Encyclopedia of Islam

Further reading: Peter Antes, “Relations with Unbe-

lievers in Islamic Theology.” In We Believe in One God: 

The Experience of God in Christianity and Islam, edited 

by Annemarie Schimmel and Abdoldjavad Falaturi, 

101–111 (New York: Seabury Press, 1979); Toshihiko 

Izutsu,  Ethico-Religious Concepts in the Quran (Mon-

treal: McGill University Press, 1966); Marilyn Wald-

man, “The Development of the Concept of kufr,” Journal 

of the American Oriental Society 88 (1968): 442–455.

kalam

  See 

theology

.

Karbala

A shrine city in i

raq

, about 62 miles southwest 

of b

aghdad

, Karbala has an approximate popula-

tion of 575,000. It is considered the holiest city 

to Shiis, after m

ecca

,  m

edina

, J

erUsalem

, and 

Najaf (site of the Imam Ali ibn Abi Talib’s tomb). 

Karbala is a sacred space to the Shia because it 

K  422  

kalam

---

is the 

death

 and burial site of the third Imam, 

h

Usayn

 

ibn

 a

li

, grandson of the prophet Muham-

mad by his daughter, F

atima

 (known by the Shia 

as al-Zahra, “the radiant one”), and cousin Ali ibn 

Abi Talib. On the 10th day (a

shUra

) of the Islamic 

lunar month Muharram 61 

a

.

h

. (October 9–10, 

680 

c

.

e

.) Husayn was killed along with most of 

the men of his household by the forces of Yazid, 

the son of Muawiya, founder of the Umayyad 

Caliphate (661–750). The 

Women

 and 

children

 in 

Husayn’s company were taken into captivity. The 

Shia understand this event as 

martyrdom

 (sha-

hada), which is both the spiritual and moral cen-

ter of their 

theology

 and ritual life, giving force to 

doctrines of sanctification by martyrdom and the 

redemptive quality of suffering. The city grew up 

around the tombs of Husayn and his half-brother 

Abbas ibn Ali, who was also killed and buried 

at Karbala. It came to be known as Mashhad al-

Husayn (the place of Husayn’s martyrdom).

Husayn’s shrine is a focus of Shii pilgrimage 

(

ziyara

) from all over the Muslim world, where 

pilgrims seek to obtain divine blessings (

baraka

) 

and saintly 

intercession

 (wasila, shafaa) by touch-

ing the sarcophagus (which now stands sur-

rounded by an elaborate brass grill). Elderly Shiis 

often travel there waiting to die, as many Jews and 

Christians want to die and be buried in Jerusalem, 

or Hindus to be cremated in the Indian holy city 

of Varanasi (Banaras). The actual soil of Karbala 

is considered blessed, and Shiis carry a piece of 

Karbala with them, literally turba Husayniyya (or 

mohr-i namaz). This is a small light red or brown 

clay tablet made of Karbala soil, which symbol-

izes the blood of Husayn’s martyrdom, on which 

Shiis rest their foreheads when performing salat

(daily prayers). Symbolically, all space becomes 

transformed through ritual and religious material 

culture into Karbala, as Shiis often say, “every day 

is Ashura, and every place is Karbala.”

The Shii 

umma

 invokes Karbala and renews its 

experience of the redemptive suffering of Imam 

Husayn by commemorating his “passion” and 

martyrdom annually with a cycle of rituals and 

public demonstrations of devotion up to the 10th 

of Muharram (Ashura). Each country and cul-

ture of significant Shii population (the Twelvers, 

Ismailis, and Zaydis of Lebanon, Bahrain, and 

Yemen; the Twelvers of i

ran

 and i

raq

; and the 

Twelvers and Ismaili Bohras and Dawudis of 

northern i

ndia

, p

akistan

, and b

angladesh

, as well 

as diverse transplanted communities of the Shia 

in North America and the Caribbean) demon-

strate its devotion to Husayn’s living memory by 

mourning him afresh every year wherever they are 

with public processionals (called masiras, or lam-

entation processions) and performances. These 

include leading Husayn’s caparisoned 

horse

 (or 

The Shrine of Imam Husayn in Karbala, Iraq 

 

(AP Photos/Hussein Malla)