page_title: Husayn ibn Ali
section_title: Burial
hierarchical_section_title: Husayn ibn Ali / Burial
context_page_description: Husayn ibn Ali ibn Abi Talib was a grandson of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and a son of Ali ibn Abi Talib and Muhammad's daughter Fatimah. He is an important figure in Islam as he was a member of the Household of Muhammad and the People of the Cloak, as well as the third Shia Imam.
  Prior to his death, the Umayyad ruler Mu'awiya appointed his son Yazid as his successor, contrary to the Hasan-Muawiya treaty. When Muawiya died in 680, Yazid demanded that Husayn pledge allegiance to him. Husayn refused to pledge allegiance to Yazid, even though it meant sacrificing his life. As a consequence, he left Medina, his hometown, to take refuge in Mecca in AH 60. There, the people of Kufa sent letters to him, asking his help and pledging their allegiance to him. So he traveled towards Kufa, after getting some favorable indications along with a small caravan of his relatives and followers but near Karbala his caravan was intercepted by Yazid's army. He was killed and beheaded in the Battle of Karbala on 10 October 680 by Yazid, along with most of his family and companions, including Husayn's six-month old son, Ali al-Asghar, with the women and children taken as prisoners.
context_section_description: Husayn's body is buried in Karbala, the site of his death. His head is said to have been returned from Damascus and interred with his body, although various sites have also been claimed to house, or have sheltered, Husayn's head, among others: Aleppo, Ashkelon, Baalbek, Cairo, Damascus, Homs, Merv, and Medina.
caption: Zarih of Husayn's head at Al-Hussein Mosque in Cairo, Egypt
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