Shiite Muslims mark holy day of mourning in virus’ shadow
Shiite Muslims on Friday and Saturday observed the solemn holy day of Ashoura — which they typically mark with large, mournful gatherings — in the shadow of the coronavirus pandemic.
Ashoura commemorates the seventh-century killing of Imam Hussein, the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad, in the Battle of Karbala in present-day Iraq by the army of Caliph Yazid, to whom Hussein had refused to pledge allegiance.
“At its heart, it’s the story of the sacrifice of an extraordinary religious figure,” said Noor Zaidi, who teaches history at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County and researches Shiite Islam. “It’s (also) the story of familial love between Hussein and those who were with him in Karbala. …It also has this real sort of revolutionary component to it,” she said.
“What has made it endure so powerfully … is the fact that it has at its core the ability to meld itself to what, I think, people need to get from it.”
Ashoura falls on the 10th of the Islamic month of Muharram and is preceded by days of commemorations and remembrance. The public expressions of communal mourning generally are associated with Shiites. For many Sunnis, Ashoura is a remembrance of more than one event, including the Moses-led exodus from Egypt.
In Iraq, pilgrims ordinarily converge on the holy city of Karbala, site of the battle and home to a shrine to Imam Hussein.
But with the pandemic, Iraq’s top Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, encouraged people to observe the mourning in other ways, such as watching online or televised commemorations from home.
Those who attended public commemorations were asked to adhere to health guidelines, including social distancing and wearing masks, with caps on the numbers of participants in accordance with the local regulations of different countries, a statement from his office said.
Saif Badr, spokesman for the Iraqi Ministry of Health and Environment, praised al-Sistani’s statement and call for adhering to health regulations.
“Our opinion is clear,” Badr said. “Generally speaking, we are against congregations in all their forms, including on religious occasions” with the pandemic raging.
Ashoura came as Lebanon reeled from not only the pandemic but economic hardship and the aftermath of a massive explosion that ripped through its capital this month.
Amid a partial coronavirus lockdown, the two largest Shiite groups in Lebanon, the militant group Hezbollah and the Amal movement of Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, urged people to mark Ashoura at home with the help of television and social media.
Yasser Qameh, who for decades attended public gatherings every night during the mourning period, watched from home this year.
“I watch it on TV or YouTube — as long as I don’t mingle with people,” Qameh said by phone from his southern Lebanese city, which in normal years is a site of massive Ashoura observations. “The difference is like watching a football match on TV rather than being at the stadium.”
Even so, Qameh said, some people gathered in a city square with masks, temperature checks and plastic chairs spaced out.
In the United States, some Shiite communities broadcast commemorations online.
In Hicksville, on New York’s Long Island, Fatima Mukhi-Siwji had been feeling sad that her 10-month-old daughter would miss out on the rituals.
“I have grown up in the mosque,” she said, her voice cracking with emotion. “How are we supposed to teach our children religion? How are we supposed to teach them (about) Imam Hussein?”
But shortly before the start of Muharram, Shiite Muslims from different communities, including MukhiSiwji’s father, teamed up to organize drive-in commemorations to safely mark the occasion, she said.
Held at a movie theater’s outdoor parking lot, they featured scholarly sermons, poetry recitals, chanting and lamentations as families listened from their cars and watched on large screens. Some got out of their cars and watched or engaged in mourning rituals while social distancing, she said.
The events attracted hundreds of cars and, MukhiSiwji said, revived a feeling of togetherness she sorely missed.
“It’s such an electrifying experience,” she said. “It goes through your whole body.”