1- The city is a very ancient city, it was known since the Babylonian age, it was used as a Christian graveyard prior to the Islamic conquest, some say the date of the city comes from the cities of (Tassoh al-Nahrain) which lies on the river of Balakubass (Old Euphrates), and on its land there was an ancient temple.
2- Karbala is an Iraqi Islamic Arabic city, it was famous at the pre-Islam age and possesses a various and great history especially when its land witnessed a unique event which is truly one of the noblest epics of martyrdom and sacrifice that was the battle of (Tuf).
3- Location: the city is located about 105 km southwest of the Capital Baghdad at 32.61°N, 44.08°E, it lies on the edge of the desert west of Euphrates river and on the left side of the (Hussainiya) canal. Al-Anbar province borders the city from its west and north, Najaf province borders the south side of the city; east side of the city is bordered by Babil province and some parts of Baghdad.
The city's weather is damp, very hot at summer season, and fair at fall; its lands take the water from the canals of the Euphrates River, the city has many orchards , its has plain lands which made suitable for various agriculture, we can see many fruit trees and palm trees surrounding the city from all sides.
4- Etymology.
Some researchers say the name of Karbala means (close to God) and it is of an old Babylonian origin, some think that the meaning of Karbala is the Babylonian word (Kor Babil) which means (old Babylonian towns), some of these towns are (Nainawa, Ghadiryia, Karbala, Aker babil, Nawaweess and Heerr) which is called nowadays Hair (means in Arabic the land which refuse the water to enter it) when al-Mutawakil al-Abassi ordered to drive the water to the holy grave to destroy it, the water stopped and did not harm the holy grave.
The word Karbala's origin is thought of as a two syllable Assyrian word ,the first syllable is (Karb) meaning (sanctuary) and (ala) meaning (God), the two syllables form the word(God's sanctuary), other historians believe the origin may be Persian formed from the word Karr meaning work and bala meaning higher,(Tuf) is one of the city's names, perhaps the name (Karbala) is derived from the Arabic word (Kurba) meaning soft earth for Karbala has plain lands which made it easy for different kinds of planting, the word (Karbal) also means a kind of fruit , probably it was named after it.
Real History of Karbala
The word Karbala had been mentioned in history books, Christians lived in the city and there were a number of temples for religious practices, geographical discoveries in the city had found some dead bodies and pottery works dated to pre Christianity age. At the age of Islamic Conquests Karbala was a headquarters for the Islamic army for some time, then Kufa.
The real history of Karbala starts since the day Imam Hussein (pbuh)arrived in Karbala in 61 A.H and announced his revolution against Yazid Son of Mu'awyia and declared his refusal to recognize Yazid as the Caliph of Muslims, Imam Hussein (pbuh)was let down by the people of (Kufa) who had vowed to defend and support his revolution, people of Kufa sent many letters to Imam Hussein (pbuh)pressing the Imam (pbuh)to come to Kufa and pledging to support and defend him, but soon after Imam Hussein (pbuh)arrived in Karbala, they let him down and did not keep their promises and vows. Imam Hussein (pbuh)continued his blessed revolution undeterred by the few supporters and being let down, with only few loyal companions, he was patient and fought the massive army, the battle ended with the Martyrdom of Imam Hussein(pbuh)and his faithful companions.
After this Battle, the city has become one of the famous Islamic cities and by the will of Allah, the city had grown to be since that date the city of faith and everyone's wish to come to this city for the Pilgrimage of al-Hussein (pbuh)the city also called the city of al-Hussein (pbuh)
Karbala, in this way, started to grow and develop and boom, for in addition to this historica
