born January 626, Medina, Hejaz, Arabian Peninsula
died Oct. 10, 680, Karbalāʾ, Iraq
Muslim political and religious leader.
He was the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad . After the assassination of his father, the fourth caliph, Umayyad dynasty , Muāwiyah I . He refused, however, to acknowledge the succession of the latter's son, Yazīd I , and instead accepted an invitation to travel to Iraq in order to lead a revolt against the Umayyads. He, along with a small entourage of family and followers, was intercepted by the Umayyads and killed at the Battle of {{link=Karbala', Battle of">Karbalā . He is viewed by Shīite Muslims as the prototypical martyr, and his death became a central theme of later Shīʽite theology and is commemorated annually during the holy festival of ʽĀshūrāʾ.