Tasu’a

Tasu’a is the ninth day of Muharram and the day before Ashura. The events of two days of Tasu’a and Ashura in Muharram of the year 61 AH/680 CE have attracted the most attention of Shi’ahs throughout history.

In 60 AH/679 CE, Imam al-Husayn (a) refused allegiance to Yazid who had just begun his cruel and highly corrupted government, in the meanwhile, many letters had been sent to the Imam from the people of Kufah, in which, he was invited to go to Kufah and accept their allegiance and support for the establishment of Islamic justice.

The residents of Kufah, under the propaganda of the Yazid government gradually broke the covenant they had with the Imam to the extent that they martyred Imam’s messenger, and also blocked the way of the Imam’s caravan in Karbala, declaring war on him. Imam al-Husayn and his companions camped on the second day of Muharram in the desert of Karbala. Thereafter, the Imam preached a variety of sermons to the Yazid armies, proclaiming the intention of his jihad to restore the good and forbid the evil and finally achieve the consent of the Lord.

By the beginning of the month of Muharram, the message of Imam al-Husayn’s uprising has been repeated for all the freedmen and the free-minded people of the world, for centuries and generations. Just as this month in 1978, amid the Islamic Revolution of the Iranian people, it became the context of the decisive events.

December 10, 1978, coincided with Tasu’a and World Human Rights Day. The leaders of the Revolution had planned to march on this day. The march, which took place during the military administration of General Azhari, could have been an open popular referendum on the Shah’s government. On that day, the Iranian people, along with mourning for the martyrdom of Imam al-Husayn (a), marched against the Imperial monarchy, a demonstration of unprecedented discipline and unity.

Ayatollah Khomeini, who was in Neauphle-le-Château in those days, had long been concerned about the clashes between the regime’s forces and the people that day. He urged people to be alert and aware.

With all the dangers that threatened the people, December 10, 1978, was the largest march of the Islamic Revolution in Iran. A demonstration was held on Tasu’a and in foreign media, it was described as a peaceful assembly.

Later, many who witnessed the march, commented on its importance, including Anthony Parsons, the British ambassador to Iran at the time of the Iranian Revolution, who writes:

“...From 9 a.m. until lunchtime each morning (Tasu’a and Ashura 1978) I stood at my window while serried ranks of marchers passed up Ferdowsi Street on their way to join the processions. The street is wide but it was filled from pavement to pavement and from top to bottom as far as the eye could see... I think one million to one and a half million people... I don’t think that is exaggerated ...There was not a soldier or a policeman to be seen anywhere – the crowds were organized, and brilliantly organized, by their own marshals – and…”