The holy city of Karbala witnessed in the early twelfth and thirteenth centuries a great literary trend that affected large segments of its population in that period despite their variety in ages, religious orientations, and political affiliation.
One of the signs of this new literary trend was the establishment of the so-called "Literary Battle of Thursday", which was regularly attended by an audience of scientists with great prestige in the field of literary debates on Thursday evening of each week for the purpose of turning the field of literature into an arena to empty their literary thoughts and doctrinal views as well as their philosophical and religious opinions within an atmosphere of competition saturated with joy.
Among the most prominent pioneers of these battles were Sheikh Jaafar al-Janaji, Sayyid Mehdi al-Tabatabai, Sheikh Hussein Najaf, Sayyid Sadiq al-Faham, Sheikh Ali Zaini al-Ameli, Sheikh Mohammed Ali al-Aasam and many others (1).
Source
(1) Literary Houses in Karbala: by Musa Ibrahim al-Karbasi.
