Shia Muslims Worldwide Commemorate Ashura with Mourning Ceremonies
Shia Muslims in Iran and other countries are participating in mourning rituals for Imam Hussein (AS), who was martyred along with his 72 companions in the Battle of Karbala in southern Iraq in 680 AD. They fought courageously for justice against the much larger army of the Umayyad caliph, Yazid I.
Ashura mourners, dressed in black, beat their chests, march in mass processions, listen to elegies, and hold noon prayers, with benefactors distributing votive foods.
Every year, hundreds of thousands of pilgrims from various countries travel to the city of Karbala, which hosts Imam Hussein’s holy shrine, to mark Ashura in ultimate magnificence.
Ashura is the culmination of 10-day mourning ceremonies observed in the lunar month of Muharram.
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The Muharram rituals symbolize the unwavering stance of truth against falsehood and humanity’s struggle against injustice, tyranny, and oppression, the cause for which Imam Hussein was martyred.
On the eve of Ashura, known as Tasu’a, mourners remember Abbas ibn Ali (AS), Imam Hussein’s half-brother, who was martyred shortly before Imam Hussein as he tried to bring water to women and children in Imam’s camp, who had been without water for days due to a siege by enemy forces.
Source: Agencies
