Commemorating Imam Hussain's Assassination

     Each year the Ashura commemorates the "martyrdom" of Imam Hussain, grandson of the Prophet Mohammed, who was killed in the desert of Kerbala by the Sunni Caliph Yazid. Shi’ite's revere Hussain and his father Ali, as the rightful successor to the prophet.

     Among the Shi'ites, Ashura is a major festival. It commemorates the death of Hussein, son of Imam Ali and grandson of Hazrat Muhammad (sm), on the 10th of Muharram, AH 61 (October 10, 680), in Karbala, Iraq. The event led to the split between the Sunni and Shi'ite sects of Islam, and it is of central importance in Sh’ite Islam. For Shi'ite Muslims, rituals and observances on Ashura consist primarily of public expressions of mourning and grief and the display of the tazia (ta'ziyah). Some Shi'ites expresses mourning by flagellating themselves on the back with chains, beating their head or ritually cutting themselves. This is intended to connect them with Hussein's suffering and death as an aid to salvation on the Day of Judgment.

     Throughout the world the Muslims observe Ashura but the Shi'ite Muslims take it as their main religious festival; in Bangladesh it is observed by the Biharees, the stranded Pakistanis, and also by some Bangladeshis. Though commonly seen in the capital city, these rituals are observed in other parts of the country also, on a smaller scale. In the metropolis itself the processions mainly start from different parts of the city and end at Hossaini Dalan in Old Dhaka. Passion Plays commemorating the death of Hussein are also performed on Ashura.

     Many Shi'ites make pilgrimages on Ashura to the Mashhad al- Hussein, the shrine in Karbala, Iraq, that is traditionally held to be Hussein's tomb. Hussein's martyrdom is widely interpreted by Shi'ites and other Muslim sectarians as a symbol of the struggle against injustice, tyranny, and oppression.