..NAJAF, IRAQ - JULY 3, 2025: Mourners gathered at the Imam Ali Shrine in Najaf on Thursday, July 3, to commemorate the martyrdom of Imam Hussein, the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad, and his 72 companions, as part of the Muharram observances. Participants lit torches and recited elegies and laments honoring the victims of the Battle of Karbala. The ceremony was one of several held across Iraq to mark the beginning of Muharram, the first month of the Islamic lunar calendar and a period of mourning for Shia Muslims. The 10th day of the Islamic month of Muharram, also known as Ashura, marks the anniversary of the passing of Mohammad’s grandson Hussein in the desert plains of Karbala, some 113 kilometers (70 miles) from the modern-day capital Baghdad. Al-Hussein, along with 72 loyal companions, was killed in the infamous Battle of Karbala in year 61 of the Islamic calendar by the forces of Umayyad Caliph Yazid I on the 10th day of Muharram.