‘Ashoura is a major festival in the Muslim Shi’ite calendar.
The main bone of contention between Sunnis and Shi’ites is the issue of succession to the Prophet Muhammad, who supposedly died in 632 AD (CE)
‘Ashoura is celebrated on the 10th day of the month of Muharram. It marks a key event in Shi’ite history known as the battle of
Determined to defend his legitimate rights to the throne, Hussein, the son of Muhammad’s son-in-law and cousin ‘Ali, was killed in a battle in the year 680.
The martyrdom of the prophet’s descendant and the son of ‘Ali struck a chord with ‘Ali’s supporters.
Shi’ites mark this event in their calendar as the ‘Ashoura. Much of the Shi’ite iconography revolves around this event, which is commemorated annually with much fervor, passion and drama.
Who Are The Shi’ites?
Shi’ites are the second largest group of believers in Islam after the Sunnis. They constitute between 10 and 15 percent of Muslims and are dispersed across the Arab world, with major clusters in the Gulf region.
Shi’ites today constitute diverse groups which have a basic common denominator in their culture and religious beliefs, but do not necessarily feel associated with their kin across the national divides.
According to human rights groups, Shi’ites are still an oppressed minority in many Muslim countries. They are frowned upon by Sunnis, who even regard them as heretics who plan to tear apart the solidarity of the Muslim people. Their persecution led them to endorse the principle of Taqiyya – dissimulation – in order to protect them from harm by a hostile power.
More recently, Sunnis have accused Shi’ites, and especially those in
‘Ali was the fourth caliph, or Muslim ruler, who succeeded Muhammad and is revered in the Sunni tradition as one of the four righteous men who led the Muslim nation in the turbulent years that followed the prophet’s death.
While Sunnis believe the caliph can be any qualified descendant of Muhammad’s tribe, Qureish, Shi’ites believe the successor can only be a blood descendant of the prophet and ‘Ali falls directly into this category.
Shi’ites reject the validity of Muhammad’s first three successors, who, they believe, usurped the legitimate authority of Muhammad’s family descendants.
Shi’ites ascribe divine attributes to those they call imams, the spiritual successors of the prophet.
In contrast to widespread belief, Shi’ites are not a homogeneous cluster. Over the years they divided into numerous sects which differ chiefly on the basis of the number of imams after ‘Ali regarded as divinely inspired.
The two dominant Shi’ite groups are The Twelvers, who believe in a line of 12 imams, and The Seveners, who believe in seven imams.
These imams, they believe, lived as mortals, but were on a spiritually higher level than that of mortals and slightly lower than that of Muhammad. They are considered infallible, divinely inspired, and chosen by God.
The various groups believe that the last imam in line disappeared and became occulted – he is expected to return at a later date as the Mahdi, or the savior.
Some Shi’ites believe that the occulted imam is capable of conveying messages to Muslims through learned men called ayatollahs.
Ayatollah Ruhollah Khumeini, the architect of the 1979 Islamic revolution in