Parentella

On the 10^th day of the Islamic New Year is an Islamic holiday called the Day Of Ashura (the word ‘ashura literally means “tenth” in Arabic). Many Middle Eastern countries recognize Ashura as a national holiday. The tradition of Ashura has deep roots, stemming back to the earliest days of Islam. Just as there are many sects of Christianity (ie, Orthodox, Protestant, Catholic) that have different beliefs behind Christian holidays, so the various sects of Islam have different beliefs about Ashura, as well.

For Shi’a and Alawite Muslims, this day marks the anniversary of the martyring of Husayn ibn Ali in 61 AH (680 AD), who was Mohammed’s grandson and a significant leader to the Shi’as. The holiday is marked in a similar way to a funeral: people wear mourning attire and solemnly congregate together to read poems and preach sermons about Husayn ibn Ali’s tragic death. After the services, people usually have a collective meal with a special pudding-type dessert (pictured above) that is also called Ashura. Music is not played, and festive events are never scheduled for that day. Many Shi’as will visit Husayn ibn Ali’s tomb in Karbala, Iraq.

Sunni Muslims and Orthodox Christians in the Middle East believe this day marks the anniversary of the miracle where God parted the Red Sea so that the Jews could escape from slavery in Egypt in 1312 BC. Moses, the prophet that was leading the Jews, fasted on that day to show his thankfulness to God. The Jews made fasting on that day an annual tradition (which seems to no longer be practiced today).

The Christian, Jewish and Islamic religions all have the same roots: the Old Testament of the Bible. Since the Jews being set free had as much religious historical significance to the new faith of Islam as it did to the Jewish faith, the Prophet Mohammed (founder of Islam) decreed it a Muslim holiday that the Sunnis still follow. Many people fast for two days. The special Ashura dessert mentioned above is eaten when fasting is done. In some countries, such as in Turkey, gifts are given to children and food is distributed among the communities, especially to the needy.

Parentella wishes all of our Muslim friends a blessed Ashura!

sources: http://islam.about.com/b/2010/12/13/the-day-of-ashura-2.htm; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Day_of_Ashura; http://www.islamicpluralism.org/765/ashura-in-america; http://www.suite101.com/content/day-of-ashura-a87975; http://www.questionsonislam.com/index.php?s=article&aid=10659 image credit: http://www.sufizikrmeditation.com/2009/01/day-of-ashura-blessings-and-practices.html

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Written by Christi Grab, with help from Huseyin Bilal. Christi is Parentella’s Editorial Director and author of  The Unexpected Circumnavigation: Unusual Boat, Unusual People Part 1 – San Diego to Australia.  She is currently working on book two of the series.

Related posts:

1. Maal Hijra 1432 AH
2. History of Thanksgiving

Tags: Ashura, Islamic holidays, Islamic traditions

This entry was posted on Thursday, December 16th, 2010 at 12:01 am and is filed under Christi Grab, Holidays. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.