Asure / Ashure: Yom Ashra al Muharrem, the tenth day of month of Muharrem, 10
Muharrem is the first month of the Hijra Calendar which is followed by
Muslims universally. It is a lunar calendar, so it begins every year ten
days earlier in relation to the Julian calendar. Every month begins with the
actual sighting of the new moon locally, so that neighboring countries can
be a day apart at any particular time. You can not always have assurance
that tomorrow will follow on today.
The tenth of Muharrem is identical to Yom Kippur in the Mosaic calendar, and
Muslims pray and fast and repent for the first ten days of Muharrem in
honor of the practice of Moses (aws). The tenth of Muharrem is also the
occasion of the murder of Hussein (ra) the grandson of Muhammed (saws) in
Kerbala. Ashure is a time of morning and celebration. The world was born,
Adam (aws) was created, Adam and Eve (aws) finally found each other after 40
years of separation, and Adam built the Kaaba, and so on... The flood, Jonah
(aws) in the whale... all on Ashure.
During this season, Muslims make a pudding consisting of ten
different ingredients, including wheat and garbanzo beans/chick peas, called
nohut in Turkish and other ingredients in honor of the restrictions the
Jewish people suffered when escaping from the Pharaoh in the dessert and
eating on the run without cooking.
Kauthar is a fountain, river, stream, spring in paradise, and rain is figure
of the kauthar fountain..."life itself"
99 is the number of divine names found in the Quran, and Islamic rosaries
(tesbih/misbah: "praise""prayer") have 99 beads. (the word bead in English
comes from 'prayer'). Roses and the scent of roses are very basic figures
in Islamic literatures world wide, and the name for heaven in many Islamic
literatures is the garden or the rose garden- jennet(cennet in Turkish). My
own mother's name is Rose and February 9 this year is her 99th birthday. She
passed away 2 years ago on Mother's Day. Rain is also a figure in Islamic
Literature, and rain and roses represent something like the idea of Mercy,
and is embodied by the idea of Mohammed's (saws) mission.
ashure today
heavy steady rain
assurance
a rose is a rose is a rose
memories of
my mother's rosary
february 9
mom's rosary
resting
ashure
Ayasofya
wearing a rain coat
nohut ashure
after the prayer
at sultanahmet
star TV
gathering comments
ashure
ashure
wet raincoats
slick sidewalks
my mother's beads
the recitation
of heavy rain drops
today's the tenth
rain soaks right through
my coat
cold wet rain
soaks through
to my skin
Isa Kocker (Turkey)
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