KARBALA and death—how many more times will tragedy be uttered in those two words? Every time massacre happens there, we ask, perhaps with hushed voice, whether faith affirms power, or the other way around.

The first slaughter was recorded more than 1,300 years ago. The Ummayad dynasty strengthened its political position as the bearer of the Islamic Caliphate by murdering Husayn, the grandson of the Prophet, and his followers in