The Maqtal of Imam Husayn (AS)
Maqtal (Arabic: المقتل) is a written account containing historical monographs and narrations about the murder or martyrdom of a notable personality in the history. Writing maqtal among Shi'a is mostly for describing the martyrdom of infallible Imams (a) and notable Shi'a personalities. In the course of time and due to prevalence of such works about the Tragedy of Karbala, this term became exclusively used for narrating the events related with the martyrdom of Imam al-Husayn (a) and his companions.
This is an effort to compile the events of Karbala using the various maqtals that are available today. Many maqtals have already been lost and some of the details we hear from the majalis are often contradicting other narrations we may be used to hearing, but that does not necessarily make them inaccurate. We hope you find this to be a useful resource in learning about the history of Karbala.
WikiShia is a great place to start your research. There is a list of famous maqtals and references to maqtals that have perished and even some that are considered to be fake.
An amazing treasure-trove of material on Imam Huayn and Karbala can be found here. There are over 27 books alone on the topic of Karbala. This is where we will be gathering most of our online material from.
Some Famous Maqtals
A detailed and authentic account of the tragedy of Karbala and the sacrifice of Imam Husayn (as).
A historical account, using original sources, of the Tragedy of Karbala', from the time of the birth of Imam Husayn (as) till the time of Mukhtar's revolt.
“Al-Lohoof ala Qatla al-Tofuf” is a heart-rending but detailed and authentic account of the tragedy of Karbala and the sacrifice of Imam Husayn (as)
This revised edition is the research and editing of [Abu Mikhnaf’s] work by Shaikh Muhammad Hadi al-Yusufi al-Gharawi.