What is Ashura?

What is Ashura? 

Ashura (Arabic: عاشوراء) literally means “the tenth.” Imam Hussain (p), the beloved grandson of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh&hp), is honored by Muslims as the “Master of Martyrs.” On the 10th day of Muharram in the year 61 A.H. (October 10, 680 CE), Imam Hussain (p), together with his family and loyal companions, was besieged in the desert of Karbala by an army of 30,000. Deprived of food and water for days, they were then brutally slain after Imam Hussain refused to submit to humiliation or pledge allegiance to the corrupt and tyrannical caliph Yazid. This day came to be known as the Day of Ashura.

Since that time, the tragedy of Karbala has been commemorated annually by millions across the world. Far from fading, its remembrance has only grown, continuing to inspire movements of justice and resistance against oppression. The British historian Edward Gibbon once remarked: “In a distant age and climate, the tragic scene of the death of Hussain will awaken the sympathy of the coldest reader.”

In the aftermath, the Umayyads worked tirelessly to suppress the impact of Imam Hussain’s stand and to erase the memory of Karbala. They declared Ashura a day of festivity, celebrating the killing of Hussain—the very one the Prophet had called “the master of the youth of Paradise.” For decades, they cultivated a culture of cursing Imam Ali (p) and his children, and fabricated reports falsely attributed to the Prophet that promoted celebration and fasting on this day. Tragically, some of these distortions persist among Muslims today, who mark Ashura with practices of joy and fasting, often unaware of the sanctity of the blood that was shed on this day.