The Historical City of Karbala

1 Definition of the City: Kar'bala is a famous Islamic city before Islam with a long period. The city is also distinguished with its holiness, full history, great things and incidents, whereas the land witnessed one of the most noble martyrdom features and sacrifice, that is immortal incident of Taf ( battle of Kar'bala).

2- The Location of the City: Kar'bala locates 105 kilometers far from the southwest of the capital city of Baghdad, on the desert shore of the western part of Furat and at right side of Husainiya creek.
The city also locates on the longitude of 44 degree and 40 minutes as well as on the latitude of 33 degree and 31 minutes, it has a border with Al-Anbar province at the northern part. As it also has a border at south part with Najaf province, and at the east with Hilla province and part of Baghdad province, while it also has border with Syrian Desert and lands of kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

3- Founding of the City : The History of this sacred city returns to Babylonian time, when the area was a Christian graveyard before the Islamic conquer. It is reported by the researchers that, the word Karbala means (nearness of God), and the word is an old Babylonian origin. The opinion of some researchers is that, in order to know the right meaning of the word Karbala, it needs to know the drawing of the word first, as well as its linguistic analysis. It was said that the word was derived or drawed from ( Kur Babul), which means in Arabic a group of an old Babylonian villages. Of those villages are Ninawi, which is near to a place called Saddatul Hindiyah, Al-Ghadhiriyah, and it is known today as ( Araadhil Husainiyah) means Husainiya lands. Then Karbala or Aqr Babul, An-Nawaawis, Al-Hirah, which is known today as Al-Haa'ir. In fact, this place was named as Haa'ir due to the fact that water was confused around the holy shrine of Imam Husain (peace be upon him), when the Abbasid Mutawakil gave command that Imam Husain's shrine must be destroyed and watered as well. Others also reported that, the history of Karbala returns to history of cities of Tusuh An-Nahrain, which situates at shore of the Balakubos river (the old Furat), a land which contains an old temple for prayers. The word Karbala is formed from two Assyrian words which are (Karb) means sacred place, and the word (Ail) also means (God). Therefore both two words means (sacred precinct of Allah). Some also said the word is a Persian origin formed from two words which are, (Kaar) means work and (Bolo) means the higher, thus the meaning of the both words is ( the higher work). One of the names of the city is (Taf). Verily, it can be assumed that the word Karbala is derived from the word (Al-Kirbah) means softness, considering the softness of land. Therefore it was named as Karbala due the softness of land. Or it may be derived from the word purity, because it is used to said in Arabic (Kar'baltul Hintah), means I purify the wheat or made it clean it. So based on that we can say Karbala is named as Karbala because the land has been purified from pebbles and jungle. The word Karbala is also a name of plant of wood sorrel, so may be the city is named as Karbala considering that there is a lot of this plants in the city.

4 - The Expansion and Construction of Karbala: Construction of this city has begun on 12th Muharram year 61 A.H. after the battle of Taf (Karbala) with two days, whereas (Banu Asad) Asadids buried the holy corpse of Imam Husain (peace be upon him), his brother Abbas (peace be upon him) and his holy companions (peace be upon them).
-The Abbasid Al-Muntasir rebuilt the tomb sanctuaries of Karbala along with new houses around it, this was after his father Al-Mutawakil was killed, who trifled the city and destroyed all things in it. Then the first Alawids settled in the city with his sons, that man is Sayyid Ibrahim Al-Mujab Al-Dhareer Al-Kufi bun Mohammed Al-Abid bun Imam Musa Al-Kazim peace be upon him.
- The first fence of Hair was built in year 372 A.H, and its distance is estimated as 2400 meters square.
The Vizier ( Al-Hasan bun Al-Fadhl bun Sahlan Al-Ramhur'murzi) built the second fence of the city in year 412 A.H. and fixed four iron doors at its sides.
- Shah Ismail Al-Safawi visited Karbala in year 941 A.H. and dug a deep river, renovated and constructed Imam Husain's holy shrine as well.
- Sulaiman Al-Qanuni repaired both tombs and changed the places which are covered by sands to gardens.
- One of the Indian kings visited Karbala in the beginning of nineteenth century A.D. (after incident of Wahhabism which occurred in year 1216 A.H.) and built beautiful markets and houses, and settled some of the disasters in those houses and built an impregnable fence for the city.
- Sayyid Ali Atabatabai (author of Ar-Riyadh) took upon himself to build the third fence of the city after raid of the Wahabism, and made six doors for the fence each door has a particular name.
- Karbala is connected with telegraph lines in year 1860 A.D. which enable it to have communication with world.
Government offices were built in year 1285 A.H. which is equal to 1868 A.D. during the time of reformer (Mid'hat Basha), then he expanded and added new markets and buildings and destroyed part of the fence of the city which is situated at the side of the Najaf door, and added another part to the city which was named as (Abbasiya) area.
Modern buildings were erected as the streets were expanded and the lands were also dried by a faucet for pulling water which surrounded the city. This was done in year 1914 after the First World War.

5- The Features: Karbala is almost 52856 kilometers square and its land is soft and purified (purified from pebbles and jungle). The city is surrounded by heavy gardens which are watered by Furat, there are two ways which lead to the holy city, and one of the ways is connected to capital town of Baghdad by passing through the city of Al-Musib which is 97 kilometers distance, while the other one is connected through the holy city of Najaf. Therefore, if a traveler takes any one of these ways it will lead him to the holy tomb of Imam Husain (peace be upon him), as well as graveyard of martyrs of holy battle of Taf (Karbala). So in both cases a traveler needs to pass through greenish encircled by fruits, gardens and thick palm farms.
This holy city is divided in to two regarding to the construction; the first one is named as Karbala Al-Qadimah, means (the old Karbala). Indeed, this is where the antiques of the city can be found. The second one is named as Karbala Al-Jadid, means (the new Karbala). The new city has wide buildings, streets, foundations, markets and constructed houses, and many Islamic and governmental schools as well. The extended railway between Baghdad and Basrah has reached the city together with its branch which ends at Sadatul Hindiya. Its length is 36 kilometers and connected with the capital city and other parts of it, the ways is paved with modern flagstones.
Constituencies and Regions:
1- Constituency center and it is followed by Al-Har district and Husainiyah region.
2- Constituency center of Al-Hindiya and it is followed by Al-Khairaat region. Jadwal Al-Gharbi region.
3- Constituency of Aynu At-Tamr.
Districts of the City: Districts of the city are Babu As-Salalmah district, Babu Al-Taq district, Babu Baghdad district, Al-Mukhayam district, Babu An-Najaf district, Al-Abbasiya Ash-Sharqiya wal Gharbiya district.
Residential Areas of the City: The residential areas are as follows: Al-Husain area, Al-Mu'alimeen area, Al-Abbas area, Al-Thawrah area, Al-Hur area, Ramadhan area, As- Sihatu area, Al-Iskan area, Al-Qazwiniyah area, Al-Adalah area, Al-Bunuk area, Al-Ansar area, Al-Muwazafeen area, Al-Baladiya area, Al-Urubah area, Al-Sa'diya area, Al-Ulama area, Al-Mulhaq area, Al-Ta'lib area, Al-Islaah Al-Ziraee area and Al-Aamil area.
The Streets of the City: The famous streets of the city are: Ar-Rasulul A'azam street (may the blessing and peace of Allah be upon him and his pure progeny), Imam Ali street (peace be upon him), Al-Husain street (peace be upon him), Al-Abbas street(peace be upon him), Ali Akbar street (peace be upon him).
Tombs and (Maqamat) Sites of the City: Among the tombs of the city are the holy shrine of Imam Husain and close to it are many graves which people do visit, of them are ( tomb of Sayyid Ibrahim Al-Mujab (peace be upon him), tomb of Habib bun Muzahir Al-Asadi, shrine of martyrs of Imam Husain's companions (peace be upon him and his companions), Al-Qasim bun Al-Husan (peace be upon him).
One of the Site (maqamaat) and places which visitors do seek blessings from it are: Nakhl Maryam, Site (maqam) of Al-Hur bun Yazid Ar-Rayahi (peace be upon him), Imam Husain's camp, Imam Mahdi's (maqam) Site (may God hasten his glad advent), Site of Til Az-Zainabiya, Site (maqam) of right hand of Al-Abbas (peace be upon him), Site (maqam) of left hand of Al-Abbas (peace be upon him), Site (maqam) of Imam Jafar As-Sadiq (peace be upon him), Site (maqam) of Awn bun Abdullah, Site (maqam) of Ibn Hamza, Site (maqam) of Al-Husain and Ibn Sa'ad, Site (maqam) of Ibn Fahad Al-Hilli, Site (maqam) of Fidhah, Site (maqam) of Imam Ali (peace be upon him), Site (maqam) of Musa bun Jafar (peace be upon him), Site (maqam) of Ra's Al-Husain (peace be upon him), Site (maqam) of Ummul Baneen (peace be upon her), Site (maqam) of Akhras bun Al-Kazim (peace be upon him).
The Famous Antiques Places: The famous antiques places are Hisnul Ukhaidar, Qal'atul Hindi, Khanul Atshan.
The Mosques of the City: There are more than one hundred mosques in the city, but the famous of those mosques are Ra'sul Husain mosque, Imran bun Shaheen mosque, Shaheedu Thani's mosque, Central mosque of Al-Sar dar Husain Khan, Al-Nasiri central mosque , Al-Shahrastani central mosque, Al-Hamidiya central mosque, Sayyid Ali Naqi Al-Tabatabaee's mosque, kubais mosque, Shaikh Yusif Al-Bahrani's mosque, Shaikh Khalaf central mosque, Al-Ar'dabiliya central mosque, Al-Haj Nasrullah central mosque, Al-Mukhayyam central mosque.
The Hussainiyas of the City: There are more than one hundred Husainiyas in the city, but famous of those Husainiyas are Husainiya of Al-Haidariya, Husainiya of Sayyid Mohammed Saleh, Husainiya of Rabee'ah, Husainiya of Al-Mushahadah, Husainiya of Amir sons, Al-Haj Hanan Husainiya and Husainiya of Al-Kiradah Ash-Sharqiyah .

The Islamic Seminaries of the City
1- Al-Muhsaniya school(1327 A.H)
2- Al-Jafariya school(1333 A.H)
3- Al-Ahmadiya school(1921 A.D)
4- Al-Faisaliya school(1921 A.D)
5- Ar-Radhawiyah school(1345 A.H)
6- Al-Imam Baqir(peace be upon him) school(1381 A.H)
7- Al-Mujahid school(1270 A.H)
8-Al-Badkubah school(1270 A.H)
9- As-Sadrul A'azam school(1276 A.H)
10- Al-Haj Abdul Karim school(1287 A.H)
11- Al-Buq'ah school(1250 A.H)
12- As-Salimiyah school(1250 A.H)
13- Al-Hindiya Al-Kubra school(1920 A.D)
14- Al-Hindiya As-Sughra school(1300 A.H)
15- Ibn Fahd Al-Hilli school(1358 A.H)(The school was rebuilt)
16- Az-Zainabiyah school(1276 A.H)(is ruined)
17- Al-Mahdia school(1287 A.H)
18- Al-Burujerdi school(1381 A.H)
19- Shariful Ulamaa Al-Mazandarani's school(1384 A.H)
20- Al-Khateeb school (1355 A.H)
21- Al-Imam As-Sadiq school (peace be upon him) (1376 A.H)
22- Al-Husainiya school(1388 A.H)
23- As-Sardar Hasan Khan school (1180 A.H)(This school contains more than 70 rooms that now only 16 rooms is remained)
The Libraries of the City: The libraries of the city are Imam Husain (peace be upon him) tomb sanctuary library, Sayyid Nasrullah Al-Hairi's library, Shaikh Abdul Husain At-Tahrani library, Sayyid Abdul Husain Al-Klidar Aal-Tu'mah's library, Sayyid Husain Qazwini's library, Sayyid Mohammed Baqirul Hujjah Al-Tabatabaee's library, Shaikh Ahmed bun Zainul Abideen Al-Hairi's library, Shaikh Muhsin Abul Hub library, Shaikh Mohammed bun Dawud Al-Khateeb library, Sayyid Mahdi Ash-Shahrastani's library, Sayyid Muhsin Al-Jalali Al-Keshmiri's library.
Public Libraries of the City: The public libraries are: Jafariya library, Sayyidu Shuhada library, public central library, Abul Fadhl Al-Abbas's library, Rawdhatul Husainiya library, Sayyid Ali Akbar Al-Hairi library, Mawla Abdul Hamid Al-Farahani library, Rasulul A'azam library (may the blessings and peace of Allah be upon him and his pure progeny) Islamic rising library, As-Sayyidatu Zainab Al-Kubra's library (peace be upon her), Al-Quranul Karim library.
The Cemeteries: The cemeteries of the city are: Saahatul Mukhayyam, Wadil Ateeq (which is Al-Gharah school now), Saahatul Hayabi (opposite to Imam Jafar As-Sadiq (peace be upon him), Al-Wadil Jadeed (opposite train station, Indians cemetery (Bustan Ibn Zarb opposite tomb of Ibn Hamzah).
The Old and New Markets of the City: The markets of the city are as follows: Al-Makhdhar market, An-Najjarain market, Al-Harj market, As-Saffarin market, As-Saagha market, Labzazin market (Arab market), Al-Alaawi market, Al-Husain's market (peace be upon him), Zainabiyah market and Babul Khan market. .
The Old and Famous Houses of the City: Al-Kahiyah house, Zad house, Al-Bir house, Al-Mazraaqji house, Al-Akhir house.

6 From the Memory of the History: The Commander of Faithful Imam Ali (peace be upon him) descended in Karbala when he was passing to the battle of Sifeen, whereas he was witnessed thinking about ancient monuments and antiques of the city. Then he was asked about it, in which he replied, verily, this land has a great issue, here is the station of their horses, here is where their blood shall be shed, and he was asked about it, and he replied saying, descending in this place is very heavy upon the progeny of Mohammed (may the blessing and peace of Allah be upon him and his pure progeny).
When Imam Husain (peace be upon him) arrived at Karbala and was surrounded by the horses of Ubaidullah bun Ziyad, then he said, what is the name of this village? And pointed to a village called Al-Aqr, it was replied saying it is Aqr, Imam Husain (peace be upon him) then said, we seek refuge with God from Al-Aqr, then he asked once again what is the name of this city? Then his companions replied that, its name is Karbala. From there Imam Husain (peace be upon him) said, land of Kar'b and Balaa (means anguish and misfortune land).
- Imam Husain (peace be upon him) and his companions were martyred in Karbala on the 10th of Muharram in year 61 A.H., and he was buried in the holy yard.
- Revolution of Yazid bun Al-Malhab occurred during the time of Yazid bun Muawiyah that was at Aqr square which is close to Karbala, on the shore of Furat. This terrible battle took place there and caused defeatness of the Revolutionaries in front of Muslimah bun Abdul Malik's soldiers, the leader of the soldiers of Yazid.
- Dhabbatu bun Mohammed Al-Asadi attacked Karbala when he was Emir of Aynu Tamr. This attack occurred in year 369 A.H.
- Khafajah also attacked Karbala in year 479 A.H. during the time of Imaaratu Saifu Al-Dawlah.
- Taimurlank Attacks on Karbala occurred in year 795 A.H.
- In year 858 A.H. Mawla (Ali Al-Musha'asha'ee) occupied Karbala and plundered the sanctuary tomb of Imam Husain (peace be upon him) and killed people bitterly and captured the rest of them to his castle in Basrah.
- In year 1013 A.H. Aal-Mahna (Mahnasids) tribe attacked Karbala with the leadership of their commander called Nasir bun Mahna, and ruled Karbala for 40 years till year 1053 A.H. .
- The Wahhabis attacked Karbala with the leadership of Sa'ud bun Abdul Aziz in year 1216 A.H. and killed most of the people in the markets, houses and destroyed the dome of Imam Husain's tomb (peace be upon him). They also plundered whatever were in the city and the holy shrine such as properties, arms, clothes, silver, and gold. This battle was named The Second Battle of Taf (Al-Taf Ath-Thani).
- In year 1534 A.D. Ottomans occupied the whole of Iraq, and Sultan Sulaiman Al-Qanuni dug a river from Furat named (An-Nahr As-Sulaimani) which is known now as Nahr Al-Husainiya.
- In year 1241 A.H. / 1825 A.D. the event of Al-Manakhur happened at the time of Dawud Basha, whereas his horses surrounded Karbala with the leadership of Emir of his cavalry (Sulaiman Mir Akhur) when he surrounded the city and violated it for eight months.
- The incident of Mohammed Najib Basha happened in year 1258 A.H. / 1842 A.D. then he forced people of Karbala by the armed force to submit for the Ottoman rule.
- Iranians occupied Iraq with the leadership of Al-Shah Abbas As-Safawi in year 1623 A.D..
- In year 1638 A.D. Al-Sultan Al-Uthmani the Forth Murad, surrounded the holy city of Karbala.
- Ali Hadla's movement which is hostile to the Ottoman government happened in year 1293 A.H / 1876 A.D. .
- The Wahhabis reattacked the city of Karbala in year 1923 A.D..
- In year 1920 A.D the Iraqian revolution named (Thawratul Ishreen Al-Azimah) - mean the Great Twentieth Revolution - started from Karbala, which became a footstep for the revolutionaries, ahead of them is the late Shaikh Mohammed Taqi Al-Hairi As-Shirazi, when he gave a fatwa (legal opinion ) that, it is prohibited to elect non-Muslim to rule Iraq.
- In 29th June of 1920 A.D. Shaikh Mohammed Ridha, son of Al-Imam Ash-Shirazi with nine other Shaikhs and great figures of the Warriors of faith (Mujahideen) were arrested and sent on a journey to a place called Hinkam.
The Important Personalities: Karbala is distinguished with its holiness and historical, religious and scientific positions. The city is sign of the glory, highness in science and literature as well as warrior of faith. This was since ancient time. Therefore we would like to mention some of the important great figures and religious personalities of the scholars those settled in the city and graduated from their institutes and became gunuises.
Of those scholars are : 1 - Hamid bun Ziyad An-Ninawi - founder of the science university in Karbala (died in year 310 A.H.).
2 - Shaikh Abu Jafar Mohammed bun Al-Hasan At-Tusi (died in year 460 A.H.).
3 - Shaikh Hisham bun Ilyas Al-Hairi author of (Al-Masail Al-Hairiya) ( died in year 490 A.H.).
4 - Sayyid Fakhar bun Mu'id Al-Hairi Al-Musawi (died in year 630 A.H. )
5 - Shaikh Ahmed bun Fahad Al-Hilli Al-Asadi (died in year 841 A.H. )
6 - Shaikh Ibrahim Al-Kaf'ami (died in year 900 A.H. )
7 - Sayyid Nasrullah Al-Hairi, the teacher of Husainiya School (died in year 1168 A.H.)
8 - Shaikh Yusif Al-Bahrani (died in Karbala year 1186 A.H.) and buried in Imam Husain's holy shrine.
9 - Founder of Al-Wahid Baqir Al-Bahbahani (died in year 1205 A.H.) and buried in Imam Husain's holy shrine.
10 - Sayyid Muhammad Mahdi Bahrul Ulum (died in year 1212 A.H.)
11 - Sayyid Ali At-Tabatabai the known as author of Al-Riyadh (he died in year 1231 A.H. ) and was buried in Imam Husain's holy shrine.
12 - Shaikh Sharif Al-Ulama Al-Mazandarani (died in year 1245 A.H.)
13 - Shaikh Khalaf bun Askar Al-Hairi (died in year 1246 A.H.)
14 - Shaikh Mohammed Husain Al-Isfahani, author of Al-Fusul (died in year 1261 A.H.)
15 - Sayyid Ibrahim Al-Qazwini, author of Al-Dhawabit, (died in year 1262 A.H.)
16 - Shaikh Abdul Husain At-Tehrani (died in year 1286 A.H.)
17 - Sayyid Mirza Salih Al-Damad (died in year 1303 A.H.)
18 - Shaikh Zainul Aabidin Al-Mazandarani (died in year 1309 A.H.)
19 Sayyid Mohammed Husain Al-Mar'ashi (died in year 1315 A.H.)
20 - Shaikh Mohammed Taqi Ash-Shirazi (died in year 1338 A.H.)
21 - Sayyid Abdul Husain Aal Tu'mah (died in year 1380 A.H.)
22 Sayyid Mirza Mahdi Ash-Shirazi (died in year 1380 A.H.)
23 Sayyid Mohammed Ali Al-Tabatabai (died year in 1381 A.H. )
References:
Karbala Fi Al-Zakirah / Ta'lif Sulaiman Hadi Al-Tu'mah / Tab'atul Ula / Sanat 1988 A.D./ Baghdad
Karbala in the Memory / written by Salman Hadi Al-Tu'mah / First Edition / Year 1988 A.D. Baghdad.
- Turath Karbala / Ta'lif Salman Hadi Al-Tu'mah / Tab'atul Ula / Sanat 1983 A.D.
Heritage of Karbala / written by Salman Hadi Aal Tu'mah / First Edition / Year 1983 A.D.
- Mawsu'atul Atabaat Al-Muqadasah / Juz'u Thamin / Sanat 1987 A.D.
Encyclopedia of the Holy Tombs / Volume 8 / Second Edition / Year 1987 A.D.
-Al-Iraq Qadiman Wa Hadithan / Sayyid Abdu Razak Al-Hasani
Iraq in Ancient Time and Recently / Authored by Abdu Razaq Al-Hasani.