The Institute of Asian and African Studies

The Max Schloessinger Memorial Foundation

Offprint from

JERUSALEM STUDIES IN
ARABIC AND ISLAM
42 (2015)
Antoine Borrut
Remembering Karbal
a-: the construction of
an early Islamic site of memory

THE HEBREW UNIVERSITY OF JERUSALEM

THE FACULTY OF HUMANITIES

CONTENTS
Angelika Neuwirth

Walid A. Saleh

The discovery of writing in

the Qur-an: tracing an epistemic
revolution in Arab Late Antiquity
A piecemeal Qur-an: furq
an and
its meaning in classical Islam and
modern Qur-anic studies

31

Koby Yosef

Between al-Zuhr (d. 124/742) and

Qat
ada (d. 118/736): two early
treatises on abrogation in the
Qur-an

73

Avraham Hakim

The Biblical annunciation made to

,Umar b. al-Khat.t.ab: the religious
legitimation of the early Islamic
conquests

129

Ersilia Francesca

Generosity versus
medieval Islam

151

avarice

in

Miklos Muranyi

Geniza or h.ubus: some observations

on the library of the great mosque
in Qayrawan

183

Harry Munt

Trends in the economic history of

the early Islamic H
. ijaz: Medina
during the second/eighth century
Remembering Karbala-: the construction of an early Islamic site of
memory

201

Antoine Borrut

Yaron Ben-Naeh

Hebrew sources on the death of

Sultan Osman: a chapter in Jewish
historiography under Islam

249

283

REVIEWS
Rainer Brunner

Ah.mad al-Ah.baiyib. Kit

ab al-A,d
ad
al-musamm
a Sullam al-,ilm wa
l-
ad
ab wa-mi ,r
ag al-h.ikma wa-fas.l
al-hit.
ab, Teile 16.

365

Alfred Ivry

Felicitas Opwis and David Reisman,

eds. Islamic philosophy, science,
culture and religion: studies in
honor of Dimitri Gutas.

369

Meira Polliack

Sidney H. Griffith.
The Bible
in Arabic: The Scriptures of the
People of the Book in the language
of Islam.

375

JSAI 42 (2015)

-:
REMEMBERING KARBALA
THE CONSTRUCTION OF AN EARLY ISLAMIC
SITE OF MEMORY
Antoine Borrut
University of Maryland

The hearts of the people are with you [al-H

. usayn], but their swords are
with the Ban
u Umayya 1
On the tenth of Muh.arram, 61 AH (October 10, 680), a grandson of the
Prophet Muh.ammad perished as a martyr on the banks of the Euphrates,
amidst the arid plain of Karbala- in southern Iraq. The death of alH
. usayn b. ,Al at the hands of Umayyad forces is an upsetting memory,
chiefly for Sh,s, but more broadly for the Islamic community as a whole.
This battle, frequently regarded by modern specialists as a relatively
minor episode often reduced, in fact, to a police operation directed
against a rebel refusing to acknowledge caliphal authorityinvolved the
death of a few dozen people (the sources most commonly speak of 70
or 72 victims), who were massacred by a significantly larger caliphal
army. It rapidly became, however, a central event of early Islam and
a foundational stone in the effort at articulating a narrative of the
The present article is part of a broader project on early Islamic sites of memory,
entitled Remaking heritage: memory and oblivion in early Islam and supported
by the University Research Council of the Aga Khan University (AKU). Most of the
research and writing of this paper was done thanks to a fellowship at the Institute
for the Study of Muslim Civilisations (ISMC), AKU, London. I wish to express
my gratitude to its director, Dr. Farouk Topan, and to colleagues from the ISMC
who made every stay in London a pleasant one. I am especially grateful to Yohanan
Friedmann, Najam Haider, Etan Kohlberg, Sabrina Mervin, Sarah Bowen Savant and
to the participants in the twelfth international conference From J
ahiliyya to Islam
(Jerusalem, June 2012) and in the workshop Remembering the First Century of Islam
(London, AKU-ISMC, July 2012) for their helpful comments on earlier drafts of this
paper.
1 Qul
ub al-n
as ma ,ak, wa-suy
ufuhum ma ,a ban Umayya. Al-Farazdaq (d. ca.
112/730), answering al-H
. usayns question about the feelings and intentions of the
people of K
ufa (the famous Umayyad-era poet allegedly met al-H
. usayn in the outskirts of Mecca, as the grandson of the Prophet was setting out on his journey to
Iraq). These lines are notably quoted by al-T
. abar, Ta -rkh, series 2, p. 277 (tr. vol.
19, p. 71), and Khalfa b. Khayy
at., Ta -rkh, vol. 1, p. 281.

249

250

Antoine Borrut

primordial Islamic past.2 As such, it has generated highly ritualized

annual commemorations until this day.
ura- offers an obvious reminder of
Indeed, the central place of ,Ash
the importance and actuality of al-H
. usayns memory for Muslims, as
it includes most famously a reenactment of his martyrdom at Karbalain the form of ta ,ziya plays,3 as well as a variety of rituals, perhaps
best exemplified by the (much-debated) practice of flagellation.4 But
if the episode was intensely remembered and commemorated by a large
number of Muslims, Karbal
a- could also represent a challenge to other
groups. Consider, for instance, the Wahhab attack on the city in 1802,
as reported by the contemporary chronicler Ibn Bishr:
[The Wahh
abs] surrounded Karbala- and took it by storm.
They killed most of the people in the markets and houses.
They destroyed the dome above H
. usayns grave. They took
away everything they saw in the mausoleum and near it, including the coverlet decorated with emeralds, sapphires and
pearls which covered the grave. They took away everything
they found in the town possessions, arms, clothes, fabric, gold, silver and precious books. One cannot count their
spoils. They stayed there for just one morning and left after
midday, taking away all the possessions. Nearly 2,000 people
were killed in Karbal
a-.5
Clearly, while the episode of Karbala- has long been and still is vividly
remembered in the Islamic community, it can also represent a major bone
ur
a- celebrations and the 1802 episode illustrate
of contention. The ,Ash
two radically opposed modern memories of a central event of Islamic
2 Sizgorich,

Violence and belief , pp. 1213.

a fascinating example of ta ,ziya, see Sabrina Mervins documentary film, The
procession of the captives (a Shiite tragedy) (Momento Production/CNRS Image,
2006).
4 There is an abundant bibliography on ,Ash
ur
a- and its rituals. See especially the
classic study of Ayoub, Redemptive suffering, to be complemented by erudite articles
such as Hawting, The Taww
ab
un, and Ende, The flagellations. Mervin has also
ur
dedicated numerous studies to ,Ash
a- rituals, in particular: Les larmes et le sang;
Shiite Theatre in South Lebanon; Ashura rituals. For the commemoration of alH
. usayns martyrdom prior to the Safavid period, see Calmard, Le culte. The role
ur
and function of ,Ash
a- in the early modern and modern periods has also received
significant attention in recent scholarship, most notably with Rahimi, Theater state;
Aghaie, The martyrs of Karbal
a -; Aigle, Le symbolisme religieux.
5 Cited in Rogan, The Arabs, p. 57. The main justification for this Wahh
ab attack
on Karbal
a- was their strong condemnation of saint veneration, exemplified here by
al-H
. usayns tomb, although this episode should be understood in the broader context
of the competition between Wahh
abs and Ottomans at the end of the 18th and the
th
beginning of the 19 century. See Rogans discussion, pp. 5459.
3 For

Remembering Karbal
a-

251

memory. From this perspective, Karbala- is clearly an Islamic lieu de

memoire (site of memory), to borrow from Pierre Noras terminology,
that is, a site of memory sometimes contested precisely because of its
actuality and ever-changing present-day relevance.6
It is therefore quite paradoxical that although this episode exemplifies the drama par excellence of early Islam, it has been so little studied
by modern scholars,7 even if its modern developments have attracted
more attention. This paper thus aims to investigate the conditions of
the historical knowledge of the Karbala- episode and to trace its narrative crystallization. How was it remembered by some and forgotten
by others? How was its memory constructed? In short, how was the
historiographical vulgate of such a central event elaborated?
My approach here is a history of memory one, which is to say that the
episode in and of itself is less important to me than the way in which it
was remembered (or forgotten). One could even concur with the German
Egyptologist Jan Assmann, that before studying the past as such we
must study the past as it is remembered,8 and such an endeavor is thus
a necessary preliminary step to any further studies. The great French
medievalist Georges Duby, in his monumental study of The Legend of
Bouvines, in fact, already suggested such a route when he wrote:
Events are like the foam of history, bubbles large or small
that burst at the surface and whose rupture triggers waves
that travel varying distances. This one has left very enduring
traces that are not yet completely erased today. It is those
traces that bestow existence upon it. Outside of them, the
event is nothing, and it is thus with them that this book is
essentially concerned.9
6 Nora, Les lieux de m
emoire. The absence of a Pierre Nora of the Near and
Middle East has been lamented by Hartmann, Rethinking memory, p. 53. This,
of course, is not to say that Noras work did not generate some serious scholarly
debate, see in particular Taithe, Monuments aux morts? and Tai, Remembered
realms. For a discussion of Umayyad lieux de m
emoire and their reception in the
early ,Abb
as period, see Borrut, Entre m
emoire et pouvoir , pp. 179228.
7 The most detailed study to date of the earliest sources on Karbal
a- is by Howard,
H
en, H
. usayn the martyr. See also the structuralist approach of Hyl
. usayn, the
mediator .
8 Assmann, Moses the Egyptian, p. 9. For a discussion of the history of memory
in an early Islamic context and of the relevant literature, see Borrut, Entre m
emoire
et pouvoir , pp. 167179. On cultural memory, see more broadly Assmann, Cultural
memory.
9 Duby, The Legend of Bouvines, pp. 12 (my italics). (Les
ev
enements sont
comme l
ecume de lhistoire, des bulles, grosses ou menues, qui cr`
event en surface, et
dont l
eclatement suscite des remous qui plus ou moins loin se propagent. Celui-ci
a laiss
e des traces tr`
es durables: elle ne se sont pas aujourdhui tout `
a fait effac
ees.
Ces traces seules lui conf`
erent existence. En dehors delles, l
ev
enement nest rien.

252

Antoine Borrut

In the same vein, it is the traces of Karbala- that need to be investigated: the event of Karbala- is not a dramatic battle on the banks
of the Euphrates, but rather its narrative crystallization. That is, the
layers of writing and rewriting up to (and including) the imposition of
historiographical filters and the making of an agreed upon version of the
episode.10 Given its centrality in Islamic consciousness, Karbala- could,
in fact, be regarded as the event par excellence of early Islam. As the
most traumatic episode of nascent Islam, it required the greatest historiographical effort and thus the details of the construction of its memory
deserve scrutiny.
The material on Karbal
a- is so extensive in medieval sources that it
is impossible to offer a comprehensive discussion here. For the purpose
of the present article, I am limiting myself to Islamic chronographies11
and the relevant non-Muslim sources,12 as I am mostly interested here in
identifying the very first layers of historical writing on the subject, following a methodology developed elsewhere and outlined below.13 Before
focusing on these texts, however, it must be emphasized that many more
sources would be pertinent to such a study and would require further
research. I can only briefly introduce them here.
The maq
atil literature, which culminated with Ab
u al-Faraj al-Is.fahans (d. 356/967) Maq
atil al-t.
alibiyyn, arguably constitutes the most obvious venue for such a topic. In his meticulous study of the genre, S.
G
unther identified four main phases of the circulation of maq
atil traditions:14 1) the pre-literary phase (1st /7th century until the first decades
of the 2nd /8th century), during which oral reports of maqtal s mostly
circulated among Sh,s; 2) a second stage (first half of the 2nd /8th century to beginning of 3rd /9th century) during which early Sh, historians
started to compile collections of maqtal s, mostly in the form of notes
(hypomnemata), even if some books already existed; 3) a third stage
(mid-2nd /8th century until the first third of 4th /10th century) which
represents the golden age of the genre, culminating with Ab
u al-Faraj
Donc cest delles, essentiellement, que ce livre entend parler. Duby, Le dimanche
de Bouvines, p. 14).
10 Other salient events of early Islam deserve the same kind of attention. See for
example my discussion of the so-called ,Abb
as Revolution in Borrut, Entre m
emoire
et pouvoir , pp. 321381.
11 I am using here the historiographical category as defined by Robinson, Islamic
historiography, pp. 5579.
12 On the importance of non-Muslim sources for early Islamic history, see especially
Hoylands Seeing Islam, and my discussion in Borrut, Entre m
emoire et pouvoir , pp.
137ff.
13 For a full discussion of the methodology, see the first four chapters of my Entre
m
emoire et pouvoir .
14 G
unther, Maq
atil literature, pp. 209210, and more broadly his Quellenuntersuchungen. See also Kanazi, The massacre.

Remembering Karbal
a-

253

al-Is.fah
an;15 and 4) a fourth stage (starting around the mid- 4th /10th
century), which marks the end of the Maq
atil literature as a discrete literary genre (even if it resurfaced much later, in sixteenth century Safavid
Iran).
Beyond the strict genre of the Maq
atil, Sh, literature and Sh, poetry are likely to have conveyed other memories or provided alternative
routes for the preservation of the memories of Karbala-.16 If it has, for
instance, been suggested that al-Shaykh al-Mufd (d. 413/1022) mostly
17
derived his material on the episode from al-T
. abar, other examples
reveal important efforts of literary and legendary elaboration. This is
perhaps above all the case with the figure of Shahrban
u, the Sasanian
princess and daughter of the last emperor Yazdagird III, who was al
legedly al-H
ns mother, although this
. usayns wife and Zayn al-,Abid
literary phenomenon is not restricted to Sh, sources, as shown by M.A.
Amir-Moezzi.18 As for Sh, poetry, the useful compilation of T. ElAcheche lists more than two dozen transmitters of verses about Karbala-,
many of whom were directly involved in the episode.19 El-Acheche has
also noted several poems about the Taww
ab
un.20 Muslim tradition even
credits al-H
an, and makes much of his literary talent,
. usayn with a Dw
inherited from his father.21
The qus..s
a.s also likely played a significant role, perhaps best exemplified by Ibn A,tham al-K
uf (wr. ca. 204/819).22 As aptly noted by
Howard, he offers the most embellished account of the martyrdom of
23
the Imam al-H
Interestingly enough, it is possible that the
. usayn.
original version of his Kit
ab al-fut
uh. ended with the dramatic episode of
15 This makes it all the more puzzling to note that al-Isfah
an has almost nothing
.
to offer on Karbal
a- in his Agh
an, as pointed out by Kilpatrick, Making the great
book of songs, esp. pp. 15 and 146147.
16 For recent discussions of early Sh
, literature, see most notably Modarressi, Tradition and survival and Amir-Moezzi, Le Coran silencieux .
17 As noted by Howard, Husayn the martyr, p. 142.
.
18 Amir-Moezzi, Shahrb

an
u, Dame du pays dIran and Sahrb
an
u. For a somewhat different chronological assessment of the elaboration of the legend, see Savant,
The new Muslims, pp. 102108.
19 El-Acheche, La po
esie si ,ite, pp. 135150.
20 Ibid., pp. 150154.
21 See in particular the discussion of Kanazi, Notes. Al-Husayn is also depicted
.
as an occasional poet in the Kit
ab al-agh
an; see Kilpatrick, Making the great book
of songs, p. 147.
22 The date of Ibn A,thams work has been much debated in modern scholarship.
See my discussion in Borrut, Entre m
emoire et pouvoir , pp. 9193 and more recently
Daniel, Ket
ab al-fotuh., to be complemented by the important, albeit unpublished,
article by L.I. Conrad, Ibn A,tham and his History (see also his brief entry Ibn
A,tham al-K
uf, p. 314).
23 Howard, Husayn the martyr, p. 141.
.

254

Antoine Borrut

Karbal
a-, as suggested by the Persian translation of his work!24 If so,
Karbal
a- may not only be regarded as an origin the origin of a Sh,
memory but also as an end the end of a united community and in
a sense the end of history.
Lastly, the much-neglected genre of astrological histories also pre25
serves some relevant material, such as horoscopes of al-H
. usayns death.

The Karbala- narrative: a (brief) sketch and its problems

Before continuing our investigation, a brief sketch of the Karbala- episode, as reported in mainstream Muslim chronographies,26 would be
helpful. I have divided it into four major phases:
1. The problematic succession: the succession of the first Umayyad
caliph Mu,
awiya by his son Yazd in 60/680 proved to be quite
problematic. Such a hereditary succession was rejected by several
leaders who refused to give the bay ,a to Yazd, such as al-H
. usayn b.
,Al who eventually left Medina for Mecca in search of a safe-haven.
2. The K
ufan call : the inhabitants of K
ufa sent numerous letters
to al-H
usayn,
inviting
him
to
join
them
and become their leader;
.
they affirmed that they would fight on his side against Yazd. After
having sent his cousin Muslim b. ,Aql to evaluate the situation,
al-H
ufa in 60/680. However, the
. usayn decided to depart for K
equation dramatically changed during his journey, as the powerful
Umayyad governor of Khurasan, Bas.ra, and K
ufa, ,Ubayd Allah b.
Ziy
ad (d. 67/686), managed to restore Umayyad authority over the
latter city, thus forcing the inhabitants to betray their promises to
al-H
. usayn.
24 On

this Persian translation, see Daniel, Ket

ab al-fotuh..
for instance the horoscope of Muh.ammad b. M
us
a al-Khw
arizm (d. after
232/847) preserved by al-Ya,q
ub, Ta -rkh, vol. 2, p. 291. On the significance of
astrological histories in early Islamic historiography, see Borrut, Court astrologers.
26 The question of the sources is abundantly discussed below. Such a sketch is
also widespread in modern scholarship, given that literally every work dealing with
early Sh,ism (and often later developments as well) has to offer at least a brief
discussion of Karbal
a-. This has been true since the pioneering work of Wellhausen,
Die religi
os-politischen Oppositionsparteien, pp. 60ff. and Das arabische Reich, pp.
71ff., or Lammens, Le califat de Yazd Ier , pp. 131161. See for instance the various
works of Halm and especially Le Chiisme, pp. 1921; Hodgson, How did the early
Sh,a become sectarian?; Watt, Shi,ism; Jafri, Origins, pp. 174ff.; the classic study
of the second fitna by Rotter, Die Umayyaden, esp. pp. 3740; or more recently
Dakake, The charismatic community, pp. 8199. See also the thorough discussion of
Veccia Vaglieri, (al-)H
. usayn b. ,Al.
25 See

Remembering Karbal
a-

255

3. The battle: al-H

. usayn and his followers were intercepted by Umayyad forces before reaching K
ufa and ended up in Karbala- where
they were massacred on the 10th of Muh.arram 61 (October 10,
680). Before the battle itself, al-H
. usayns partisans were deprived
of access to the waters of the Euphrates, thus suffering torture by
thirst. The depiction of the battle itself emphasizes the heroism
and martyrdom27 of al-H
. usayn and his companions. Al-H
. usayns
head is then cut off and sent first to ,Ubayd Allah b. Ziyad in K
ufa
and eventually to the caliph Yazd (I) b. Mu,awiya in Damascus,
along with the prisoners. The captives were exclusively women,
including al-H
. usayns famous sister, Zaynab, with the notable ex
ception of ,Al b. al-H
n (d. ca. 9495/712
. usayn Zayn al-,Abid
713).28
4. Commemorations: only a few years later (6465/684685), feeling guilty for having failed to protect their guide, the Taww
ab
un
(Penitents) came out against the Umayyad forces and ended up
being massacred at ,Ayn al-Warda (i.e., Ra-s al-,Ayn in Northern Mesopotamia) in 65/685, after a pilgrimage to al-H
. usayns
tomb. Other early pilgrimages to Karbala- are also recorded in the
sources29 and, moreover, several revolts erupted in the following
years and decades claiming vengeance for al-H
. usayns blood, best
exemplified by al-Mukhtar b. Ab ,Ubayd al-Thaqafs (d. 67/687)
bid for power.30
This vulgate of the episode is widely available in the so-called classical
sources of the 3rd /9th and 4th /10th centuries, usually in the form of a
very dense text. The most comprehensive account is arguably preserved
by al-T
. abar (d. 310/923), who composed it almost 250 years after the
event.31 Such a situation raises important questions for us as historians:
what were the conditions of this narratives crystallization? What were
its rhythms, actors, and places?
27 This topic is of course of paramount importance in the narratives and subsequent
memories of the episode. See for instance Ayoub, Redemptive suffering; Crow, The
death of al-H
. usayn; and more broadly, Cook, Martyrdom in Islam. For a wider Late
Antique perspective, see Sizgorich, Violence and belief .
28 Kohlberg, Zayn al-,Abid

n.
29 N. Haider has recently insisted on the importance of such a ritual in the shaping
of a discrete Im
am identity. See his The origins, pp. 245247.
30 On early ,Alid and proto-Sh
, revolts, see W.F. Tucker, Mahdis and millenarians
and Fishbein, The life of al-Mukht
ar . See also the useful discussion of Crone, Gods
rule, pp. 7086.
31 Other scholars such as al-Bal
adhur (d. 279/892) or al-Dnawar (d. between
281/894 and 290/903) also offer a fairly detailed account, but not as comprehensive as al-T
. abars. See the remarks of Howard, H
. usayn the martyr, pp. 138139.

256

Antoine Borrut

A paradox immediately emerges: we have ample attestation of the

early commemoration of the episode, as noted above, but only the thinnest
historical record of it in the earliest preserved narratives. Indeed, the
Ta -rkh of Khalfa b. Khayy
at. (d. ca. 240/854), often regarded as the
earliest fully preserved chronography, provides only very brief references
to the episode, under the years 60 and 61 of the hijra: the precise date
of the death of al-H
. usayn is duly recorded (and even repeated several
times), as well as a brief list of eleven family members killed along with
him. The mission of Muslim b. ,Aql in K
ufa is noted in a few lines,
and so is the encounter of al-H
usayn
on
his
way to Iraq with the poet
.
Farazdaq at Dh
at ,Irq, in the vicinity of Mecca.32 Khalfa b. Khayyat.
also reports that al-H
. usayn had with him 60 or 70 men, that he was
killed by Shamir (or Shimr) b. Dh al-Jawshan (d. 66/686), and that
,Umar b. Sa,d b. M
alik (i.e., ,Umar b. Sa,d b. Ab Waqqas.) was leading
the Umayyad army.33 Even Sh, authors such as al-Ya,q
ub34 (d. ca.
35
292/905) and al-Mas,u
d (d. 345/956) have surprisingly little to offer
on the topic. Furthermore, non-Muslim sources are almost completely
silent about the event,36 although they usually offer a narrative of early
Islamic history that is fairly consistent with Muslim sources (the two
notable exceptions, the anonymous Syriac Chronicle of 1234 and the
chronography of Elias of Nisibis, are discussed below).
Illuminating these contradictions requires some discussion of the meanderings of early Islamic historiography. As is well known, scholars in
general face a significant lack of Islamic narrative sources for the first
centuries of Islam. The earliest extant Islamic chronographies are no
older than the middle of the 3rd /9th century, which is almost two centuries after al-H
. usayns martyrdom. In other words, since our knowledge
of the period rests largely upon Islamic narrative sources produced much
later in ,Abb
as Iraq, writing the history of the first centuries of Islam
poses especially thorny methodological problems and has thus generated
important scholarly debates in the field early on.37 I have argued else32 Dh
at ,Irq is a station on the road between Mecca and Iraq; see Y
aq
ut, Mu ,jam,
vol. 3, p. 651.
33 Khal
fa b. Khayy
at., Ta -rkh, vol. 1, pp. 278, 280281, 284286. The brevity of
Khalfas account was already pointed out by Howard, H
. usayn the martyr, p. 135.
34 The question of his Sh
,ism has been debated by modern scholars: cf. Y. Marquet,
Le si,isme and Daniel, Al-Ya,q
ub and Shi,ism reconsidered. Again, al-Ya,q
ubs
limited discussion of the episode was noted by Howard, H
. usayn the martyr, pp.
139140.
35 Al-Mas,u
ds Sh,ism has often been noted by modern scholars. See recently M.
Cooperson, Mas,u
d.
36 See table 1. This silence is obvious in Hoylands Seeing Islam, index, Karbal
a[s.v.].
37 See the convenient discussion of Donner, Narratives, pp. 131.

Remembering Karbal
a-

257

where that an agreed upon version of the early Islamic past, a vulgate,
was crafted in the late 3rd /9th and early 4th /10th centuries, in the aftermath of the abandonment of Samarra- in 279/892 and in the context of
the return of the caliphate to Baghdad.38 This endeavor, however, was
not the first attempt by Muslims to write the story of their origins. But
this ,Abb
as-era version would prove successful and long lasting, when
previous efforts vanished, or more aptly were reshaped and enshrined in
subsequent layers of rewriting. Yet, for all the oblivion surrounding early
Islamic historiography, these early layers of historical writing did impact
this ,Abb
as-era version. Indeed, history had to be rewritten with whatever materials were available, even if such elements were the products of
former competing historical orthodoxies or the fruits of earlier strategies
of selection that determined in a fundamental way the access that all
future generations would have to alternative pasts.39 Such a dearth
of contemporary narratives invites us to a history of memory approach,
to shed new light on sources torn between remembrance and oblivion.
Historical writing, after all, always conforms to present needs.
Beyond the specific challenges offered by Islamic historiography, nonMuslim sources are also critical for our investigation as several of them
present the advantage of contemporaneity with the first centuries of Islam. The usefulness of this corpus of texts (composed in a variety of languages including in particular Greek, Syriac, Coptic, Armenian, and Arabic) has also been disputed in modern scholarship but their importance
has now been clearly established. And yet, important misconceptions
persist as non-Muslim sources are still largely regarded as external
to the Islamic tradition, therefore to be opposed to allegedly internal
(i.e., Muslim) sources. Such an approach is quite misleading and does
not do justice to the rich historical material that was widely circulated
among the various historiographies at work in the Middle East. I have
advocated elsewhere for a different approach, arguing that we have, in
fact, Near Eastern sourcesthat is, common narratives produced in the
different languages of the Near East but based, at least for Islamic history, on a shared core of data, circulated through what L.I. Conrad once
termed intercultural transmission.40
To put it differently, non-Muslim scholars were indebted to Muslim
and/or Arab informants for their knowledge of the history of Islam and
the caliphate. As a consequence, bits of a now lost early Islamic historiography may have survived in non-Muslim sources that can thus offer
access to fragments of alternative pasts. As we can document early stages
38 Borrut,

Entre m
emoire et pouvoir , pp. 61108.
Phantoms of remembrance, p. 177.
40 Conrad, Theophanes. See my discussion in Borrut, Entre m
emoire et pouvoir ,
pp. 137ff., and Borrut, The future of the past.
39 Geary,

258

Antoine Borrut

of intercultural transmission, we can also unveil elements of lost historiographical layers transmitted at asynchronous times. And it is precisely
because not all sources are necessarily saying the same thing at the same
time that we can study these various layers of writing and rewriting in
order to establish the sequence by which specific themes or clusters of
information appeared, thus shedding a new light on these early attempts
at Islamic history and the various political, ideological or historiographical projects they reveal. In other words, the different rhythms of the
various historiographies of the Near East (and the variable rhythms of
the circulation of historical information between these numerous historiographies), are essential in trying to access bits of this buried past that
refused to stay buried,41 as non-Muslim sources provide access to different moments of historiographical sedimentation. Concretely, we can
actually trace some elements back to the Umayyad period itself, well
before the ,Abb
ass ever appeared on the scene. This is of course not to
say that we can claim to have any access to the original (literary) form
of this information, but we might have access to the content itself.
We are thus facing a multi-layered historiography that sometimes
allows us to detect in non-Muslim sources elements coming from a nowlost Islamic historiography. Such an approach has offered fruitful results
on several other occasions,42 but the episode of Karbala- poses especially
thorny problems.

The transmission of silence: Karbala- in non-Muslim sources

Indeed, Karbal
a- constitutes a case in point and a truly notable exception, given that the episode is virtually absent from non-Muslim sources,
as shown in table 1. This absence is even more puzzling if one considers
that the salient events immediately preceding or following al-H
. usayns
martyrdom are duly recorded by Christian historians. Thus, Yazds
accession to the throne or al-Mukhtars revolt, started in the name of
al-H
. usayns blood, are discussed in some detail. As noted by Hoyland,
the account of al-Mukht
ars revolt follows remarkably closely the traditional Muslim account,43 which makes the silence on Karbala- all the
more vexing. Such a silenceor oblivionis more broadly paradoxical
given the impact of the episode on classical Islamic historiography.
41 To

borrow Gearys expression, Phantoms of remembrance, p. 180.

especially Borrut, Entre tradition et histoire, La circulation de
linformation historique, and Entre m
emoire et pouvoir .
43 Hoyland, Seeing Islam, p. 197. Hoyland is specifically referring here to the account of John Bar Penk
ay
e (wr. ca. 687), on whom see Brock, North Mesopotamia.
42 See

Remembering Karbal
a-

259

Specialists of history of memory traditionally provided two main explanations for such a scenario: 1) either the event was too insignificant to
be immediately registered and elaborated upon, and the narrative crystallization occurred at a much later point for reasons to be elucidated
(e.g., political, ideological, identity related, etc.); or 2) the trauma was
so violent that its memory had to be repressed, and thus oblivion was
the only possible route.
In fact, both options are possible, as both factors may have played
a part for different actors of historical writing. In the caliphal entourage, for instance (and perhaps more broadly in Syria, the heartland
of Umayyad power), historians had no interest in publicizing such an
embarrassing event, and the Umayyads themselves certainly had an interest in minimizing the memory of the episode (option 1 above).44 On
the other hand, al-H
ufa and southern
. usayns supporters, chiefly in K
Iraq, arguably had to repress this trauma, at least for a while, as they
had witnessed one of the most dramatic events of early Islam and as
the community was deeply shocked by the martyrdom of its Prophets
grandson (option 2 above).
As already noted, non-Muslim sources can offer an access to a nowlost Islamic historiography. If, as other examples suggest, non-Muslims
borrowed from texts produced in Umayyad Syria (or traditions circulated there), it is quite unsurprising that they are so silent on a bloody
episode that Umayyad-era historians were trying to bury, thus following
a strategy of creative forgetting best described by P.J. Geary for the
Medieval West.45 (We have many other examples of such strategies, e.g.
al-T
. abars silence on the massacre of the Umayyads by the ,Abbass
in 132/75046 ). Two significant exceptions to the silence of non-Muslim
sources deserve some attention: the chronicle of Elias of Nisibis (d. 1046)
and the anonymous Syriac chronicle of 1234.
Elias of Nisibis is the author of a truly fascinating bilingual chronicle composed in Syriac and Arabic. Elias also presents the huge advantage of systematically quoting his sources, thus revealing that his
information on al-H
ab al-ta -rkh,
. usayn is derived from the now-lost Kit
of Muh.ammad b. M
us
a al-Khwarizm (d. after 232/847), the famous
court astronomer/astrologer and great mathematician of the age of al44 Evidence for the circulation of information about the Karbal
a- episode in
Umayyad circles is discussed below. On Umayyad efforts to control the past and
to obliterate Sh, claims (in particular with regard to the falsification [tah.rf ] of
the Qur-
an), see now Amir-Moezzi, Le Coran silencieux , esp. pp. 209ff.
45 Geary, Oblivion between orality and textuality, p. 111. See more broadly his
Phantoms of remembrance.
46 As noted by Robinson, Islamic historiography, p. 41. See also my discussion in
Borrut, Entre m
emoire et pouvoir , pp. 184194.

260

Antoine Borrut

Ma-m
un.47 His use of al-Khw
arizm is critical here, as it allows us to date
the circulation of historical information. The preserved material suggests
that the elements relating to Karbala- were in the process of being integrated into ,Abb
as historiography in the first half of the third/ninth
century, a fact corroborated by the limited material offered by Khalfa
b. Khayy
at. roughly at the same time. Apparently, not all of the details were yet available to al-Khwarizm as preserved by Elias of Nisibis;
there is, for instance, no mention of the captives or of the various episodes
that unfolded in the aftermath of the battle, such as those relating to the
Taww
ab
un or even to al-Mukhtars revolt. The precise date of the 10th of
Muh.arram is given but the name of Karbala- itself is surprisingly absent,
as Elias merely reports that al-H
. usayn was killed on the road (Syriac:
-u
rh.
o ; Arabic: .tarq) to Mecca.48 This is quite puzzling given that,
as noted above, al-Khw
arizm also produced a horoscope of al-H
. usayns
martyrdom quoted by al-Ya,q
ub, which would have required the precise
location of the killing for complete accuracy.49 It is worth pointing out,
however, that the situation is similar in Khalfa b. Khayyat.s Ta -rkh:
ura- is even mentioned,
the specific date is given and the day of ,Ash
but the toponym of Karbal
a- is likewise absent.50
The brief mention of Karbala- in the anonymous Syriac Chronicle of
1234 is perhaps even more enigmatic.51 The martyrdom of al-H
. usayn is
dated there to the immediate aftermath of the battle of S.iffn (37/657),
more than two decades before the agreed upon date of the episode in
61/680. The text runs as follows:
[109] On ,Als death he was succeeded by his son al-H
. asan,
who was poisoned shortly afterwards and was succeeded in
turn by al-H
. usayn. These two sons of ,Al were born of
F
at.ima, the daughter of Muh.ammad, the prophet of the
Arabs. [110] Still the civil war was not over. Mu,awiya did
battle with al-H
. usayn in the east and al-H
. usayns side lost.
Most of the army and al-H
usayn
himself
were
killed at a place
.
called Karbal
a-. Al-H
usayn
was
killed
by
Shamir,
an Arab;
.
47 For a discussion of Elias of Nisibis and his use of his sources, more specifically
al-Khw
arizm, see Borrut, La circulation de linformation historique and Court
astrologers.
48 Elias of Nisibis, vol. 1, p. 147 (Fr. tr. p. 91).
49 Al-Ya,q
ub, Ta -rkh, vol. 2, p. 291.
50 Khal
fa b. Khayy
at., Ta -rkh, vol. 1, p. 284. The battle is also commonly referred
to as Waq ,at al-T
. aff (or even Malh.amat al-T
. aff ), in reference to the desert plateau
west of K
ufa where Karbal
a- is located (see Y
aq
ut, Mu ,jam, vol. 3, pp. 539541),
but the toponym al-T
. aff is likewise absent from the earliest source material.
51 On the anonymous Syriac Chronicle of 1234, see most recently Weltecke, Les
trois grandes chroniques. On Syriac historiography, see also more broadly M. Debi
e,
L
ecriture de lhistoire en syriaque.

Remembering Karbal
a-

261

but first he was tortured by thirst. The victors slaughtered

most of the tribe and kin of ,Al. They took their wives and
children and tormented them beyond the limit of endurance.
After this the only survivor in power was Mu,awiya b. Ab
Sufy
an from the tribe of the Umayyads, who had a son Yazd,
called after his brother Yazd who had died. He moved the
capital and the royal granaries to Damascus. He had already
led the Arabs as commander for twenty years. He was an
honourable man whose tolerance and humanity seemed unlimited. Insults against his person were heard by him and
ignored. This increased his popularity among the Arabs and
so contributed to the division of the Arab armies, with those
of Yathrib and Babylonia on the one side and those of Egypt
and Damascus on the other, until the death of al-H
. usayn as
we have shown. And still today there is a heresy among the
Arabs. [. . . ] [121] ,Als son al-H
. usayn had perished in the
war against Mu,
awiya.52
Modern scholars had long neglected this passage until J. HowardJohnstons recent discussion in his Witnesses to a world crisis. His
conclusions, however, are not truly convincing as he suggests that the
episode actually took place in the year of 40 or 41 (660661) and was
intentionally misplaced two decades later in Islamic historiography:
One error, though, may be more apparent than realhis detachment of the battle of Karbala- from second fitna [sic]
and his dating of Husayns death soon after his fathers and
brothers in first fitna [sic]. If it is an error, it is quite extraordinary and virtually impossible to explain. Alternatively
Theophilus may have preserved a vital piece of chronological
information which was suppressed in later Islamic historical
writing.53
In other words, Howard-Johnston sees the Karbala- episode as occurring at the end of the first fitna, but as later on being moved by
historians to the beginning of the second fitna. In his view, the episode
more sensibly belongs to the aftermath of ,Als assassination than to the
events around 61/680. He goes on to argue that this manipulation represents one of the four instances [. . . ] in which religious truth has overcome and completely ousted historical truth about crucial episodes in
52 1234 , vol. 1, p. 280. I am using here the translation of Palmer, The seventh
century, pp. 185186, 196.
53 Howard-Johnston, Witnesses, p. 232. See also his discussion on pp. 386387.

262

Antoine Borrut

the formative phase of Islam.54 Such a radical conclusion is difficult to

accept, even if the detailed chronology of the drama was arguably some ura-.55 While
what elaborated around the central date of the day of ,Ash
Howard-Johnston is right to point out that this passage is truly intriguing, he has, however, completely neglected the question of Mu,awiyas
decision to name his son Yazd as his successor,56 usually regarded as
the main factor driving al-H
. usayns rebellion, as well as ,Abd Allah b.
al-Zubayrs (d. 73/692) bid for power. Moreover, he is probably wrong to
assume that these lines should be derived from Theophilus of Edessas (d.
169/785) lost chronicle since all of the other sources based on Theophilus
are silent on the subject.57 It is therefore more likely that this passage
in the Chronicle of 1234, with its specific mention of Karbala- and even
of Shamir, represents a later interpolation; the abundance of such details
invites a late date anyway.
Hoyland once suggested that Theophanes also conflated S.iffn and
Karbal
a-58 when he mentioned that ,Als men were reduced to thirst
and were deserting.59 Although the motif of thirst is quite prominent
in the standard Karbal
a- narratives,60 this might not necessarily reveal
a conflation of both episodes, since a similar motif is not uncommon in
the S.iffn narratives (although instead of torture by thirst it is mostly a
question of one army depriving the other of access to the Euphrates, with
similar results). Hoyland seems to have subsequently abandoned this
idea, judging by his recent book attempting to reconstruct Theophilus
of Edessas lost chronicle.61
54 Howard-Johnston,

Witnesses, p. 380.
in particular the comments of Lammens, Le califat de Yazd Ier , p. 181
and of Hawting, The Taww
ab
un. Another piece of evidence adduced by HowardJohnston is the De Administrando Imperio of Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus (d.
959). The text, however, is quite unspecific as it simply states that Mu,
awiya killed
the sons of ,Al who had rebelled against him after the death of their father. No sense
of chronology is given and it is thus unclear, for instance, whether Constantine VII
actually conflated al-H
. asan and al-H
. usayns bids for power, or if the killing took place
in the immediate aftermath of the battle of S.iffn. See Constantine Porphyrogenitus,
De Administrando, chapter 21, ll. 106110; Howard-Johnston, Witnesses, p. 386, n.
92.
56 This idea has been recently challenged by K. Keshk, in an unpublished paper
entitled Did Mu,
awiya appoint Yazd? (presented in 2009 at the Middle East
Studies Association conference held in Boston).
57 Interestingly enough, Hoyland does not include this passage in his recent
Theophilus of Edessa, p. 148, n. 370, thus clearly implying that Theophilus is not
the author of this material.
58 In Palmer, The seventh century, p. 186, n. 459.
59 Theophanes, Chronographia, p. 347 (tr. p. 483).
60 See especially Hyl
ens discussion on the subject, H
. usayn, the mediator , notably
pp. 176ff. It is worth noting, however, that this motif is absent from one of the earliest
preserved accounts, transmitted by ,Amm
ar b. Mu,
awiya al-Duhn (d. 133/750) and
discussed below.
61 Hoyland, Theophilus of Edessa, p. 147.
55 See

Remembering Karbal
a-

263

Islamic versions
If we now turn to Muslim narratives, a careful study of the isn
ad s reveals
that the story of Karbal
a- was elaborated chiefly in K
ufa and Medina
before subsequent developments in Baghdad.62 Two principal versions of
the episode were composed: a long version in K
ufa, and a short version
in Medina.

The long version

While early traditions can certainly be assumed to have circulated in
K
ufa in the years and decades following the Karbala- drama63 (especially
if one keeps in mind the central role which the inhabitants of the city
played in it), an important step in the narrative crystallization process
took place with one of the most prolific historians and transmitters of
early Islam, Ab
u Mikhnaf (d. 157/773774),64 who composed what could
be termed the long version of the episode. Indeed, the many books
attributed to him notably include a Maqtal al-H
. usayn, which is a volume
dedicated to the martyrdom of the Prophets grandson, although the
book is unfortunately lost.65 Its content, however, is supposed to have
been largely preserved by later sources, most notably Hisham al-Kalb
(d. 204/819), himself for the most part preserved by al-T.abar.66 This
version offers a detailed account of the Karbala- episode and already a lot
of elements belonging to some kind of epic cycle dedicated to al-H
. usayn.
It is worth noting here that Ab
u Mikhnafs ancestors were active
supporters of the ,Alid cause early on, and that his great-grandfather
62 A point already made clear, although not exploited, by the important contributions of Howard, who studied the earliest accounts of the episode in Islamic sources in
his H
. usayn the martyr and his Translators foreword to volume 19 of al-T
. abars
translation, The history of al-T
. abar, pp. ixxvi.
63 See below the example of Asbagh b. Nub
ata (d. second half of the 1st century
.
AH).
64 On him see especially Sezgin, Ab
u Mihnaf, and Athamina, Ab
u Mikhnaf. Ac
cording to the isn
ads preserved by al-T
u Mikhnafs
. abar, a very large number of Ab
informants were K
ufan traditionists.
65 See, however, the debates about the text reconstructed by W
ustenfeld, Der Tod
des H
u
. usein ben ,Al und die Rache, and especially the discussion of Sezgin, Ab
Mihnaf , pp. 116123.
Al-Tabar, Ta -rkh, especially series 2, pp. 232281, 288390 (tr. vol. 19, pp.
66
.
2274, 83183).

264

Antoine Borrut

Mikhnaf b. Sulaym al-Azd fought alongside ,Al at S.iffn, before allegedly being killed among the Taww
ab
un in 65/685.67 In other words,
narrating these episodes was a way for Ab
u Mikhnaf to write the history
of his own family whose memory he was trying to preserve. Moreover, it
is difficult to overestimate Ab
u Mikhnafs role in shaping Sh,isms early
image, to the point that he should be regarded as a major historiographical filter.68

The short version

Prior to (and likely also concomitant with) Ab
u Mikhnafs efforts, another much shorter version of the episode (short version) seems to have
circulated, possibly at the initiative of the Imams themselves. This is
a true family memory, as two of al-H
. usayns own descendants (more
specifically his grandson and great-grandson, the fifth and sixth Imams)
play a key role: Muh.ammad al-Baqir (d. 114/732) and Ja,far al-S.adiq
(d. 148/765). Both lived in Medina, and this is therefore also yet another
local memory.
This version was transmitted by ,Ammar b. Mu,awiya al-Duhn (d.
133/750), who was an adherent of the Imam al-Baqir,69 and is notably preserved by al-T
d
. abar (next to the long version) and al-Mas,u
(who does not offer other versions).70 For unconvincing reasons, the
conditions of transmission of this short version have been regarded as
67 Ibn

H
. ajar, Tahdhb, vol. 10, pp. 7071. This is the narrative favored by Athamina in his recent Encyclopaedia of Islam entry (Ab
u Mikhnaf, where Mikhnaf b.
Sulaym is erroneously referred to as Ab
u Mikhnafs grandfather rather than his greatgrandfather), although this is not the only version in the sources. Thus, Nas.r b.
Muz
ah.im has him killed at S.iffn (Waq ,at S
. iffn, p. 263). Al-T
. abar offers a similar passage (Ta -rkh, series 1, p. 3304; tr. vol. 17, p. 51) before surprisingly stating
that Mikhnaf b. Sulaym was still alive in 39/659660, when he sent his son ,Abd alRah.m
an (d. 75/695) at the head of fifty men as reinforcement against al-Nu,m
an
b. Bashr (d. 65/684) at the battle of ,Ayn al-Tamr (series 1, p. 3444; tr. vol. 17, p.
199). Al-T
aqa b. Mird
as al-B
ariq (d. ca. 80/699)
. abar later quotes a poem by Sur
lamenting the death of Mikhnaf b. Sulaym and ,Abd al-Rah.m
an b. Mikhnaf (series
2, pp. 879880; tr. vol. 22, pp. 2930). See also Sezgin, Ab
u Mihnaf , p. 225, n. 128;

Lecker, S.iffn.
68 A point emphasized by Dakake, The charismatic community, p. 4.
69 Howard, The martyrdom, p. 127. Al-Duhn
claims to be transmitting directly
from al-B
aqir, see al-T
. abar, Ta -rkh, series 2, p. 227 (tr. vol. 19, p. 17).
70 Al-Tabar
, especially series 2, pp. 227232, 281ff. (tr. vol. 19, pp. 1622, 74ff.);
.
cf. al-Mas,u
d, Mur
uj , vol. 5, pp. 127ff. (tr. Pellat, vol. 3, pp. 749ff.; references to the
Arabic text are given according to the page numbers of the C. Barbier de Meynard
and Pavet de Courteilles edition noted in both Pellats edition and translation of the
Mur
uj ).

Remembering Karbal
a-

265

dubious by I.K.A. Howard, who argued that this version is very dry,
omitting many elements on al-H
. usayns martyrdom, elements that the
Imams would not have forgotten in his view.71 In my opinion, however,
this lack of adornment would rather suggest an early date. It is, in fact,
quite likely that this was an original official version of the episode, a
memory of the Imams not yet transformed into some kind of epic. The
circulation of such material between Medina and K
ufa is quite plausible:
although the vast majority of early Imams lived in K
ufa they could
communicate with their Medinan Imams through a correspondence mediated by merchants, travelers, and pilgrims,72 not to mention students
and scholars travelling to Medina to study under the supervision of the
Imams.
It is to be noted that in most modern scholarship, these two Imams
are also specifically associated with an important step toward the definition of an Im
am Sh, identity73 and the Karbala- episode may well have
been a foundational myth from this perspective. To follow the terminology recently used by the late T. Sizgorich, Karbala- became a primordial
past, thus shaping for the community a sense of identity as well as an
understanding of contemporary events.74
So we have on the one hand the silence (the oblivion) of non-Muslim
sources and on the other family memoriesand arguably also sectarian
memoriesin Medina and K
ufa, and eventually a narrative explosion in
the latter city and subsequently in Baghdad. We have, in other words,
several competing memories (if one keeps in mind that remembrance and
oblivion are two attributes of memory): a caliphal (or Syrian?) memory trying its best to bury an embarrassing episode in an attempt at an
impossible oblivion and two local and familial memories in Medina and
K
ufa, which endeavored to preserve a necessary, albeit painful, remembrance. Interestingly enough, this idea is corroborated by the fact that
the first two recorded accounts of al-H
. usayns martyrdom, although no
71 Howard,

H
. usayn the martyr, pp. 128131.
The origins, p. 14.
73 See especially Hodgson, How did the early Sh
,a become sectarian?; Madelung,
Im
ama; Kohlberg, Imam and community; Lalani, Early Sh, thought; Dakake,
The charismatic community; and most recently Haider, The origins. For different
views, see most notably Amir-Moezzi, Le guide divin, and Modarressi, Crisis and
consolidation.
74 Sizgorich, Violence and belief , pp. 8ff. Sizgorichs main source of inspiration here
is Geertz (The interpretation of cultures, pp. 255310), while Eliade (in particular his
Myths, dreams and mysteries) is surprisingly absent from the discussion. Elaborating
on the work of others, Sizgorich contends that: [. . . ] for groups who understand their
identity in primordialist terms, recalled events embedded in the defining narratives
in accordance with which the group in question imagines its formative past often
provide an interpretative grammar through which to make sense of contemporary
events, p. 9.
72 Haider,

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Antoine Borrut

longer extant in their original forms, are attributed to As.bagh b. Nubata

(d. second half of 1st century AH), a prominent member of the Sh,
community from K
ufa, and Jabir b. Yazd al-Ju,f (d. 128/746), another K
ufan who was a follower of the Imam al-Baqir and studied
extensively under his direction, up to eighteen years according to one
source.75
Moreover, it is quite unlikely that such narratives of al-H
. usayns martyrdom were unknown in Umayyad circles, therefore reinforcing the idea

of a very conscious effort at creative forgetting. The example of ,Amir

,
b. Shar
ah.l al-Sha b (d. 103/721) is particularly telling from this perspective: he was a renowned K
ufan scholar and poet who worked for
,Abd al-Malik and tutored his sons, before serving as q
ad. in Iraq under
,Umar II despite his alleged flirtation with Sh, ideology that eventually came to an end because of the Sh,s ifr
a.t or exaggeration in
religion, which he abhorred.76 Yet al-Sha,b actively participated in
77
al-Mukht
ars rebellion seeking revenge for al-H
. usayns blood, and he
is also credited with a Kit
ab al-sh
ur
a wa-maqtal al-H
. usayn (fragments
of which survive in Ibn Ab al-H
. adds (d. 6556/12578) Sharh. nahj
al-bal
agha 78 ), which suggests a detailed knowledge in Umayyad circles
of the Prophets grandsons martyrdom.79
Other clues attest that the episode was well-known and even discussed at the Umayyad court. Thus, the Christian court poet al-Akht.al
(d. ca. 92/710) celebrated in verse the Umayyad victory, emphasizing
the decisive role of ,Ubayd Allah b. Ziyad in eliminating Muslim b. ,Aql
and H
ani- b. ,Urwa before clearly alluding to the battle of Karbala- itself.
Indeed, al-Akht.al praises Ibn Ziyad for having managed to deprive alH
. usayn of access to the waters of the Euphrates, and ends his poem by
75 Howard, Husayn the martyr, pp. 124126. See also Sezgin, GAS , vol. 1, p.
.
307, and recently Modarressi, Tradition and survival, vol. 1, pp. 5973 (As.bagh b.
Nub
ata), especially p. 61, and pp. 86103 (J
abir al-Ju,fi), particularly pp. 87, 102.
Modarressi suggests that the text of the Kit
ab maqtal al-H
abir al-Ju,f may
. usayn of J
well have been quoted in full by al-Majlis (d. 1110/1698) in his Bih.a
r al-anw
ar
(Tehran, 1376 AH), vol. 30, pp. 287300. Limited fragments from both As.bagh
b. Nub
ata and J
abir al-Ju,f are quoted in Ab
u al-Faraj al-Is.fah
ans Maq
atil, see
Howard, H
. usayn the martyr, p. 126.
76 Juynboll, al-Sha,b
.
77 Al-Tabar
, Ta -rkh, series 2, pp. 609613 (tr. vol. 20, pp. 193197).
.
78 Ibn Ab
al-H
. add, Sharh., vol. 9, pp. 4958, cited in Sezgin, GAS , vol. 1, p. 277.
79 See Sezgin, GAS , vol. 1, p. 277, and Juynboll, al-Sha,b

. ,Amir
al-Sha,b is
surprisingly absent from Howards list of authors of early maqtals (Howard, H
. usayn
the martyr, pp. 124125). In fact, Howard may have confused the author and his
transmitter, as he lists ,Aw
ana b. al-H
. akam (d. 147/764), who does not seem to be
otherwise known for having written a maqtal but rather for having transmitted from

,Amir
al-Sha,b (see Sezgin, GAS , vol. 1, p. 277). See also Lammens, Le chantre,
pp. 398405.

Remembering Karbal
a-

267

claiming that the governor of Iraq had thus crushed a snake (h.ayya).80
Elsewhere, we are told that the caliph ,Abd al-Malik once questioned alZuhr (d. 124/742) about a miracle (a bleeding stone) that occurred in
81
Jerusalem on the very night al-H
. usayn was killed.
Finally, the fact that several sources are clearly trying to rehabilitate
the image of Yazd I82 (r. 6064/680683), blaming instead his governor
of K
ufa (,Ubayd All
ah b. Ziyad)83 or on some other military leaders
(most notably the infamous Shamir [or Shimr] b. Dh al-Jawshan, who
allegedly killed al-H
. usayn) for the massacre, suggests strategies to shift
blame from the caliph to some of his subordinates, or even from the
Syrians to the Iraqis.84 Thus, al-Mas,u
d insists for instance on the
fact that all the troops engaged against al-H
ufa and
. usayn were from K
that not a single Syrian was involved in the battle.85 Such elements
may well be an echo of an otherwise largely lost pro-Umayyad version
of the episode,86 and whispers of alternative pasts87 largely silenced
in mainstream ,Abb
as-era chronicles,88 although internal Sh, polemics
should also be taken into account and certainly deserve further study.
It is also worth noting that the chronology of the development of the
two main Islamic versions just discussed is consistent with the chronological framework established by S. G
unther for the maq
atil literature,
80 Al-Akhtal, Shi ,r al-Akhtal, vol. 2, pp. 539540; Lammens, Le califat de Yaz
d
.
.
Ier , p. 178 and Le Chantre, p. 236. On al-Akht.al, see Lammens, Le chantre and
Stetkevych, Al-Akht.al. I am indebted to Suzanne Stetkevych for helping me locate
this poem in Qab
awas edition, as the copy of S.
alih.
ans edition (cited by Lammens)
I consulted was faulty.
81 This miraculous anecdote is widely found in the sources. To my knowledge, the
earliest occurrence is preserved by Ibn ,Abd Rabbih (d. 328/940), who claims that
this tradition goes back to al-Zuhr himself, al-,Iqd, vol. 4, p. 365.
82 See for instance the Byzantine-Arab chronicle of 741 or the Chronicle of 754
and cf. in contrast John Bar Penk
ay
e for an early negative image. Regarding alT
. abars strategies on the topic, see the discussion of Shoshan, Poetics of Islamic
historiography, pp. 100102.
83 See, however, al-Akhtals praise of Ibn Ziy
ads actions (Shi ,r al-Akht.al, vol. 2,
.
pp. 539540) discussed below.
84 However, a counter-example is offered by al-Ya,q
ub, who specifically insists on
Yazds orders to his governors of Medina (al-Wald b. ,Utba) and K
ufa (,Ubayd All
ah
b. Ziy
ad) to send him al-H
. usayns head, Ta -rkh, vol. 2, pp. 287288. This point was
noted long ago by Lammens, Le califat de Yazd Ier , p. 148, who rejected al-Ya,q
ubs
allegations.
85 Al-Mas,u
d, Mur
uj , vol. 5, pp. 144145 (tr. vol. 3, p. 756, 1902).
86 A point already lamented by Lammens, Le califat de Yaz
d Ier , p. 169.
87 Geary, Phantoms of remembrance, p. 177.
88 This is not an isolated example. Cf. Dakakes conclusions on the circulation of
the Ghadr Khumm narratives, p. 34: In fact, our analysis suggests that the Ghadr
Khumm tradition circulated widely in Umayyad times, but was partially eclipsed or
even suppressed by other sectarian and religio-political developments in the ,Abb
asid
era.

268

Antoine Borrut

outlined above. G
unthers idea that oral traditions originally only circulated among proto-Sh,s could also explain the silence of non-Muslim
sources, indicating closed networks through which they passed, although
we have to avoid a too simplistic opposition of oral and written modes
of transmission.89

The redemption of Sh, memory in ,Abbas historiography

We still have to understand why and how this ,Alid memory was so thoroughly revived by ,Abb
as-era chroniclers in the classical period. Why
indeed was there such a choice for remembrance rather than oblivion?
Such a decision was not obvious, since the early ,Abbass turned out to
be extremely hostile to the ,Alids whom they had deprived of the fruits
of the so-called ,Abb
as Revolution (in reality a Hashemite one) that
toppled the Umayyads.90 For decades the ,Alids were widely persecuted
and many rebelled against ,Abbas power.91 But in the course of the
3rd /9th century, especially in the aftermath of the fourth fitna, and in
the context of the rise of the Turks, the disintegration of the Empire and
the weakening of caliphal authority, the ,Abbass began a massive effort
to redeem Sh, memory.92 The lesser and greater occultations (ghayba)
probably played a significant role in this perspective, as the vanishing of
an obvious political contender made this redemption much easier.93
In fact, as already noted, the late 3rd /9th century marked a period
of profound historical rewriting and attempts to develop a new relationship to the early Islamic past.94 The past was notably rewritten in order
89 As most notably shown by the seminal works of G. Schoeler, most recently The
oral and the written and The genesis of literature in Islam.
90 On this much debated topic in modern scholarship, see recently Agha, The revolution; Cobb, The empire in Syria, pp. 261268; Borrut, Entre m
emoire et pouvoir ,
pp. 321381; and Crone, The nativist prophets, pp. 1127.
91 See the useful discussion of Crone, Gods rule, pp. 87ff.
92 This is consistent with the chronology suggested above, based on what both
Khalfa b. Khayy
at. and al-Khw
arizm (as preserved by Elias of Nisibis) have to offer
on Karbal
a-. One of the earliest allusions in ,Abb
as-era sources is to be found in
the Sra itself, where verses in a poem attributed to Umayya b. Ab al-S.alt (d. ca.
9/631) and lamenting the martyrs of Badr include a clear allusion to Karbal
a- (Ibn
Ish.
aq/Ibn Hish
am, Sra, p. 532, tr. 354). This is of course a later interpolation, not to
mention that the authenticity of many poems attributed to Umayya b. Ab al-S.alt is
more broadly questionable. See Seidensticker, The authenticity and Montgomery,
Umayya b. Ab l-S.alt.
93 On this period of critical importance for the development of Im
am Sh,ism, see
especially Newman, The formative period.
94 Borrut, Entre m
emoire et pouvoir , pp. 97108.

Remembering Karbal
a-

269

to make room for all the descendants of the Prophet and not just the
,Abb
ass (thus doing the exact opposite of what al-Mahd had once suggested, according the Anonymous history of the ,Abb
ass 95 ). The ,Alids
thus emerge in the so-called classical sources as victims and martyrs in
whose name the ,Abb
ass are seeking vengeance and legitimacy. This
was not a straightforward process though, and if al-Ma-m
uns reign certainly played a significant role in this direction, with the designation of
,Al al-Rid.
a as heir apparent as an obvious climax,96 other rulers followed much more hostile agendas. Thus, the caliph al-Mutawakkil had
al-H
. usayns tomb leveled to the ground in 236/85051 and prohibited
visiting this place of holy memory.97
Paradoxical as it seems, the main challenge for the ,Abbass was to
present the conditions for their own rise to power, during the ,Abbas
Revolution in 132/ 750 and its immediate aftermath. The various episodes of the massacre of the ousted dynasts, the Umayyads, would prove
particularly problematic as the degree of violence exercised by the new
power brokers was soon condemned by Muslim scholars. However, the
early diffusion of these massacre narratives, clearly attested, in particular, in non-Muslim sources, precluded any attempt at complete oblivion.
Rather, ,Abb
as-era scholars carefully reshaped these accounts so the
bloodbath would appear justified and, in fact, necessary. And this is precisely where ,Alid/Sh, memory proved invaluable, as it is in the name
of remembrance of Sh, martyrs that the slaughter of the Umayyads by
the new holders of Webers monopoly of legitimate violence was to be
seen as tolerable. The massacre of the kinsmen of the former masters
of Damascus was reinterpreted in an attempt to fulfill a duty toward
Islamic memory.98
95 Akhb
ar al-dawla al-,Abb
asiyya, p. 165. See my discussion in Borrut, Entre
m
emoire et pouvoir , pp. 80ff.
96 The importance of this period has notably been highlighted by Amir-Moezzi
regarding the construction of the legend of Shahrb
an
u, al-H
. usayns alleged Sasanian

wife. See Amir-Moezzi, Shahrb

an
u, Dame du pays dIran, and idem, Sahrb
an
u.
See, however, Savants arguments in favor of a later crystallization of the legend, The
new Muslims, pp. 102108. On the designation of ,Al al-Rid.
a see most recently Tor,
An historiographical re-examination.
97 See al-Tabar
, Ta -rkh, series 3, p. 1407 (tr. vol. 34, pp. 110111): In this year,
.
al-Mutawakkil ordered that the grave of al-H
. usayn b. ,Al and the residences and
palaces surrounding it be destroyed. The site of his grave was to be ploughed, sown,
and irrigated, and people were to be prevented from visiting it. It is reported that
an agent of the chief of security police announced in the area: Whomever we find
near al-H
. usayns grave after three days we shall send to the Mat.baq [Prison]. People
fled and refrained from going to the grave. This place was ploughed, and the area
around it was sown. The incident is noted by Honigmann, Karbal
a-, who adds
that Ibn H
. awk.al (ed. de Goeje, p. 166), however, mentions about 366/977 a large
mashhad with a domed chamber, entered by a door on each side, over the tomb of
H
. usayn, which in his time was already much visited by pilgrims.
98 For a full discussion of the episode, see Borrut, Entre m
emoire et pouvoir , pp.

270

Antoine Borrut

Most of the narratives run as follows: about 70 members (commonly

72, sometimes more99 ) of the Umayyad family are invited under false
pretexts for a dinner by ,Abd Allah b. ,Al (d. 147/764), the uncle of the
first ,Abb
as caliph and one of the leading military figures of the fight
against the Umayyads. During this encounter, a poet starts reciting
verses against the Umayyads. Thereafter, ,Abd Allah b. ,Al speaks
and recalls the martyrdom of al-H
. usayn at the hand of Umayyad forces.
Then, with this memory still in the air, he makes a sign and orders his
soldiers to massacre the Umayyad guests. He then throws carpets above
the still moving bodies, we are told, and settles down to enjoy his dinner
amidst the sounds of the dying Umayyads.
It is in the name of remembrance, of duty to Islamic historical memory, that the Umayyads are massacred, in an exact mirror of Karbala-.
Even the number of victims is precisely identical to perfect the parallel.
This presentation of the events is very easy to understand: in so doing,
this episode is not to be associated with a simple vendetta, but rather
to be included in the active process of legitimation of the new ,Abbas
regime. The narration of these massacres is generally followed in the
sources by accounts about the violation of the graves of the Umayyad
caliphs, whose remains are flogged and burnt, their ashes scattered in the
wind, often again in the name of Sh, martyrs.100 The veracity or the
legendary character of this event is not so important, in the framework
of a history of memory. The destruction of the graves, places of commemoration par excellence, shows clearly that, beyond the Umayyads
themselves, it is their memory that is to be fought, in the name of ,Alid
martyrs.

184194 and The future of the past. See also the classic study of Moscati, Le
massacre; Elad, Aspects of the transition; and Robinson, The violence.
99 Such a figure is of course highly symbolic. See the thorough discussion in Elad,
Aspects of the transition. On the significance of numerical symbolism in Islamic
historiography, see more broadly Conrad, Seven and the tasb,.
100 See for example the fate of Hish
am b. ,Abd al-Maliks corpse, guilty of having
martyred Zayd b. ,Al (d. 122/740). Borrut, Entre m
emoire et pouvoir , pp. 187193
and Madelung, Zayd b. ,Al.

Remembering Karbal
a-

271

Conclusion
The Karbal
a- episode is thus originally torn between impossible oblivion
and necessary remembrance. The historical information does not, from
a geographical perspective, seem to have circulated widely but was preserved locally in Medina and K
ufa, where local and familial memories
were conserved. These memories ended up irrigating mainstream classical sources composed primarily in ,Abbas Baghdad, and largely using
material from Medina and K
ufa. This is not to say that we have to go
back to Wellhausens old theory of schools of history, but rather to acknowledge, with Fred Donner, that the critiques of Wellhausens school
theory [. . . ] tend to obscure the fact that historical writing during the
first two Muslim centuries was, in fact, the product of a very limited
number of major cities,101 and that historical information circulated
between those cities more than is often assumed.102 This redemption
of ,Alid memory was also critical for ,Abbas political and ideological
projects. From this perspective, it was indispensable and this choice
would not be challenged, as this version of the episode would become
the definitive vulgate.
In its narrative dimension at least, the Karbala- episode seems to
follow the paradigm once suggested by R.S. Humphreys: covenant, betrayal, and redemption.103 The covenant with the family of the Prophet
is broken by the betrayal of the K
ufans and the subsequent brutal massacre of al-H
usayn
and
most
of
his
male relatives and followers, orches.
trated by the Umayyad forces. The redemption process starts early,
chiefly with the Taww
ab
un, but is not complete until H
. usaynid memory
has been redeemed in ,Abb
as sources.
As aptly noted by I.K.A. Howard, al-H
. usayns martyrdom became
an important subject for historians from an early time.104 But Karbalawas to be more than just a topic covered by historians: it became a very
central lieu de memoire not only for Sh,s but also for the entire Islamic
community. Nora stated that les lieux de memoire ne sont pas ce dont
on se souvient, mais l`
a o`
u la memoire travaille; non la tradition ellememe, mais son laboratoire.105 As such, the Karbala- drama was to be
101 Donner, Narratives, p. 216. J. Wellhausens theory was originally presented in
his Das arabische Reich.
102 A point noted by Conrad, Heraclius in early Islamic Kerygma, pp. 152153.
See my discussion in Borrut, Entre m
emoire et pouvoir , pp. 3337.
103 Humpreys, Qur-
anic myth.
104 Howard, Husayn the martyr, p. 142.
.
105 Nora, Les lieux de m
emoire, vol. 1, pp. 1718.

272

Antoine Borrut

contested and disputed. This is of course especially true in the context of

cyclical reenactments of primordial beginnings106 best exemplified by
ur
the ,Ash
a- rituals, but certainly not limited to such commemorations.
What such an investigation reveals is both the role of memory and
oblivion in medieval sources themselves, and the impact of historical
writing and the construction of Islamic sites of memory not only on
medieval rituals and identities but on modern ones as well. And with
this conclusion comes an interesting paradox: modern orthodox interpretations of Karbal
a- could well be based upon ,Abbas-era sectarian
visions.

106 Sizgorich,

Violence and belief , p. 74.

273
Remembering Karbal
a-

Historical information

X
X
X

X
X
X
X

X
X
X

X
X
X

X
X
Xii
X

1234

X
X
Xiii

X
X
Xiv

Circuit of
Qartamn

Elias of
Nisibisi

X
Xv

X
X

X
X

Constantine
VII Porphyro.

846

819

ewond

Zuqnn

John Bar
Penky

X
X
X
X

Michael the
Great

Circuit of Theophilus of
Edessa

Table 1: Karbal in non-Muslim sources

Sources

Death of al-asan b. Al
Caliphate of Yazd (I) b. Muwiya
Mention of al-usayns killing
Mention of Karbal
Al-usayn leaves for Mecca
Al-usayn killed by Amr b. Sad b. Ab Waqq
Al-usayn killed by Shamir (Shimr) b. Dh al-Jawshan
Al-usayn killed on Muarram 10
Killing of al-usayns kins
Mention of the captives or of the Tawwbn
Caliphate of Muwiya (II) b. Yazd
Caliphate of Marwn (I) b. al-akam
Al-Mukhtrs revolt
Al-Mukhtr claims to be a prophet
Ibn al-Zubayrs revolt
Ibn al-Zubayrs rule or caliphate

Agapius

iv

i
Al-Khwrizm (d. after 232/847) is the source used by Elias of Nisibis (d. 1046) for all these elements.
ii
The episode is, however, situated in the immediate aftermath of the battle of iffn (36/657) instead of in 61/680 as expected. This material does not
derive from Theophilus of Edessa but is likely a later interpolation.
The text simply says that the sons of Al were killed by Muwiya, without mentioning their names.
The killing of al-usayn is located on the road of Mekka, no mention of Karbal.
iii

Theophanes

274

Antoine Borrut

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