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PersonAD 626 – AD 680

Husayn ibn Ali

Also called: Husain, Hussein

Son of Ali and grandson of Muhammad, killed at Karbala in 680 while resisting Umayyad succession; the Shia honour him as their greatest martyr

The second son of Ali and Fatima, he refused to swear allegiance when Muawiya passed the caliphate to his son Yazid, and took refuge in Mecca. Trusting in support from Kufa, he set out, but the city had already been secured by the Umayyad governor. Cut off from water and surrounded at Karbala in 680, he was killed with his party; his death became central to Shia identity and the Ashura commemorations.

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1 related event

  1. 1
    AD 680Battle of Karbala and the Sunni–Shia Splitleader

    Husayn, son of Ali, who resisted Umayyad succession, was killed at Karbala by the army of Caliph Yazid. The event set the Shia firmly apart as a distinct branch of Islam.

Themes this person appears in

  • The Rise of the Islamic WorldAD 570 – 1055

    From the revelation to Muhammad to the Seljuk entry into Baghdad — 450 years in which a new faith from Arabia built a civilisation stretching from Iberia to Central Asia and reached as far as Silla by sea