Global Shiite Community Marks Ashoura Under Tight Security
Around 200 million Shiite Muslims worldwide commemorated the sacred day of Ashoura on Friday. This solemn observance honors the martyrdom of Prophet Muhammad’s grandson, Hussein, a significant event that birthed their faith in the seventh century. Anticipating threats from extremists, heightened security measures were enacted in key regions such as Afghanistan and Pakistan.
In Afghanistan, the Taliban suspended mobile services in cities hosting commemorations to preempt threats from armed groups that consider Shiites heretical. Pakistan likewise bolstered security due to past violent incidents during such gatherings.
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Iran’s Ashoura commemoration took on a political hue amid rising nuclear tensions with the West. The country’s theocratic government, viewing itself as the global protector of Shiites, utilized the event to criticize the West, Israel, and the US, particularly referencing the 2020 drone strike that killed Iranian General Qasem Soleimani, the commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards’ Quds Force.
While many marked Ashoura on Friday, countries including Iraq, Lebanon, and Syria planned their remembrances for Saturday. The city of Karbala, Iraq, where Hussein is entombed, saw an influx of hundreds of thousands of participants.
In Kabul, Afghanistan, the tradition of tatbir was observed, involving ritual bloodletting to symbolize the blood flowing from the slain Hussein, an act that has become a debated practice among Shiite clerics in recent decades.
Damascus suburb Sayida Zeinab, home to a shrine to the Prophet Muhammad’s granddaughter, had heightened security following recent bombings. The area has seen a resurgence in religious tourism amid relative stability in Syria after the country’s ongoing war and the coronavirus pandemic.
