From the war against ISIS a decade back to the American-Israeli attack on Iran in 2026, the Battle of Karbala fought in 680 CE continues to shape how resistance, sacrifice, and justice are understood across the Shia world
In the winter of 2016, the last phase of the war on ISIS was the main talking point at the shrine of Prophet Muhammad’s grandson Imam Hussain when we visited it in Iraq’s Karbala as part of a group of journalists covering the conflict. The devotees collectively prayed after every prayer for the liberation of Mosul, which was then still under ISIS’s occupation, and for those who laid down their lives to liberate the country.
Some of the devotees at the shrine had relatives on the front lines of the war. Others had lost their loved ones. A strong belief in Karbala as a symbol of defiance against tyranny was the common thread that connected them and charged the atmosphere. ‘Labaik ya Hussain (I am here, O Hussain)’, they shouted, pledging to uphold the Imam’s values and mission. The spirit has endured centuries after Hussain refused to legitimise Umayyad ruler Yazid’s unjust rule and paid with his life for it. In 2016, the spirit was being channelised against ISIS.
Pilgrims sat on rugs in groups in the shrine’s courtyard. Some gorged on falafel and sweets. A majority of the pilgrims were Shias and mostly wore black clothes. Shia clerics wear flowing robes of the same colour, which have a special significance in Shiism. The black represents an expression of sadness, the red commemorates Hussain’s martyrdom, and the green honours the Prophet’s lineage. Clerics, who are Syeds or trace their lineage to the Prophet, wear black turbans.
Karbala as a Sanctuary: How Faith and Resistance Defeated ISIS
In her halting English, a pilgrim from Baghdad told us she was not afraid and felt safest in Karbala, a sanctuary for the persecuted. ‘ISIS is not Islam. Please tell the world.’ She pointed out Christians were among the displaced people who found refuge in Karbala after tens of thousands were forced to leave the country’s north when ISIS overran the region.
The woman pointed out that the shrine authorities ran refugee camps in Karbala for people who needed them, irrespective of ethnic, sectarian, and religious considerations. ‘Our children are dying on the battlefield to save the world from terrorism,’ she added, referring to the anti-ISIS Hashd volunteer forces.
The forces would make their presence felt now and then outside the shrines, the nerve centre of the resistance against the terror group. Synchronised goose-stepping Hashd fighters in military fatigues would march past on the street separating Imam Hussain and his brother Abbas’s shrines.
Shahadat and Karbala: The Doctrine Driving Shia Resistance
The ever-so-abuzz environs of the shrines would virtually come to a standstill every time the fighters marched past. The fighters would have the rapt attention of the devotees, who showered them with rose petals amid salutations to the Prophet and his family and pledges for all possible sacrifices. The salutations would grow louder every time coffins of fallen fighters would be brought to the shrines before their burial invariably with their proud parents among the pallbearers.
The Iraqi clergy effectively tapped into the doctrine of shahadat or martyrdom among the Shias in the anti-ISIS fight. It invoked the Battle of Karbala in which Hussain and 72 of his companions and family members laid down their lives in the seventh century resisting Yazid. The sufferings of the imams, beginning with Hussain’s father, Caliph Ali, whom Shias consider God-appointed successor of the Prophet, writes academic Vali Nasr, lie at the heart of the doctrine of shahadat. He argues just as early Christian saints accepted ‘the crown of martyrdom,’ steadfast in their faith and believing that their blood would be the seed of the church, so do the Shias revere martyrdom.
The imams, notes Nasr, died as witnesses to the faith, as did many of their followers. Nasr writes that Hussain is popularly known as the Lord of the Martyrs (Sayyid al-Shuhada). Shias believe that martyrdom is the highest testament to faith, following the example of the imams, a deed that will gain the martyr entry into paradise just as it will strengthen Shiism.
Karbala and Sacrifice
Billboards dotting Iraq in 2016 depicted Hashad fighters as Hussain’s contemporary companions sought to underline the doctrine to draw volunteers for the fight against ISIS. The devotees at the shrines contributed generously to the fight monetarily. The shrines were full of donation boxes with an appeal in Arabic and English for donations to help ‘the popular voluntary forces against ISIS.’ Most of the boxes were full at any given point in time with currency notes from all over the world.
A devotee told us through our interpreter Hassan Mohammad Moussa, a scholar associated with the Imam Hussain Shrine, that he contributed a large chunk of his savings as he was not physically fit enough to fight. He added it may now be difficult for him to remain within his budget, but it was a little sacrifice he had to make.
Moussa explained to us why the idea of sacrifice was so dominant in Karbala. ‘If we see sacrifices of Hussain… they inspire us…sacrifice comes easily to us. …we can give sacrifices to save the country; it gives us strength… he [Hussain] sacrificed everything for Islam, humanity, and justice. We are also ready [for sacrifice] at any time. Whatever sacrifice we can make…for Islam and our country.’ Moussa, who doubled up as our translator and spoke chaste Urdu, having studied in Pakistan, echoed a sentiment we repeatedly heard on the streets, at restaurants, refugee camps, hospitals, hotels, etc.
The Karbala Doctrine Behind Iran’s 2026 Resistance
A decade later, the same spirit swept Iran, the world’s most populous Shia country, when the United States (US) and Israel attacked it on February 28 and killed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on day one, expecting a quick capitulation. It was immediately clear that US President Donald Trump had underestimated Iran’s resolve and capabilities. Iranians quickly picked up the pieces, filled the power vacuum by appointing Ali Khamenei’s son, Mojtaba Khamenei, as his successor, and retaliated effectively.
Iran hit American military facilities, energy infrastructure of its Gulf allies, and Israel, sparking a regional war that disrupted supply chains and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of global energy supplies pass. Iranian bombing on US bases forced troops to relocate to hotels and office spaces throughout West Asia.
Iran forced much of the land-based American military to fight remotely, except fighter pilots and crews that operated and maintained warplanes and conducted strikes. Iran hunted for the dispersed troops, forcing the US to disperse thousands of its around 40,000 troops stationed in West Asia to as far away as Europe, raising questions about the Trump administration’s preparations for the war. Trump would announce a pause in the showdown as Iran unleashed a range of cruise, ballistic missiles, and drones. On April 21, 2026, Trump extended the ceasefire indefinitely without a deal or nuclear compromise, even as Iran continued to control the Strait of Hormuz, effectively exiting the war.
In the 1980s, a militarily weaker Iran prevailed in the face of an existential threat when Iraq invaded it. Iran gave its resistance a greater symbolic meaning and depicted its fight as an extension and vindication of the Battle of Karbala. A symbolic framework of salvation encouraged Iranian soldiers to sacrifice themselves on the battlefield. Resistance was framed as a reenactment of the Battle of Karbala. Soldiers were depicted as martyrs on the battlefield of Karbala, tapping into a Shia framework of salvation. Khomeini employed Shia belief in the salvific reward of a martyrial death as he urged Iranian men to fight and die resisting Iraqi invasion.
The same spirit has helped Iran survive American sanctions, create West Asia’s most extensive industrial base, and emerge as one of the world’s top automobile, cement, and steel manufacturers with a formidable military-industry complex that helped Tehran give far superior adversaries a run for their money.
