Karbala City

Faqar Saadoun Hassan
Asst. Lect. Haider Diaa Salman

Historically, Karbala was mentioned in ancient history, where ancient man inhabited the area of the Tar Caves near Karbala during the Neolithic Age. In the Babylonian era, it was a group of ancient Babylonian villages and was a bridge for tourist and Arab migrations between the Levant and the Arabian Peninsula. It continued to flourish during the Chaldean era and was an ancient temple for the Chaldeans in a city called Nineveh. (Al-Ansari, 348: 2008)

The city went through successive historical stages that led to its continuous development. In the year 65 AH – 684 AD, Al-Mukhtar bin Ubaidah Al-Thaqafi surrounded the grave of Imam Hussein (AS) with a wall like a mosque and built a dome of bricks and pebbles over it, and built a number of houses around it. Thus, Al-Mukhtar was the first to lay the foundation stone for the city of Karbala. (Al-Kalidar, 29:1967)

In the third century AH, in the year 247 AH – 941 AD, Al-Muntasir Billah ordered the reconstruction of the grave that his father Al-Mutawakkil Al-Abbassi had demolished. That was in the year 247 AH. He did not stop at demolishing the grave, but rather demolished the houses and buildings around it. He also ordered the site of his grave to be watered and prevented people from visiting it. Al-Muntasir Billah called on people to visit him, so Muslims began to flock to Karbala and populate it. The first person to inhabit it was Taj Al-Din Ibrahim Al-Mujab, the grandson of Imam Musa Ibn Jaafar, peace be upon him. The residents began to build their homes around the shrine. (Al-Essa, 53:2004)

During the Buyid era, the city flourished, as Adud Al-Dawla Al-Buwayhi visited it in the year 278 AH 980 AD. He ordered the construction of the shrine of Imam Al-Abbas, peace be upon him, with a dome of bricks above it. He surrounded the city with a wall, which is considered the first wall in the history of the city, and established taverns and markets between and around the two shrines. Thus, the city developed greatly. People felt safe and stable, so Karbala appeared during his reign as a prosperous and culturally and urbanly prosperous city. (Al-Kidar, 1971: 19)
During the period in which the Seljuks ruled Iraq, the city’s condition worsened 447-590 AH 1055-1193 AD. It was a mysterious and turbulent period. Its area decreased due to the deterioration that affected some of its neighborhoods, and its economic condition worsened due to the loss of security and stability in it and the looting of the holy grave in 448 AH. The city flourished again after that in the late Abbasid state until the Mongols entered Baghdad in 656 AH – 1258 AD. The backwardness of civilization was reflected in most of the cities of Iraq. In 1534 AD, it was expanded by Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent. In 1802 AD, a wall was built in the shape of a circle and six gates were made for it, and they were named after the neighborhoods near it, which are:
• Bab al-Khan neighborhood: It is called by this name because there are three large inns adjacent to the wall. • Bab Baghdad neighborhood: It is called Bab Al-Alwa because of the presence of an upper room for selling various food grains. (Khasbak, 93: 1968)

• Bab Al-Salama neighborhood: It was named after the Arab Al-Salama clan that lived near it.

• Bab Al-Taq neighborhood: It was named after the presence of several rings near it, some of which are still visible to this day.

• Bab Al-Mukhayam neighborhood: It was named after the fact that Imam Hussein’s camp was in front of it.

• Bab Al-Najaf neighborhood: It is sometimes called Bab Turayj after the road that visitors used to take to reach Najaf, which is the Turayj-Kufa-Najaf road. (Al-Essa, 58: 2004)