Srinagar (Jammu and Kashmir) [India], September 18 (ANI): A mourning congregation (Majlis-e-aza) was organised on the Arbaeen at Dani Syeda, Uri, and Baramulla of Jammu and Kashmir.

Arbaeen is a Shia religious observance that occurs 40 days after the day of Ashura.

The tenth day of Muharram is the Day of Ashura, which to Shia Muslims is part of the mourning of Muharram. Sunni Muslims fast during this day.

Muharram, the first month of the Islamic calendar, reaches a crescendo on the 10th day of Muharram, when Imam Hussain Ibn Ali, and his followers were martyred in 61 Hijri or 680 CE at Karbala, in present-day Iraq.

The majlis was chaired by JK Peoples Justice Front chief Aga Syed Abbas Rizvi.

Rizvi in his address recounted Imam Hussain as the grandson of Prophet Mohammad, the founder of Islam.

"Hussain is from me and I am from Hussain. May Allah keep him friend who keeps Hussain as his friend," Rizvi said in Arabic.

He further said that Hussain's ideology and philosophy is praised by the thinkers of every religions. Mahatma Gandhi also said that he learnt from Hussain to attain victory while being oppressed, he said.

Mentioning Rahab Dutt, who was the leader of a small band of career soldiers living near Baghdad around the time of the Battle of Karbala, Rizvi said that the former had fought on the behalf of Imam Hussain in the battle, more specifically in the storming of Kufa who sacrificed his seven sons in the process.

Kashmir, being a Sunni majority Union Territory, has a population of around 3 million Shias. Here major mourning processions were banned by the government of J-K citing law and order and security since the 1990s when there was a rise in insurgency in the state.

Traditionally, the annual Muharram would pass through the city's centre Lal Chowk and Dal Gate areas but the authorities have denied permission on the grounds that some elements might use such congregations to propagate separatism.

Moreover, the authorities have reasoned in the past that such processions while passing through the areas which are dominated by the members of the majority of Sunni Muslims could raise sectarian tensions, however, there has been little evidence to substantiate it.

Proving the aforesaid wrong, the Union Territory administration permitted organising Shia processions and congregations with full religious fervour and rituals.

Notably, such freedom and protection are not granted to the Shia community even in the neighbouring Islamic countries, rather the community is being brutally targeted there.

Muslim Ummah is suffering from the worst reign of oppression, terror and cruelty.

It is said that the blood there spills like water while human values are being degraded.

The mourning ceremony was attended by a huge gathering including, students, scholars, party members and scores of locals. (ANI)