The participants, mostly wearing black clothes, beat their chests and recited elegies in the commercial heart of Srinagar. Some carried copies of the Quran to protest recent public desecrations of the Islamic holy book in Sweden and Denmark.

Muharram is among the holiest months for Shiite Muslims and marks the martyrdom of the Prophet Muhammad’s grandson, Imam Hussein, and his 72 companions in the battle of Karbala in the seventh century in present-day Iraq. The mourning over their deaths reaches to its peak on Ashura, the 10th day of Muharram. Thursday’s procession marked the eighth day on the calendar.

The main Muharram gatherings on the eighth and 10th days that used to pass through the city center were banned a year after an armed insurgency broke out in 1989 demanding the region’s independence from India or its merger with neighboring Pakistan, which also controls part of Kashmir. However, Muharram processions continued to be allowed elsewhere in the Indian-controlled portion.

Tens of thousands of civilians, rebels and government forces have been killed in the insurgency.

Scores of mourners tried to defy the ban in previous years, often leading to scuffles with police and the firing of tear gas.

Authorities said the lifting of the ban comes as the overall security situation has improved in the region in recent years.

Mohammad Aijaz, Srinagar’s civil administrator, said the procession was “a dividend of peace.”

The lifting of the ban came after a series of talks between Shiite leaders and government officials. Authorities imposed a series of conditions, including that participants should not use “anti-national slogans or propaganda” or “disrespect any national symbol.”

“It was after a long wait of almost 34 years that this procession has once again been allowed to go through its historical route,” said Shabib Ul Hassan, a young participant.

It was unclear whether the authorities would lift the ban on the 10th day procession as well.

Kashmiri Muslims have long complained that the Indian government restricts their religious freedom with the rationale of maintaining law and order, while promoting a massive annual Hindu pilgrimage to a holy cave, the Himalayan Amarnath Shrine in Kashmir.

The two-month Hindu pilgrimage, currently underway, draws hundreds of thousands of Hindu pilgrims from across India. The routes leading to the cave shrine are guarded by tens of thousands of soldiers.

Restrictions on Muslims have increased sharply since the Indian government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist party scrapped the region’s semi-autonomy in 2019.

Since then, critics say the Indian government has tried to create what it calls “naya Kashmir,” or “new Kashmir,” by curbing dissent, civil liberties and media freedoms.

Authorities have also confined the region’s chief cleric and top separatist leader, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, to his home and restricted large congregational prayers at the region’s main mosque.

“When does the fasting of Muharram begin or the fasting of ‘Āshūrā begin?”, was the question posed to Shaikh Ibn Baz: “When does the fasting of Muharram begin or the fasting of ‘Aashooraa begin? Does the fasting begin on the first day of Muharram or in the middle of the month or the end of the month? And how many days are to be fasted, because I heard that the fasting begins from the first of Muharram until the tenth? May Allaah grant you success”.

Ibn Baz answered: “The Prophet (salallaahu alaihi wassallam) said: “The best fasts after Ramadaan are in the month of Allah: al-Muharram.” And that is ‘Āshūrā. And the meaning is that he fasted it all, from the first day till the last, from the beginning till the end. This is the meaning of the hadeeth. However, he specified from this month, the 9th and the 10th day, or the 10th and the 11th day for the one who is not able to fast the whole month.

The Messenger (salallaahu alaihi wassallam) would fast ‘Āshūrā in the days of Jaahiliyyah [prior to Revelation], and the people of Quraish would also fast it.

Later on when the Messenger (salallaahu ‘alaihi wassallam) arrived in Madeenah, he found that the Jews were also fasting it.

So he asked them concerning it, so they replied: “It is the day on which Allah saved Mūsā and his people, and He destroyed the Pharaoh and and his people, so Mūsā fasted it in gratitude to Allaah, so we likewise fast it.” 

Allaah’s Messenger (salallaahu ‘alaihi wassallam) said: “We have more right with respect to Mūsā and are more deserving of him.” 

So he (salallaahu ‘alaihi wassallam) fasted and he commanded that it be fasted. So it is a Sunnah (recommended) to fast the Day of ‘Āshūrā (10th Muharram) and it is from the Sunnah to fast the day before it or the day after, due to what is narrated from him (salallaahu ‘alaihi wassallam), “Fast the day before it and the day after it.” 

In a wording there occurs: “A day before it or a day after it.” And in another narration: “If I live till next year, I will surely fast on the ninth,” meaning along with the tenth – and this is best, that a person fasts the tenth because that is a great day, wherein goodness was attained for Mūsā (alaihi salaam) and the Muslims with him, and our Prophet (salallaahu ‘alaihi wassallam) fasted that day – so we fast the ninth with our Prophet in acting upon his legislation (salallaahu ‘alaihi wassallam).

And we can fast along with the tenth, the day before it or the day after in order to differ from the Jews. And the best way is to fast the ninth and the tenth due to the hadeeth: “If I live till next year, I will surely fast the ninth.” 

So if a person was to fast the tenth and the eleventh, or all three days: the ninth, tenth and eleventh, it is all good – and in that there is a differing from the Jews. And if one was was to fast the month, then that is more more virtuous for him.”

Source: BinBaz.Org