Among the most atrocious acts committed in modern Islamic history has been the sack of Karbala in Unfortunately, this remains a little known fact to most Muslims. However, at a time when the cultural and religious heritage of the Muslim world is once against under severe threat, when shrines and mosques are bulldozed by the self-styled holy warriors and caliphs of our time, it remains more essential than ever to familiarize ourselves with these historical events.
It is crucial to note that the Wahhabisโnot unlike modern-day militantsโwere inspired by a mix of religious zeal and a desire for wealth. By , the Wahhabi-Saudi state had seized control of the vast majority of the Arabian peninsula and even managed to raid into southern Iraq, then under Ottoman control. One of the worst massacres was committed at Karbala in April , right before the beginning of the holy month of Muharram, during the pilgrimage to the shrine of Imam al-Husayn b.
Ali d. The following are two accounts, one by an eyewitness, a non-Muslim Frenchmen, and the other by a Wahhabi propagandist writing in Arabia during the eighteenth century. According to an eye-witnesses account, J. Incredible wealth was known to have accumulated in that town. The Persian shahs have, perhaps, never had something like that in their treasury. For centuries, the mosque of Imam Husayn was known to have received donations of silver, gold, jewels, a great amount of raritiesโฆTamerlane even spared that place.
Everybody knew that the most part of the rich spoils that Nadir Shah had brought back from his Indian campaign had been transferred to the mosques of Imam Husayn and Imam Ali together with his own wealth. They have been continuously dreaming of looting that town [Karbala] and were so sure of success that their creditors fixed the debt payment to the happy day when their hopes would come true.
Their cruelty could not be satisfied, they did not cease their murders and blood flowed like water. As a result of the bloody catastrophe, more than people perished. The Wahhabis carried off their plunder on the backs of camels. They inflicted the greatest damage on the minarets and the domes, believing those structures were made of gold bricks. Another contemporary source, Uthman b. Abd Allah b. Bishr d. They killed most of the people in the houses and the markets. They took away everything they saw in the shrine and near it, including the coverlet decorated with emeralds, sapphires and pearls which covered the grave.
