Battle of Karbala

Shia Islam is the second-largest branch of Islam. It holds that Muhammad designated Ali ibn Abi Talib (r. 656–661) as both his political successor (caliph) and as the spiritual leader of the Muslim community (imam). However, his right is understood to have been usurped by a number of Muhammad's companions at the meeting of Saqifa, during which they appointed Abu Bakr (r. 632–634) as caliph instead. As such, Sunni Muslims believe Abu Bakr, Umar (r. 634–644), Uthman (r. 644–656) and Ali to be 'rightly-guided caliphs', whereas Shia Muslims regard only Ali as the legitimate successor.

Shia Muslims believe that the imamate continued through Ali's sons, Hasan and Husayn, after which various Shia branches developed and recognized different imams. They revere the ahl al-bayt, the family of Muhammad, maintaining that they possess divine knowledge. Shia holy sites include the shrine of Ali in Najaf, the shrine of Husayn in Karbala, and other mausoleums of the ahl al-bayt. Later events, such as Husayn's martyrdom in the Battle of Karbala (680 CE), further influenced the development of Shia Islam, contributing to the formation of a distinct religious sect with its own rituals and shared collective memory.

The Second Fitna was the second civil war in the Islamic community during the early Umayyad Caliphate. It followed the death of the first Umayyad caliph Mu'awiya I in 680, and lasted for about twelve years. The war involved the defeat of three main challenges to the authority of the Umayyad dynasty, the first by Husayn ibn Ali, as well as his supporters including Sulayman ibn Surad and Mukhtar al-Thaqafi who rallied to avenge his death in Iraq, the second by Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr who proclaimed himself caliph in Mecca and Medina and would be nominally recognized throughout most of the Caliphate, and the Kharijites who took over central Arabia and southern Iraq and Persia.

The roots of the civil war go back to the First Fitna. After the assassination of the third Rashidun caliph Uthman, the Islamic community experienced its first civil war over the immediate question of retribution for his murder. Following the assassination of the fourth Rashidun caliph Ali in 661 and the abdication of his successor Hasan the same year, Mu'awiya became the sole ruler of the caliphate. Mu'awiya's unprecedented decision to nominate his son Yazid as his heir sparked opposition, and tensions soared after Mu'awiya's death. Husayn ibn Ali was invited by the pro-Alids of Kufa to overthrow the Umayyads but was killed with his small company en route to Kufa at the Battle of Karbala in October 680. Yazid's army suppressed anti-government rebels in Medina in August 683 and subsequently besieged Mecca, where Ibn al-Zubayr had established himself in opposition to Yazid. After Yazid died in November the siege was abandoned, and Umayyad authority would soon collapse throughout the caliphate following the death of his son except in parts of Syria where Marwan I was proclaimed caliph; most provinces recognized Ibn al-Zubayr as caliph. A series of pro-Alid movements demanding to avenge Husayn's death emerged in Kufa, beginning with Ibn Surad's Penitents movement, which was crushed by the Umayyads at the Battle of Ayn al-Warda in January 685. Kufa was then taken over by Mukhtar, who rallied Husayn's supporters and the disenfranchised mawali to his cause. Though his forces routed a large Umayyad army at the Battle of Khazir in August 686, Mukhtar and his supporters were slain by the Zubayrids in April 687 following a series of battles. Under the leadership of Marwan, the Umayyads would consolidate their power over Syria and retake Egypt from the Zubayrids, and under his successor Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan, the Umayyads would reconquer Iraq after defeating the Zubayrids at the Battle of Maskin in 691 and would reassert their control over the Caliphate after killing Ibn al-Zubayr in the second siege of Mecca in 692, while their general Al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf would suppress the Kharijites in the years afterwards.

The Imam al Husayn Shrine (Arabic: مَقَام الإِمَامُ الْحُسَيْن اِبِنْ عَلي, romanized: Maqām al-ʾImām al-Ḥusayn ʾibn ʿAlī) is the mausoleum of Husayn ibn Ali and Shi'ite mosque, located in the holy city of Karbala, in the Karbala Governorate of Iraq. Husayn was a grandson of Muhammad, and the site is near the place where he embraced martyrdom during the Battle of Karbala in 680 CE. The tomb of Husayn is one of the holiest sites in Shia Islam, outside of Mecca and Medina, and many make pilgrimages to the site. Every year, millions of pilgrims visit the city to observe Ashura, which marks the commemoration of Husayn's death for all Muslims.

Karbala is a major city in central Iraq. It is the capital of Karbala Governorate. With an estimated population of 691,100 people in 2024, Karbala is the second largest city in central Iraq, after Baghdad. The city is located about 100 km (62 mi) southwest of Baghdad, and a few miles east of Lake Milh, also known as Razzaza Lake. Karbala is one of the main political, spiritual and cultural hubs of Shi'a Islam.

The city, best known as the location of the battle of Karbala in 680 AD between Husayn ibn Ali and his band of several dozen followers, including some armed women, and several thousand soldiers led by General Umar ibn Sa'd on behalf of Ubayd Allah ibn Ziyad, the local governor who was acting on the orders of Yazid ibn Mu'awiya With presence of the shrines of Hussain and Abbas, Karbala is considered a holy city for Muslims. Soon, Karbala emerged as an important center of pilgrimage for Shiite Muslims across the world. During the Abbasid era, the city witnessed many events. After the fall of Baghdad in 1258, Karbala came under the control of Mongolian Empire led by Hulegu Khan. The city continued to be under multiple successive empires.

The Umayyad Mosque (Arabic: ٱلْجَامِع ٱلْأُمَوِي‎, romanized: al-Jāmiʿ al-Umawī), also known as the Great Mosque of Damascus (Arabic: جَامِع بَنِي أُمَيَّة ٱلْكَبِيْر‎, romanized: Jāmiʿ Banī Umayyah al-Kabīr), located in the old city of Damascus, the capital of Syria, is one of the largest and oldest mosques in the world. Its religious importance stems from the eschatological reports concerning the mosque and historic events associated with it. Christian and Muslim tradition alike consider it the burial place of John the Baptist's head, a tradition originating in the 6th century. Two shrines inside the premises commemorate the Islamic prophet Muhammad's p.b.u.h grandson Husayn ibn Ali, whose martyrdom is frequently compared to that of John the Baptist. It is considered to be the oldest mosque still in use in its original form.

The site has been used as a house of worship since the Iron Age, when the Arameans built on it a temple dedicated to their god of rain, Hadad. It was later associated with the Greek god Zeus during the Hellenistic period. Under Roman rule after 64 CE, it was converted into the center of the imperial cult of Jupiter, the Roman god of rain, becoming one of the largest temples in Syria. The current walls of the mosque were the inner walls of the Temple of Jupiter (built in the 1st century BC to 4th century AD). When the empire in Syria transitioned to Christian Byzantine rule, Emperor Theodosius I (r. 379–395) transformed it into a cathedral and the seat of the second-highest-ranking bishop in the Patriarchate of Antioch.

Yazid ibn Mu'awiya ibn Abi Sufyan (c. 646 – 11 November 683), commonly known as Yazid I, was the second caliph of the Umayyad Caliphate, ruling from April 680 until his death in November 683. His appointment by his father Mu'awiya I (r. 661–680) was the first hereditary succession to the caliphate in Islamic history. His caliphate was marked by the death of Muhammad's grandson Husayn ibn Ali and the start of the crisis known as the Second Fitna.

During his father's caliphate, Yazid led several campaigns against the Byzantine Empire including an attack on the Byzantine capital, Constantinople. Yazid's nomination as heir apparent in 676 CE (56 AH) by Mu'awiya was opposed by several Muslim grandees from the Hejaz region, including Husayn and Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr. The two men refused to recognize Yazid following his accession and took sanctuary in Mecca. When Husayn left for Kufa in Iraq to lead a revolt against Yazid, he was killed with his small band of supporters by Yazid's forces in the Battle of Karbala. Husayn's death caused resentment in the Hejaz, where Ibn al-Zubayr called for a consultative assembly to elect a new caliph. The people of Medina, who supported Ibn al-Zubayr, held other grievances toward the Umayyads. After failing to gain the allegiance of Ibn al-Zubayr and the people of the Hejaz through diplomacy, Yazid sent an army to suppress their rebellion. The army defeated the Medinans in the Battle of al-Harra in August 683 and the city was plundered. Afterward, Mecca was besieged for several weeks until the army withdrew as a result of Yazid's death in November 683. The Caliphate fell into a nearly decade-long civil war, ending with the establishment of the Marwanid dynasty (the Umayyad caliph Marwan I and his descendants).

Sulayman ibn Surad al-Khuza'i (Arabic: سُلَيْمَان ٱبْن صُرَد ٱلْخُزَاعِيّ, romanized: Sulaymān ibn Ṣurad al-Khuzāʿī; died January 685) was a pro-Alid leader from Kufa, who led the Tawwabin movement during the Second Fitna to avenge the death of Husayn ibn Ali, a grandson of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. He had participated in battles during the First Fitna on the side of the fourth caliph Ali, although at occasions was disapproving of his decisions. After the death of Mu'awiya I, he was the most prominent of the Kufans who urged Ali's son Husayn to revolt. After the death of Husayn at the Battle of Karbala in 680, in which he failed to support Husayn, Ibn Surad and some other Alid partisans of Kufa sacrificed themselves in an attempt to avenge his death.

Al-Mukhtar ibn Abi Ubayd al-Thaqafi (Arabic: الْمُخْتَار ٱبْن أَبِي عُبَيْد الثَّقَفِيّ, romanized: al-Mukhtār ibn Abī ʿUbayd al-Thaqafī; c. 622 – 3 April 687) was an Arab pro-Alid revolutionary based in Kufa, who led a rebellion against the Umayyad Caliphate in 685 and ruled over most of Iraq for eighteen months during the Second Fitna.

Born in Ta'if, Mukhtar moved to Iraq at a young age and grew up in Kufa. Following the death of Husayn ibn Ali, a grandson of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, at the hands of the Umayyad army in the Battle of Karbala in 680, he allied with the rival caliph Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr in Mecca, but the alliance was short-lived. Mukhtar returned to Kufa where he declared Muhammad ibn al-Hanafiyya, a son of caliph Ali (r. 656–661) and brother of Husayn, the mahdi and the imam, and called for the establishment of an Alid caliphate and retaliation for Husayn's killing. He took over Kufa in October 685, after expelling its Zubayrid governor, and later ordered the execution of those involved in the killing of Husayn. Hostile relations with Ibn al-Zubayr ultimately led to Mukhtar's death by the forces of the Zubayrid governor of Basra, Mus'ab ibn al-Zubayr, following a four-month siege.

The Tawwabin uprising (Arabic: ثَوْرَة ٱلتَّوَّابِين, Thawrah at-Tawwābīn) or the Penitent's uprising refers to the uprising of a group of Kufan pro-Alids after the Battle of Karbala to take revenge for the murder of Husayn ibn Ali, whom they had invited to Kufa in 680 CE (60 AH). The group was led by Sulayman ibn Surad Khuzai, a companion of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. The army of Tawwabin fought against the Umayyad army in the Battle of 'Ayn al-Warda in January 685, there the Tawwabin were defeated and their leaders were killed.

The Battle of Ayn al-Warda (Arabic: مَعْرَكَة‌ عَيْن ٱلْوَرْدَة) was fought in early January 685 between the Umayyad army and the Penitents (Tawwabin). The Penitents were a group of pro-Alid Kufans led by Sulayman ibn Surad, a companion of Muhammad, who wished to atone for their failure to assist Husayn ibn Ali in his abortive uprising against the Umayyads in 680. Pro-Alid Kufans had urged Husayn to revolt against the Umayyad caliph Yazid but then failed to assist him when he was killed in the Battle of Karbala in 680. Initially a small underground movement, the Penitents received widespread support in Iraq after the death of Yazid in 683. They were deserted by most of their supporters shortly before the departure to northern Syria where a large Umayyad army under the command of Ubayd Allah ibn Ziyad was preparing to launch an assault on Iraq. In the three-day long battle that ensued at Ras al-Ayn, the small Penitent army was annihilated and its senior leaders, including Ibn Surad, were killed. Nevertheless, this battle proved to be a forerunner and source of motivation for the later more successful movement of Mukhtar al-Thaqafi.

Ubayd Allah ibn Ziyad (Arabic: عُبَيْدِ اللَّهِ بْنِ زِيَادٍ, romanized: ʿUbayd Allāh ibn Ziyād) was the Umayyad governor of Basra, Kufa and Khurasan during the reigns of caliphs Mu'awiya I (r. 661–680) and Yazid I (r. 680–683), and the leading general of the Umayyad army under caliphs Marwan I (r. 684–685) and Abd al-Malik (r. 685–705).

He virtually inherited the governorships from his father Ziyad ibn Abihi after the latter's death in 673. During Ubayd Allah's governorship, he suppressed Kharijite and Alid revolts. In the ensuing Battle of Karbala in 680, Husayn ibn Ali and his small retinue were slain by Ubayd Allah's troops, shocking many in the Muslim community. Ubayd Allah is primarily remembered for his role in the killings of members of Ali ibn Abi Talib's family and he has become infamous in Muslim tradition. Ubayd Allah was ultimately evicted from Iraq by the Arab tribal nobility amid the revolt of Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr.

Self-flagellation is the disciplinary and devotional practice of flogging oneself with whips or other instruments that inflict pain. In Christianity, self-flagellation is practiced in the context of the doctrine of the mortification of the flesh and is seen as a spiritual discipline. It is often used as a form of penance and is intended to allow the flagellant to share in the sufferings of Jesus, bringing their focus to God.

The main religions that practice self-flagellation include some branches of Christianity and Islam. The ritual has also been practiced among members of several Egyptian and Greco-Roman cults.