The Tragedy of Karbala:

Before we start...
The tragedy of Karbala is one of the most painful events ever happened on the face of earth. Considering the criticality of this event for Muslims and its place in Islamic history, it is important to understand the fact that over a period of time, a number of fabrications have made into the history of this event. In order to segregate real facts from suchfiction, in my opinion, we need to take following sequential approach:

1. Level 1: 
Read books of authentic scholars who have written history based on authentic chain of narrations. This has to be done in conjunction with guidance from authentic Islamic scholars to ensure correct understanding. 

2. Level 2: 
The second stage in exploring this historical event correctly is to understand the correct methodology of writing and studying Islamic History (Usool at-Tarikh), which is a very close relative of Usool Al-hadith (science of interpreting hadith and its classifications). In this science, we study the authenticity of narrations in terms of:

• Who is presenting the narration (Detailed biographies of narrators are available in books of Ilm ul Rijal enlisting their contributions and if they are reliable or not) and 
  
• The acceptability of chain of narrations (i.e. if there are any gaps in chain, any missing narrators, any narrators in sequence who did not have an opportunity to meet the proceeding narrator etc. - Ilm ul Asnad). 
  

Islamic methodology (Usool) for interpreting the hadith and history are our great treasures. Most misconceptions come up ONLY when we do not assess things in the light of this critical branch of knowledge and base it on certain sectarian or emotional beliefs. With even a basic background in Usool-Al-Hadith, seekers of knowledge start seeing things in a much brighter light and many confusions get clarified. I would strongly recommend going through some books from our bookshelf on the topic of Usool al hadith. 

Urdu Readers can make use of a scholarly critique made available to us by مستند اسلامی تاریخ: Click here to read. This review presents critical analysis of books of history and has a section dedicated to history of Karbala.


Jazakallah.

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Audios on the tragedy of Karbala:

English - A detailed historical analysis by Dr. Yasir Qadhi - Listen: Part1, Part2

Urdu - Saneha e Karbala - Dr. Israr Ahmed - Watch
Urdu - Imam Hussain AS ki Shahadat - Sahih Hadees Ki Roshni Mein - Maulana Ishaq - Audio
Urdu - Shahadath E Hussain RA by Shk Tauseef Ur Rehman - Audio
Urdu - Waqia e Karbala ki Haqeeqat - Mufti Tariq Masood - Audio 

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Urdu
Shaheed e Karbala
By Mufti Muhammad Shafi
Read / Download

ENGLISH
The Tragedy of Karbala
By Dr. Israr Ahmed
Read / Download

Urdu
Shaheed e Karbala aur Mah e Muharram
Read / Download

Urdu
Saniha e Karbala
By Dr. Israr Ahmed
Read / Download

Urdu
Yazeed ki Shakhsiat
Abdur Rasheed Nomani
Read / Download
Read Review

Urdu
شہیدِ کربلا اور یزید
مولانا محمد طیب
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Urdu
حادثہِ کربلا کا پس منظر
ڈاکٹر محسن ندوی
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Urdu
اکابر صحابہ اور شہدائے کربلا پر افترا
مولانا عبد الرشید نعمانی
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Urdu
شہادتِ امام حسین
سید ابوالاعلی مودودی
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Urdu
شہادتِ حسین
مولانا عبدالستار
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Urdu
شہادتِ حسین اور کردارِ یزید
مولانا قاسم نانوتوی
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Urdu
واقعہِ کربلا کا پس منظر
ًمولانا عتیق الرحمن سنبھلی
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Urdu
Naasbiyyat By Shaykh Abdur Rasheed Nomani (r.a)
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Urdu
ہمیں حسین رضی اللہ عنہ سے محبت کیوں ہے
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Urdu
سیرتِ حسین مع سانحہِ کربلا

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Urdu
شانِ حسن و حسین

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Urdu
Imam Hussain Aur Waqia Karbala
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Urdu
Munkirat il Muharram

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Urdu
محرم اور عاشورہ کے فضائل و مسائل

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Urdu
Hadsa e Karbala aur sabai sazish
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Urdu
Rasoomat e Muharram ul Haram aur saniha e Karbala
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Urdu
Waqia Karbala aur Yazeed ka Kirdar - Dr. Hameedullah
Read / Download

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More Books:

Urdu - Sirr Ash-Shahadatain - Shah Abdul Aziz Dahelvi - Read / Download
Urdu - Shaheed Ibn Shaheed - Maulana Saim Chishti - (Maslka Brelviyyah) - Vol1: Read / Download; Vol2: Read / Download
Urdu - Swaneh Karbala - Syed Muhammad Naeem Muradabadi - (Maslka Brelviyyah) - Read / Download

Chinese - 正u说乐园中青年的领袖、殉教者  - 侯赛因传 (Imam Husain's Martyr) - Download