The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions (127 page)

with his family and relatives to Mecca, and then headed for K
fa to muster support for his cause. However,
usain and his party were intercepted by Umayyad troops near Karbal
. They were surrounded, and cut off from access to water for ten days. On 10 Mu
arram,
usain's weary supporters (92 males) gave battle against 4,000 soldiers. During the fierce engagement,
usain's party was annihilated.
The Karbal
tragedy became the focus of the Sh
’a faith:
usain, impelled by a desire to fulfil the demands of true Islam, had stood up against the evil Umayyads; his sacrifice was to redeem Islam, and to teach people the need of revolt against an unjust (
zalim
) government.

 
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