SMHMShaheed Mudassir Hussain Mehdi
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الحسين

Imam al-Husayn ibn Ali

peace be upon him

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سيد الشهداءSayyid al-Shuhadathe master of the martyrs
أبو عبد اللهAbu Abd Allahfather of Abd Allah, the kunya the Prophet gave him
الشهيدal-Shahidthe martyr
السبطal-Sibtthe grandson of the Prophet
سيد شباب أهل الجنةSayyid Shabab Ahl al-Jannathe master of the youth of Paradise
الزكيal-Zakithe pure, his best-known title
الطيبal-Tayyibthe good
الوافيal-Wafithe faithful to his word
التابع لمرضاة اللهal-Tabi' li-Mardat Allahthe one who follows what pleases God
ثار اللهThar Allahthe one whose blood God Himself will avenge
قتيل العبراتQatil al-Abaratthe slain one of tears

His life

  1. The third Imam of the Shia; the second son of Imam Ali and Sayyida Fatima al-Zahra, and the grandson of the Messenger of God. He was one of the People of the Cloak, was present at the Mubahala, and is among the Ahl al-Bayt of the Verse of Purification (al-Irshad of al-Shaykh al-Mufid; al-Tabaqat al-Kubra of Ibn Sa'd; Sahih Muslim; al-Kafi).
  2. Born in Medina. The most preferred account among historians is 4 AH (626 CE), most likely on 3 Sha'ban (Tarikh al-Ya'qubi; Tarikh al-Tabari; Iqbal al-A'mal of Ibn Tawus; Misbah al-Mutahajjid of al-Tusi). Al-Shaykh al-Mufid gives 5 Sha'ban (al-Irshad); some reports give 3 AH (al-Kafi; Tahdhib al-Ahkam).
  3. By God's command the Prophet named him al-Husayn, a name with no precedent before Islam (al-Irshad; Musnad Ahmad; al-Tabaqat al-Kubra), and gave him his kunya, Abu Abd Allah. According to Sunni and Shia reports, the Prophet wept at his birth and spoke of his martyrdom (al-Irshad; Imta' al-Asma' of al-Maqrizi).
  4. The Prophet said: al-Hasan and al-Husayn are the masters of the youth of Paradise (al-Amali of al-Tusi; Man la Yahduruh al-Faqih; Sunan al-Tirmidhi 5:656; al-Musannaf of Ibn Abi Shayba). About twenty-five Companions narrated it; al-Allama al-Majlisi, and among Sunnis al-Suyuti and al-Albani, count it mutawatir. During Karbala the Imam cited this hadith to his enemies (Bihar al-Anwar 45:6).
  5. Narrated by Ya'la al-Amiri, the Prophet took him into his arms and said: Husayn is of me and I am of Husayn. God loves whoever loves Husayn. Husayn is a sibt among the asbat (Kamil al-Ziyarat; al-Irshad; al-Musannaf of Ibn Abi Shayba; Musnad Ahmad; Sunan Ibn Maja; Sunan al-Tirmidhi 5:658; al-Mustadrak of al-Hakim, who grades it sahih). The words are inscribed over the entrance of his shrine.
  6. When al-Hasan and al-Husayn entered the mosque, the Prophet would stop his sermon and come down from the pulpit to embrace them; asked whom he loved most in his family, he answered: al-Hasan and al-Husayn, as Anas ibn Malik narrates (Sunan al-Tirmidhi; al-Mustadrak of al-Hakim). He is described as the one who most resembled the Prophet (Musnad Ahmad; Sunan al-Tirmidhi; al-Irshad).
  7. He was seven when the Prophet passed away (Danishnama-yi Imam Husayn). In the caliphate of his father, Imam Ali, he commanded the left wing at the Battle of Jamal (al-Jamal of al-Mufid) and the right wing at Siffin, where he also gave a speech urging the army to struggle (Waq'at Siffin of Nasr ibn Muzahim; Manaqib Ibn Shahrashub).
  8. He stood by his brother Imam al-Hasan's peace with Mu'awiya, calling al-Hasan 'my Imam' (Ikhtiyar Ma'rifat al-Rijal of al-Tusi), and kept to the treaty after al-Hasan's martyrdom in 50 AH, when his own imamate began. To Kufans who wrote urging an uprising he answered: stay in your land and in your houses while Mu'awiya lives; if God brings something about while I live, I will write to you (Ansab al-Ashraf of al-Baladhuri; al-Akhbar al-Tiwal of al-Dinawari; al-Irshad).
  9. He condemned Mu'awiya for killing Hujr ibn Adi, Amr ibn al-Hamiq al-Khuza'i and their companions, writing to him: I do not know a greater fitna for this umma than your rule over them (Tarikh Madinat Dimashq of Ibn Asakir; al-Tabaqat al-Kubra; Ikhtiyar Ma'rifat al-Rijal). When Mu'awiya called for allegiance to Yazid as his successor in 56 AH, he refused and, before the people, called Yazid unfit (al-Imama wa l-Siyasa of Ibn Qutayba; al-Bidaya wa l-Nihaya).
  10. In 58 AH, two years before Mu'awiya's death, he spoke at Mina during the Hajj: he recalled the virtues of Imam Ali and the Ahl al-Bayt, and the duty of enjoining good and forbidding evil and of the learned to speak against the oppression of unjust rulers (Tuhaf al-'Uqul of Ibn Shu'ba al-Harrani).
  11. Mu'awiya died on 15 Rajab 60 AH. Yazid wrote to al-Walid ibn Utba, governor of Medina, to take al-Husayn's allegiance by force (al-Futuh of Ibn A'tham; Tarikh al-Tabari). The Imam refused (al-Irshad) and left Medina for Mecca on 28 Rajab with most of his household (Ansab al-Ashraf; al-Irshad); another report gives 3 Sha'ban for his departure, the date most give for his arrival in Mecca.
  12. On leaving Medina he wrote a will for his brother Muhammad ibn al-Hanafiyya: I did not rise out of ingratitude, seeking excess, making mischief or doing wrong; I rose seeking reform in the umma of my grandfather. I want to enjoin the good and forbid the evil, and to follow the conduct of my grandfather and my father, Ali ibn Abi Talib (al-Futuh; Maqtal al-Husayn of al-Khwarazmi).
  13. He stayed in Mecca from 3 Sha'ban to 8 Dhu l-Hijja. The Shia of Kufa, meeting in the house of Sulayman ibn Surad al-Khuza'i, wrote inviting him; their first letter, from Sulayman, al-Musayyab ibn Najaba, Rifa'a ibn Shaddad and Habib ibn Muzahir, reached him on 10 Ramadan, and letters followed in the hundreds (al-Irshad; Ansab al-Ashraf).
  14. He replied that he was sending 'my brother, my cousin and the trusted one of my family', Muslim ibn Aqil, and wrote: the Imam is none but one who rules by the Book of God, upholds justice, follows the religion of truth and binds himself to God (al-Irshad). Muslim left Mecca on 15 Ramadan 60 AH (Muruj al-Dhahab of al-Mas'udi) and reached Kufa on 5 Shawwal; some 12,000 pledged to him for the Imam (other reports: 18,000), and he wrote that Kufa was ready (Tarikh al-Tabari; Ansab al-Ashraf; al-Irshad).
  15. Yazid then made Ubayd Allah ibn Ziyad governor of Kufa; through threats to the tribal chiefs the people scattered. Hani ibn Urwa, who sheltered Muslim, was arrested; Muslim, left alone, took refuge with a woman named Taw'a, was captured, and on Ibn Ziyad's order was beheaded on the roof of the palace on 9 Dhu l-Hijja 60 AH, the Day of Arafa; Hani was killed after him (al-Irshad; Tarikh al-Tabari; Ansab al-Ashraf; Muruj al-Dhahab).
  16. The Imam set out from Mecca for Kufa on 8 Dhu l-Hijja (al-Irshad; Ansab al-Ashraf); some reports say he learned of a plot to kill him in Mecca and left to preserve its sanctity (al-Bidaya wa l-Nihaya; al-Tabaqat al-Kubra). On the way al-Hurr ibn Yazid al-Riyahi and a thousand horsemen barred his road; the Imam had their men and horses given water, and al-Hurr's men prayed behind him (Tarikh al-Tabari; al-Kamil fi l-Tarikh of Ibn al-Athir).
  17. Most sources say he reached Karbala on 2 Muharram 61 AH (al-Irshad; Tarikh al-Tabari; al-Futuh); al-Dinawari gives 1 Muharram. The next day Umar ibn Sa'd arrived with four thousand men; there were negotiations, but Ibn Ziyad would accept nothing except allegiance to Yazid (Ansab al-Ashraf; al-Akhbar al-Tiwal; Tarikh al-Tabari; al-Irshad).
  18. On 7 Muharram, on Ibn Ziyad's order, Amr ibn al-Hajjaj with five hundred horsemen cut the camp off from the Euphrates; al-Abbas led a party that fought through and brought water back (al-Akhbar al-Tiwal; Ansab al-Ashraf; Tarikh al-Tabari; al-Irshad; Maqatil al-Talibiyyin).
  19. On the afternoon of 9 Muharram he asked for one more night, to spend it in prayer and supplication. That night he told his companions he released them from their pledge and they could leave under cover of darkness; his family and then each companion refused and swore to die with him (al-Irshad; Tarikh al-Tabari).
  20. On the morning of Ashura, 10 Muharram 61 AH, he drew up 32 horsemen and 40 foot (Tarikh al-Tabari; Ansab al-Ashraf). Al-Hurr left Umar ibn Sa'd's army and joined him (al-Irshad). His companions fell first; then the men of Banu Hashim, the first of them his son Ali al-Akbar (Maqatil al-Talibiyyin; Tarikh al-Tabari), and al-Abbas, his standard-bearer. His infant son Abd Allah, whom the Shia call Ali al-Asghar, was killed in the battle (Tarikh al-Tabari).
  21. He was martyred in the afternoon of Ashura. His killer, who beheaded him, was Shimr ibn Dhi l-Jawshan (al-Irshad; Maqtal al-Husayn of al-Khwarazmi), or in another report Sinan ibn Anas (Maqatil al-Talibiyyin; al-Tabaqat al-Kubra; Tarikh al-Tabari); the head was sent to Ibn Ziyad the same day. On Ibn Ziyad's order Umar ibn Sa'd had horsemen trample his body (al-Irshad; Ansab al-Ashraf; Tarikh al-Tabari).
  22. Most historians count about seventy-two martyrs with him, eighteen of them from Banu Hashim (Ansab al-Ashraf; Tarikh al-Tabari; al-Akhbar al-Tiwal); other counts include 78 (al-Luhuf) and 87 (Muruj al-Dhahab). Men of Banu Asad buried them where they fell, on 11 or 13 Muharram; one report says Imam al-Sajjad was present (Tarikh al-Tabari; Maqtal al-Husayn of al-Muqarram).
  23. The women and children, and Imam al-Sajjad, who was ill, were taken captive to Kufa, which they entered on 12 Muharram by al-Mufid's account, and then to Damascus (al-Irshad; Tarikh al-Tabari). Passing the bodies, Sayyida Zaynab cried out to the Prophet: this is al-Husayn, fallen in the desert (Tarikh al-Tabari; al-Irshad). In Damascus Yazid struck the head with his staff (Tarikh al-Ya'qubi).
  24. Jabir ibn Abd Allah al-Ansari was the first to visit his grave on Arba'in, the fortieth day (Misbah al-Mutahajjid); by al-Luhuf, the returning household also visited it. The first shrine is thought to date from al-Mukhtar's time; the Abbasid al-Mutawakkil ordered the ground ploughed (Manaqib Ibn Shahrashub; al-Amali of al-Tusi), and the shrine was destroyed and rebuilt several times.

Days

  1. 4 AH626 CEBorn in Medina, 3 Sha'ban
  2. 11 AH632 CEHis grandfather, the Messenger of God, passes; then his mother
  3. 50 AH670 CEHis brother, Imam al-Hasan, martyred; his imamate begins
  4. 58 AH678 CEHis sermon at Mina
  5. 60 AH680 CERefuses allegiance to Yazid; leaves Medina for Mecca, 28 Rajab
  6. 60 AH680 CELeaves Mecca for Kufa, 8 Dhu l-Hijja; Muslim ibn Aqil martyred in Kufa, 9 Dhu l-Hijja
  7. 61 AH680 CEArrives in Karbala, 2 Muharram
  8. 61 AH680 CEMartyred at Karbala on Ashura, 10 Muharram

Family

عليImam Ali
الحسينImam al-Husayn
علي زين العابدينImam Ali Zayn al-Abidin
علي الأكبرAli al-Akbar
عبد اللهAbd Allah (Ali al-Asghar)
جعفرJa'far
سكينةSukayna
فاطمةFatima

In the Qur’an

إِنَّمَا يُرِيدُ ٱللَّهُ لِيُذۡهِبَ عَنكُمُ ٱلرِّجۡسَ أَهۡلَ ٱلۡبَيۡتِ وَيُطَهِّرَكُمۡ تَطۡهِيرٗا ٣٣

Indeed Allah desires to repel all impurity from you, O People of the Household, and purify you with a thorough purification.

The verse of purification · Al-Ahzaab 33:33

فَمَنۡ حَآجَّكَ فِيهِ مِنۢ بَعۡدِ مَا جَآءَكَ مِنَ ٱلۡعِلۡمِ فَقُلۡ تَعَالَوۡاْ نَدۡعُ أَبۡنَآءَنَا وَأَبۡنَآءَكُمۡ وَنِسَآءَنَا وَنِسَآءَكُمۡ وَأَنفُسَنَا وَأَنفُسَكُمۡ ثُمَّ نَبۡتَهِلۡ فَنَجۡعَل لَّعۡنَتَ ٱللَّهِ عَلَى ٱلۡكَٰذِبِينَ ٦١

Should anyone argue with you concerning him, after the knowledge that has come to you, say, ‘Come! Let us call our sons and your sons, our women and your women, our souls and your souls, then let us pray earnestly, and call down Allah’s curse upon the liars.’

The verse of the Mubahala · Aal-i-Imraan 3:61

ذَٰلِكَ ٱلَّذِي يُبَشِّرُ ٱللَّهُ عِبَادَهُ ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُواْ وَعَمِلُواْ ٱلصَّٰلِحَٰتِۗ قُل لَّآ أَسۡـَٔلُكُمۡ عَلَيۡهِ أَجۡرًا إِلَّا ٱلۡمَوَدَّةَ فِي ٱلۡقُرۡبَىٰۗ وَمَن يَقۡتَرِفۡ حَسَنَةٗ نَّزِدۡ لَهُۥ فِيهَا حُسۡنًاۚ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ غَفُورٞ شَكُورٌ ٢٣

Such is the good news that Allah gives to His servants who have faith and do righteous deeds! Say, ‘I do not ask you any reward for it except the love of [my] relatives.’ Whoever performs a good deed, We shall enhance its goodness for him. Indeed Allah is all-forgiving, all-appreciative.

The verse of affection · Ash-Shura 42:23

يُوفُونَ بِٱلنَّذۡرِ وَيَخَافُونَ يَوۡمٗا كَانَ شَرُّهُۥ مُسۡتَطِيرٗا ٧ وَيُطۡعِمُونَ ٱلطَّعَامَ عَلَىٰ حُبِّهِۦ مِسۡكِينٗا وَيَتِيمٗا وَأَسِيرًا ٨ إِنَّمَا نُطۡعِمُكُمۡ لِوَجۡهِ ٱللَّهِ لَا نُرِيدُ مِنكُمۡ جَزَآءٗ وَلَا شُكُورًا ٩ إِنَّا نَخَافُ مِن رَّبِّنَا يَوۡمًا عَبُوسٗا قَمۡطَرِيرٗا ١٠

They fulfill their vows and fear a day whose ill will be widespread. For the love of Him, they feed the needy, the orphan and the prisoner, [saying,] ‘We feed you only for the sake of Allah. We desire no reward from you, nor thanks. Indeed we fear a frowning and fateful day from our Lord.’

Surah al-Insan, revealed about the household’s fast · Al-Insaan 76:7-10

Peace be upon you, O Aba Abdillah.

Peace be upon you, O son of the Messenger of God.

Peace be upon you, O inheritor of Muhammad, the beloved of God.

Peace be upon you, and upon the souls that came to rest in your courtyard.

Sources