Karbala and Ashura

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ABOUT THE MAP

This map shows Imam Husayn's journey from Medinah to Karbala' in 60/680 CE, and the journey of his family from Karbala' to Damascus and back to Karbala'. The route of the Imam's journey was determined by cities mentioned in Maqtal al-Husayn by 'Abdul Razzaq Muqarram. Some of the cities are positioned according to locations given by Tavo in a map of Islamic Arabia until the death of the Prophet. The route that the Imam took from Mecca to Karbala' follows, in reverse, a popular pilgrim route from Kufah to Mecca, which later became Tariq Zubayda. The Imam followed this route until prevented by Hurr from continuing towards Kufah. Thereupon, he deviated from the route and headed towards Karbala'. However, due to difficulty in determining the exact location, not all cities mentioned in Maqtal al-Husayn appear on the map
The journey of the Imam's family after the massacre of Karbala' in 10th Muharram 61/680 is described as going through major cites and the only names mentioned are Aleppo and Hamah. At that time two main routes existed from Kufah to Damascus. One followed the Euphrates Northwest to Aleppo and then South to Hamah, then Damascus. The other goes west across the desert directly to Damascus. It was concluded that the army took the Imam's family on the river route through Aleppo and Hamah, and upon leaving Damascus the family used

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the desert route in order to reach Karbala' on the occasion of 'Arba'in, 20th of Safar.
The following sources were consulted:
Al-Faruqi, Isma'il Ragi. Historical Atlas of the Religions of the World. New York: Macmillan Publishing Co., Inc., 1974.
Iraq: Official Standard Names Approved by the U.S. Board on Geographic Names. Washington, D.C.: Office of Geography, Department of the Interior, 1957.
Powell, Grace L. Atlas of the Middle East. Dubuque, Iowa: Kendall/Hunt Publishing Company, 1975.
Rebstock, Ulrich. "Das Islamisch Arabien his zum Tode des Propheten" in Tubinger Atlas des Vorderen Orients (TAVO). Wiesbaden: Dr. Ludwig Reichert Verlag, 1987.

Hasan Hussain Jalali
Chicago, 1994

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CHRONOLOGY OF THE LIFE OF IMAM HUSAYN

Day	Month	Year	Event
3	Sha'ban	4/625	Birth of Imam Husayn
27	Safar	11/632	His grandfather, Prophet Muhammad, dies
21	Ramadan	40/660	His father, 'Ali, killed
7	Safar	50/670	His brother, Hasan poisoned to death
27	Rajab	60/680	Yazid demands allegiance of Husayn
28	Rajab	60/680	The Imam leaves Medinah at night
3	Sha'ban	60/680	The Imam arrives at Mecca
10	Ramadan	60/680	People of Kufah, Iraq, invite the Imam

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15	Ramadan	60/680	Muslim goes to Kufah as Imam's messenger
5	Shawwal	60/680	Muslim arrives in Kufah
8	DhulHijjah	60/680	Muslim betrayed and killed
8	DhulHijjah	60/680	Imam leaves from Mecca to Kufah
2	Muharram	61/680	Imam arrives in Karbala', Iraq
3	Muharram	61/680	''Umar Ibn Sa'd arrives to army of 30,000
7	Muharram	61/680	Imam's camp blocked from access to water
9	Muharram	61/680	The first attack on Imam Husayn's camp
10	Muharram	61/680	Massacre of Imam Husayn and his followers
11	Muharram	61/680	Captivity of Imam's family

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

Haig, Sir Wolseley, Comparative Tables of Muhammadan and Christian Dates. (London: Luzac and Co.), 1932.

Ibn al-Sabbagh, 'Ali b. Muhammad al-Maliki (d. 855/1451 CE), al-Fusul al-Muhimmah fi Ma'rifah al-'Ahwal al-'A'immah. Najaf, Iraq: Al-'Adl Press, 137011950 CE

Jalali, Muhammad Hussain, Mazarat Ahl al-Bayt. (Reprint) Chicago: Islamic Community, 1988/1409.

The Qur'an Translated. (unpublished manuscript)

Muqarram, 'Abdul-Razzaq, Maqtal al-Husayn Beirut, Lebanon: Dar al-Kitab al-Islami, 1979/1399.

Saduq, Abu Jaf'ar Muhammad b. 'Ali b. al-Husayn, d. 381, 'Mali al-Sadua, Najaf, Iraq: Haydariyyah Press, 1389/1970.

Wehr, Hans. A Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic (Arabic-English) Edited by J. Milton Cowan, (Fourth Edition) Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz, 1979.