Imam Khomeini, the world religious and spiritual leader said that that the holy months of Muharram and Safar have kept Islam alive and advised preachers to promote genuine teachings of Islam during this period.
According to Imam Khomeini, Muharram is the month in which justice has raised up against cruelty while truth has confronted falsehood, and has proved that throughout history truth has always been triumphant against falsehood.
Muharram is the month in which Islam has been revived by the Master of the Strugglers and the Oppressed (Imam Husayn) and was rescued from the plots of the corrupt Ban! Umayyad' agents who had taken Islam to the verge of collapse. It is the blood of the Doyen of the Martyrs (Imam Husayn) that inspires the Muslim nations. For the Shia school, Muharram is a month in which victory was achieved through blood and sacrifice.
Muharram is the month of the great movement of the Doyen of the Martyrs and the Leader of God's Saints. By his uprising against the faghut, he taught mankind how to fight and to build. He saw that the way to destroy the despots and break the tyrants consists of sacrificing lives and this is Islam's leading instruction for all nations to the end of time.
Umayyad is the name of dynasty of Muslim caliphs who gained control of the administration of Islamic territories in 40 AH (662 CE) after the firs! four caliphs and held sway until 132 AH (750 CE).
The founder of this dynasty was Mu'awiyah, son of Abu Sufyan, by whom hereditary monarchy as well as aristocracy were revived in stark contrast and opposition to basic Islamic articles of faith. History is replete with innumerable instances of cruelty and oppression perpetrated in the world of Islam during the Umayyad rule, including murder, banishment and imprisonment of the followers of the Ahl al-Bayt |the Family of the Prophet] as epitomized by the martyrdom of Imam Husayn and his votaries in Karbala' by the forces of Yazid. son of Mu'awiyah. month in which the Imam of the Muslims taught us the way to fight the tyrants of history.
They killed the Doyen of the Martyrs but Islam flourished ever more.
The Doyen of the Martyrs (PBUH) together with all his disciples and kinfolks were massacred but they were able to advance their school.
The martyrdom of His Holiness the Doyen of the Martyrs revived the school.
Keeping the 'Ashura alive is a very important political and devotional matter.
The Islamic Revolution in Iran is but a ray of light reflected from the 'Ashura and its great divine revolution.
Karbala" washed away the palace of the oppressors with blood and our Karbala' destroyed the devilish palace of the monarchy.
Keep Karbala' and the holy name of the Doyen of the Martyrs alive, for their survival insures the survival of Islam.
Foremost among the political issues, the issue of Karbala1 should be kept alive.
Our great nation must preserve, with greater splendor, the memory of 'Ashura according to Islamic standards.
Keep alive the month of Muharram, for all we have is from it.
It is the months of Muharram and Safar that have kept Islam alive.
The whole unity of expression that was at the base of our victory came about by the grace of these ('Ashura) mourning rites and meetings, as well as the sessions for the propagation and spread of Islam.
The month of Muharram is a month during which people are ready to hear the issue of truth.
Lamentation for Imam Husayn (PBUH), keeping the movement alive and maintaining alive the fact that a small number of people (successfully) stood up against a great empire, are orders of the day.
Breast-beating in the mourning processions must make sense as well.
'Ashura is the day of public mourning of the oppressed nation; it is the epic day; the rebirth of Islam and the Muslims.