Muharram (Ashura) 2027 मुहर्रम (आशूरा)

Why Muharram (Ashura) is celebrated

Muharram is the first month of the Islamic year and one of the four sacred months in Islam. In India the word Muharram is commonly used for its tenth day, called Ashura. Unlike most festivals, it is not a day of joy. For Shia Muslims, and for many Sunni Muslims too, it is a day of grief for Imam Husain, the grandson of Prophet Muhammad, who was killed with his family members and companions at Karbala in 680 CE.

Imam Husain is remembered because he refused to accept a ruler he believed was unjust. He chose to stand by his principles even when he knew his small group faced a huge army. For those who mourn him, Ashura stands for courage, sacrifice and the duty to speak against oppression. His story has inspired poets, thinkers and ordinary people of many faiths in India.

For many Sunni Muslims, Ashura is also a day of fasting. Hadith reports say the Prophet fasted on this day and spoke of it as the day when God saved Prophet Musa (Moses) and his people from Pharaoh. Muslims observe it with prayer, charity and reflection rather than celebration.

History and story of Muharram (Ashura)

After the death of the Prophet in 632 CE, disagreements grew over who should lead the Muslim community. Some decades later, Yazid, son of Muawiya, became the Umayyad ruler. He demanded an oath of loyalty from Husain, son of Ali and Fatima. Husain refused, because he did not see Yazid as a fit leader for the faithful.

People of Kufa in Iraq sent letters inviting Husain to lead them. He set out from Mecca with his family and a small band of followers. Before reaching Kufa, the group was stopped by Yazid's forces and forced to camp on the plain of Karbala, near the river Euphrates, early in Muharram of the year 61 AH. The army cut off the camp's access to water. For days the women and children suffered from thirst in the desert heat.

On the tenth day of Muharram, the battle took place. Husain's companions, his brother Abbas, his sons, including the infant Ali Asghar, and his nephews fell one after another. In the end Husain himself was killed. The women and children of the camp, including his sister Zainab and his son Ali Zain ul Abidin, were taken as prisoners to Kufa and then to Damascus. Zainab's speeches in captivity kept the memory of Karbala alive.

Mourning for Husain began soon after the tragedy and grew into a rich tradition over the centuries. In India it took deep root under the Shia rulers of the Deccan and later under the Nawabs of Awadh, who built large imambaras, or halls of mourning, in Lucknow.

How Muharram (Ashura) is celebrated

Shia Muslims mourn through the first ten days of Muharram and continue mourning until Arbaeen, forty days after Ashura. Many wear black, avoid weddings and celebrations, and keep music out of their homes during this period.

Every evening, people gather for a majlis, a meeting where a scholar narrates the events of Karbala. Poets recite marsiya, long elegies, and groups chant noha, short lamentations. Matam, the beating of the chest in grief, follows the recitation. In some processions, men also perform zanjeer zani with chains and blades, though many religious scholars now encourage blood donation camps instead.

Processions carry an alam, a metal standard that represents the flag of Abbas, and a decorated horse called zuljanah, recalling Imam Husain's horse. In India, Sunni and Shia communities also make tazias, colourful models of the tomb of Husain made from bamboo, paper, tinsel and wood. On Ashura these tazias are carried through the streets and then buried or immersed at a local ground often called Karbala.

Because Husain's camp was denied water, people set up sabeels, stalls that serve free water, milk or sherbet to passers by. Many families cook and distribute food such as khichda, haleem or sweet dishes in his name. Sunni Muslims who fast usually keep two fasts, on the 9th and 10th or the 10th and 11th of Muharram, and give charity.

Muharram (Ashura) across India

Lucknow has India's most famous Muharram observances, with majlis held in the Bara Imambara and other imambaras built by the Nawabs, and large processions through the old city. Hyderabad takes out the Bibi ka Alam procession on an elephant. Kashmir, Mumbai, Amroha and Rampur are also known for their gatherings.

In many parts of North India, Hindus join the tazia processions or make vows at the alam, a sign of shared culture. In Uttarakhand, Muslim communities in Dehradun and in towns of Haridwar district, such as Roorkee and Manglaur, take out tazia processions on Ashura, and the local administration plans traffic routes for them.