This dissertation deals with al-Ḥusayn's uprising and death based on the classical Arabic sources. It is argued that al-Ḥusayn's uprising and opposition to Yazid's caliphate were directly connected to the matter of the caliphate and the caliph's qualifications. He refused to recognize Yazid's caliphate because he considered it as illegitimate due to the fact that Yazid was not qualified to assume such an important office. It is also argued that because of Mu`awiya, who attempted to secure Yazid's succession by forcing all Muslims to pay homage to him, Yazid became caliph. Wanting to remove the real meaning of the caliphate and intending to transform it to a kingship (mulk) inherited among his offspring, Mu`awiya himself rejected the principle of the early Companions of the Prophet by choosing the caliph. / Al-Ḥusayn refused to listen to those who advised him to submit to the established authority (de facto) and to enter into whatever the community had entered into and agreed upon. Yazid's caliphate, in al-Ḥusayn's eyes, was a deviation from the Sunna of the Prophet and the conduct of the Rightly Guided Caliphs, and represented corruption in the community of his grandfather. As the Prophet's grandson, he believed that he was committed to following in the footsteps of his grandfather and was more responsible than anybody else for preventing corruption. Even when he became convinced of the Kufans' failure to stand with him, al-Ḥusayn refused to give the bay`a to Yazid and also felt obliged to revolt against him. Furthermore and apart of his strategy, he did decide to take his family with him in order that they would play a significant role after his death. / Amongst the results obtained during this research were the three different patterns of writing in our sources; namely, pro-Sunni, pro-Shi`i and a moderate, who escaped being classified as pro-Sunni or pro-Shi`i.

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