After Hasan, his younger brother Husayn became the head ofthe house of ‘Ali and, according to the Shi’is, is the Third Imam. Abu ‘Abdullah Husayn ibn ‘Ali, whi is given by Shi’is the title Sayyid ash-Shuhada (Prince of Martyrs), was born in Medina in 4/626. The great love of the Prophet for his two grandsons has been reffered to in the previous section and, according to some reports, ‘Ali preffered Husayn to Hasan.
While his brother Hasan was alive Husayn played a secondry role, but after the death of his brother he became the head of the family and the focus of the aspirations of the Kufans, who were growing increasingly restive under the stern Syrian rule. While Mu’awiya ruled, however, Husayn made no move, considering himself bound, it is said, by the terms of Hasan’s treaty with Mu’awiya.
The Umayyads had instituted the public cursing of ‘Ali from the pulpit, motivated, it is said, by a desire to provoke staunch Sh’i elements into open revolt. The first to fall foul of this policy was Hujr ibn ‘Adi al-Kindi. He raised a revolt in Kufa in 51/671. The revolt was easily overcome and Hujr with six of his campanions were executed in Damascus by Mu’awiya. These seven are regarded by Shi’is as the first of their martyrs.
Mu’awiya died in 60/680, but prior to his death he had arranged for his son, Yazid, to succeed him. If the rule of Mu’awiya, the son of the Prophet Muhammad’s most powerful enemy in Mecca, had been offensive to some pious Muslims, the accession of Yazid, a drunkard who openly ridiculed and flouted yhe laws of Islam, was an outrage. In Kufa the people began to stit once more and soon letters and messengers were arriving in Medina urging Husayn to come to Kufa and assume leadership there.
Because of pressure from the Governer of Medina to declare allegiance to Yazid, Husayn had moved from Medina to Mecca and it was from there that he sent an amissary, his cousin Muslim ibn ‘Aqil, to Kufa to assess the situation. On Muslims’s arrival in Kufa, large meetings were held at which thousands pledged their support for Husayn.
Despite the enthusiastic reports sent by Muslim, Husayn was warned by several persons against going to Kufa whose inhabitants had proved so fickle in their support of his father and brother, but Husayn decided to press on and left Mecca in the company of some fifty armed men and a number of women and children.
But the situation was changing rapidly in Kufa. Yazid, fully aware of the situation, had instructed the energetic ‘Ubaydu’llah had instigated a reign of terror, dealing harshly with any manifestations of revolt. He had reinforced these measures by threatening the tribal leaders with death in their tribes were found to be formenting rebellion. These measures had already resulted in Muslim being captured and executed and now ‘Ubaydu’llah assigned military units to all the routes to Kufa from the south in order to intercept Husayn.
Although Husayn received warnings of the state of affairs in Kufa, he pressed ahead, declining alternative proposals that would have ensured his safety. A few of his supporters succeeded in slipping out of Kufa and joining up with his forces but others were arrested and the vast majority of Kufans were overtaken with either terror of ‘Ubaydu’llah’s sword or greed for ‘Ubaydu’llah’s money amd forgot their pledges of support for Husayn.
It fell to al-Hurr at at-Tamimi, the young commander of a military detachment numbering one thousand, to intercept Husayn’s party as it approached Kufa. Al-Hurr’s instructions were to prevent Husayn approaching any town or village in Iraq and he explained this to Husayn. The latter replied by showing him the sackful of letters from the people of Kufa that he had received. Seeing that al-Hurr’s men were overcome with thirst, Husayn magnanimously offered them water from his party’s supplies and later al-Hurr and his men lined up behind Husayn as he led them in prayer.
Eventually after negotiations Husayn agreed to proceed in a direction away from Kufa while al-Hurr sent for futher instructions. Husayn’s party travelled on, shadowed by al-Hurr’s detachment until they reached the plain of Karbala. It was second day of Muharram in the year AH 61 (2 October 680). On the following day some four thousand men under ‘Umar ibn Sa’d arrived with instructions from ‘Ubaydu’llah that they should not allow Husayn to leave until ha had signed a pledge of allegiance to Yazid. Ibn Sa’d’s men surrounded Husayn’s party and even cut them off from the river which was their only source of water.Husayn began negotiations with Ibn Sa’d pointing out that he had no desire to initiate bloodshed and asking to be allowed to withdraw to Arabia. But Ibn Sa’d refused to relent, having been promised by ‘Ubaydu’llah the governorship of Rayy if he accomplished the mission. Meanwhile the situation in Husayn’s camp was becoming desperate due to shortage of water.
Then ‘Ubaydu’llah sent his final orders through Shimr (or Shamir). Ibn Sa’d was either to attack Husayn immediately or hand over command to Shimr. On the evening of 9 Muharram, Ibn Sa’d drew up his forces and advanced them towards Husayn’s camp, ready for battle the next day. That night, Husayn addressed his companions, asking them to withdraw and leave him to face the enemy. They refused to desert him.
And so there dawned the fateful day of 10 Muharram AH 61 (10 October 680), which is known as ‘Ashura. At dawn Husayn once more approached the camp of the Umayyads and addressed them with such emotive words that several were visibly moved and al-Hurr at-Tamimi, who had first intercepted Husayn, threw in his lot with Husayn’s tiny band and was one of the first to fall when the fighting began.
Husayn’s companions on that are traditionally said to have numbered 72 unarmed men(18 of the family of Ali and 54 other supporters) and the women and children. The fighting appears to have been of sporadicnature consisting of single combat and brief forays. The steady fire maintained by the Umayyad archers on Husayn’s camp took its own toll. One by one Husayn’s supporters fell and then the members of his family until only he and his half brother Abbas, the standard-bearer on that day, were left of the fighting men. Abbas was killed trying to obtain water for the thirsty women and children and the army converged on the lone figure of Husayn.
Carrying the infant son in his arms, Husayn pleaded for water for the babe but an arrow lodged in the baby’s throat killing him. As the troops closed around him, Husayn fought valiantly until at last he was struck a severe blow that caused him to fall face down on the ground. Even then the soldiers hesistated to deal the final blow to the grandson of the Prophet until Shimr ordered them on, and, according to some accounts himself came foward and struck the blow that ended Husayn’s life.
The Umayyad army looted the tents, decapitated the bodies of all Husayn’s companions and raised these on spears to lead their procession back to Kufa. The women and children who had been taken prisoner included Ali, the only surviving son of Husayn, who had been too ill to participate in the fighting.
At Kufa ‘Ubaydu’llah convened a great assembly and ordered the head of Husayn to be brought to him on a tray and also the captives. When the head was placed before him, ‘Ubaydu’llah struck the lips with his cane and taunted the captives. Some of those witnessing this scene were intensely moved and one of them spoke up saying: ‘Remove your cane from those lips, for, by God, many a time have I seen the lips of the Prophet of God on those lips.
Zaynab, the sister of Husayn, bore herself with dignity and answerew ‘Ubadu’llah firmly and fearlessly. At first, Ubaydu’llah wanted to put ‘Ali to death also, but Zaynab protested, saying: ‘O Ibn Ziyad! You split enough of our blood’, and then she put her arms around ‘Ali’s neck and said :’By God! I will not be parted from him, and so if you are going to kill him, then kill him with me. And so ‘Ubaydu’llah imprisoned the captives and after a while sent them on Damascus with the head of Husayn.
At Damascus Yazid gloated over the head of Husayn and insulted ‘Ali and Zaynab. Later, however, no doubt fearing that a popular outcry might threaten his throne, Yazid sought to appease the captives and released them, allowing them to return to Medina.
Thus ended the tragedy of Karbala. It has been given here in detail, because, of all the episodes of Islamic history, it has had a greater impact than any of the Shi’a down the ages. A brief consideration must be given to the question of Husayn’s intentions and ambitions in setting out for Kufa. Some historians have dismissed it as mere political adventuring that went wrong, but, of course, Shi’i historians disagree.
Husayn had received plenty of warning of the collaspe of the Shi’i revolt in Kufa as he approached Iraq. Indeed, the Shi’i histories record that at one of the staging-posts on the journey, after receivng grim news from Kufa, Husayn addressed his companions and told them of the death and destruction that awaited them ahead. Husayn could, at this point, have retired to Medina or even have accepted the offer which was made to him of refuge in the mountain strongholds of the Tayy tribe. However, he refused these courses of action and even addresed his companions urging them to leave him asa he pressed on towards Kufa and certain destruction.
S.H.M.Jafri, a modern Shi’i historians, has written:
............it is clear that Husayn, was fully aware of the dangers he would encounter and that he had a certain strategy and plan in mind to brng about a revolution in the consciousness of the Muslim community. Futhermore, it is also very clear from the sources, as has been started before, that Husayn did not try to organise or mobilise military support, which he easily could have done in the Hijaz, nor did he even try to exploit whatever physical strength was available to him............
Is it conceivable that anyone striving for power would ask his supporters to abandon him?........... What then did Husayn have in mind? Why was he still heading for Kufa?
It is rather disappointing to note that Western scholarship on Islam, given too much to historicism, has placed all its attention on the discrete external aspects of the event of Karbala and has never tried to analyse the inner history and agonising conflict in Husayn’s mind............ A careful study and analysis of the events of the Karbala as a whole reveals the fact that from the very beginning Husayn was planning for a complete revolution in the religious consciousness of the Muslim. All of his actions ahow that he was aware of the fact that a victory archieved through military strength and might is always temporal [sic], because another stronger power can in course of time bring it down in ruins. But victory archieved through suffering and sacrifice in everlasting and leaves permanent imprints on man’s consciousness............The natural process of conflict and struggle between action and reaction was now at work. That is, Muhammad’s progressive Islamic action had succeeded in suppresing Arab conservatism, embodied in heathen pre-Islamic practices and ways of thinking . But in less than thirty year’s time this Arab conservatism revitalised itself as a forceful reaction to challenge Muhammad’s action once again............The strength of this reaction, embodied in Yazid’s character, was powerful enough to suppress or at least deface Muhammad’s action. Islam as now, in the thinking Husayn, in dire need of reactivation of Muhammad’s action against the old Arabian reactions and thus required a complete shake-up............
...........Husayn’s acceptance of Yazid, with the latter’s openly reactionary attitude against Islamic norms, would not have meant merely a political arrangement, as had been the case with Hasan and Mu’awiya, but an endorsement of Yazid’s character and way of life as well...........
...........Husayn prepared his strategy............He realised that more force of arms would not have saved Islamic action and consciosness. To him it needed a shaking and jolting of hearts and feelings. This, he decided, could only be achieved through sacrifice and sufferings. This should not be difficult to understand, especially for those who fully appreciate the heroic deeds and sacrifices of, for example, Socrates and Joan of Arc, both of whom embraced death for their ideals, and above all of the great sacrifice of Jesus Christ for the redemption of mankind.
It is in this light that we should read Husayn’s replies to those well-wishers who advised him not to go to Iraq. It also explains why Husayn took with him his women and children, though advised by Ibn’Abbas [his father’s cousin] that should he insist on his project, at least he should not take his family with him. Aware to the extent of the brutal nature of the reactionary forces, Husayn knew that after killing him, the Umayyads would make his women and children captives and take them all the way from Kufa to Damascus. This caravan of captives of Muhammad’s immediate family would publicise Husayn’s message and would force the Muslim’s heart to ponder on the tragedy. It would make the Muslims think of the whole affair and would awaken their consciousness. This is exactly what happened. Husayn succeeded in his purposes. It is difficult today to evaluate exactly the impact of Husayn’s action on Islamic morality and way of thinking, because it prevailed. Had Husayn not shaken and awakened Muslim consciousness by this method, who knows whether Yazid’s way of life would have become standard behaviour in the Muslim community, endorsed and accepted by the grandson of the Prophet. No doubt, even after Yazid kingship did prevail in Islam, and the character and behaviour in the personal lives of these kings was not very different from that Yazid, but the change of thinking which prevailed after the sacrifice of Husayn always served as a line of distinction between Islamic norms and the personal character of the rulers.
It would be difficult to exaggerate the impact and importance of the martyrdom of Husayn for Shi’is. Although it was the usurpation of ‘Ali’s right that is looked upon by Shi’is as the event initiating their movement and giving it intellectual justification, it was Husayn’s martyrdom that gave it its impetus and implanted its ideas deep in the heart of the people. To this day it is the martydom of Husayn that is the most fervently celebrated event in the Shi’i calendar. During the first ten days of Muharram, the whole Shi’i world is plunged into mourning.
Above all, the martydom of Husayn has given Shi’i Islam a whole ethos of sanctification through martyrdom. Although the Shi’is were persecuted all through their early history and, according to their traditions, every single one of the Imams suffered martyrdom, it is above all the martyrdom of Husayn that has given this characteristic to Shi’i Islam; a characteristic that recent events in Iran have demonstrated to be as strong as ever.
In his physical appearance, Husayn is said to have been very handsome and strikingly like the Prophet himself. He was of medium height with olive-brown skin and is said to have possessed great serenity and charm.
His body had more than thirty wounds from swords, lances and arrows upon it and was then trampled under the hooves of the horses of Ibn Sa’d’s troops. After the troops had left, some of the tribesman from a nearby village came and buried the bodies.
In later years a shrine was built over this spot. The first shrine was destroyed by the ‘Abbasid Caliph Mutawakkil in 235/850 and the site ploughed over. After the death of this Caliph, a shrine of some sortwas again erected but the bulk of the present shrine probably dates from the time of ‘Adudu’d-Dawla, the Buyid prince, 369/979. The building was subjected to several further depredations including having the dome burnt down in the 11th century and the whole town of Karbala was sacked by the Wahhabis in 1801 and by the Ottoman army under Najib Pasha in 1849. The last importance restoration of the shrine was carried out at the behest of Nasiru’d-Din Shah in the 185 when the dome was glided and other important structural work carried out. The enclosed area round the shrine of 1850s when the dome was gilded and other important structural work carried out. The enclosed area round the shrine is called the Ha’ir and is forbidden to non-believers.
Apart from the Shrine of Husayn, Karbala contains the equally-imposing Shrine of ‘Abbas, the half-brother of Husayn, where ‘Abbas and the other members of the family of ‘Ali are said to be buried. The town of Karbala has, of course, become an important religious centre, being both a point of pilgrimage and also a seat of learning with numerous theological colleges.
Until recent political changes made this impossible, it was customary for the important men in Iran to have their bodies brought to Karbala to be buried there and enormous graveyards around the town attest to this custom.
Bibliography:
See M. Momen, An Introduction to Shii Islam (1985).