Wahhabi sack of Karbala

Background

Following the teachings of Ibn Taymiyya, the Wahhabis "sought to return to the fundamentals of the tradition – the Quran, and the Sunnah, and the Hanbali school's legal positions." They condemned some of the Shia practices such as veneration of the graves of their holy figures and Imams, which they called bid‘ah, and did not limit themselves to academic confrontation. According to the French orientalist Jean-Baptiste Rousseau, it was also very well known that some of the Shia shrines of Karbala were repositories of "incredible wealth", accumulated over centuries.

The Turkish Deputy of Mecca had concluded an agreement with the Emirate of Diriyah which ensured the safety of Hajj pilgrims. Despite a temporary peace agreement between the Ottoman authorities and the Emirate of Diriyah, tensions escalated after tribal attacks on a Saudi-led caravan near Hail in 1801. The attacks were committed by Iraqi Sunni bedouin tribes, likely for financial gain, there is no direct evidence that the Mamluk governor of Baghdad, Suleyman Pasha, ordered or endorsed the raid.

The attack on the Saudi-led caravan was interpreted by the Emirate of Diriyah as a violation of the peace accord and a hostile provocation. In response, and consistent with their growing ideological opposition to Shi‘ism, Wahhabi forces under Saud bin Abdulaziz launched a major military expedition into Ottoman Iraq, culminating in the assault on Karbala in April 1802.

Event

Date of attack

Most European and Russian orientalists date the attack to March 1801, based on works by Rousseau, Corancez, Burckhardt, and Mengin. Arab historians and St John Philby date the fall of Karbala to March – April 1802, based on Ibn Bishr's report of the event. The reports dating the attack to 1802, written soon after the attack, are accepted by Ibn Sanad and Raymond. Alexei Vassiliev argues that 1802 is correct, pointing out that the "dispatch" sent from Karbala reached the Russian embassy in Istanbul no later than 1803, and as Rousseau's book describing the attack is almost identical in wording with the text of the dispatch with the exception of accounted dates, the error could be due simply to "negligence" by the author, Rousseau, or the compositor.

Attack

On 18 Dhu al-Hijjah, coincident with the anniversary of Ghadir Khum, Wahhabis of the Najd led by Abdulaziz bin Muhammads son, Saud, attacked Karbala. The Ottoman garrison escaped, and the Wahhabis were left free to loot the city and the shrine and kill 2,0005,000 people.

Describing the event as "a horrible example of Wahhabis' cruel fanaticism in the terrible fate of [mosque of] Imam Husayn," Rousseau, who was residing in Iraq at the time, wrote that an incredible amount of wealth, including donations of silver, gold, and jewels to Husayn ibn Ali's shrine and those brought by Nadir Shah from his India campaign, was known to have been gathered in the city of Karbala. According to Rousseau, 12,000 Wahhabis attacked the city, set fire to everything, and killed old people, women, and children. "... when ever they saw a pregnant woman, they disembowelled her and left the foetus on the mother's bleeding corpse," said Rousseau.

According to a Wahhabi chronicler, Uthman ibn Abdullah ibn Bishr:

Wahhabis such as Ibn Bishr referred to themselves simply as 'Muslims', since they believed that they were the true Muslims.

The leader of the attack, Saud bin Abdulaziz bin Muhammad bin Saud, has been known as the 'butcher of Karbala' since then. The plunder of Karbala took the Wahhabis almost eight hours, according to Mengin. Fath-Ali Shah of Iran offered military help, which was rejected by the Ottomans, and instead he sent "500 Baluchi families to settle in Karbala and defend it."

Aftermath

The fall of Karbala was counted as a defeat for Buyuk Sulayman Pasha, creating an opportunity for the Ottoman sultan to "dismiss him", especially because his situation was further weakened after he was criticized by the Shah of Persia, Fath Ali Shah, for his inability to confront the Wahhabis.

The attack exposed the lack of a Shia "army" to mobilize against such attacks. It also led to a strengthening of the "sectarian identity" of Shia ulama. The sack horrified the "Sunni scholarly establishment", but its aftermath also gave fundamentalism a degree of intellectual credibility in the Sunni literary salons of Baghdad, further heightening sectarian tensions. Saudi ruler Abd al-Azeez would soon be assassinated by a Shia in a revenge attack. Following 'Abd al-Azeez's death, further Wahhabi advances within Iraq were halted and Iraqi Shia counter offensives into Saudi territory began.

References

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