Hey guys, I'm Amadali Akbar, and this is See Something Say Something.

This episode, we're going to be talking about Moharam and Ashura and the importance of grief with some American Shias.

So if you're Shia, you obviously understand what that means, but a lot of people, including, I think a lot of Sunnis, don't really get what Moharam and Ashura is and why it's so important. Basically, Muharum is the first month of the Islamic calendar, and the first 10 days are a period of mourning for Shias, which culminate on Ashura, which is the 10th day of Moharam.

For me, Muharim is the time to remember the ultimate sacrifice that the Prophet's family,

specifically Imam Hussein, made.

So we're just on our way to a much list now. It's the day after Ashura. And this Andi has this Naha on full blast.

The traditional lecture is given and then at the end is essentially a retelling, kind of an emotional retelling of the narrative or the story of the actual battle of Karbalah.

Yazid needed Imam Hussein to legitimize his rule, and so he invited Imam Hussein as his guest.

So Imam Hussein with his family and loved ones, a caravan of 72, no soldiers, no weapons, traveled to Karbala

and was surrounded by the armies of Yazid. And then his water supply was cut off. The food was cut off.

He was being told that if he didn't legitimize the Yazid's rule, he would be slaughtered.

And at that time, Imam Hussein stood up for what he thought was right, and in the process of it, he was slaughtered.

There is a series of what it's called Matim, of these are eulogies that are kind of sung in a melodic way

the only survivor was Vivi Zeneb who was taken prisoner and in the process of traveling to Damascus, which is present-day Syria,

she revealed to everyone what had happened to Imam Hussein.

So it was actually because of Bibi Zeneb that we know the story of what happened today.

As a child, we would always wear black.

My father would consider it improper to not wear black in the 10 days of Muharram

because it was an outward manifestation of one's inner lamentation.

The audience beats their chefs at a kind of a syncopated rhythm.

For Pakistanis, it's one, two, one two.

Some people do one hand, some cultures do two hands.

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