(Oct. 10, 680) Brief engagement in which an Ummayad army sent by Yazīd I killed al-
Al-Ḥusayn, a grandson of the Prophet Muhammad, was on his way to Al-Kūfah, where he had been invited to press his claim to the caliphate, when he and his party were attacked and killed near the town of Karbalāʾ, Iraq. Most Shīʽites regard the anniversary of the battle as a holy day of mourning, and on that day they ritually reenact al-Ḥusayn's death; his tomb in Karbalāʾ is likewise considered a place of great sanctity. See also Alī ; fitnah ; {{link=Muawiyah">Muāwiyah I .