MUMBAI: After Ashura ,10th of Moharram, the day of processions, prayers and public mourning for the martyrs of Karbala ended on Friday, hundreds of mourners in the city reached Rahmatabad, the sprawling Shia graveyard in Mazgaon in the evening.They assembled there to mark Shaam-e-Gharibaan (evening of the poor and oppressed) majlis or congregation to collectively lament the loss of the Karbala tragedy. It is a commemoration of the dark and dreadful evening at Karbala at the end of a day which saw a bloodbath of men and children, burning and destruction of tents of Prophet Muhammad’s grandson Imam Hussain and his companions, humiliation of women from the Prophet’s household by the army of autocratic ruler Yazid. “It was a sad evening. The chilling cruelty of Yazid’s army at his behest on Imam Hussain and his companions had sent shock waves. Imam Hussain’s sister Hazrat Zainab was at a loss as she had witnessed how the holy Prophet’s family had suffered. The evening is to remember those horrific moments lament for the unfathomable loss,” said senior cleric Maulana Yasoob Abbas from Lucknow. Abbas spent the initial 10 days in Mumbai, addressing Moharram majlises at different places. Son of Shia scholar late Maulana Mirza Mohammed Athar who created history by delivering the annual Moharram majlises at the iconic Masjid-e-Iranian or Mughal Masjid at Dongri for 58 years, Maulana Abbas has delivered the Shaam-e-Gharibaan sermons at Rahmatabad for over two decades. Maulana Abbas’s brother Maulana Aijaz Athar who gave the Shaam-e-Gharibaan sermon at Mughal Masjid said commemorating the even has become part of tribute to the martyrs and remembrance of the hardships the martyrs families endured. Earlier, as part of Muharram commemoration,senior Shia scholars at attended majlis and matam (mourning) held by Habib Trust’s chairman Javed Shroff in Dongri. To the initiated, Dongri is a hub of commemorative programmes in Muharram.The Habib Hospital, also located at Dongri, gave free treatment to the mourners who got injured during mourning processions. “All the injured mourners who reached Habib Hospital received free treatment. This will continue till chehelum or 40 days of Ashura,” said Shroff.Maulana Moiz Raza flew in from Paris to deliver Moharram sermons organised by the Habib Trust. ” We must tell the young generation about what happened at Karbala,” said Razia. Habib Nasser secured permission for the Moharram procession from Zainabia Imambada in Bhendi Bazar to Rahmatabad graveyard.
