Ashura observance, Kabul, Afghanistan

Michal Przedlacki posted a photo:

A boy having a break from serving tea in one of stalls celebrating Hussein the Martyr.

After middleeasttravel: Hussein the Martyr lived c. 626-680 AD. He was the second son of Ali and Fatima, the daughter of Mohammed. In the tumultuous years after the death of the Prophet Mohammed, many factions took turns being in power of the region. In 680, it came down to Yazid and Hussein. Yazid was a man who did not uphold the strict standards of Islam, and as the ruler of the region, he lead the nation after his perverse ways. Hussein was now the head of the household of the Prophet, and looked around at the nation of Islam. The Muslims refused to stand up to Yazid and were quickly reverting back to their Pre-Islamic traditions.

Hussein could not stand for this any longer, and he stood up against Yazid and warned the Ummah, or community of believers, of the evil in which they were. For the most part, the Ummah did not listen to Hussein. However, Yazid could not tolerate an insurrection, so he gathered his army and marched on Hussein. There was a stand off between Yazids army and Husseins group of less than a hundred in the city called Karbala (sometimes Kerbela). Yazid tried to give the rebels a chance to surrender, but none of them would. Slowly Husseins supporters were killed, including Husseins son and wife. In the month of Muharram 61 AH (approx. October 680 AD), Hussein himself was killed in Karbala.