus.
Legacy
Karbala transformed the conscience of the Muslim community. Within a few years came the movement of the Penitents (al-Tawwabun) and the uprising of al-Mukhtar. The mourning gatherings (majalis), elegies, processions and pilgrimages to his shrine have kept the memory alive for fourteen centuries, and the annual Arba‘in walk to Karbala is among the largest regular gatherings of people in the world.
Significance in Twelver Shia belief and Fiqh-e-Jafariya
He is the third Imam. His uprising is understood as the fulfilment of the duty to enjoin good and forbid wrong (al-amr bi’l-ma‘ruf wa al-nahy ‘an al-munkar) when the faith itself was at stake. In Ja‘fari practice, prostration must be made on earth or what grows from it and is not eaten or worn; using a tablet of earth from Karbala (turba) is recommended, and the visitation (ziyara) of his shrine is among the most strongly emphasised recommended acts.
Significant dates
- 3 Sha‘ban 4 AH (626 CE)Zahoor in Medina
- 50 AH (670 CE)Beginning of his Imamate
- 15 Rajab 60 AHDeath of Mu‘awiya; Yazid demands allegiance
- 28 Rajab 60 AHDeparture from Medina
- 3 Sha‘ban 60 AHArrival in Mecca
- 8 Dhu al-Hijja 60 AHDeparture from Mecca for Iraq
- 9 Dhu al-Hijja 60 AHMartyrdom of Muslim ibn Aqil in Kufa
- 2 Muharram 61 AHArrival at Karbala
- 10 Muharram 61 AH (680 CE)Martyrdom at Karbala (Ashura)
- 20 Safar 61 AHArba‘in, the fortieth day
Narrations and texts
The Prophet said that Husayn is from him and he is from Husayn, and that God loves whoever loves Husayn.
Sources: al-Jami‘ (Sunan al-Tirmidhi) (Abwab al-Manaqib); al-Sunan (al-Muqaddima, virtues of al-Hasan and al-Husayn); al-Musnad
Before leaving Medina he wrote that he was not setting out out of arrogance, mischief or oppression, but to seek reform in the community of his grandfather, to enjoin good and forbid wrong, and to follow the way of his grandfather and his father.
Sources: Kitab al-Futuh; Maqtal al-Husayn; Bihar al-Anwar (section on Imam al-Husayn)
Paraphrase; the testament is transmitted in later sources and its wording varies.
Narrations are given as careful paraphrases, not verbatim translations. See the Editorial Methodology
Differing reports
- Date of zahoor: 3 Sha‘ban is most widely commemorated (based on a supplication recorded by al-Tusi); al-Mufid gives 5 Sha‘ban.
- The number of those martyred with him is commonly given as seventy-two; other early estimates differ.
- Detailed accounts of Ashura vary across maqtal works; this site relies primarily on the early reports of Abu Mikhnaf preserved by al-Tabari and on al-Mufid.
- Naming: al-Mufid calls Imam Zayn al-Abidin عليه السلام Ali al-Akbar and the martyr Ali al-Asghar; most genealogists, and common usage, call the martyr Ali al-Akbar. The infant is Abd Allah in the early sources and Ali al-Asghar in later ones.
- Later works name further children, among them Muhammad, Zaynab and Ruqayya; the account of Ruqayya, a young daughter who died in captivity in Damascus, where a shrine bears her name, first appears in works of the seventh century AH.
Sources
- Kitab al-Irshad fi Ma‘rifat Hujaj Allah ‘ala al-‘Ibad — al-Mufid, Muhammad ibn Muhammad ibn al-Nu‘man (d. 413 AH / 1022 CE). chapter on Imam al-Husayn
- Tarikh al-Rusul wa al-Muluk — al-Tabari, Muhammad ibn Jarir (d. 310 AH / 923 CE). year 61 AH
- al-Kafi — al-Kulayni, Muhammad ibn Ya‘qub (d. 329 AH / 941 CE). Kitab al-Hujja, Bab mawlid al-Husayn ibn Ali
- al-Luhuf ‘ala Qatla al-Tufuf — Ibn Tawus (d. 664 AH / 1266 CE)
- Kamil al-Ziyarat — Ibn Qulawayh, Ja‘far ibn Muhammad (d. 368 AH / 978–9 CE)
- al-Jami‘ (Sunan al-Tirmidhi) — al-Tirmidhi, Muhammad ibn ‘Isa (d. 279 AH / 892 CE)
- Redemptive Suffering in Islam: A Study of the Devotional Aspects of ‘Ashura’ in Twelver Shi‘ism — Ayoub, Mahmoud
- The Origins and Early Development of Shi‘a Islam — Jafri, S. H. M.
- Maqatil al-Talibiyyin — Abu al-Faraj al-Isfahani, Ali ibn al-Husayn (d. 356 AH / 967 CE)