He heard that guards were located at all the city gates and...

He heard that guards were located at all the city gates and that he would be prevented from entering the city. He continued moving forward marching towards his death. Approximately seventy kilometres from Kufa, in a desert named Karbala, the Imam and his entourage were surrounded by the army of Yazid. For eight days they stayed in this spot during which time the circle narrowed and the number of the enemy's army increased.

Finally the Imam with his household and a small number of companions were encircled by an army of thirty thou­sand soldiers. The enemy cut them off from the Euphrates and they all suffered great thirst in the very hot desert of Karbala. The Imam spoke to his companions, inviting them to leave him for to remain would mean certain death. He told them that the enemy only wanted his person and none of them were under obligation to stay.

Traditionally 72 persons are said to have participated in the battle of Karbala. On the tenth day of Muharram of the year 680 A.D., the Imam lined up before the enemy with his small band of followers, less than ninety persons consisting of forty of his companions, thirty some members of the army of the enemy that joined him during the night and day of war and his Hashimite family of children, brothers, ne­phews, nieces and cousins.

That day they fought from morning until their final breath, and the Imam, the young Hashirnites and the companions were all martyred. The Resonance of Karbala Karbala resonates in the life of the Iranian people and has done so for exactly 1300 years. The reverberations of this resonance can most clearly be seen in 'living art.' The inspiration of martyrdom begins when the 'living artist' 'makes his or her intentions known' (niyyat kardan).

This 'intention' inspires the heart and soul of that person to express something which is greater than the individual. This inspiration cannot be measured. It affects 'living art' as well as the 'art of living', individual and social manifestations of religious inspiration. The individual as living art, begins forming at birth and continually changes until the form is completed at death.

Due to the varying factors which cause the changes in the form, the influence of a particular event is difficult to relate to the form. That is, there is an indirect influence of cultural and social factors which pressure the form much as the fingertips of a sculptor working with clay.