Think of a time you got through something that, while it was happening, didn’t feel survivable. Looking back, there’s often a strange mix of relief and gratitude — and sometimes a quiet wish to mark that it happened, somehow, so you don’t forget what it took.
The Day of Ashura, the tenth of Muharram, carries exactly that kind of memory — on a scale that reshaped a nation’s history, and that the Prophet ﷺ chose to make part of his own practice.
What Is the Day of Ashura?
Ibn Abbas ؓ narrated that when the Prophet ﷺ arrived in Madinah, he found the Jewish community there fasting on this day. He asked them why, and they explained: it was the day Allah ﷻ saved Musa ؑ and the Israelites from Pharaoh, and Musa ؑ fasted it in gratitude (Sahih Muslim · 1130).
وَإِذْ فَرَقْنَا بِكُمُ الْبَحْرَ فَأَنجَيْنَاكُمْ وَأَغْرَقْنَا آلَ فِرْعَوْنَ وَأَنتُمْ تَنظُرُونَ
“And [recall] when We parted the sea for you and saved you, and drowned the people of Pharaoh while you were looking on.” — Quran 2:50. A deliverance so total, and so visible, that it became something to remember every year.
Why Did the Prophet ﷺ Fast on This Day?
The Prophet’s ﷺ response, according to the same hadith, was direct: “We have more right to Musa than you” — and he fasted the day himself, and encouraged the early Muslim community to do the same (Sahih Muslim · 1130). Later, he expressed the intention to also fast the day before — the 9th, Tasu’a — so that the Muslim observance would have its own distinct character (Sahih Muslim · 1134).
The reward attached to this fast is significant. In a hadith recorded in Sahih Muslim (1162), the Prophet ﷺ said that fasting the Day of Ashura is hoped to expiate the sins of the previous year — a striking promise for a single day’s fast.
A Day That Holds More Than One Meaning
For many Muslims, this period also carries the weight of yesterday’s reflection — the memory of Hussain ؓ and Karbala, and the love and grief that come with it. Islam doesn’t ask anyone to collapse a day this layered into a single, tidy meaning. Deliverance and sacrifice can sit alongside each other; gratitude and grief aren’t opposites.
What ties both threads together is the same thing this entire ten-day reflection has been about: love — for Allah ﷻ first, and for the Prophet ﷺ, his family, his companions, and everyone since who has carried that love forward sincerely.
Marking Ashura Today
If you’re able, fast today — and if you didn’t fast yesterday, the 9th, that’s fine; today’s fast stands on its own.
Spend a few minutes recalling your own “Red Sea moments” — times something impossible resolved, and you know it wasn’t only your own doing. Say Alhamdulillah for them, specifically, by name.
Let the promise of expiation (Sahih Muslim · 1162) motivate something real — a sincere moment of repentance, not just the fast as a ritual box to tick.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why is Ashura observed on the 10th of Muharram specifically?
The name ‘Ashura’ itself comes from the Arabic word for ‘ten’ (ashr), marking the 10th day of Muharram. According to a hadith narrated by Ibn Abbas ؓ, the Prophet ﷺ found this was already the day the Jewish community in Madinah fasted to commemorate Musa’s ؑ deliverance from Pharaoh (Sahih Muslim · 1130) — and chose to continue marking it.
Why did the Prophet ﷺ fast on Ashura?
When the Prophet ﷺ found the Jewish community in Madinah fasting on this day to commemorate Musa’s ؑ deliverance, he said Muslims “have more right to Musa” than they did, and fasted it himself — later also intending to fast the day before, the 9th, for distinction (Sahih Muslim · 1130, 1134).
What is the reward for fasting Ashura?
According to a hadith in Sahih Muslim (1162), the Prophet ﷺ said that fasting the Day of Ashura is hoped to expiate the sins of the previous year — one of the most significant rewards attached to a single voluntary fast.
How does Ashura connect to the story of Musa ؑ and Pharaoh?
The Quran (2:50) describes Allah ﷻ parting the sea, saving the Israelites, and drowning Pharaoh’s forces — a total and visible deliverance. Musa ؑ fasted in gratitude for this, and the Prophet ﷺ said Muslims “have more right to Musa” than the community that had preserved the memory of that day before them.
Should Ashura be marked only with fasting?
Fasting is the central practice the Prophet ﷺ established for Ashura, but the day also carries deeper meaning — gratitude for deliverance, reflection on Hussain ؓ and Karbala for those marking that memory too, and a sincere moment of repentance, given the promise of expiation in Sahih Muslim (1162). It’s a day for the heart as much as the body.
Over these ten days, we’ve followed one thread — love for the Prophet ﷺ, for his family, his wives, his companions, those who followed them, the friends of Allah ﷻ, and the scholars who carried it all forward. Every one of those loves points back to the same place: gratitude to the One who connected you to all of them. Alhamdulillah.