In sympathy with the sufferings of the women and children...

In sympathy with the sufferings of the women and children, many Muslims on the day of Ashura, also walk barefoot on red-hot charcoal. Although practices of Tatbir and fire walking on the day of Ashura are common amongst the Muslims, however, they are not the only people who engage in such practices.

Tatbir for example is not limited to Muslims alone, but also followers of other religions such as Christianity perform such acts in certain parts of the world, as a sign of their devotion to Jesus Christ peace be upon him. Every year on the occasion of Easter, Christians in the Far East for example perform public acts of flagellation out of devotion to the prophet Jesus son of Mary peace be upon them.

This issue is one of the topics of an interview conducted with a Christian scholar that appears at the end of this book. Furthermore, the practice of walking on fire that devotees of Imam Husayn do in remembrance and sympathy with the women and children that were taken prisoners after the killing of Imam Husayn and his companions, is not limited to Muslims only.

Even secular and non-religious people practice and promote fire walking as part of their endeavour to enhance their physical, mental and spiritual stamina. However, due to the widespread Islamophobia, and despite the nonuniqueness of these programs as referred to above, some Muslims go as far as calling for such programs to be stopped as, in their opinions, these programs “give bad image of Islam and Muslims”.

However, just as for any other aspect of life – private or public – that the Muslims seek clarification on the legality of a particular act from the Islamic legalistic viewpoint, the Muslim people at various stages and at various times have sought the opinion of the Maraje‘ of time – the Authorities on Islamic law – for such programs as the Tatbir and fire walking.

In the following pages the Fatawa (decrees) of the Muslim world’s leading and most eminent Maraje‘ of recent time are presented, along with questions and answers on the issues concerned from the legalistic and historic point of view.