Thursday, September 10, 2009

Ramadan day 19 - Marrat Iman Ali

Marrat Iman Ali is not a night for celebration, but a night of remembrance.

It was on this night in AD 663 Imam Ali bin Abi Talib was murdered with a strike to the head by a poisonous sword in Kufa, Iraq.   He died two days later.

Imam Ali is a very important figure in the Shi’ite/ Shia religion for the following reasons:

1. he was the fourth Islamic Caliph
2. he was a son-in-law of the Prophet Mohammed
3. he was the only person to have been born inside the Ka’aba in Mecca.



The Kaa'ba.  Image taken from: http://cache.virtualtourist.com/3240436-the_kaaba-Mecca.jpg




The inside of the Kaa'ba.  Image taken from:  http://z.about.com/d/atheism/1/0/M/f/KaabaInterior.jpg  


On this day Shi'ites will hold remembrance services and/or processions marking his death.


2 comments:

Abid said...

Correction.

Shia's believe Ali was the first imam. The concept of caliphate is absent in Shia Islam

Shirley Sunman said...

whoops, thanks for that and thanks for visiting