Afghanistan Times
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AT Monitoring Desk-KABUL: President Ashraf Ghani on Sunday attended the Ashura (Tenth of Muharram) ceremony at the Imam Zaman Mosque in Kabul’s Police District 11, which was targeted by Islamic State (IS), also known as Daesh terrorist a month ago.
During his speech at the mosque, President Ghani said that one of Imam Hussain’s messages to the people are solidarity and unity and. He asked the people to keep this message in their minds and stand united.
Ghani furthered that religious diversity was something to be proud of and that all Afghans have an obligation to safeguard their religious values.
“We are in one line, we are one nation and we believe in one religion. Each of our denominations (of Islam) brings us pride and all Afghans have an obligation to safeguard it,” President Ghani said.
Hinting toward insurgents tactics of targeting mosques and other sacred places, President Ghani said such activities cannot distance him from the nation.
“Today, I am praying at the Imam Zama mosque. Any threat that other worshippers accept, then Afghanistan’s president also accepts it with his heart,” President Ghani added.
Ghani was accompanied by high-ranking officials and a number of participants at the ceremony urged the National Unity Government (NUG) to put national unity slogans into practice.
“I am happy that today our friends and the Afghan president have attended the ceremony. But I want all of us to put these (unity slogans) into practice because the Afghan ethnic groups need to accept each other and close the gap between them,” MP Sayed Ali Kazimi said.
“Ashura is a school that Imam Hussain by his uprising taught mankind the lesson of freedom of justice,” Minister of Hajj and Religious Affairs, Faiz Mohammad Osmani said.
He added, “Imam Hussain never wanted to acquire a position, but his message was that Muslims would never accept misery and slavery.”
Imam Zaman mosque was targeted a month ago by Daesh fighters, in which nearly 50 worshippers, including women and children were killed and wounded.
Worshippers on Sunday, attending the Ashura ceremony, called on the government not to forget Imam Zaman mosque attack victims.
“Government should support the victims’ children s they can attend educational institutions and become educated,” TOLONews quoted Mohammad Mohsin Abdullah, a resident of Kabul, as saying.
“Father and mother is like a cap in the family, when the cap is missing, doubtless there will be problems,” Mohammad Mohsin, another Kabul resident said.
The Battel of Karbala (Ashora) took place on Muharram 10 in the 61 Hijri Year (AH) of the Islamic calendar (680 AD) in Karbala, in present-day Iraq. The battle took place between a small group of supporters and relatives of Prophet Muhammad’s grandson, Imam Hussain, and a larger military detachment from the forces of Yazid 1, the Umayyat caliph.
