[clarification needed] They conclude that it originates from the "Kar Babel" group of ancient Babylonian villages that included Nainawa, Al-Ghadiriyya, Karbella (or Karb Illu), Al-Nawaweess, and Al-Heer.

The investigator Yaqut al-Hamawi had pointed out that the meaning of Karbala could have several explanations, one of which is that the place where Husayn ibn Ali was martyred is made of soft earth—al-Karbalāt.

The Kufan governor, Ubaydallah ibn Ziyad, sent thirty thousand horsemen against Husayn as he traveled to Kufa.

On the 10th day of Muharram, Husayn ibn Ali prayed the morning prayer and led his troops into battle along with his brother Abbas.

[18] In 63 AH (683 AD), Yazid ibn Mu'awiya released the surviving members of Husayn's family from prison as there was a threat of uprisings and some of the people in his court were unaware of who the battle was with, when they got to know that the descendants of Muhammad were killed, they were horrified.

The city and tombs were greatly expanded by successive Muslim rulers, but suffered repeated destruction from attacking armies.

Like Najaf, the city suffered from severe water shortages that were only resolved in the early 18th century by building a dam at the head of the Husayniyya Canal.

In the mid-eighteenth century it was dominated by the dean of scholarship, Yusuf Al Bahrani, a key proponent of the Akhbari tradition of Shia thought, until he died in 1772,[20] after which the more state-centric Usuli school became more influential.

[24]After the First Saudi State invasion, the city enjoyed semi-autonomy during Ottoman rule, governed by a group of gangs and mafia variously allied with members of the 'ulama.

The EIC sent the money to Karbala and Najaf per the wives' wishes, in the hopes of influencing the Ulama in Britain's favor.

[28] In 1928, an important drainage project was carried out to relieve the city of unhealthy swamps, formed between Hussainiya and the Bani Hassan Canals on the Euphrates.

[29] Defense of the City Hall in Karbala – a series of skirmishes fought from April 3 to April 6, 2004, between the Iraqi rebels of the Mahdi Army trying to conquer the city hall and the defending Polish and Bulgarian soldiers from the Multinational Division Central-South In 2003 following the American invasion, the Karbala town council attempted to elect United States Marine Corps Lieutenant Colonel Matthew Lopez as mayor.

On January 19, 2008, 2 million Iraqi Shia pilgrims marched through Karbala city, Iraq to commemorate Ashura.

Some Shi'ites consider this verse of the Quran to refer to Iraq, the land of the Shi'ite sacred sites of Kufah,[38][39] Najaf, Karbala, Kadhimiyyah[b] and Samarra,[41][42] since the Monotheistic preachers Ibrāhīm (Abraham) and Lūṭ (Lot),[43] who are regarded as Prophets in Islam,[44] are believed to have lived in the ancient Iraqi city of Kutha Rabba,[45] before going to "The Blessed Land".

[56] Some religious tourism attractions include: Arbaeen is a massive annual pilgrimage event that takes place in Karbala.

[62] Today the Hawza Seminary still exists in Karbala (such as the School of Allamah Bin Fahd) but to a lesser extent in comparison to Najaf.