Who Was Ubaydullah ibn Ziyad? The governor behind Karbala in Islamic History

Before the worldBefore Adam

The first nationsAdam to Shuayb

Egypt and Bani Israilc. 1300–1000 BCE

Bani Israil and Romec. 1000 BCE – 250 CE

Arabia before IslamUp to 570 CE

Enemies of the Prophet ﷺ610–632 CE

After the Prophet ﷺ632–1000 CE

Crusades and conquests1090–1502 CE

The end of timeStill to come

Ten signs before the Hour

Isa ibn Maryam descends
A landslide in the east
A landslide in the west
A landslide in Arabia
The smoke
The sun rises from the west
The Beast of the earth
A fire from Yemen drives people to their gathering

Sahih Muslim lists ten major signs before the Hour without fixing their order. This follows a common order given by the scholars. Sahih Muslim 2901a ↗

Villains of history62 / 76

عبيد الله بن زياد

Ubaydullah ibn Ziyad

The governor behind Karbala680 CE · 61 AH

Relied onFear and the army of Kufa

Undone byIbrahim ibn al-Ashtar at the River Khazir

Umayyad governor of Kufa who crushed support for Husayn, executed his envoy Muslim ibn Aqil, and sent the army that killed Husayn and his family at Karbala.

How it ended

When Husayn's head was brought to him he poked it with a stick, and Anas rebuked him. He was killed in battle at the River Khazir in 686.

But whoever kills a believer intentionally - his recompense is Hell, wherein he will abide eternally, and Allah has become angry with him and has cursed him and has prepared for him a great punishment.
Quran 4:93

The lessonAnas reminded him whose face that was: the one most like the Prophet ﷺ.

In the Quran

4:93

Stood against: Husayn ibn Ali
Source: Authentic hadithThe scene with Husayn's head is in Sahih al-Bukhari. Sunni scholars hold the killing of Husayn to be a grave crime and a grief for the whole Ummah.Sahih al-Bukhari 3748 ↗

Every villain in Islamic history, from Iblis to the Dajjal

Each entry is drawn from the Quran, authentic hadith (with links to sunnah.com), the classical commentators and the historians. Companions who fought Islam and later became Muslim are not included, nor are figures Muslims disagree about.