Sunnis and Shiites together commemorate Ashura

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — Kurdish Sunni Muslims in the city of Sulaimani along with Shiite people commemorated the Shiite holy day of Ashura, the 10th day of Muharram in the Islamic calendar, Saturday.

Shiite and Sunni Muslims commemorated Ashura side-by-side at the Sheikh Mohammed Kasnazan convent in Sulaimani, Kurdistan region. People from other regions, including parts of Iraq and Iran, also arrived in Sulaimani to take part in it.

“It is a holy day of God and the prophet. I am here to pray, so it is not only Shiites who participate,” Ayesha Muhammad, a Sunni resident in Sulaimani, told Rudaw. “I will pray for our Peshmerga.”

The participants in the Kurdistan region of Iraq feel lucky they have been able to practice their religious duties in a secure environment unlike their fellows in the central and south of Iraq.

Habib, a Kurdish refugee from the Shabak community in Mosul, prayed for his home to be liberated by Peshmerga forces from Islamic State militants.

“We should serve the refugees with food prepared for this event. We pray the Peshmerga will be able to free our city from the rule of ISIS, so hopefully we could commemorate the event there next year,” he said.

“People who come here are not only Shiites. Everyone has their own purpose; some people come just to watch the event; some will come for food and some others come for praying and worshiping,” Husain Khoshnaw, a Shiite imam, told Rudaw.

"Imam Hussein is not only a Shiite or Sunni imam; he is the whole of humanity's imam. The Prophet Mohammed said before his death that Muslims would have the Quran and Hussein after his death,” a Kurdish participant, who did not give his name, told Rudaw.

Ashura commemorates the death of Imam Hussein in a battle fought at Karbala in 680 AD.

The 10-day festival is observed by both Sunni and Shiite sects, but for Shiite Muslims it is also a major commemoration of the assassination of Imam Hussein, a Shiite leader and the grandson of the Prophet Mohammed.