Muharram is the first month in the Islamic calendar. The word Muharram means ‘not permitted’ or ‘forbidden’ hence, Muslims are prohibited from taking part in activities like warfare and use it as a period of prayer and reflection as is the most sacred month in Islam after Ramadan.
I was glad to witness the dedication of the Muslims last year, who shed their blood in the memory of their imam. To mark public mourning and remembering the pain given to their great leader and his family, members of Shia community wear black clothes, observe abstinence, fast and take out processions on the 10th day of the month of Muharram. Some of them tie sharp knives to ropes and repeatedly hit themselves on their backs and foreheads until they bleed profusely in an intensely graphic ritual.