The Day of Ashura, which is celebrated on the 10th day of Muharram holds great significance. On this day several great historical events took place. Events that we are all familiar with. What is lesser-known is that they are all tied together with a common thread of this particular date.

Spanning Judaism, Christianity and Islam, these major prophetic events took place:

Nabi Adam was forgiven by Allah after being banished and reunited with Bibi Hawa.

It is the day Nabi Nooh AS (Noah) came to rest on Mount Arafat in Armenia, now known as Turkey, after 40 days of rain and floods.

Nabi Ebrahim AS (Abraham) was saved from the fire that he was thrown into by Nimrod because he had beheaded all the idols in the temple.

Nabi Idris AS ascended to heaven on this day.

Nabi Moosa AS and his people escaped from Pharoah and were spared from the Red Sea.

Nabi Ayub AS was cured of his illness which he suffered from for many years.

Nabi Yunus AS was expelled from the belly of the whale that had swallowed him.

Nabi Salih AS was given the camel that never ran out of milk.

Nabi Isah AS (Jesus) ascended to heaven on this day.

The 10th day of Muharram is also the day that Imam Hussain who is the grandson of Nabi Muhammed SAW, and his family were brutally massacred at Karbala.

For Shia Muslims, the tenth day of Muharram is the day they memorialize the agony of Imam Hussain at Karbala. It is treated as a mourning period. They hold a festival and perform public mourning rituals. These include enactments of pain and suffering of the prophet’s family. The Sunnis do not consider this as the main reason to commemorate the day of Ashura. Thus for them, this is not a day of mourning.

The day of Ashura is a reminder of the sacrifices many prophets made for humanity through the ages. As such it has become a day that we commemorate and honour them.

Related: Traditional foods of Ashura