AhlulBayt News Agency (ABNA): The Astan (custodianship) of the holy shrine of Hazrat Abbas (AS) is organizing mourning rituals in a number of African countries during the lunar Hijri month of Muharram.
The Intellectual and Cultural Affairs Department of the Astan holds the programs every year, according to Al-Kafeel website.
Sayyed Muhsin al-Jbiri, an official with the department, said the programs are aimed at promoting the Husseini culture and raising awareness about the movement of Imam Hussein (AS).
They are held in countries like Nigeria, Tanzania, Mauritania, Senegal, Ghana, Madagascar, Kenya, Rwanda, Niger, Benin, Cameroon, and Sierra Leone, he noted.
One of these mourning ceremonies in the city of Kaduna, Nigeria, was attended by a large number of the devotees of Ahl-ul-Bayt (AS) this week.
Delivering a speech at the event, Sheikh Ibrahim Yusuf Musa, a preacher of the Astan, highlighted the virtues of crying for the tragic events that Imam Hussein (AS) went through.
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.
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