(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) - Tasoua and Ashoura mark the climax of the Remembrance of Muharram, marking the death of Prophet Mohammad (PBUH)’s grandson, the revered Imam Hossein (PBUH) in the Battle of Karbala, in modern-day Iraq more than 1,300 years ago.
The Al-Qaeda terrorists have threatened to kill everyone who will take part in the mourning ceremonies of Ashoura.
Meantime, Iraq’s Endowment and Religious Affairs Committee warned that terrorist groups are planning to launch attacks on Ashoura mourners taking part in Imam Hossein’s mourning ceremonies.
Imam Hossein (PBUH) was martyred in the 680 AD battle fought on the plains outside Karbala, a city in modern Iraq that's home to the Imam's holy shrine.
In the battle, Imam Hossein (PBUH) was decapitated and his body mutilated by Yazid's armies. All of Imam Hossein's male family members, relatives, friends, soldiers who all together formed a 72-member army were beheaded in an unequal war with a 30,000-strong army of the enemy in the desert of Karbala.
The occasion is the source of an enduring moral lesson for the Shiites.
Imam Hossein's martyrdom - recounted through a rich body of prose, poetry and song - remains an inspirational example of sacrifice to Shiites, who make up a majority of the Muslim population in Iran, Pakistan, Iraq and Bahrain.
The city is located some 50 km to the northeast of Baghdad, on the Diyala River.
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