Fourteen centuries ago, on Ashura, the tenth day of the new Islamic year, in the early afternoon, on a sand dune in Karbala, south of the present-day Iraqi capital, a convoy of men, women, and children met a brutal massacre at the hands of an army numbering over thirty thousand. Though mythically defiant, the small camp had little chance of survival, as it was deprived from water and food in the scorching desert. Consequently, the monstrous military force swiftly and completely annihilated them within a few hours. All the men, along with a dozen children and infants, were slaughtered, while the remaining women and children were taken captive. The caravan, along with the severed heads of the martyrs, was paraded throughout the nation in a degrading spectacle amid deranged festivities and celebrations.
This book presents a concise retelling of events that transpired on the day of Ashura.