Imām Ḥusayn Shrine

The Imam Husayn Shrine in Karbala, Iraq, marks the tomb of Husayn ibn Ali, grandson of Muhammad and the third Shia Imam. He was killed with his family and some seventy followers at the Battle of Karbala in 680 after rising against the Umayyad caliph Yazid I. His martyrdom, commemorated on Ashura, made Karbala one of Shia Islam's holiest cities.

The Abbasid caliph al-Saffah raised the first substantial shrine in the 750s, but in 850 al-Mutawakkil had the tomb demolished and its pit flooded, until his successor al-Muntasir allowed pilgrims to return. The Buyid emir Adud al-Dawla rebuilt and fortified it in 981, and it was restored after a fire in 1016.

In 1802 Wahhabi raiders from Najd sacked Karbala, massacred its people and tore down the dome. The Qajar shah Fath-Ali Shah then funded the rebuilding of the shrine.