Karbala

Karbala, Iraq

Karbala, Arabic Karbalāʾ, also spelled Kerbela, city, capital of Karbalāʾ muḥāfaẓah (governorate), central Iraq. One of Shiʿi Islam’s foremost holy cities, it lies 55 miles (88 km) southwest of Baghdad, with which it is connected by rail.

The city’s religious significance derives from the Battle of Karbala (680 ce), a one-sided contest in which al-Ḥusayn ibn ʿAlī, the Shiʿi leader and grandson of the Prophet Muhammad, and his small party were massacred by a much larger force sent by the Umayyad caliph Yazīd I. Ḥusayn’s tomb, located in the city, is one of the most important Shiʿi shrines and centres of pilgrimage, including the annual Arbaʿeen pilgrimage 40 days after the commemoration of Ḥusayn’s death. (Sunni Wahhābī raiders destroyed it in 1801, but it was soon rebuilt.) Shiʿi Muslims consider burial in one of the city’s many cemeteries a sure means of reaching paradise. The city’s religious community has maintained close ties with coreligionists in Iran. A significant portion of Karbala’s population is of Iranian descent, and large numbers of Iranians visit the city during pilgrimages to Ḥusayn’s tomb.

Karbala still functions as a trade centre and a departure point for the pilgrimage to Mecca. The city’s older section is enclosed by a wall, with the newer buildings to the south. Karbala has been a centre of discontent with the country’s rulers. Civil discord was brutally put down there after the Persian Gulf War (1990–91). The city suffered little damage during the initial phase (2003) of the Iraq War, but it has been subject to violence since then.

West of Karbala, in the desert, are the ruins of Al-Ukhaidir, a Sasanian-style fortress of uncertain provenance. It was probably built in the late 8th century. Pop. (2009 est.) 588,283; (2019 est.) 548,620.