![]() Instead, Ashura was probably observed at first on the tenth of the first Jewish month of Tishrei, known as Yom Kippur ( lit. It also seems improbable that Ashura initially coincided with the tenth of Muharram. This transition is often associated with verses 2:183–5 of the Quran, the central religious text in Islam, which explicitly designate Ramadan as the month of fasting. Although it remained optional, fasting on Ashura ceased to be a religious obligation after about a year when the relations with the Medinan Jews deteriorated. Ashura in Sunni Islam Origins įasting on Ashura was likely a Jewish practice adopted by the Islamic prophet Muhammad after his arrival in the city of Medina in 622 CE, perhaps signifying Muhammad's sense of a shared prophetic mission with Moses. ![]() In Arabic, Ashura refers to the tenth day of Muharram, the first month of the Islamic calendar, a month in which fighting has been forbidden since before the advent of Islam. ![]() It shares the same root as the Hebrew word 'āsōr. It may have also been derived from the Syriac words asiroya or asora. Ashura has sometimes been an occasion for sectarian violence, particularly against the Shia minority.Īshura is an Aramaic word meaning 'tenth'. Extreme self-flagellation, often involving self-inflicted bloodshed, remains controversial among the Shia, condemned by many Shia clerics, and outlawed in some Shia communities. In such ceremonies, Shia mourners strike their chests to share in the pain of Husayn. Ashura is observed through mourning gatherings, processions, and dramatic reenactments. Among the Shia minority, mourning for Husayn is viewed as an act of protest against oppression, a struggle for God, and a means of securing the intercession of Husayn in the afterlife. Husayn refused on moral grounds to pledge his allegiance to the Umayyad caliph Yazid 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). In some Sunni communities, the annual Ashura festivities include carnivals, bonfires, and special dishes, even though some Sunni scholars have criticized such practices.īy contrast, for Shia Muslims, Ashura is a day of mourning as they annually commemorate the death of Husayn ibn Ali, grandson of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and the third Shia imam. Ashura is celebrated in Sunni Islam through supererogatory fasting and other acceptable expressions of joy. Also on this day, Noah disembarked from the Ark, God forgave Adam, and Joseph was released from prison, among various other auspicious events on Ashura in Sunni tradition. For Sunni Muslims, Ashura marks the parting of the Red Sea by Moses and the salvation of the Israelites. It occurs annually on the tenth of Muharram, the first month of the Islamic calendar. Ashura ( Arabic: عَاشُورَاء, ʿĀshūrāʾ, ) is a day of commemoration in Islam.
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