Battle of Karbala
Karbala's prominence in Sh?a traditions is the result of the Battle of Karbala, fought on the site of the modern city on October 10, 680 AD (10 Muharram 61 AH). Both Hussein ibn Ali and his brother ?Abb?s ibn ?Al? were buried by the local Ban? Asad tribe at what later became known as the Mashhad Al-Hussein. The battle itself occurred as a result of Hussein's refusal to accept the Umayyad Yazid ibn Mu'awiya as caliph. The Kufan governor, Ubaydallah ibn Ziyad, sent thousands of horsemen against Hussein as he traveled to Kufa. The horsemen, under 'Umar ibn Sa'd, were ordered to deny Hussein and his followers water until Hussein agreed to give an oath of allegiance. On 9 Muharram, Hussein refused and asked to be given the night to pray. On 10 Muharram, Hussein ibn Ali prayed the morning prayer and led his troops into battle along with his brother al-Abbas. All of Hussein's followers, including all of his present sons, were slaughtered.
In 63 AH (682 AD), Yazid ibn Mu'awiya released the surviving members of Hussein's family from prison. On their way to the Hijaz, they stopped at the site of the battle. There is record of Sulayman ibn Surad going on pilgrimage to the site as early as 65 AH (685 AD). The city began as a tomb and shrine to Hussein and grew as a city in order to meet the needs of pilgrims.
The city and tombs were greatly expanded by successive Muslim rulers, but suffered repeated destruction from attacking armies. The original shrine was destroyed by the Abbasid Caliph al-Mutawakkil in 850 but was rebuilt in its present form around 979, only to be partly destroyed by fire in 1086 and rebuilt yet again.
Early modern
Like Najaf, the city suffered from severe water shortages that were only resolved in the early 18th century by building a dam at the head of the Husseiniyya Canal. In 1737, the city replaced Isfahan in Iran as the main centre of Sh?'a scholarship. In the mid-eighteenth century it
