Shia Muslims hold mourning ceremonies to mark Ashura worldwide

Shia Muslims in Iran, Iraq and other countries are taking part in mourning rituals for Imam Husain who was martyred along with his 72 companions in the Battle of Karbala in southern Iraq in 680 AD after fighting courageously for justice against the much larger army of the Umayyad caliph, Yazid I.

Ashura mourners, who are 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 different countries head to the city of Karbala, which hosts Imam Husain’s holy shrine, to mark Ashura in ultimate magnificence.

Ashura is the culmination of 10-day mourning ceremonies that are observed in the lunar month of Muharram.

The Muharram rituals symbolize the never-ending and unwavering stance of truth against falsehood and humanity’s struggle against injustice, tyranny and oppression, the cause for which Imam Husain was martyred.

On the eve of Ashura, known as Tasu’a, mourners remember Abbas ibn Ali (AS), Imam Husain’s half-brother, who was martyred shortly before Imam Husain as he tried to bring water to women and children in Imam’s camp, who had had no water to drink for days due to a siege by the enemy forces.