Husayn ibn Ali

Husayn ibn Ali (born c. 626 CE / 4 AH in Medina; died 680 CE / 61 AH at Karbala) was a grandson of the Prophet Muhammad, son of Ali ibn Abi Talib (the fourth caliph in the Sunni reckoning and the first Imam in Shia belief) and of Fatima, the Prophet's daughter. With his elder brother Hasan, he was raised in the Prophet's household. His death-date is firmly attested; his exact birth-date rests on a single traditional calculation and should be read as approximate.

After Hasan made peace with the Umayyad caliph Mu'awiya, Husayn largely withdrew from politics and lived in Medina. When Mu'awiya died in 680 and his son Yazid demanded a pledge of allegiance (bay'a), Husayn declined and left Medina for the sanctuary of Mecca. Letters from supporters in Kufa (a garrison city in Iraq) invited him to lead them. He set out for Kufa but never reached it: an Umayyad force intercepted his small party and forced them to halt on the plain of Karbala. After negotiations failed, Husayn and most of his male companions were killed on 10 Muharram 61 AH (October 680); the day is commemorated as Ashura.

For Shia Muslims he is the third Imam and Sayyid al-Shuhada ("lord of martyrs"), and Karbala is a defining sacred memory; Sunni tradition also mourns him as the Prophet's grandson, while differing on questions of leadership. The political and theological meaning later drawn from these events is held differently by different schools and is presented here as their positions, not as settled fact. He is buried at Karbala.