When we look at the lives of the Holy Prophet (S) and the Imams (A.S.), not only we do not see anything about mourning and lamentation but there are evidence and sayings prohibiting such acts. For...
Read More »Imam Khomeini (ra) and the Culture of Ashura
Ashura is the inspiration behind the fervent Revolution which is the greatest event of contemporary history, and which took place under the guidance of the great Ashuraic leader of our times, Imam Khomeini (R), for establishing a society based upon the...
Read More »The Importance and Philosophy of Mourning for Imam Hussein (A.S)
One of the methods that the Imams used to keep the memory of the rise of Ashura alive was arranging gatherings for crying and mourning and making others cry for the tragic incidents that took place in Karbala and reminding people of those incidents on appropriate occasions....
Read More »What Is the Reason for Mourning for Imam Husayn (A.S)?
The Infallible Imams (a.s.) have greatly emphasized over reviving the event of Karbala and the martyrdom of Imam Hussein (a.s.) so that the future generations may benefit from the lessons that this great event....
Read More »Is there any Reason for the Permissibility of Chest Beating and Self-Hitting?
Why some Muslims beat their chest and hit themselves during Muharram? Isn't it haram to hit or hurt yourself? Do we have any example for the Prophet doing this? Did any Imams hit....
Read More »Imam Khomeini’s Instructions Regarding Mourning for Imam Husayn (A.S)
Some youth who do not have bad intentions, believe that we now need to speak the language of the day, when the truth is that the words of Imam Hussain (as) are the words of the..
Read More »Answering the Jurisprudential-Theological Doubts of Mourning
Even in the Sunnī sources there are permissible for crying. Where is this order followed in these Sunnī circles? Only a dry Wahhabī tendency has such views and problems, not the majority of Sunnīs whose proofs are....
Read More »The Mourning of History and the History of Mourning: The Evolution of Ritual Commemoration of the Battle of Karbala
Shi‘i commemorations exemplify a peculiar phenomenon among world religions: in Shi‘i Islam, one of the most important annual religious holidays is not a joyful celebration but a...
Read More »To Karbala: Surveying Religious Shiʻa from Iran and Iraq
This survey captures the attitudes and beliefs of religiously observant Shiites by surveying Iranians and Iraqis on pilgrimage to Karbala for the Shiite holy day of Arba’een. When we conducted this survey in the days leading up to and during the Arba’een celebrations of 2015, 22 million pilgrims reportedly participated in the...
Read More »Digital Technology and Pilgrimage: Shiʿi Rituals of Arbaʿin in Iraq
This paper offers a study on the increasing digitization of Shiʿi Muslim rituals of Arbaʿin, observed on the fortieth day after the martyrdom of Husayn, the grandson of Prophet Muhammad, at the battlefield of Karbala, Iraq; his shrine here is visited by....
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