Muharram is the most important Shi’a mourning ceremony and commemorates the death of Imam Husayn. Following the Prophet Mohammad’s death, upheavals and rivalries divided the Muslim community. After the assassination of Ali, prophet’s son-in-law and cousin, Muawiya became the uncontested leader. Ali’s eldest son, Hassan did not have enough support to effectively oppose the new caliph. He made peace and received a handsome pension and lived in Medina where he died under suspicious circumstances. The Shi’ites believe Muawiya who appointed his son Yazid as his successor poisoned him.
Husayn, Ali’s second son and the third Shi’ite imam, refused to swear allegiance to Yazid. He was killed in the battle of Karbala and his martyrdom on the 10th of Muharram in 680 AD has become the most important communal ritual and mourning rite for the Shi’ites. These people believe in the imam as the true leader of the faithful and the authentic interpreter of the Quran. Imams are both leaders and saints. They carry a luminous divine substance. They foresee the future and know about their martyrdom and accept their faith with dignity and courage. Ali himself was the supreme hero who defeated enemies of Islam with his miraculous double-edged sword, dhu’l-fiqar. Shi’ites believe that he was ordained and initiated into the esoteric aspects and the mysteries of the faith by the Prophet. These qualities are carried through his two sons, Hassan and Husayn, both born from his first wife Fatima, the prophet’s daughter. None of his children from his other wives possessed such qualities. Only the descendents from Fatima’s line carry such powers and they are the only true imams and the leaders of the community as far as the Shi’ites are concerned.
