Dictionary:

Karbala

  (kär'bə-lə) also Kerbela (kûr'-)

A city of central Iraq south-southwest of Baghdad. It is a pilgrimage site for Shiite Muslims. Population: 434,000.

Site of sanctuary honoring Husayn ibn Ali's martyrdom.

Karbala is the name of a plain located in Iraq, approximately 55 miles (88.5 km) south-southwest of modern Baghdad and close to the west bank of the Euphrates. The plain is the recorded site of the infamous mass killing, in 680 C.E. (A.H. 61), of the prophet Muhammad's grandson Husayn ibn Ali and his small band of supporters by the forces of Yazid ibn Muʿawiya, the second Umayyad caliph. According to tradition, the decapitated body of Husayn was buried in a spot not far from the battlefield. As a result, Karbala and its environs quickly became known as Mashhad al-Husayn (the tomb shrine of Husayn), and today it is still one of the principal pilgrimage centers for Twelver Shiʿite Muslims, who revere Husayn as one of the great imams, or divinely inspired leaders, of the Muslim community.

Each year, for example, beginning on the first and culminating on the tenth of the Muslim month of Muharram, large numbers of pilgrims gather at the shrine complex at Karbala and perform solemn passion plays and other commemorations of Husayn's great martyrdom (other Twelver Shiʿites around the world do the same). According to the common belief of Twelver Shiʿites, Husayn's suffering and death constitute a source of redemption for all who are sincerely devoted to Husayn and his fellow imams. Many Twelvers believe that such practices as ritual visitation to Karbala as well as to other sacred tombs are excellent means of realizing this devotion to the imams and the salvific blessings it entails.

Throughout its long history, Karbala has generally prospered as a richly endowed pilgrimage site. A few notable exceptions to this sanctuary's history of good fortune include its destruction by the Abbasid caliph al-Mutawakkil in 850 C.E. (A.H. 236), its storming and looting by the muwahhidun (wahhabis) in 1801 C.E. (A.H. 1215), and the widespread devastation it suffered as a consequence of the confrontation after the Gulf War between Iraq's Republican Guard and Shiʿite rebel forces in March 1991.

— SCOTT ALEXANDER

The place in Iraq where Husayn, grandson of Mohammad and son of 'Ali and Fatima was ambushed and killed on his way to assume leadership over the Shiites in Iraq, a tragic event commemorated each year on the tenth (Ashura') of the Muslim month of Muharram.