Ahlul Bayt News Agancy -ABNA- Closing to the month of Muharram, Shia organization of NASIMCO has called on its members to join its blood donation campaign for promoting the culture of Ashura.
This is what NASIMCO has announced on its official website:
"NASIMCO would like to encourage all community members to donate blood in the name of Imam Husayn (A.S.) between Muharram 1st and Safar 20th 1437 AH, at the closest clinic or at a Jamaat-organized mobile clinic event. The idea of giving blood during Muharram has been growing year upon year."
According to the website NASIMCO is an umbrella organization for the followers of the Shia faith in North America.
"Our mission is to provide a common structure and framework to meet the religious, cultural and social needs of the Shia within its area of operation," NASIMCO said on its website.
Muharram is a month of remembrance and modern Shia meditation that is often considered synonymous with Ashura. Ashura, which literally means the "Tenth" in Arabic, refers to the tenth day of Muharram. It is well-known because of historical significance and mourning for the murder of Hussein ibn Ali, the grandson of Muhammad.
Shiite begins mourning from the first night of Muharram and continues for ten nights, climaxing on the 10th of Muharram, known as the Day of Ashura. The last few days up until and including the Day of Ashura are the most important because these were the days in which Imam Hussein and his family and followers (including women, children and elderly people) were deprived of water from the 7th onward and on the 10th, Imam Hussain and 72 of his followers were killed by the army of Yazid I at the Battle of Karbala on Yazid's orders.
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