Karbalā

Karbala كربلاء Karbalāʾ Kerbala
The Holy Shrines in Karbala
Karbala Location in Iraq
Coordinates: 32°37′N 44°02′E / 32.617°N 44.033°E / 32.617; 44.033
Country	Iraq
Governorate	Karbala
Settled	690 AD
Population (2014)
• Total	1,151,200

Karbala (Arabic: كربلاء‎‎) Karbalā’; is a city in central Iraq, located about 100 km (62 mi) southwest of Baghdad. Karbala is the capital of Karbala Governorate, and has an estimated population of 1.15 million people (2014).

The city, best known as the location of the Battle of Karbala (680), is considered as holy a city for Shia Muslims as Mecca, Medina and the noble sanctuary in Jerusalem, and tens of millions of Shia Muslims visit the site twice a year. Karbala is home to the Imam Hussain Shrine. The martyrdom of Hussain ibn Ali (Imam Hussain) is commemorated annually by millions of Shias.

Several theories address the origin of the name Karbala. The geographer Yaqut al-Hamawi expressed the traditional hypothesis: that the name is an alternate Arabic feminine version of karbalah "soft earth". Alternatively, it has been said to be derived from the Aramaic word Kora, meaning place for making bricks, for the nearby ancient city of Babil, hence Karbabil, which became Karbala by contraction. According to Shia belief, the archangel Gabriel narrated the true meaning of the name Karbalā to Muhammad: the land which will cause many agonies (karb) and afflictions (balā)."

The word derived from the Aramaic word כַרְבָלָא / ܟܪܒܠܐ [ krblh | karbālā ], ultimately derived from Akkadian karballatu. It means a type of head covering and also cock's comb.^r