AhlulBayt News Agency (ABNA): With the start of the lunar Hijri month of Muharram, Shia Muslims in Tanzania have begun organizing mourning rituals marking the martyrdom anniversary of Imam Hussein (AS).
Shia mosques and Husseiniyahs (religious centers) in different parts of the country host the mourning ceremonies, according to the Iranian Cultural Center in Tanzania.
Local Shias and members of the Khoja Shia Ithna Asheri community take part in the ceremonies.
The programs include elegy recitations and speeches in three languages, namely English, Swahili and Urdu.
The Khoja Shia Ithna Asheri on Sunday hoisted the flag of Muharram mourning and unveiled a replica of the Battle of Karbala in Dar es Salaam.
Tanzania is a country in East Africa where Islam is the religion of about 35 percent of the population.
On the mainland, Muslim communities are concentrated in coastal areas, with some large Muslim majorities also in inland urban areas especially and along the former caravan routes. More than 99 percent of the population of the Zanzibar archipelago is Muslim.
Muharram is the first month in the lunar Hijri calendar.
Shia Muslims, and others in different parts of the world, hold ceremonies every year in the month of Muharram to mourn the martyrdom anniversary of Imam Hussein (AS) and his companions.
The third Shia Imam (AS) and a small group of his followers and family members were martyred by the tyrant of his time - Yazid Bin Muawiya, in the battle of Karbala on the tenth day of Muharram (known as Ashura) in the year 680 AD.
......................
End/ 257