What happened at Karbala

The demand for allegiance

When Mu'awiya died in 60 AH, his son Yazid took power and ordered the governor of Madinah to take the pledge of allegiance from Imam Husayn (a). The Imam refused. Yazid openly broke the laws of Islam, and giving him allegiance would have meant approving his rule.

“Someone like me does not give allegiance to someone like him.” Imam Husayn (a)

The Imam left Madinah with his family and went to Makkah, where he stayed for several months.

The letters from Kufa

While he was in Makkah, many people of Kufa wrote to the Imam, inviting him to come and lead them. He sent his cousin, Muslim ibn Aqil, ahead to see whether their support was real.

At first, thousands pledged themselves to Muslim. But Yazid appointed Ubaydullah ibn Ziyad as governor of Kufa, and through threats and bribes he turned the city. Muslim ibn Aqil was left alone and was martyred, together with Hani ibn Urwa, who had sheltered him.

The journey towards Iraq

The Imam left Makkah on 8 Dhul Hijjah 60 AH, the day before Hajj, to avoid bloodshed in the sacred city. On the way he learned that Muslim had been killed. He told those travelling with him that whoever wished to leave could leave.

An army unit under Hurr ibn Yazid al-Riyahi stopped the Imam's caravan and forced it to change course. On 2 Muharram 61 AH, the caravan reached the land of Karbala, beside the Euphrates.

Surrounded

Over the following days, thousands of soldiers arrived under the command of Umar ibn Sa'd. From 7 Muharram the Imam's camp was cut off from the river, and the women and children suffered terribly from thirst.

On the night before Ashura, the Imam asked for a night's delay to pray and recite the Qur'an. He gave his companions permission to leave under cover of darkness. They refused, one after another, saying they would rather die with him.

The day of Ashura

On 10 Muharram, the Imam's small group, around seventy-two men, faced the army. Hurr, who had first blocked the Imam's path, changed sides that morning and was among the first to be martyred.

The companions fell one by one, among them the elderly Habib ibn Mazahir. Then the men of the Imam's own family went out: his son Ali al-Akbar, his nephew Qasim ibn Hasan, and many others. His brother Abbas, the standard-bearer, was martyred trying to bring water from the river. Even the Imam's six-month-old son, Ali al-Asghar, was killed by an arrow.

In the afternoon, Imam Husayn (a) was martyred. The tents were then burned and looted.

The captives and their message

The women and children, with the Imam's son Ali Zayn al-Abidin (a), who had been too ill to fight, were taken as captives to Kufa and then to Damascus.

In both cities, Sayyida Zaynab (a) and Imam al-Sajjad (a) gave sermons that exposed what had happened. Because of their words, Karbala could not be hidden or explained away as a minor rebellion.

Arbaeen and remembrance

The 40th day after Ashura, 20 Safar, is called Arbaeen. Today millions of people walk to Karbala for it, many of them on foot from Najaf and further away.

For Shia Muslims, and for many others, Karbala is a lesson that standing for truth and justice is worth any sacrifice. Its memory is kept alive each year through mourning gatherings, recitations and acts of charity.