The tragedy of Karbala begins with the “Battle of Karbala”, which occurred in 680 AD in a desert region of southern Iraq. The most commonly accepted narratives of the Battle of Karbala begin with an account of the discontent of Muslims especially in southern Iraq under the rule of the second Umayyad caliph, Yazid ibn Muawiyah (r. 680-83). Yazid is portrayed as having been politically oppressive and morally corrupt. The Prophet Mohammad’s grandson Imam Hossein in Medina received several letters from the caliph’s subjects in southern Iraq asking him to travel to Iraq in order to lead them in an uprising against Yazid. After sending scouts to assess the situation in southern Iraq, Imam Hossein and a number of his close relatives left the Hijaz, in Western Arabia, and began the trip to Iraq.

In southern Iraq in a desert named Karbala, located near the Euphrates River, the caravan was surrounded by an overwhelmingly large army sent by Yazid. A standoff ensued because Imam Hossein refused to give an oath of allegiance to Yazid. At the end of ten days of waiting, negotiating, and occasionally fighting, a final battle took place, in which Imam Hossein and all of his adult male relatives and supporters were martyred in a brutal fashion. The survivors, consisting of women and children, together with Imam Hossein’s son Imam  Zeyn al-Abedin (d. 712-13), who was too ill to take part in the fighting, were then taken captive and transported, along with the heads of the martyrs, which had been placed on spears, to Yazid’s court in Damascus. Along the way they were exhibited in the public markets of the cities through which they passed and a series of unpleasant incidents occurred, as a result of which Imam Hossein’s relatives, especially his sister Holiness Zeynab and Imam Hossein’s son Imam Zeyn al-Abedin, publicly condemned Yazid for his cruelty toward the descendants of the Prophet Mohammad “peace be upon him and his descendants”.

“Painting of Deyr-e Raheb or Monastery of the Monk”

Deyr-e Raheb is the name of a place in the Levant that the captives of Karbala passed through. On this journey, when the captives were being taken to Levant with the forces of Yazid, the heads of the martyrs also accompanied the caravan. At one of the stops on the way, they reached a place called “Qinnasrin” where a monk was praying in a monastery. This monastery currently exists in the area of ​​the Syria-Lebanon road and is located on a hill overlooking the road.

Painting of Deyr-e Raheb or Monastery of the Monk, a Work by Master Hassan Rouh Al-Amin

When the head carriers reached close to the monastery, they hid the severed head of Imam Hossein (AS) in a box. That night, the monk saw a light shining in the sky. When he went to them and learned their identity and the owner of the head, after their blaming, he gave them some money and asked them to give him the head tonight.

After taking the head and washing it with musk and rose water that night, the monk laid the head on his chest and whispered and cried with the head until morning. The monk spoke to the severed head and asked him who he was and what he had done. Upon hearing the head’s answer that he was the son of the Messenger of God and the Prophet’s household, tears flowed from his eyes. The monk saw wonders and miracles from that holy head and converted to Islam and became a Muslim with its blessings. Then the monk went to Imam Zeyn al-Abedin (AS) and announced his readiness to fight the killers of Imam Hussein (AS), but Imam Zeyn al-Abedin (AS) said: “Do not do this. Because God will soon take revenge on them.”

After a while, the officers went to the coins but saw that all the coins had taken from the Monk turned into dust.

(Dr. Seyedhossein Hosseiniseddiq is an assistant professor of history at Islamic Azad University)

Dr. Seyedhossein Hosseiniseddiq
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Dr. Seyedhossein Hosseiniseddiq is an assistant professor of history at Islamic Azad University

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