Page:Thomas Patrick Hughes - Notes on Muhammadanism - 2ed. (1877).djvu/186

Rh themselves in circles, and beat themselves with chains in the most frantic manner. The women repeat a funeral eulogium, and the Maulavís, the Rowzat-us-Shuhádáa, or the Book of Martyrs.

On the seventh day there are representations of the marriage ceremony of Qásim, and of the martyrdom of Husain; and on the eighth day a lance or spear is carried about the city to represent Husain's head, which was carried on the point of a javelin by order of Yazíd. In addition to these representations, there are the Tázías, Tábúts, or biers, of the tombs of Hasan and Husain, a horse-shoe in representation of Husain's swift horse, and the standards of Hasan, Husain, and Qásim, and other Muslim celebrities.

The Sunní Muhammadans do not usually take part in these ceremonies, but observe the tenth day, ʾA′shuráa, being the day on which God is said to have created Adam and Eve, heaven, hell, the tablet of decree, the pen, fate, life, and death.

Muhammad commanded his followers to observe the ʾA′shuráa by bathing, wearing new