The Day of Ashura (عاشوراء translit: ‘Āshūrā’,
also Aashoora and other spellings) is on the 10th day of
Muharram in the Islamic calendar and marks the climax of the
Remembrance of Muharram but not the Islamic month. For Shi'a
Muslims, it commemorates the martyrdom of Husayn ibn Ali, the
grandson of Muhammad at the Battle of Karbala in the year 61 AH
(AD 680), and is a day for mourning.
Ashura is also commemorated by Muslims as the traditional date
on which Noah's ark came to rest, the prophet Ibrahim (Abraham)
was born and the Ka'ba was built in Mecca. Ashura corresponds to
the Jewish festival of Yom Kippur, which was held by the Jews of
Medina.
The word ashura means simply tenth in Arabic; hence the name of
the remembrance, literally translated, means "the tenth day".
The scholars, however, give various explanations as to why it is
thus called.
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