Ashura

Ashura, Muslim holy day observed on the 10th of Muharram, the first month of the Muslim calendar (Gregorian date variable). The term Ashura is derived from the Arabic word for the number ten (عشر, ʿashr). The word Muharram itself derives from the Arabic root ḥ-r-m, one meaning of which is “forbidden” (ḥarām). Traditionally, Muharram was one of the four sacred months when fighting was not allowed. For Shiʿi Muslims, Ashura is a day of mourning for the martyrdom of Al-Ḥusayn ibn ʿAlī, whom they revere as the third imam. Sunnis also observe Ashura, but as a day of optional fasting that commemorates events in biblical and Islamic history.

Mourning in Shiʿi Islam

Al-Ḥusayn ibn ʿAlī was the Prophet Muhammad’s grandson by his daughter Fāṭimah and his son-in-law ʿAlī. For the Shiʿah, the 10th of Muharram is the day on which he and most of his small band of followers were killed by Umayyad forces under the authority of Yazīd I in the Battle of Karbala (October 10, 680). The martyrdom of Ḥusayn is one of the defining moments of Shiʿi history and identity, and the third imam is understood to represent justice and piety in opposition to the injustice and tyranny of Yazīd I. Ashura is a time when Shiʿis demonstrate their commitment to the family of the Prophet (Ahl al-Bayt) and to Islam. Although the date of Ḥusayn’s death is agreed upon by both the Shiʿi and Sunni communities, his death served as a significant symbol of the separation of the two Islamic traditions.

Across the Shiʿi world, believers annually commemorate his martyrdom with rituals of mourning during the first 10 days of Muharram, culminating in Ashura on the 10th day of the month. During this holy mourning period, Shiʿis gather in assemblies to hear preachers offer sermons, relate the life of Ḥusayn, and recount the events of the Battle of Karbala. Poems commemorating Ḥusayn and his virtues are recited, and the assemblies of mourning conclude with rhythmic chest-beating accompanying the poetry. A community group will often stage a passion play (taʿziyyah) that reenacts the events of Ḥusayn’s martyrdom. In large processions, particularly in Iran and South Asia, groups carry models of Ḥusayn’s tomb (called tazias in South Asia). It is common during this period of mourning for people to wear black clothing and headbands—often in green, black, or red and emblazoned with slogans—to demonstrate mourning and commemoration of Ḥusayn.

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Islam

On the 9th and 10th of Muharram some men process through the streets performing acts of self-flagellation that can involve bloodletting. However, this practice is debated and in some instances prohibited in Shiʿi communities. In 1994 Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who was also a cleric with the rank of ayatollah, issued a fatwa forbidding the practice of self-flagellation.

As Shiʿi Muslims have spread around the world, so have Ashura practices. Regular processions take place across the Muslim diaspora in the United States, Canada, England, and South Africa. In Trinidad, which has a sizable population of Indian-origin immigrants, there is a local carnivalesque form of the holiday called Hosay. Hosay is celebrated by Shiʿi and Sunni Muslims as well as Hindus and Christians, and it commemorates the martyrdom of Ḥusayn with both sacred solemnity and jubilant festivity.

Fasting in Sunni Islam

Ashura is also acknowledged by Sunni Muslims as a day of optional fasting. Fasting on Ashura was the norm in early Islamic society, and various hadiths state that the Prophet Muhammad himself fasted on this day. Some hadiths contend he did so following local pre-Islamic tradition, whereas others state that he adopted the practice from Jews in Medina who fasted on Yom Kippur (the 10th day of Tishrei). In the second year of the Hijrah (624 ce), Muhammad received a revelation that caused him to make adjustments in the Islamic calendar. With these, Ramadan, the ninth month, became the month of fasting, and the obligation to fast on Ashura was dropped. But Ashura, sometimes expanded to the 9th and 11th of Muharram, continued in practice as a fast day, and, although debated in the early years of Islam, later Sunni scholars have come to an agreement that it is a desirable (mustaḥabb) fast day.

The significance of Ashura in Sunni tradition is supported by hadiths that established the date as corresponding to numerous notable events and births in the Hebrew Bible and Islamic history. Of primary importance, at least in later tradition, is the association of Ashura with the date that God parted the Red Sea to allow Moses (Mūsā) and his followers to escape from Egypt and the day that Noah (Nūḥ) disembarked from the ark following the flood.

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In some regions, particularly in South Asia, Sunni Muslims might join in Shiʿi rituals during Ashura. In historical cases in South Asia, Sunni festivity on Ashura and Sunni respect for Ḥusayn as a member of the Prophet’s family have prompted Sunni practices to blend with Shiʿi mourning processions. However, Sunni participation in Shiʿi Ashura has not always been the norm. In some instances Sunni writers and rulers have criticized and even forbidden these Shiʿi rituals. In countries such as India, Pakistan, and Iraq that have both Sunni and Shiʿi populations, the divergent Ashura rituals have histories of both combined observation and episodes of considerable sectarian friction.