Son of Ali and Fatima, an Important Martyr in Shia Islam
Islamic history records that Husayn was the son of Ali and Fatima and the grandson of Muhammad. In 680, at Karbala (in present-day Iraq), he led a small band of followers against the army of the Umayyad caliph Yazid, and, outnumbered, was at last martyred along with most of his family and followers — the "Tragedy of Karbala." This event is the origin of Shia Islam’s most central commemoration, the "Day of Ashura," and one of the deepest wounds in the historical Sunni–Shia division. This card states only the course of events both sides acknowledge.
Refusing allegiance to the caliph Yazid, whom he held to be unjust, Husayn led his family and a few followers toward Kufa, and on the way was surrounded and cut off from water by the Umayyad army at Karbala. Tradition records that, in extremity, he still refused to yield, and was at last martyred fighting — a history commemorated ever since in the Shia tradition each year at Ashura with mourning processions.
Husayn’s martyrdom at Karbala is the origin of Shia Islam’s most central commemoration, the Day of Ashura; Sunnis likewise acknowledge the tragedy of this history, with a manner of commemoration and theological emphasis different from the Shia. This site states only the course of events both sides acknowledge.
Below are how modern works borrow or reinterpret this name or story — not the original material. The two differ, so keep them apart.
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