Ashura: Difference between revisions

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Commemorative services (majales al-taʿzia) first held in the houses of the imams and their followers, originally consisted of recounting the tragedy, reflecting on its meaning, and reciting elegies ([[Marthiya|marthia]]) in memory of the [[martyred Imam]]. From the beginning, these majales were not limited to the Ashura days, but were and still are held at any time of the year. Soon the shrines of the imams in Iraq and Iran became important centers of pilgrimage ([[ziara]]), where the pious held their lamentations. <ref>Ibn Qawluya, Kamel al-ziarat, ed. Mirza ʿAbdallah Hussain Amini Tabrizi, Najāf, 1356/1937, pp. 325-26.</ref>   
Commemorative services (majales al-taʿzia) first held in the houses of the imams and their followers, originally consisted of recounting the tragedy, reflecting on its meaning, and reciting elegies ([[Marthiya|marthia]]) in memory of the [[martyred Imam]]. From the beginning, these majales were not limited to the Ashura days, but were and still are held at any time of the year. Soon the shrines of the imams in Iraq and Iran became important centers of pilgrimage ([[ziara]]), where the pious held their lamentations. <ref>Ibn Qawluya, Kamel al-ziarat, ed. Mirza ʿAbdallah Hussain Amini Tabrizi, Najāf, 1356/1937, pp. 325-26.</ref>   


During the [[Umayyad]] period, the Ashura cult and the spirit of revolt it fostered grew in secret under persecution and repression. The [[ʿAbbasid|Abbasid]] rulers, who came to power on the wave of pro-ʿAlid revolt, at first encouraged and patronized large public assemblies in commemoration of the sufferings of the Prophet’s family ([[Ahl Al-Bayt]]) and the tragedy of Karbala. By the end of the 4th/10th century, professional mourners (naʾeh), also known as the reciters or story tellers (qorraʾ) of Hussain, chanted elegies and led the pious in dirges; they normally read martyrdom narratives ([[Maqtal|maqatel]]) relating the story of Hussain in all its details.
During the [[Umayyad]] period, the Ashura cult and the spirit of revolt it fostered grew in secret under persecution and repression. The [[Abbasid]] rulers, who came to power on the wave of pro-ʿAlid revolt, at first encouraged and patronized large public assemblies in commemoration of the sufferings of the Prophet’s family ([[Ahl Al-Bayt]]) and the tragedy of Karbala. By the end of the 4th/10th century, professional mourners (naʾeh), also known as the reciters or story tellers (qorraʾ) of Hussain, chanted elegies and led the pious in dirges; they normally read martyrdom narratives ([[Maqtal|maqatel]]) relating the story of Hussain in all its details.


In 351/962, under [http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/buyids Buyid] patronage, Ashura was declared a day of public mourning in Baghdad. Processions were held in the streets of the city, markets closed, and shops draped in black. <ref>ʿAbbas Qomi, Nafas al-mahmum, p. 226, Persian tr. Romuz al-Shahada by M. B. Kamaraʾi, Tehran, 1379/1960; Hebat-al-din Shahrestani, Nahzat al-Hussain, Karbala, 1969, pp. 149ff.</ref> Special edifices were built for the celebrations of Ashura (called [[Hussainiya]]; also [[tekyeh]] in Iran), and by the end of the 3rd/9th century these were common in Cairo, Aleppo, and many Iranian cities.
In 351/962, under [http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/buyids Buyid] patronage, Ashura was declared a day of public mourning in Baghdad. Processions were held in the streets of the city, markets closed, and shops draped in black. <ref>ʿAbbas Qomi, Nafas al-mahmum, p. 226, Persian tr. Romuz al-Shahada by M. B. Kamaraʾi, Tehran, 1379/1960; Hebat-al-din Shahrestani, Nahzat al-Hussain, Karbala, 1969, pp. 149ff.</ref> Special edifices were built for the celebrations of Ashura (called [[Hussainiya]]; also [[tekyeh]] in Iran), and by the end of the 3rd/9th century these were common in Cairo, Aleppo, and many Iranian cities.