The tenth day—the 'Áshúrá is, however, a Sunnat feast and, as such, is observed by all Sunnís. It is considered to be a most excellent day, for on it God is said to have created Adam and Eve, His throne, heaven, hell, the seat of judgment, the tablet of decree, the pen, fate, life and death.
The Sunnís about three o'clock in the afternoon of this day prepare sherbet and khichrí—a dish composed of boiled rice and pulse mixed with clarified butter and spices. A Fátiha in the name of Husain and of those who were martyred with him is then said. The food is disposed of as usual in such cases. A Namáz of some nafl rak'ats is said and sometimes a Du'á is added. On this day also they go to the burial grounds and place flowers on, and say Fátiha over the graves of their friends.
Indian Musalmáns have copied in their feast many Hindu ceremonies. The procession of the Tázías, and the casting of them into the water is very similar to the procession at the Hindu feast of the Durga Puja,[[250]] when on the tenth day the Hindus cast the idol Durga, the wife of Siva, into the Ganges. The oblations offered at different shrines are similar to those offered by the Hindus, such as rice, clarified butter and flowers.
The Muhammadan form of worship was too simple for a country, in which an allegorical and idolatrous religion predominated, addressing itself to the senses and the imaginations rather than to the understanding and the heart; consequently the Musalmán festivals have borrowed from it a variety of pagan rites, and a pompous and splendid ceremonial. While this has done much to add to the superstition of the Musalmáns in India, it has no doubt softened their intolerant spirit. Though the Sunnís consider the Shía'h observances as impious, they look on with the contempt of indifference. The fact that the British Government punishes all who break
the peace may have something to do with this. Still the Sunní and the Shía'h in India live on much better terms, and have more respect for each other than the Turk has for the Persian, or the Persian for the Turk. Some Musalmán poets, indeed, are both Sunnís and Shía'hs. Thus Wálí, begins his poem with a brief encomium on the four first Khalífs, and then bestows an eulogy on 'Alí and his sons Hasan and Husain whom he calls "Imáms of the world."
The following is a prayer used in a Fátiha for 'Alí:—
I pray, "That God may deign for the sake of that pure soul, the ornament of the book of nature, the first of mortals after the Prophet, the star of mortals, the most precious jewel of the jewel-box of virtue, the lord of the high and the low, he who occupies a distinguished place on the bridge of eternity, the mihráb[[251]] of the faith, he who sits upon the throne of the palace of the law, the ship of the sea of religion, the sun of the firmament of glory, the power of the arm of the Prophet, he who has merited access to the tabernacle of the Divine Unity, the most profound of all religious people, the resplendent brightness of the marvels of God, the father of victory, the Imám of the gate of heaven, the cup-bearer of the water of Kausar, he who has merited the praise of Muhammad, he who is the best of men, the holy martyr, the chief of Believers, the Imám of the Faithful, 'Alí, son of Abu Tálib, 'Alí the victorious lion of the Most High. I pray that God for the sake of this holy Khalíf may favourably hear the vows which I offer to Him."
The following prayer occurs in a Fátiha said for Hasan and Husain:—
I pray, "That the eternal God may deign to accept the vows which I make for the repose of the glorious souls of the two brave Imáms, the martyrs well-beloved by God, the innocent victims of wickedness, the blessed Abu Muhammad Al-Hasan and Abu 'Abd-Alláh Al-Husain, and for the twelve Imáms, and the fourteen[[252]] pure ones, and for the seventy-two martyrs of the plain of Karbalá."