The followers of the Wahhabi movement known as the Emirate...

The followers of the Wahhabi movement known as the Emirate of Diriyah carried out the first demolition. The Sultanate of Nejd, also ruled by the House of Saud and followers of Wahhabism, carried out the second demolition. In both cases, those involved were motivated by the Wahhabi interpretation of Islam, which prohibits the building of monuments on graves.

[15] \n Holy Grave of Imam Hussain -asws Ibn Ali -asws at Karbala: \n When arriving at Karbala in 61 A.H., Imam Hussain bought a piece of land of Karbala, from the Bani Asad tribe living close by, already knowing the outcome on the 10 th of Muharram, so that, after martyrdom, they all are buried in that land, where the shrines are presently located. The history of destruction and reconstruction of the shrines of Karbala’ is long.

We find in the history that the shrines suffered repeated destruction from attacking armies, although several rulers extended and decorated the shrines and precincts, and kept them in good condition. [16] \n On the other hand, there has been several failed attempts by hostile rulers, such as Al-Rash\u012bd and Al-Mutawakkil, to eradicate the signs of the graves at Karbala but instead, Karbala kept on developing and turned into a city.