Battle of Karbala and the Sunni–Shia divide
- Date
- 10 October 680 CE
- Category
- Religion & ideology
- Region
- Mesopotamia (Iraq)
- Era
- Post-Classical / Medieval
- Significance
On 10 October 680 CE, near Karbala in present-day Iraq, a small band of relatives and supporters of Husayn ibn Ali, grandson of Muhammad, was surrounded and massacred by the far larger army of the Umayyad caliph Yazid I.
Husayn had refused to recognise Yazid, whose hereditary succession many regarded as illegitimate, and was killed along with most of the men of the Prophet's family. Though militarily minor, the event became one of the most emotionally and theologically charged moments in Islamic history. For Shia Muslims, Husayn's willingness to die rather than submit to an unjust ruler became the supreme model of righteous martyrdom, and his death transformed the political followers of Ali into a community with a distinct religious identity, ritual life and theology. The day is commemorated annually as Ashura, marked by mourning processions and passion plays. Karbala hardened the schism opened by the First Fitna into a permanent sectarian and doctrinal divide between Sunni and Shia Islam that continues to shape the religion and the politics of the Middle East to the present day.
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Empires active in 10 October 680 CE
- Umayyad Caliphate661 CE – 750 CE
- Tang Dynasty618 CE – 907 CE
- Byzantine Empire330 CE – 1453 CE
- Tibetan Empire618 CE – 842 CE
- Classic Maya Civilization250 CE – 900 CE
- Khazar Khaganate650 CE – 969 CE
Related religion & ideology events
- Adi Shankara and the Revival of Advaita Vedantac. 700-750 CE
- The Hijra: Muhammad's migration to Medina622 CE
- Muhammad's first revelation in the Cave of Hirac. 610 CE
- Official Introduction of Buddhism to Japan552 CE (traditional date; 538 CE in some sources)
- Church of the East Reaches Tang China (Alopen Mission)635 CE
- Onset of Byzantine Iconoclasm under Leo IIIc. 726–730 CE
Further reading
The wider story
A Little History of Religion
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