Muharram
Muharram () is the first month of the
Islamic calendar. It is one of the four sacred months of the year when warfare is banned. It precedes the month of
Safar. The tenth of Muharram is known as
Ashura, an important day of commemoration in
Islam. For
Sunni Muslims, the day marks the
parting of the Red Sea by
Moses and the salvation of the
Israelites, celebrated through supererogatory
fasting and other acceptable expressions of joy. By contrast, Ashura is a day of mourning for
Shia Muslims, who annually commemorate the death of
Husayn ibn Ali, grandson of the
Islamic prophet Muhammad and the third
Shia imam. Husayn was killed, alongside most of his relatives and his small retinue, in the
Battle of Karbala in 680
CE against the army of the
Umayyad caliph Yazid ibn Mu'awiya (). The Shia rituals span the first ten days of Muharram, culminating on Ashura with mourning processions in Shia cities. Also in Muharram, the
Aqsa mosque in
Jerusalem was initially set as the direction of prayer for early Muslims.
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