Who is Imam Hussein (peace be upon him)
He is the second son of Imam Ali and Fatimah, the daughter of the Prophet Mohammed (S.A.W), his brother Imam Hassan Son of Ali (pbuh)). He was born on Thursday on the 3rd of Sha'ban, on the 4th year of Hijra (10.1.626 CE) . He is the second grandson of the Messenger of Allah (S.A.W) after his brother Imam Hassan (pbuh), the messenger of Allah (S.A.W) named him (Hussein) after the name of prophet Haroon (Shubair) as he named his first grandson Hassan after the name of the Prophet Haroon (Shibr).
His agnomen and blessed childhood
(Abu Abd Allah) is the most famous agnomen of the Imam (pbuh) also (Shaheed) meaning the Martyr, he was brought up in the house of the prophet, the house which was the land of the revelation of the Holy Quran by Jibrai'el (In houses, which Allah hath Permitted to be raised to Honor; for the celebration, In them, of His name: In them is He glorified In the mornings and In the evenings, (again and again)(1). This newborn blessed child has obtained the honor of being brought up in the house of the prophet and the Imamate, his grandfather the prophet Muhammad (S.A) and his mother Az-zahraa Al-Batool(pbuh) . His father Al-Imam Ali Amir al-Mu'minin (the commander of faithful) (pbuh) and His brother Al-Imam Al-Hassan (pbuh), so he inherited the self-esteem and faithfulness and good manners from them.
The Imam in the Prophet's narrations
1-(those two sons of mine are Imams whether they rule or not) (2) .
2-(Hassan and Hussein are the masters of the Paradise's youths)(3).
3- Jabir Son of abd Allah al-Anssary narrated that the Prophet Muhammad (S.A.W) said (the paradise miss four members of my household, Allah loves them and ordered me to love them, and they are: Ali bin Abi Talib and Hassan and Hussein and Al-mahdi who Issa bin Mariam (pbuh) will pray after him (peace be upon them) (3)
4-Al-Turmathy narrated the Prophet (S.A.W) took the hands of Hassan and Hussein and said "he who loves me and those two and their father will be with me in the day of judgment " (4) .
5-Hussein is from me and I am from him, Allah loves who loves him, Hussein is one of my sons) (5).
6- Abi sa'eed Al-khudary narrated the prophet said "I swear by Allah that the Mahdi who the Issa (pbuh) will pray after is from us, he touched Hussein on the shoulder and said from this one, from this one"(6) .
The revolution against injustice The final day
The dawn of the 10th day of Muharram came and Hussein (pbuh) led his companions to pray the dawn prayer with, he said to them after finishing the prayer Allah had destined the death of me and you in this day, you should fight and be patient , he organized his small army and prepared them to the war, when he saw the huge army which is going to fight him, he went into tears , when they asked him of the reason why he shed the tears , he said I shed the tears for this army will go to hell because of me , the Imam (pbuh) prepared himself for the battle but not willing to start the fighting himself , after he supplicated for Allah, he started to advise the enemy telling them to repent but they were not affected by the Imam (pbuh) ,then , the companions of then Imam (pbuh) started also advising the enemy not to fight the Grandson of the Prophet (p.b.u.h) and warning them of Allah's anger but they also not affected.
The brave martyr
When Imam (pbuh) saw that there is no way other than defending his Grandfather's religion, and to defend his women and family after he lost all his companions and supporters, he went to the enemy holding his sword, he went on fighting and killed many of them, then, he fought both sides right and left, he killed many of them, Amr Son of Sa'ad when saw that, he shouted to his army to surround the Imam (pbuh) from all sides, they tried to reach the family camp, Imam (pbuh) said to them if you people do not follow the teachings of Islam then, at least be free and behave according to the manners of your family, exclude the children and the women of your transgression , the enemy went on fighting him unaffected by this and the Imam (pbuh) was getting very thirsty , he went towards the river and tried to drink, one solider told the Imam(pbuh) do you drink the water joyfully and your family is under our control? The Imam (pbuh) threw the water of his hands and went to the camp to protect his family, he told his family that he is going to be leave them and this may be the last meeting between them, after he said good bye to all his family and advised them to be patient, he went to the battle arena and started fighting, he killed many others, when he reached the river bank , they gathered around him and shot him with two darts one went into his neck and the other into his mouth, he pulled them out and supplicated to Allah to avenge him upon those killers, Amr Son of Sa'ad told the his army to attack the Imam (pbuh) as he is on the verge of death , they continued shooting him with the darts till he was heavily hurt and darts went in all parts of his body.
Imam's last moments
The Imam (pbuh) stayed most of the day in this state, the enemies were afraid of going near the Imam (pbuh) because of his Holiness magnificence, then, Shimr shouted to his army to go and kill the Imam (pbuh) , the Imam (pbuh) stayed patient in spite of the heavy wounds in all parts of his body , he sacrificed everything for the sake of Allah , as the Imam (pbuh) was laying on the ground and heavily wounded, al-Khawly Son of Yazid al-Asbahi approached him to cut his head off but he got scared , then, Sinan Son of Anas cursed him and he went by himself to do this horrible thing , he slaughtered the Imam (pbuh) and cut off the Holy head , some historians say that it was Shimr who cut off the Holy head of Imam (pbuh) .
The battle ended with the burning the tents of the family of the Imam (pbuh) and The children along with the women were taken as war prisoners to Obaidu'llah Son of Ziad in Kufa then, were taken to Yazid Son of Mu'awiya in Sham (Syria).True that the Imam (pbuh) had accepted the call of Allah and he did the Jihad to the last drop of his purified body was shed and was cut to parts for preserving the Islam and to prevent the dissentions among Muslims, his revolution was a call for the people to stick to the right.
Events
680 /61 A.H
Imam Hussein (pbuh)martyrs and buried at this place
369/979 A.H
Ameer of (Ain Tamur) Dhaba Al-Assady led Revolution against Yazid
479/1086 A.H
Khafaja tribe attacks Karbala at the age of Saif'Ul Dawla
795/1392 A.H
Taimorlink attacks Karbala
858/1454 A.H
The Mawla of (Ali Misha'shaiey) attacks Karbala and robs the Holy Shrine and kills many of its people
1013/1604 A.H
Tribe of Al-Muhana attacks Karbala led by Nasir Son of Mihana and rules the city for 40 years
1216/1801 A.H
Karbala was attacked by Su'ud Son of Abdul Aziz, The Wahabies killed and robbed many people .
1241/1825 A.H
Othman forces led by Dawud Basha attack Karbala and occupy it for 8 months.
1258/1842 A.H
Othman Ruler Muhammed Najib Basha attacked Karbala.
1032/1623 A.H .
Iraq gets under the Iranian occupation
1047/1638 A.H
Karbala gets under the siege of Othman leader Murad the forth
1293/1876 A.H
Anti-Othman movement called (Ali Hadla)
1341/1923 A.H
Wahabies attacked the Holy Karbala for the second time
1338/1920 A.H
The start of the great Revolution from Karbala led by Sheikh Muhammad Taqi al-Shirazi which called (twentieth revolution)
1338/1920 A.H
Sheikh Muhammed Ridha, grandson of Imam al-Shirazi along with nine Sheikhs arrested and banned to Hingam Island
Sources
Karbala in the memory, Salman Hadi al-T'uma, 1st edition, Baghdad, 1988.
- Karbla heritage, Salman Hadi T'uma, 1st edition, 1938.
- Encyclopedia of Holy Shrines, part 8, 2nd edition, 1987.
- Old and contemporary Iraq, Sayyid Abdul Razaq al-Hassani.