3 of 3 · 10 Muharram 61 AH · October 680 CE · Karbala, Iraq
Al-Husayn ibn 'Ali رضي الله عنه
Karbala
Before he reached Kufah, al-Husayn's small party was stopped by a large army sent by 'Ubaydullah ibn Ziyad and made to halt at Karbala, near the Euphrates. The historians report that they were cut off from the river, and that al-Husayn offered to go back, or to go to a frontier, or to go to Yazid himself — and that these offers were refused.
On the tenth of Muharram, 'Ashura', 61 AH, he was killed together with around seventy of his family and companions, among them sons, brothers and nephews of his — members of the Prophet's ﷺ household. His son 'Ali, later known as Zayn al-'Abidin, who was ill, survived, as did the women and children, among them his sister Zaynab bint 'Ali.
His head was carried to Ibn Ziyad, who prodded it with a stick and remarked on his features. Anas ibn Malik, who was present, said that al-Husayn was the one who most resembled the Messenger of Allah ﷺ (Sahih al-Bukhari 3748).
The killing of the Prophet's ﷺ grandson and household was a grave crime; Ahl al-Sunnah honour al-Husayn as a martyr and condemn those who killed him.
How do you hold grief for an injustice that happened long ago without letting it turn into hatred?
- Sahih al-Bukhari 3748 Sahih · in the two Sahihs
- al-Tabari, Tarikh al-Rusul wa al-MulukHistorical report
- Ibn Kathir, al-Bidayah wa al-NihayahHistorical report
- al-Dhahabi, Siyar A'lam al-Nubala'Historical report
What the hadith grades mean
- Sahih (authentic): an unbroken chain of trustworthy, precise narrators, free of hidden flaws or contradiction. It is acted upon.
- Hasan (good): like sahih, but a narrator's precision is slightly lighter. It is also accepted and acted upon. "Hasan sahih" means it reaches sahih by its routes.
- Da'if (weak): a break in the chain or a narrator who is not reliable enough. It is not used to establish beliefs or rulings.
- Very weak (munkar, matruk): a seriously flawed chain or a narrator accused of lying. It is not relied on at all.
- Mawdu' (fabricated): falsely attributed to the Prophet ﷺ. It may not be narrated as his words except to warn against it.
- The two Sahihs: every hadith with a full chain in Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim is accepted as sahih by the scholars of hadith.
- Historical report: biographies and histories (Ibn Ishaq, Ibn Sa'd, al-Tabari) record events with chains that are often incomplete. They are used for the story, not for rulings.
- Hadith scholars grade a narration; the four madhhabs do not. Where a hadith carries a ruling, the page shows which schools act on it.
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