Arbaeen Procession in London: On Sunday 15 January 2012 round 5000 Shi’ite Muslims gathered at Marble Arch for London’s thirty first annual Arbaeen procession.
Organised by the Hussaini Islamic Belief UK, the method with its vibrant flags, massive gold and silver duplicate shrines and women and men beating their breasts in a logo of mourning for Imam Husain went alongside Park Avenue.
Imam Husain, the grandson of Mohammed, was killed together with his household and companions at Kerbala in 680AD. Shi’ites rejoice his martydom with 40 days of mourning annually, starting with Ashura and ending with Arbaeen.
Husain is seen by Shia Muslims as making a terrific stand in opposition to the oppression of a tyrant and representing the forces of excellent in opposition to evil. Though massively outnumbered he and his companions selected to combat on to loss of life somewhat than compromise their beliefs.
Their stand stays a logo of freedom and dignity, and an aspiration to folks and nations to try for freedom, justice and equality. Amongst many who’ve admired Husain are Ghandi, Charles Dickens and historians Edward Gibbon and Thomas Carlyle.
Arbaeen additionally celebrates the return of the wives and households of the martyrs to Kerbala the next yr from Damascus the place the had been marched as captives.
Thousands and thousands now attend the annual Arbaeen occasion in Kerbala though it was banned when Saddam Hussein was in energy.
The London procession was first held in 1982 and is the oldest Arbaeen/Chelum Procession of Imam Husain within the west. It was the primary annual Muslim procession to happen in Central London and remains to be one of many bigger annual Muslim processions within the UK, attracting Muslims from throughout the UK.
I arrived at Marble Arch in time for the prayers, recitation, speeches and chanting firstly of the occasion and to admire the three massive gold and silver replicas of the shrines of Karbala; referred to as Shabbih, over 10 ft excessive and the biggest in Europe,the embellished and blood-stained white horse Zuljana, the cradle remembering his 6 month outdated youngster Hazrat Ali Asghar and a ceremonial coffin earlier than the procession started.
Each women and men on the procession beat their breasts – the boys with nice vitality and the ladies rather more decorously as they moved slowly down Park Lane.
The occasion was persevering with once I left hours later.
You’ll be able to learn extra concerning the procession and observe it in my photos on My London Diary at Arbaeen Procession in London.
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Tags: Arbaeen, Arbaeen Procession, beating breasts, breast beating, ceremonial coffin, equality, freedom, good in opposition to evil, grandson of Mohammed, Hazrat Ali Asghar, Husain, Hussaini Islamic Belief, Imam Husain, justice, Kerbala, London, London Images, Martydom, mourning, Muslims, peter Marshall, duplicate shriines, Shabbih, Shi’ite, Shia Muslims, shrines of Karbala, Zuljana
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