The Martyrdom of Husain and the Rites of Muharram

Overview

Recall questions on Husain and Karbala, Ashura and the first ten days of Muharram, forms of mourning, pilgrimage and ta'ziya, Halm's historical work and N Ahmed on Karbala's significance.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

1. 1

   Who was Husain, and what happened at Karbala?

   Model answer

   Husain was the Prophet's grandson, son of Ali and Fatimah, and the third Imam in Shi'a reckoning. In 680 he refused to acknowledge Yazid, who had inherited the caliphate from his father Mu'awiya, and set out towards Kufa in answer to appeals from its people. His small party, which included members of his family, was intercepted on the plain of Karbala, cut off from the river, and killed on the tenth of Muharram. The survivors, chiefly women and children, were taken captive to Damascus.

2. 2

   Why does Karbala carry such weight in Shi'a Islam?

   Model answer

   Because it gathers the tradition's central claims into one episode: that rightful authority was usurped, that the Prophet's family paid for their fidelity with their lives, and that the just may be defeated in the world without being wrong. It gives Shi'a Islam a language of suffering, protest and loyalty, and turns a political defeat into the moral centre of the tradition.

3. 3

   What is Ashura?

   Model answer

   The tenth day of Muharram, the day Husain was killed, and the culmination of ten days of mourning for Shi'a Muslims. Many Sunni Muslims also mark the date, but for a different reason, keeping a voluntary fast associated with an older act of deliverance. Sunni observance carries none of the mourning, so the same day means quite different things in the two traditions.

4. 4

   What happens during the first ten days of Muharram?

   Model answer

   Assemblies are held in which the events are recounted and elegies recited, often by a specialist reciter, and congregations weep openly. Processions move through the streets, sometimes with a replica of Husain's tomb or a riderless horse. Food and above all water are distributed freely, because Husain's party was denied it. Black is worn, and weddings and celebrations are suspended for the period.

5. 5

   What forms does the mourning take, and where is it contested?

   Model answer

   Practices range from weeping, chest-beating and rhythmic lamentation, which are very widely observed, to more severe acts of self-mortification using blades or chains that draw blood. The severe forms are practised in some communities and rejected in others, and several senior Shi'a jurists have discouraged or forbidden them, arguing that they injure the body, misrepresent the tradition and invite contempt for it. Blood donation drives have been promoted in their place. This is an argument inside Shi'a Islam, conducted by its own authorities.

6. 6

   What pilgrimages are associated with Husain?

   Model answer

   Visiting his shrine at Karbala is a major devotional act, particularly at Ashura and again forty days later, when very large numbers walk to Karbala from Najaf and beyond in one of the biggest annual gatherings anywhere in the world. Such visits are highly valued, and Shi'a Muslims also visit the shrines of other Imams, but they do not substitute for Hajj, which remains the pillar.

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