Reaching the plain
Most historians record Thursday, 2 Muharram 61 AH, as the day Imam Husayn's (a) caravan halted at Karbala. Hurr b. Yazid al-Riyahi, whose thousand horsemen had shadowed the Imam since Dhu Husam, had orders not to let him reach Kufa or turn back to the Hijaz; at a stretch of open ground near the Euphrates he told the Imam to stop. When the Imam asked the name of the place and was told "Karbala", he is reported to have said that it was a land of suffering (karb) and trial (bala), and that his father had foretold the blood that would be shed there.
Settling the camp
The tents were pitched and the Imam gathered his household, wept, and prayed that God would restore the rights of the Prophet's (s) family against those who had driven them from their grandfather's city. Sources add that he bought the surrounding land from the people of Naynawa and al-Ghadiriyya on condition that they guide and host those who would come to visit his grave. Hurr reported the halt to Ubayd Allah b. Ziyad in Kufa, whose reply demanded allegiance to Yazid or death; the next day Umar b. Sa'd arrived with the first four thousand troops.
Why the day is marked
The second of Muharram is remembered in the majalis as the moment the journey that began in Rajab ended and the siege began: eight days later the Imam and his companions would be martyred on the same ground.
Written for Shia Online Community. Dates and facts are checked against the references listed under Research & books; where the tradition records more than one date, all are given.
