ABSTRACT
THE death of the Imam al-l:lusayn b. 'All (4-61/626-680) has traditionally been seen by Muslims of all persuasions as perhaps the greatest single calamity that befell the community in its early history. Certainly among that portion of the Muslim community whose axis and very reason-for-being are the rights of the Family of the Prophet, the slaying of M ul)ammad's younger grandson has continuously served to galvanize and replenish the self-identity and world-view of Shi'T Islam. The clay of Karbala' unceasingly leaves its impress on the face of the Shi' a, from the moment that I;Iusayn uttered his final prayer on its sands until now. For the ShT' a, all of history is stained by the blood spilt at Karbala'. Yet they have also understood the killing of I;Iusayn as the dramatic climax of an even greater tragedy, that of the sabotage of Mul)ammad's prophetic mission itself. Mulla Mu}:lammad Baqir al-MajlisT, a leading savant of the Safavid era, alludes to this by his remark that ·I:Jusayn was
killed already on the day of al-Saqifa'; 2 and in our times Imam Khomeini has expressed a similar view: 3
The greatest disaster that befell Islam was the usurpation of rule by Mu' awiya from 'Ali. ... This disaster was even worse than the tragedy of Karbala and the misfortunes that befell the Lord of the Martyrs (upon whom be peace), and indeed it led to the tragedy of Karbala. The disaster that did not permit Islam to be correctly presented to the world was the greatest disaster of all.
