Ashura

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[|Afghanistan Ashura]

 History of the commemoration
See also: [|Battle of Karbala] This day is well-known because of mourning for the [|martyrdom] of [|Husayn ibn Ali] A.S the grandson of [|Muhammad] and the third Shia Imam, along with members of his family and close friends at the [|Battle of Karbala] in the year 61 [|AH] ([|AD 680]). [|Yazid I] was in power then and wanted the [|Bay'ah] (allegiance) of Husayn ibn Ali. Many Muslims believe Yazid was openly going against the teachings of Islam in public and changing the sunnah of Prophet Muhammad. Husayn in his path toward [|Kufa] encountered the army of [|Ubayd-Allah ibn Ziyad], the governor of Kufa. On October 10 680(Muharram 10, 61 AH), he and his small group of companions and family members, who were between 72 and 100 men of [|Husayn ibn Ali] (the grandson of Muhammad). fought with a large army of perhaps more than 100,000 men under the command of [|Umar ibn Sa'ad], son of the founder of Kufa. Husayn and all of his men were killed. Some of the bodies of the dead, including that of Husayn, were then mutilated.[|[1]] Commemoration for Husayn ibn Ali began after [|Battle of Karbala]. After the massacre, the [|Umayyad] army looted Husayn's camp and set off with his women and children for the court of [|Ibn Ziyad]. A moving oration delivered by Zaynab in Kufa is recorded in some sources. The prisoners were next sent to the court of Yazid, Umayyad caliph, in [|Damascus], where one of his Syrian followers asked for Husayn's daughter Faṭimah al-Kubra, and once again it was Zaynab who came to the rescue and protected her honour. The family remained in Yazid's prison for a time. The first assembly (majlis) of [|Commemoration of Husayn ibn Ali] is said to have been held by Zaynab in prison. In Damascus, too, she is reported to have delivered a poignant oration. The prison sentence ended when Hussain's 4 year old daughter died in captivity, a young girl who would stand at the window of the prison and tell the ladies who would gather outside about the tragedy that befell her family. Her death caused an uproar in the city, and Yazid - fearful of a revolution that may have begun as a result - freed the captives.