Iraqis mark Ashoura in Karbala
Nearly a million Shias defy security concerns to mark one of most significant days in Islamic calendar.
Muslims around the world on Tuesday marked Ashoura, one of the most significant religious days in the Islamic calendar.
Ashoura, the 10th day of the first Islamic month of Muharram, marks the occasion when the Prophet Muhammad used to fast in Mecca, where it became a common tradition for the early Muslims.
Sunni Muslims commemorate the day through voluntary fasting but for Shia Muslims it is also a major religious occasion commemorating the martyrdom of Imam Hussein, the grandson of the Prophet.
Every year since then, thousands of Shia have performed pilgrimages to the Imam’s mausoleum in southern Iraq.
Al Jazeera’s Jane Arraf reports from Karabala.