Husayn ibn Ali
grandson of Muhammad and the 3rd Shia Imam (626–680)
Husayn ibn Ali (Arabic: حسين ابن علي, romanized: Ḥusayn ibn ʿAlī; 11 January 626 – 10 October 680 CE) was the second son of Ali and Fatima, a younger brother of Hasan and grandson of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. He is the third Imam in Shia Islam, succeeding his brother Hasan and preceding his son Ali al-Sajjad. Husayn is a prominent member of the Ahl al-Bayt and Ahl al-Kisa, and a participant in the Event of the mubahala. Muhammad described Husayn and Hasan as the leaders of the youth of paradise. After the assassination of Ali, Husayn obeyed his brother in recognizing the Hasan–Mu'awiya peace treaty. Under the treaty, Hasan ceded the caliphate to Mu'awiya on the condition that the latter should rule in compliance with the Quran and the Sunnah, a council should appoint his successor (rather than appointing one himself), and Hasan's supporters would receive amnesty. During the nine-year period of Hasan's abdication, Hasan and Husayn withdrew to Medina, seeking to remain removed from political involvement. After Hasan's death, the people of Kufa turned to Husayn and called for an uprising. Husayn instructed them to wait as long as Mu'awiya remained alive, in accordance with Hasan's peace treaty.
Prior to his death, Mu'awiya appointed his son Yazid as his successor, violating the treaty and making the caliphate hereditary.
“Husayn ibn Ali” enters the record as grandson of Muhammad and the 3rd Shia Imam (626–680). Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Husayn, grandson and Muhammad can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 23, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q112128. VIAF identifies the subject as 89661385. The Library of Congress control number is n79142777. 2 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank.
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This entry incorporates text from “Husayn ibn Ali” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.