The Shiite community commemorates Ashura in the streets of Ciutat Vella

The Ashura is the recognition of the martyrdom of Hazrat Imam Hussain, commemorated by Shia Muslims on the tenth day of Muharram, the first month of the Islamic lunar year. It commemorates the day that the forces of Yazid ibn Muàwiya cruelly killed Imam Hussain and his 72 companions at the Battle of Karbala (Iraq). The day of Ashura is a solemn day of mourning and a protest against all kinds of oppression on which Shia communities across the world carry out processions as an expression of empathy with oppressed people. These processions differ depending on the country’s culture, but they all include sermons and memorial songs. The people taking part beat their bodies to symbolically relive the suffering and sadness of the historical events.

Imam Hussain (680 CE) is the son of Imam Ali and Fatima and is therefore the grandson of the Prophet Mohammed. He is considered to be the third Imam in Shia Islam. In the Shi’a context, the title of ‘Imam’ is bestowed on leaders of the Islamic community who are directly descended from the Prophet. Imam Husayn is part of the ahlu al-bayt (house or family of the Prophet Muhammad) and embodies the struggle for peace and justice against tyranny and oppression. In his martyrdom he endured the most severe of ordeals and hardships for a sacred cause.

Barcelona’s Shi’a community

Shi’ism is a branch of Islam that accepts Ali ibn Abi-Talib, Muhammad’s cousin and son-in-law, as the Prophet’s legitimate successor, considering his descendants to be the rightful leaders of the Muslim community. The presence of the Shi’a community in Barcelona was consolidated during the 1980s, with the association of a group of Lebanese Muslims. It was not until the arrival of people from Pakistan in the late 1990s that there was a marked increase in the number of Shiites in the city, and it was then that the first centre of worship associated with this branch of Islam was opened.

Today, Muslims who practise Shi’ite Islam in Barcelona have their own mosque: Centre Islàmic Al Qaim, which opened in 1999. It is a community made up mostly by people from Pakistan, particularly from the north of the country, who follow the Twelver branch of Shia Islam, which awaits the reappearance of the Twelfth Hidden Imam Muhammad al-Mahdi, who will return at the end of time to re-establish justice in the world.

When and where:

• Date: 6 July
• Time: 12 noon to 5.00 pm
• ROUTE:
  • Start: Centre Islàmic Al Qaim (C/ Sant Pere Mitjà)
  • Final: Arc de Triomf

The leaflet on Ashura is available to download here (Catalan).

See the article on Ashura here (Catalan and Spanish).

*** Cover image copyright: Pau Llambies.