Ashura 2028: Date, History & Significance

The first ten days of Muharram bring majlis gatherings retelling the events of Karbala, marsiya and noha elegies, and mourning processions (julus) carrying alams (standards), taziyas (replicas of Husayn's tomb) and a symbolic horse (Zuljanah). Some processions include matam — chest-beating, and among a minority, self-flagellation. Sabeels give out water and sharbat, recalling the thirst of Husayn's camp. Sunni practice centres on fasting the ninth and tenth, following the Prophet's example.

After the Prophet's death, the caliphate passed in time to the Umayyads. When Yazid demanded his allegiance, Husayn refused to endorse an unjust rule and set out for Kufa with about seventy-two family members and companions. They were surrounded at Karbala, cut off from the Euphrates for three days, and on the tenth of Muharram Husayn and nearly all the men were killed; the women and children were taken captive. Ashura is kept so that the stand against tyranny, and the suffering it cost, are never forgotten.

Source: The scriptures and calendar of the tradition; community religious practice in India

The Karbala mourning developed among the Shia within the first Islamic centuries; the taziya and julus forms are strongly developed in India, especially in Lucknow, Hyderabad and the Deccan. Muharram is a gazetted national holiday in India, and its processions are historically occasions of both interfaith participation and communal sensitivity.

• Wikipedia

1. For Shia Muslims it is the climax of Muharram's mourning for Imam Husain, killed at Karbala in 680 CE: majlis gatherings recount the martyrdom, and processions carry tazias and alams through the streets.
2. Mourners perform matam, and sabeel stalls hand out water and sherbet in memory of the thirst of Husain's camp.
3. Many Sunni Muslims mark the day by fasting, following the Prophet's practice of fasting on Ashura in thanks for Moses' deliverance from Pharaoh.

• Lucknow, Hyderabad, the Deccan, Mumbai, Kashmir. Majlis, marsiya and noha, taziya and alam processions, Zuljanah, matam, and sabeels of water and sharbat over the first ten days.
• Sunni communities across India. Voluntary fasting on the ninth and tenth of Muharram, following a hadith of the Prophet.

• Khichda / haleem — Slow-cooked wheat, lentils and meat, prepared in large pots and distributed as niyaz.
• Sherbet — Sweet water and milk sherbet served free at the sabeel stalls.

Ashura (Muharram) falls on Saturday, 3 June 2028. The 10th of Muharram; mourning of Imam Husayn at Karbala.

at sunrise

10 Muharram. The Islamic (Hijri) calendar is purely lunar with no intercalation, so its dates move about eleven days earlier through the Gregorian year on a 33-year cycle.

The date is set by the Hindu lunisolar calendar and shifts against the Gregorian year.