The Muharram Post

Let’s start with clearing a misconception — Muharram is not a festival. Muslims don’t celebrate Muharram. Let’s move on to another misconception — Muharram is not a day. It’s an entire month.

Islam follows the lunar calendar. This calendar has 12 months, the first of which is called Muharram. Muharram marks the start of an Islamic year. The specific event that non-Muslims call Muharram is the 10th of the month of Muharram. It is the day of the martyrdom of one of the grandsons of our Prophet (SallallahuAlaihiWaSallam).

I will, as of now, narrate the story in brief. After the Prophet’s death, Islamic caliphate began. The first four caliphs were Abu Bakr, Umar, Usman (Uthman as per Arabian transliteration) and Ali (RaDhiAllahuAnhuma). The first point of difference between Shia and Sunni is that the Shia do not accept the first three as Caliphs. They believe Ali had a right to the caliphate over the other three. After Ali’s death, Muawiyah (RaDhiAllahuAnhu) became the caliph. After him, it was his son Yazid who became the caliph. Yazid’s rule was disliked by many and he sought the allegiance of the Prophet’s grandson, Hussain (RaDhiAllahuAnhu) as it would give him credibility. Hussain was not open to the idea since Yazid had a reputation as a debaucher and not a pious ruler. This difference culminated in Hussain’s martyrdom in Karbala at the hands of Yazid’s army.

The Shia and the Sunni look very differently at Islamic history but both groups hold Hussain in high regard. Hence, the 10th of Muharram is a day of sadness for both. While the Sunni do not indulge in mourning, the Shia do. The images of mourning and people beating themselves are of Shia processions. The Sunni too take out processions and such but their processions are not accompanied by people hurting themselves and so on.

(WORK IN PROGRESS)