First Construction:
In 65 A. H., when al-Mukhtar al-Thaqafi was ruling Kufa, he called for taking revenge to the assassins of Imam Hussain and his companions through sentencing them. After that, he began constructing the dome of Imam Hussain’s shrine from bricks and gypsum.
The history of the holy shrine’s construction and its renovations goes back 14 centuries. Historians have stated that thebuilding was initiated when the tribe of Banu Asad buried the bodies of the martyrs immediately after the Battle of al-Taff.Imam Ali B. al-Hussain attending and participating this burial, informed Banu Asad that “Some people of this nation,unbeknownst to the tyrants, made a covenant with Allah to collect these shattered bodies and bloodied corpses, makingto them a lasting monument on the grave of the Master of Martyrs’.”
Second Construction:
The Abbasid caliph, al-Ma’moon, tried to establish good relations with the Alawis, for political reasons, when he crowned Imam Ali al-Ridha as the prince of Khurasan. He feigned a coalition with them, as they were the rightful heirs to the caliphate. In 193 A.H., al-Ma’mun replaced the Abbasid motto with the Alawi motto and gave commands to build the Imam Hussain shrine allowing the Alawis and their followers to go about freely while visiting the holy shrine.
During al-Ma’mun’s reign, the holy shrine was still being rebuilt until 232 A.H., when al-Mutawakkil ruled with hostility towards against the Shiites. Later, he demanded that the holy shrines of both Abbas and Imam Hussain be destroyed.
Third Construction:
In 247 A.H., al-Muntassir was named caliph of the Abbasid. The Alawis rejoiced at this as he treated them kindly and ordered the reconstruction of the dome of Imam Hussain, which led to guiding many people to the holy shrine. Al-Muntassir then awarded permission to visit the holy shrines and people gladly migrated to Karbala and were led by Sayyid Ibrahim al-Mujab ibn Musa ibn Jafar.
Fourth Construction:
On the 9th of Thul-hujja, 273 A.H. the dome built by al-Muntassir collapsed suddenly while people were paying a special visit to Imam Hussain on Arafat Day and many pilgrims were injured. Among the few rescued were Abu Abdullah Mohammed ibn Umran ibn al-Hajjaj, a notable man in Kufa, who narrated the accident. The reason behind the accident remains unknown, however this initiated a new construction by the followers of Ahl al-Bayt.
Fifth Construction:
During the reign of the Abbasid caliph,Tayia B. Mutia, who ruled Baghdad, ordered to build Omran B. Shaheen portico between Gharawi and Ha’iri graves known today as the portico of Sayyid Ibraheem al-Mujab.
Sixth Construction:
Fire broke out in the holy shrine during the reign of Adud al-Dawla the Buyid, burning the dome and courtyard. Hassan B. Mufaddhal renovated the building in 412 A.H. He built a dome on the shrine renovating what the fire had destroyed. He also gave the ordered to surround the shrine with a high wall which, later, was mentioned by Ibn Idrees in his book (al-Serair). In 588 A.H. Ibn Sehlan renewed the outer wall to increase durability.
Seventh Construction:
Sultan Mu’izz Addeen Owes B. Holaco Khan, ruled Iraq after his brother Sultan Hussain al-Sagheer, who built the shrine with a semi-circular shaped dome surrounded by porticos like the present shape.
Work was started by Ahmed B. Owes, his son, in 767 A.H. and lasted for 19 years. In 1216 A.H. / 1801 A.D, Karbala witnessed a massive destruction at the hands of Wahhabis, massacring countless civilians and burning every valuablebook in the library of Imam Hussain.The structure was kept the same for a long period of time, with renovations fromtime to time especially after the destruction which Karbala suffered from in 1412 A.H. / 1991 A.D. during al-Intifada alShaabaniyah (The Shaaban Uprising).
Random shelling by mortars tanks and helicopters of the republican guards led by Hussain Kamil, son–in–law of Saddam Hussain, the deposed Iraqi dictator. This resulted in a deep puncture in al-Abbas dome and the destruction of some parts of the walls of the two shrines, in addition to killing thousands of innocent people of Karbala.
Eighth Construction:
In 1424 A.H. / 2003, after the fall of the tyrant regime, the Supreme Religious Authority in Najaf organized the Holy Shrines’ Supreme Administration Committee (Sayyid al-Tabatabaee, Sheikh al-Karbalaey and Sayyid al-Safi). Sheikh al-Karbalaey, general secretary of the holy shrine of Imam Hussain and a member of the committee, supervised the most recent construction which added a second floor to the courtyard, gilded the minarets, replaced the holy grille and renewed the gates. In the next several pages, in-depth information is given for each of these accomplished projects.