Mourning of Muharram

The mourning of Muharram (Arabic: عزاء محرم, romanized: ʿAzāʾ Muḥarram; Persian: عزاداری محرم, romanized: ʿAzādārī-i Muḥarram) is a set of religious rituals observed by Shia Muslims during the month of Muharram, the first month of the Islamic calendar. These annual rituals commemorate the death of Husayn ibn Ali, grandson of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and the third Shia imam. Husayn and his small retinue were slaughtered in the Battle of Karbala on 10 Muharram 61 AH (680 CE) against the army of the Umayyad caliph Yazid I (r. 680–683). The battle followed Husayn's refusal to pledge his allegiance to Yazid, who is often portrayed by Muslim historians as impious and immoral. In Shia Islam, Karbala symbolizes the eternal struggle between good and evil, the pinnacle of self-sacrifice, and the ultimate sabotage of Muhammad's prophetic mission. Historically, the event served to crystallize the Shia community into a distinct sect and remains an integral part of their religious identity to date.

Mourning of Muharram

Shia Muslims
Some Sunnis

Marks the death of Husayn ibn Ali, grandson of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and the third Shia imam

Mourning for Karbala began with its female survivors, particularly Husayn's sister Zaynab, and evolved over time into distinct rituals that help define the Shia identity. Nowadays, most mourning rituals take place during the first ten days of Muharram, culminating with processions in major Shia cities on the tenth day, known as Ashura. Often held in dedicated buildings, the main component of mourning ceremonies is the recitation of Karbala narratives intended to raise the sympathy of audience and move them to tears. Elegies and dirges are also chanted in such gatherings, as the participants strike their chests to share in the pain of Husayn and benefit from his intercession on the Day of Judgement. Extreme forms of self-flagellation are also sometimes practiced, often involving self-inflicted bloodshed. Such practices are highly controversial among the Shia, condemned by many Shia scholars, and outlawed in some Shia communities. Theatrical reenactment of Karbala narratives is a historically significant ritual found mostly in Iran.

Origins[edit]

Muharram is the first month of the Islamic calendar^[1] and one of the four sacred months in which warfare is prohibited in Islam.^[2] In Shia Islam, the tenth of Muharram, known as Ashura, commemorates the death of Husayn ibn Ali, the grandson of the Islamic prophet Muhammad.^[3] Husayn was killed, alongside most of his male relatives and his small retinue, on 10 Muharram 61 AH (10 October 680 CE) in the Battle of Karbala against the much larger army of the Umayyad caliph Yazid ibn Mu'awiya (r. 680–683), having been surrounded for some days and deprived of the drinking water of the nearby Euphrates river. After the battle, the women and children in Husayn's camp were taken prisoner and marched to the capital Damascus in Syria. The battle followed failed negotiations and Husayn's refusal to pledge his allegiance to Yazid, who is often portrayed by Muslim historians as impious and immoral.^[4]^[5]^[6] The fight took place in the desert land of Karbala, en route to the nearby Kufa, whose residents had earlier invited Husayn to lead them against Yazid.^[7]

History of Muharram rituals[edit]

Umayyads (r. 661–750)[edit]

Commemoration of Karbala began shortly after the battle with its female survivors, including Husayn's sister Zaynab.^[82]^[57] While in captivity in Damascus,^[82] or later when they visited Karbala on their way back to Medina from Damascus,^[83]^[84] the bereaved women held the earliest mourning gathering (majlis), in which they recounted the tragedy, shed tears, and struck their faces (latm) in grief.^[19]^[85] Such instances of self-flagellation, striking one's face or chest, were already ancient Arab traditions for mourning the dead.^[20] For years, Zayn al-Abidin and his sister Sakina (d. 735) may have continued to annually organize such mourning gatherings, which also featured Karbala elegies (nawha).^[86] Alternatively, the first annual commemoration and the first pilgrimage may be attributed to Tawwabun,^[19]^[27] that is, those Kufans who regretted deserting Husayn in Karbala: They are said to have gathered at his grave site on the first anniversary of his death, where they mourned his loss and recited elegies.^[19] They also promised to unite and rise against the Umayyads, which they did in what became known as the Tawwabun uprising of 685.^[19] Indeed, Karbala united the nascent Shia community,^[87] the roots of which likely formed in the lifetime of the Islamic prophet Muhammad.^[88] After Karbala, this community crystallized into a distinct sect that regards Shia imams, that is, Husayn and certain other descendants of Muhammad, as his rightful religious and temporal successors.^[89]

Risking the Umayyads' wrath, the commemoration of Karbala continued in similar small and private gatherings,^[19]^[90] held, for instance, at the houses of the Shia imams,^[19]^[91] who also frequently encouraged the Shia community to follow suit.^[92] Similarly, pilgrimage to Karbala remained limited and precarious in this period.^[93] The imams also saw poetry as a vehicle to preserve and spread the ideals of Karbala.^[94] In particular, the Shia imam Ja'far Sadiq (d. 765) is said to have regularly hosted poets who composed and recited Karbala elegies.^[85] Indeed, the Umayyads actively worked to erase the memory of Karbala, as written accounts of the Battle of Karbala are absent from the literary corpus of this period.^[95] Probably in the same vein, the Umayyad general al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf (d. c. 714) declared Ashura a festive public holiday.^[95] Nevertheless, the anger against the Umayyads for Karbala was in part responsible for their fall.^[96]^[45]

Abbasids (r. 750–1258)[edit]

The Abbasids, who claimed descent from Muhammad's uncle Abbas,^[57] rallied the Shia support to overthrow the Umayyads, promising them a leader from the House of Muhammad, whom many Shias probably imagined to be an Alid, that is, a descendant of Muhammad through his only surviving daughter Fatima and his son-in-law Ali ibn Abi Talib, the first Shia imam.^[97] Karbala was thus heavily featured in the anti-Umayyad polemics of the Abbasids.^[95]^[86] As a result, the commemoration of Karbala surged in the form of literary accounts and pilgrimages.^[95]^[98] Such pilgrimages were also highly encouraged by the Shia imams, including al-Sadiq.^[93]^[86] In the early Abbasid period, commemorations of Karbala were even held publicly in mosques.^[91] After assuming power, however, the Abbasids gradually turned against the Shia, many of whom were disillusioned with Abbasid, rather than Alid, caliphs.^[97] Insofar as Shia Muharram rituals promoted Alids as the legitimate leaders,^[90] the Abbasids also came to view such practices as a political threat.^[97]^[90] For instance, the Abbasid caliph al-Mutawakkil (r. 847–861) demolished the shrine of Husayn and punished pilgrimage with death.^[93]^[90] To prevent another Karbala, the Abbasids also kept the Shia imams under surveillance, and at times imprisoned, tortured, or killed them.^[90]^[99]

Buyids (r. 934–1062)[edit]

The first public Karbala processions happened under Buyids, the Shia dynasty that ruled parts of Iraq and Iran,^[57]^[100] after the collapse of the central Abbasid caliphate.^[101] On Ashura 963, during the reign of the first Buyid ruler Mu'izz al-Dawla (r. 945–967), markets were closed in Baghdad, Iraq,^[102] and processions of black-garbed Shia mourners marched in the streets, weeping, wailing, and striking their faces and chests.^[103] Such processions provoked violent Sunni riots and counter-processions, which involved, for instance, reenactments of the Battle of the Camel in 656 against Ali ibn Abi Talib.^[103]^[102] Mourning processions also appeared under the Hamdanids in Syria and the Fatimids in Egypt, two other Shia states.^[104]^[105] In Cairo, Egypt, however, deadly Sunni riots apparently discontinued the Shia processions during the reign of the Fatimid caliph al-Mu'izz li-Din Allah (r. 953–975).^[106] Back in Iraq, dedicated buildings for Karbala gatherings can also be traced back to the Buyid period.^[90]^[107]