Ashura

Ashura (Arabic: عَاشُورَاء, ʿĀshūrāʾ), also more formally as the Day of Ashura (Arabic: يوم عاشوراء, romanized: Yawm ʿĀshūrāʾ), is a day of commemoration in Islam. It occurs annually on the tenth of Muharram, the first month of the Islamic calendar.

According to Sunni traditions, Ashura marks the parting of the Red Sea by Moses and the salvation of the Israelites. It is also believed that on this day, Noah disembarked from the Ark, God forgave Adam, and Joseph was released from prison, among other events. Ashura is observed in Sunni Islam through supererogatoryfasting, prayer, and charitable acts. Some Sunni communities have also observed the day through celebratory practices, though certain forms of joyful commemoration have been criticized by Sunni scholars. Many Sunnis additionally regard the killing of Husayn ibn Ali at Karbala as a tragic event in Islamic history and commemorate it through sermons, remembrance, or other forms of reflection, although these observances generally differ from the mourning rituals characteristic of Shia Islam, particularly the more intensive forms of ritual mourning practiced in some communities.

By contrast, for Shia Muslims, Ashura is a day of mourning as they annually commemorate the death of Husayn ibn Ali, grandson of the Islamic prophetMuhammad and the third Shia imam. Husayn refused on moral grounds to pledge his allegiance to the Umayyad caliphYazid ibn Mu'awiya (r. 680–683) and was subsequently killed, alongside most of his male relatives and his small retinue, by the Umayyad army in the Battle of Karbala on Ashura 61 AH (680 CE). Among Shia Muslims, mourning for Husayn is seen as an act of protest against oppression, a spiritual struggle for God, and a means of seeking Husayn’s intercession in the afterlife. Ashura is observed through mourning gatherings, processions, and dramatic reenactments. In such ceremonies, Shia mourners strike their chests to share in the pain of Husayn. Extreme self-flagellation, often involving self-inflicted bloodshed, remains controversial among the Shia, condemned by many Shia clerics, and outlawed in some Shia communities. Ashura has sometimes been an occasion for sectarian violence, particularly against the Shia minority.