Relying on commonalities is a necessity

On the threshold of Muharram and new Hegira year, top cleric Ayatollah Naser Makarem Shirazi urged Muslims to preserve unity and cooperate more than before with each other stressing “Shia and Sunni people should rely on their commonalities, inasmuch as enemies are after uprooting Muslims and the divine religion of Islam,” reported Taqrib News Agency (TNA).

Ayatollah Makarem Shirazi beckoned to rituals and observances during Muharram in which Millions of Shia Muslims around the world annually commemorate the great tragedy of Karbala with various forms of traditional ceremonies stressing during the time, "enemies aim at Muslims’ unity concocting plots to part the World of Islam."

The grand Ayatollah sternly warned Muslims of willful schemes hatched by foes urging them to be much more vigilant during the Muharram mourning ceremonies. In his line, the tragedy of Ashura leaves a permanent mark on the soul of any free and compassionate spirit, regardless of religion or race, given that mourners taking part in processions held in mosques and streets with different traditions should do thier very best for spreading the culture of Ashoura and Islamic teachings.

Around 680 AD, Imam Hussein (PBUH) along with his 72 followers was massacred in the battle of Karbala in Iraq by the forces of the tyrant ruler of the time, Yazid, the second Umayyad caliph.

Rituals and observances on Ashura consist primarily of public expressions of mourning and grief such as beating one’s chest as well as beating one’s back with light chains to remind the mourners of the pain and suffering of Imam Hussein (PBUH) and his followers on that day.

/SR

'Relying on commonalities is a necessity'