Due to his animosity against the Shias, Mutawakkil could not tolerate them gathering around the holy shrine of Imam Hossein. Imam Hossein has been a symbol of liberty and resistance against oppression throughout history. His holy shrine was a base for the Shias to be reminded about the tragedy of Karbala to gain strength and motivation to stand against oppression. Thus, Mutawakkil destroyed the shrine of Imam Hossein twice during his government. On the first occasion, he sent his army to ruin and plow the holy shrine and the surrounding structures, disperse the pilgrims, and ban any pilgrimage . However, he could not stop the people from visiting the holy shrine of Imam Hossein. The people told Mutawakkil’s army that even if they kill them all, they would still not be able to stop the rest of the Shias from gathering at Imam Hossein’s shrine. When Mutawakkil was informed about the people’s message, he ordered his army to leave Karbala. After this incident, the people continued to visit Karbala. This was to an extent that, on special religious occasions, a large market was set up to fulfill the needs of the pilgrims. Consequently, Mutawakkil ordered the destruction of the holy tomb of Imam Hossein for the second time . This time, Mutawakkil gave orders to plow and flood the holy tomb to remove any sign of it. This latter incident occurred after around 10 years from the first incident and coincided with the last year of Mutawakkil’s caliphate. Like his forefathers, the Imam would highly recommend his followers to visit the holy shrine of Imam Hossein and not allow the memory of Imam Hossein to be forgotten. On one occasion, the Imam became sick and asked his companion to pay one of his Shias on the Imam’s behalf to travel to Karbala and pray for his recovery. The Imam’s companion asked him why he did not pray for himself, as he was an infallible Imam like Imam Hossein, and his prayer would certainly be fulfilled by God. He continued by emphasizing that Imam Hadi was the best living creation of God and had a higher status than the structure of a shrine. The Imam responded that the Holy Prophet had a higher status than Ka’ba and Hajar al-Aswad, however, he would rotate around the Ka’ba and would pay respect to Hajar al-Aswad. The Imam then told his companion that God has designated some holy sites where he likes to be worshiped. The Imam then continued by saying that he favored prayer for his recovery at those holy sites, and the shrine of Imam Hossein was indeed among those sites.
