ʿĀshūr

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ʿĀSHŪRĀʾ

ʿĀSHŪRĀʾ is the tenth day of Muḥarram, the first month of the Muslim calendar. Its general significance as a fast day for Muslims derives from the rites of the Jewish Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement). The Arabic term ʿāshūrāʾ is based on the Hebrew word ʿasor with the Aramaic determinative ending.

Scholars are not agreed as to the exact day on which ʿĀshūrāʾ was observed in early Islam. Early ḥadīth tradition seems to indicate that the day possessed special sanctity in Arab society even before Islam. Thus the Jewish rite, which the Prophet observed in Medina in 622 ce, only helped an already established Arab tradition to acquire religious content and hence greater prestige. The Jewish character was soon obscured, however, through its incorporation into the Muslim calendar and its observance as a Muslim fast day. With the institution of the fast of Ramadan in the second year of the Hijrah, ʿĀshūrāʾ became a voluntary fast.

The Martyrdom of Ḥusayn

For over thirteen centuries the Shīʿī community has observed the day of ʿĀshūrāʾ as a day of mourning. On the tenth of Muḥarram 61 ah (October 10, 680) Ḥusayn ibn ʿAlī, the grandson of the Prophet and third imam of the Shīʿī Muslims, fell in battle on the plain of Karbala, a small town on the banks of the Euphrates in Iraq. Muʿāwiyah, the first Ummayad caliph, had died in the spring of the same year and was succeeded by his son Yazīd. This hereditary appointment met with strong opposition in many quarters of the Muslim community, which was already torn by conflict and dissension. Among the dissenting groups was the party (shīʿah ) of ʿAlī.

The events leading to Ḥusayn's death, which were subsequently elaborated and greatly embellished, helped to heighten the drama of suffering and martyrdom. With his family and a small following, Ḥusayn encamped in Karbala on the second day of Muḥarram. During the week of his fruitless negotiations with ʿUmar ibn Saʿd, the Iraqi governor's representative, Ḥusayn and his family were denied access to the Euphrates. The thirst of the women and children and their pathetic entreaties for water provided one of the major themes of suffering and heroism for the drama of Karbala. In the fateful battle between Ḥusayn's small band of less than one hundred and the four-thousand strong army of ʿUbayd Allāh ibn Ziyād, governor of Iraq, Ḥusayn and nearly all his followers fell. The women and children were carried captive first to ʿUbayd Allāh ibn Ziyād in Kufa, and from there to Damascus, where Yazīd received them kindly and at their own request sent them back to Medina.

ʿĀshŪrĀʾ in ShĪʿĪ Piety

The death of Ḥusayn produced an immediate reaction in the Muslim community, especially in Iraq. It is reported in al-Majlisī's Biḥār al-anwār (vol. 45, pp. 108–115) that when the people of Kufa saw the head of the martyred imam and the pitiful state of the captives they began to beat their breasts in remorse for their betrayal of the grandson of the Prophet and son and heir of ʿAlī. This reaction produced an important movement known as al-Tawwābīn (the Repenters), which nurtured a spirit of revenge for the blood of Ḥusayn and provided fertile soil for the new ʿĀshūrāʾ cult. ʿAlī Zayn al-ʿĀbidīn, the only surviving son of Ḥusayn, was proclaimed fourth imam by a large segment of the Shīʿī community. His house in Medina and those of subsequent imams became important centers for the growth of the ʿĀshūrāʾ celebration, where commemorative services (majālis al-ʿazāʾ ) were held. At first, these consisted of recounting the tragedy of Karbala and reflecting on its meaning and reciting elegies (marāthī ) in memory of the martyred imam. Soon, the shrines of the imams became important places of pilgrimage (ziyārah ), where the pious continue to this day to hold their memorial services.

During Ummayad rule (680–750) the ʿĀshūrāʾ cult grew in secret. But under the Abbasids (750–1258), who came to power on the wave of pro-Alid revolts, it was encouraged, and by the beginning of the fourth century ah (tenth century ce) public commemorations were marked by a professional mourner (nāʾiḥ ), who chanted elegies and led the faithful in the dirge for the martyred imam and his followers.

In 962, under the patronage of the Buyids (an Iranian dynasty with deep Shīʿī sympathies that held power in Iraq and Iran from 932 to 1055), ʿĀshūrāʾ was declared a day of public mourning in Baghdad. Processions filled the streets, markets were closed, and shops were draped in black. Special edifices called ḥusaynīyāt were built to house the ʿĀshūrāʾ celebrations. By the end of the third century ah such buildings were common in Cairo, Aleppo, and many Iranian cities.

The greatest impetus for the development of the ʿĀshūrāʾ celebration as a popular religious and artistic phenomenon came with the rise of the Safavid dynasty in Iran in 1501. The Safavids adopted Shiism as Iran's state religion and worked tirelessly to consolidate and propagate it. It was during their rule that the literary genre known as taʿziyah (passion play) was highly developed and popularized. From Iran the ʿĀshūrāʾ celebration spread first to the Indian subcontinent and from there to other areas influenced by Iranian language and culture.

Some scholars have postulated a direct relation between the ʿĀshūrāʾ celebration and the ancient rites of Tammuz and Adonis, but the extent of such influence can never be determined. The fact that Ḥusayn died on the very spot where they were observed may simply be a historical coincidence, and it is perhaps more plausible that parallels between these two phenomena are due to human psychology and the need to express strong emotions through a common form of myth and ritual.

Bibliography

My Redemptive Suffering in Islam: A Study of the Devotional Aspects of ʿĀshūrāʾ in Twelver Shīʿism (The Hague, 1978) is the most comprehensive work to date in English dealing with the rise and meaning of the ʿĀshūrāʾ cult and its earliest written sources. Gustave E. von Grunebaum's Muhammadan Festivals (New York, 1951) discusses ʿĀshūrāʾ in the context of other Muslim festivals. Charles Virolleaud's Le théâtre persan, ou Le drame de Kerbéla (Paris, 1950) provides a comprehensive study of the ʿĀshūrāʾ celebrations and the passion plays associated with them.