Battle of Karbala

Battle of Karbala
Date	October 10, 680
Location	Karbala
Result	Umayyad victory
Belligerents
Umayyads	Banu Hashim
Commanders and leaders
Umar ibn Sa'ad	Husayn ibn Ali†
Strength
4,000 - 4,500	72
Casualties and losses
unknown	72

The Battle of Karbala was a military engagement that took place on 10 Muharram, 61 AH (October 10, 680) in Karbala, in present day Iraq, between the prophet Muhammad's grandson Husayn ibn Ali and a military detachment from the forces of Yazid I, the Umayyad caliph.

This battle is central to Shi'a Muslim belief. The death of Husayn is mourned by an annual commemoration, Ashurah.

Background

After the passing on of Muhammad, there was some dissension in the Muslim community as to who should succeed him. This is described in detail in the article on the Succession to Muhammad. Some Muslims, eventually accepted the rule of the caliph Abu Bakr and then of the caliphs Umar ibn al-Khatthab, Uthman ibn Affan, and Ali bin Abi Talib. However, there were always those who felt that Ali ibn Abi Talib, Muhammad's cousin and son-in-law, who had lived with Muhammad since he was a child, was the better choice. When Uthman was killed by rebels, Ummah(Muslim nation) chose Ali as caliphate.[1] He was opposed by Muawiya I and the Muslim community fell into the First Islamic civil war. Ali was assassinated and power was eventually grasped by his opponent Muawiya I after peace with Ali's Son Hassan. Shi'a says there was written in the peace contract that caliphate would receive to Hassan and if he would die to Huusain.Sulh al-Hasan But Muawiyya tried to ensure that his son, Yazid, would be accepted as the next caliph. He required all his supporters to swear allegiance to Yazid before his death.

Force of allegiance

Upon ascension to the throne, Yazid wrote a letter to the governor of Medina, asking him to demand allegiance from Husayn or threaten him with death. Husayn is said to have received letters from the Muslims of the garrison town of Kufa saying that they would support him if he claimed the caliphate. Accordingly, he left Medina for Kufa with about 100 supporters and family members.

However, Husayn's supporters at Kufa, whose numbers may have been seriously overestimated by Husayn, were suppressed before he could reach them, and he was intercepted by a force from Yazid's army. The Battle of Karbala ensued, in which Husayn and all his men were killed, and his remaining family taken prisoners.

Account of the battle accepted by non-Muslim academics

A police force, consisting of a several thousand men, plus 500 archers, surrounded the family and supporters of Husayn ibn Ali. The battle ended with the deaths of Husayn and his entire military force. Many of the details attributed to the event are disputed. For example, the Encyclopædia Britannica states that "the facts gradually acquired a romantic and spiritual colouring."

Shi'a version

According to Shi'a historians, Muhammad had charged Ali ibn Abi Talib, and after him Ali's sons Hasan and Husayn, with the duty to lead the Muslim community in the Caliphate. However, power was usurped by others. Muawiya I's death was seen by Ali's descendants and their supporters as an opportunity to re-establish the proper authority.

Yazid I, the new ruler, feared that Husayn would assert his claims. Therefore he sent an emissary to Husayn demanding his submission, his bay'ah. Husayn believed that he had a duty to refuse submission, and left from Medina to Mecca to perform the Hajj ritual.

When letters came from Kufa assuring him of Kufan support, Husayn set out to raise his banner and stake his claim. Part of the way towards Kufa, word came that Yazid had sent a new governor, Ubayd-Allah ibn Ziyad, with an army, and that the Kufans had submitted rather than fight.

Husayn continued to advance toward Kufa after receiving news of the loss of Kufan support. The Shi'a belief is that he did so in the spirit of self-sacrifice, knowing that he would die and that his death would demonstrate the evil of Yazid's worldly rule.

He and his family and his supporters -- a mere seventy two men -- finally pitched camp at Karbala, close to the city of Kufa in what is now Iraq.

Husayn is surrounded

Yazid's governor, ibn Ziyad, is said by the Shi'a to have sent an army of 30,000 men against Husayn. They surrounded his camp and then opened negotiations with Husayn.

The leader of the force, Umar ibn Sa'ad, finally agreed to Husayn's proposal that the siege be lifted so that Husayn, his family, and his companions could leave Iraq. He sent word to his superiors, asking them to ratify the offer. The governor, ibn Ziyad, liked the proposal, but another Umayyad grandee, Shimr ibn Dhil-Jawshan, vetoed it. Umar ibn Sa'ad was commanded to destroy Husayn or be killed himself.

On the 7th of the month of Muharram, ibn Sa'ad moved his troops closer to Husayn's camp, cutting the camp off from the Euphrates River. The camp now had no supply of water and might be forced to surrender from thirst.

Choice between life and death

On the 9th of Muharram, the camp had exhausted its water and could choose only between surrender and death. Husayn asked ibn Sa'ad for yet more delay, until the next morning, so that he and his men could spend the night praying. Again, ibn Sa'ad granted this request.

Husayn then told his men that he did not intend to surrender, but to fight. Since they were so heavily outnumbered, all of them were sure to die. He told them that if they wished to flee the camp in the middle of the night, rather than face certain death, they were free to do so. None of Husayn's men wished to defect.

Day of battle

The next day, Husayn's followers went to the front lines and one by one, addressed their relatives and friends in the enemy forces. They asked them to refuse to fight. Husayn himself addressed the enemy troops. The Shi'a say that his speech was so affecting that one of Yazid's generals, named Hurr, abandoned Yazid's army and joined Husayn's small force.

Ibn Sa'ad feared that this might be the first of many defections, therefore hurried to join battle. He shot an arrow towards Husayn and the unequal battle began.

First Husayn's friends and followers went out to battle. One by one, loyal men like Hurr, Habib ibn Mazahir, Muslim ibn Ausaja, and Zohair-e-Qain, many of whom were once close companions of Ali ibn Abu Talib, laid down their lives. Then came the relatives' turn. The men of Banu Hashim, the clan of Muhammed and Ali, went out one by one. Casualties included Abbas, the half-brother and flag-bearer of Husayn, Ali Akbar, son of Husayn, Qasim, son of Hasan ibn Ali and nephew of Husayn, and Aun and Muhammad, the sons of Zainab bint Ali.

The women and children were huddled in the tents, waiting for the battle to end. Husayn's son Imam Ali ibn Husayn was there among the women, because he was too ill to fight. Another son, Ali Asghar, was but six months old, and close to death from lack of water.

Husayn took the child in his arms and marched out to face Yazid's army. He asked for water for the child. But Hurmala ibn Kahil, on orders of Umar ibn Sa'ad, shot an arrow at the child. It pierced him in the neck and he died in the arms of his father.

Husayn buried his son and again went out to face the army. He is said to have demonstrated extreme courage and bravery, forcing the enemy into retreat. Eventually, however, as the time for the Asr prayer approached, Husayn desisted. As he dismounted from his steed to offer the prayer, he was attacked by arrows and spears, even though Yazid's army was still too shaken to approach him. However, he began his prayer. As he prostrated on the ground, Shimr ibn Dhil-Jawshan, one of Umar ibn Sa'ad's commanders, approached Husayn and cut off his head. Husayn's head was raised on a spear for all to see. The men took off all valuables from his person, leaving the corpse semi-naked.

Aftermath

Husayn's head was raised on a pike for all to see. His body was looted and then trampled by horsemen.

As night approached, Yazid's army advanced to Husayn's tents. They were looted and set on fire. Jewelry and veils (hijab) were taken from the women, and the children were beaten.

The next day, the women and children were loaded on camels and taken to Yazid's court in Damascus via Kufa. The Shi'a say that the captives were humiliated and harried, so that fatigue, hunger, and thirst were added to their grief at the death of Husayn and his men. Yazid believed that by doing so, he could humiliate and ridicule them to the point where Husayn's followers would lose all public support.

However, during the journey from Kerbala to Kufa, and from Kufa to Damascus, Husayn's sister Zaynab bint Ali and son Ali ibn Husayn gave various speeches that vilified Yazid and told the Muslim world of the various atrocities committed in Kerbala. After being brought to Yazid's court, Zaynab courageously gave a famous speech in which she denounced Yazid's claim to the caliphate and eulogized Husayn's uprising.

The prisoners were held in Damascus for a year, during which Husayn's 4 year old daughter, Sakina bint Husayn, is believed to have passed away due to grief and sorrow. The people of Damascus began to frequent the prison, and Zaynab and Ali ibn Husayn used that as an opportunity to further propagate the message of Husayn and explain to the people the reason for Husayn's uprising. As public opinion against Yazid began to foment in Syria and parts of Iraq, Yazid ordered their release and return to Medina, where they continued to tell the world of Husayn's cause and Yazid's atrocities. The Shiites' commemoration of Ashurah thus began and has persisted to this day.

Shi'a observances

The Battle is commemorated each year by Shia Muslims (and often Sunni Muslims also) in the Remembrance of Muharram. The mourning reaches its climax on the 10th of Muharram, the day of the battle, known as Ashurah. It is a day of speeches, public processions, and great grief. Men and women chant and weep, mourning Husayn, his family, and his followers. Speeches emphasize the importance of the values for which Husayn sacrificed himself, his family, and his followers. As a result, resisting oppression, siding with the oppressed, and speaking out against tyranny have become values that are deeply upheld by the Shia.

In South Asia, the Battle of Karbala has inspired a number of literary and musical genres, such as the marsiya, noha, and soaz.

List of casualties as accepted by the Shi'a

There were seventy-two dead in all (see [2], [3]).

Muslim traditions and texts re Karbala

Muslim traditions fall into three groups:

Collected traditions, or hadith, on the basis of Hussain's family especially Ali ibn Hussayn who was in Karbala and his sons. These traditions are not accepted by Sunni Muslims^{[citation needed]}, but are regarded as reliable and authoritative by Shi'a Muslims.

Histories based on Hussayn's family reports, Kufis reports, Umavid repots.

Plays, poems, and other narratives intended for popular consumption, which may contain material not strictly supported by the hadith or the histories.

Histories consulted include:

Kitab Maqtal al-Husayn by Abu Mikhnaf (died in 157 AH, 774 AD). He was the first historian to systematically collect the reports dealing with the events of the Karbala. His works was reliable among later historians -Shi'a and Sunni- like Tabari.^[1]He has based his work on the eyewitness testimony of Dolham, Oqbeh, and Homayd bin Muslim. ^{[citation needed]}

Tabari , a Sunni historian, discussed the Battle of Karbaal in "History of the Prophets and Kings".^[2]

Ibn S’ad (died 230 AH), a Sunni historian, discussed the Battle of Karbaal in Al-Tabaqat al-Kobrah. ^{[citation needed]}

Ibn A'tham (died 314 AH), a Shi'a historian, wrote about the battle in his Al-Fotouh. ^{[citation needed]}

Al-Mufid mentioned the battle in his Al-Irshad. ^{[citation needed]}

Sayed Ibn Tawoos (died 664 A.H.) wrote Al-luhuf fi qutla al-tufuf. ^{[citation needed]}

After the adoption of the Shi'a faith in Iran, many Iranian authors composed poems and plays commemorating the battle [4]. One famous composition is the Rozatul-Shohada of Hosayn Va'ez Kashefi. ^{[citation needed]}

Some 20th century Shi'a scholars have protested this conversion of history into mythology. Prominent critics include:

Mortaza Motahhari [5], [6], [*http://www.imamalinet.net/vigenam/moharam1422/en/e2.htm]
Abbas Qomi, author of Nafsul-Mahmoum ^{[citation needed]}
Seyyed Moqarram, author of Maqtalul-Husain ^{[citation needed]}
Murtaza Askari, author of Ma’alemul-Madrasatayn ^{[citation needed]}

An article, in Persian, discussing 60 books about this event with political aproach which has written in 20th century.[7].

References

Kennedy, Hugh -- The Armies of the Caliphs: Military and Society in the Early Islamic State, Routledge, 2001
Abi Mekhnaf -- Kitab Maqtal al-Husayn [8]

External links

Shi'a links

Islam and Karbala
Ashura.com
Who killed Imam Hussain
Articles from IslamfromInside: [9], [10], [11], [12]

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^ Kitab Maqtal al-Husayn, tranlators' forward
^ The History of al Tabari Volume XIX The Caliphate of Yazid b. Muawiyah Translated by I.K.A Howard Paper back - ISBN 0-7914-0041-7

[1] Kitab Maqtal al-Husayn, tranlators' forward

[2] The History of al Tabari Volume XIX The Caliphate of Yazid b. Muawiyah Translated by I.K.A Howard Paper back - ISBN 0-7914-0041-7

[1]

[2]