is the death and burial site of the third Imam,
hUsayn ibn ali, grandson of the prophet Muham-
mad by his daughter, Fatima (known by the Shia
as al-Zahra, “the radiant one”), and cousin Ali ibn
Abi Talib. On the 10th day (ashUra) 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 iran and iraq; and the
Twelvers and Ismaili Bohras and Dawudis of
northern india, pakistan, and bangladesh, 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 (orThe Shrine of Imam Husayn in Karbala, Iraq
(AP Photos/Hussein Malla)Karbala 423 J