I am interested in knowing what exactly happened in the battle of Karbala? I would also like to ask if there are any good books you could recommend that could explain to me what happened in this battle.

All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad is His slave and Messenger.

Many books have been written about the killing of Al-Husayn which we can summarize as follows:

Al-Husayn ibn 'Ali both, was martyred in Karbalaa' when he was 56 years old. The main reason as we can find in the book of Ibn al-Imaad "Shatharaat Ath-Thahab", was that he refused to pledge allegiance to Yazeed after his father Mu'aawiyah chose him as the Caliph. Al-Husayn ibn 'Ali both, was one of four who refused to acknowledge the caliphate of Yazeed ibn Mu'aawiyah; the others were Abdullaah ibn Umar, Abdullaah ibn az-Zubayr and Abdur-Rahmaan ibn Abu Bakr all.

When Mu'aawiyah died, the people of Iraq sent messages asking Al-Husayn to come and stay with them. He took his entire family and when he reached Karbalaa', close to Koofah, 'Ubaydullaah ibn Ziyaad attacked and killed him. Amongst those killed were: 'Ali al-Akbar and Abdullaah, who were his sons; Ja'far, Muhammad, Ateeq, al-Abbas al-Akbar  (his half-brothers); al-Qaasim (the son of Hasan ); Muhammad  and 'Awn (the sons of Al-Husayn's uncle, Abdullaah ibn Ja'far ibn Abi Taalib; Muslim ibn Aqeel ibn Abi Taalib and his two sons Abdullaah and Abdur-Rahmaan.

Some members of his family managed to slip away, among whom were: 'Ali Al-Asghar (Al-Husayn's son), Al-Hasan (son of Al-Hasan ibn 'Ali both); 'Amr ibn Hasan, Qaasim ibn 'Abdullaah ibn Ja'far; Faatimah and Sukaynah (daughters of Al-Husayn ); Ar-Rabaab Al-Kalbiyyah (Al-Husayn's wife and mother of Sukaynah), Muhammad's mother and the daughter of Al-Hasan ibn 'Ali both. Some of their slaves also managed to escape.

To summarize the events that led to the tragedy of Karbalaa':

When Yazeed became the Caliph after the death of his father Mu'aawiyah and people acknowledged him for a Caliph, Yazeed ordered his governor in Madeenah, Al-Waleed ibn 'Utbah,  to take the pledge of allegiance on his behalf. Thus, Al-Waleed was sent to Al-Husayn and 'Abdullaah ibn Az-Zubayr who went to Al-Waleed at night and said, 'People like us don't pledge secretly, but in front of the witnesses', and left.

This happened at the end of Rajab, after which Al-Husayn went to Makkah and stayed there. Thereafter, he left Makkah on the Day of Tarwiyah, traveling towards Koofah (Iraq). So 'Ubaydullaah ibn Ziyaad sent Umar ibn Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqaas (some reports say he sent 'Ubaydullaah ibn Al-Haarith al-Tameemi) to fight Al-Husayn saying, 'Keep him in custody.'

Umar ibn Sa'd prepared 4000 fighters against Al-Husayn and when 'Ubaydullaah ibn Ziyaad joined him at the camp their numbers reached 22,000. They agreed to kill Al-Husayn on Muharram 10, it is said on a Friday (or variously said Saturday or Sunday), at a place called al-Taff. Besides Al-Husayn 82 men were killed.

Al-Haarith ibn Yazeed at-Tameemi was at first amongst Al-Husayn's opponents. In the last moments he repented when the enemies refused to give water to Al-Husayn .  Thirty-three stab wounds and 34 bruises were found on the body of Al-Husayn . Seventeen men from the family of Faatimah were also killed.

Hasan al-Basri said,

'Together with Al-Husayn were 16 [people] from Ahl-al-Bayt (the family of the Prophet . I have seen nothing like it before. Once, some of the dissolute people came to Ibn Ziyaad with Al-Husayn's head saying: 'Heavily load my horse's saddle with gold and silver. Indeed I killed the man of the best mother and father amongst the people'. Ibn Ziyaad became angry with him and said, 'If you knew that, then why did you kill him? By Allaah, I will make you join him (Al-Husayn ) and he cut off the killer's head. (It is also said that Yazeed killed the killer of Al-Husayn ). When Al-Husayn was killed, his head, wives and Zaynul 'Aabideen were sent to Damascus as captives. May Allaah disgrace the killer, and the one who ordered the killing and whosever is pleased with it!'

We should know that the killers of Al-Husayn were not disbelievers, but they were unjust sinners. Allaah The Almighty honored Al-Husayn and his family with martyrdom by these people. For more information about this tragic event, please see the book 'Shatharaat Ath-Thahab' by Ibn al-Imaad, 'Al-Bidayah wan-Nihayah' by Ibn Katheer, and Fataawa by Ibn Taymiyyah .

Allaah Knows best.