MUHARRAM
Muharram is not a festival in the celebratory sense as it mourns the Karbala tragedy when Imam Hussain, the grandson of Prophet Muhammad, was martyred in the 61st year of the Hijra (AH) corresponding to 680 AD. It is observed on the tenth day of Muharram, the first month of the Muslim calendar. During Muharram, taziyas (bamboo and paper replicas of the martyr's tomb) processions as well as green alams (standards of Hazrat Imam Hussain's army) made of silver, copper and brass, are carried through city streets, accompanied by young men beating their breasts in collective sorrow. On the tenth day, known as Yaum-Al-Ashura, the processions carrying the taziyas and alams terminate in open spaces where the taziyas are buried. Juice or sherbat is freely distributed to everyone. People generally wear black clothes on the Yaum-Al-Ashura.
Muharram is observed as mourning largely in the Indian sub-continent, mainly by members of the Shia community of Muslims. In other parts of the Islamic world, with the exception of Iran, observing the tenth day of Muharram or the Yaum-Al-Ashura as a mourning day is considered as undesirable because Muharram is considered as one of the four blessed months chosen by Allah, long before the martyrdom of Imam Hussain.
Major Islamic events have happened on Yaum-Al-Ashura, the tenth day of Muharram. It is believed that on this day Adam was created and entered the Paradise, Prophet Ibrahim (Abraham) was born, Prophet Isa (Jesus) was raised to the heavens and the people of Prophet Moosa (Moses) obtained freedom from the tyranny of Firaun (Pharoah).
