‘Ashura 1432

Okay, before somebody starts denouncing me, the above artwork is from Hizbullah's Al-Manar TV English website. If you think I'm a Hizbullah sympathizer you haven't been paying attention, but I needed some Shi‘ite graphics for ‘Ashura, and there it was. If it makes you feel any better, I'm probably violating their copyright.

Today is ‘Ashura, the tenth of Muharram. As the tenth day of the new Muslim year, it originated as a day of fasting exactly analagous to Yom Kippur; the parallel was, according to some hadith, acknowledged by the Prophet himself. I dealt with the background of the day in some detail last year.

While it is still a day of recommended fasting for Sunni Muslims, it has become far more closely identified with Shi‘ism, since it was on ‘Ashura in the year 61 after the Hijra (680 AD) that the third Imam of Shi‘ism, the Prophet's grandson Hussein, and many members of the Prophetic family were martyred in battle at Karbala in Iraq by the Umayyad Caliph Yazid.

At a minimum, Shi‘ites mark ‘Ashura by reenactments of Hussein's martyrdom and by mourning; in some countries self-flagellation and other extreme practices are seen. In Tehran and other Iranian cities, in the Shi‘ite shrines of Iraq, in southern Lebanon and Bahrain and eastern Saudi Arabia, Shi‘ites will commemorate their central martyr. Unfortunately there are likely to be sectarian attacks as well; yesterday's bombing in Chabahar, Iran, claimed by the Sunni Jundallah, was presumably timed to ‘Ashura, and Sunni-Shi‘ite clashes in Iraq often coincide with Shi‘ite holidays. The blood shed on the field of Karbala 1330 years ago still divides Muslims today.