178 THE MOHURRUM FESTIVAL. 



persuasion. The Mohurrum festival is hold 

 by the Shiahs in solemn remembrance of their 

 first martyrs Husseyn and Hussun, the two 

 sons of Fatima, daughter of the prophet and 

 Ali, from whom the Seyuds are all descended. 

 After the murder of their father by order of 

 the usurping Calipha, these two princes with 

 their families removed from Shawn, the capital, 

 to Medina, where they resided several years. 

 At length the people of Shawn, being weary 

 of King Yezeed's oppressive rule, invited Hus- 

 seyn to return to their capital, and assume 

 his lawful right as Emaum (leader of the faith- 

 ful). Before accepting his invitation, however, 

 Husseyn sent his cousin Moslem to ascertain 

 and report the exact state of public feeling. 

 Unhappily this became known; Moslem was 

 seized by order of the usurper and cast from 

 a precipice, and a reward being offered for 

 the heads of his innocent sons, they were barba- 

 rously murdered. Hussun was poisoned by 

 an emissary of the tyrant, and Husseyn, the 

 last victim of the descendants of the prophet's 

 family to King Yezeed's fury, suffered a cruel 

 death, after the most severe trials, upon the 



