Ashura: Transcendence in Lament

Hussain ibn Ali, the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad, is the most visited human being in his death, with millions coming together in unison at his holy shrine in Karbala.

Ashura day, the 10th of Muharram, marks the day in history where he, his family members and closest companions, were brutally murdered after being exiled from their Medinian and Prophetic home. Ashura in Karbala in the contemporary landscape is most oft covered from a sociopolitical lens with an emphasis on ritualistic mourning. This body of work seeks to discover the spiritual and emotional transcendence of human connection to the culture and divinity embedded within these sacred rituals.

Where grief and tears become love and hope through a process of ten days marking over a thousand years of tradition. Where the cruelty and heartlessness of the battlefield meets with honouring commemorations of the love of valiants. Where history becomes intimacy, through humanised bonds across centuries. Where the yearning of whispered prayers meets intercession and the fulfilment of wishes. Where the zuwaar strive to spiritually transcend and embark on journeys of self-reformation through their lament. Where the Baab as-Salam (The Door of Peace) is found in the heart of the battlefield.

This body of work highlights visual documentation by Ayaz Ali, in collaboration with academic and poetic insights by Saarah Bokhari. This contribution aims to provide a palpable experience of mourning traditions through the culmination of the journey of ten days, as documented in the chapters of this body of work.

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