Qum Girl: Aashura in Damascus

This was our first Aashura in Damascus. It was probably the first time I have spent Muharram away from the khoja community, so it was slightly weird not knowing where to go and what time things were starting! By the 4th night though, we'd got into a routine of going to the Shrine of Sayyidda Zainab for the evening prayers and then sitting for the Arabic lecture there and then running to one of the local hawzas for a second lecture. We tried to pick out the lecturers that used simple, classical Arabic so that we could understand a little!

The government had put a ban on all things 'azadari' related. On Aashura day there were no processions, no open displays of mourning and no sabeel either (the stalls that give out water/drinks on the sides of the streets) There were even bus loads of soldiers placed at various points to control the crowds. Shame really. We were told it was for 'the protection of the shias' - whatever that means. It will be interesting to see what Arbaaen is like this year.

Most people were commemorating Aashura on the Thursday, whereas we were marking it on Friday (moon sighting issues are not just limited to London LOL). On the Thursday I went to the Musalla of Sayyida Zaynab's Haram and listened to the narration. I was surprised at how much Arabic I had picked up, as I managed to understand most of it. It was an interesting experience, unlike the khoja centres back home, there was no amaal of Aashura (it was good our Aashura was the next day!). I didn't realise that most khateeb's (narraters) read the actual naration of the story of Karbala from a book. Its reasuring to know that they are reading from authentic books and not adding extra spice like so many of our indo-pak shaykh's do (another post on that soon!)