The event was organized in Wasit province on Saturday and Sunday by the Astans (custodianships/ administrative bodies) of the holy shrines of Imam Hussein (AS) and Hazrat Abbas (AS).
The participants discussed organizing mourning rituals in the lunar month of Muharram to mark the martyrdom anniversary of Imam Hussein (AS) and his companions in the 680A.D. Battle of Karbala.
Several scholars and Shia personalities delivered speeches at the two-day conference, stressing the need for best holding the mourning ceremonies.
The tenth day of Muharram in the Islamic calendar is set aside by the Muslim world to observe the day of Ashura and mourn the brutal killing of Imam Hussein (AS), grandson of the Holy Prophet of Islam (PBUH), and some of the Prophet’s family members by despotic Yazid, son of Mu’awiyyah, in the plain of Karbala, Iraq, in 680 AD.
This year, Muharram begins on Monday, October 3 and the day of Ashura falls on Wednesday, October 12.