The Battle of Karbala occurred on October 10, 680 ce (Muharram 10, ah 61). It was a brief military engagement where a small group led by al-Ḥusayn ibn ʿAlī, grandson of Prophet Muhammad, was defeated and massacred by the army of the Umayyad caliph Yazīd I.
Ḥusayn, with about 72 fighters, faced an army of around 4,000 sent by ʿUbayd Allāh. Despite being heavily outnumbered, Ḥusayn fought, relying on promised aid from Kūfah, but he, along with most of his family and followers, were killed and their bodies mutilated. The women were taken to Yazīd in Damascus.
The battle helped solidify the Umayyad dynasty’s power. For Shiʿi Muslims, the 10th of Muharram (Ashura) became a day of public mourning.