Bangladesh Muslims mark Ashura with self-flagellation, processions

DHAKA, Nov. 4 (NsNewsWire) — Bangladesh Muslims Tuesday marked Ashura, a day of pain, pilgrimage, and pageantry that is one of the holiest in their religion.
Mourners participate in a ritual of self-flagellation and cut themselves with knives during Ashura, or the 10th of Muhharam in the Islamic calendar, to commemorate the martyrdom of Imam Hussain, grandson of Islam’s Prophet Mohammad (pbuh) and his companions in Karbala of Iraq 14 centuries ago.

Imam Hussain, along with 72 of his companions, including friends and family members, according to Islamic history, were martyred at the hand of Yazid’s troops at the battle of Karbala, Iraq in 61 AH (680 AD) after he (Imam Hussain) rejected to make allegiance for Yazid despotic rule.

Both the Sunni and the Shia Muslims joined the Tuesday’s mourning, usually ending in the festival of Ashura when a large procession parades through the streets.
The mourners, mostly wearing black dress, carried banners inscribed with “Long live Hussain’s way” demonstrating their loyalty to Hussain and his way of fighting despotism.
The day is a public holiday in Bangladesh. Various religious and social organisations have chalked out elaborate programmes to observe the day.
Bangladeshi President Abdul Hamid and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina have issued separate messages on the occasion.