PARIS, France: In Iran's western province of Lorestan, thousands of women have commemorated the martyrdom anniversary of Prophet Muhammad (s)'s grandson, Imam Hussein (a.s.) by means of a special tradition referred to as 'Chehel Minbari'.

Reports tell that women from cities and towns across the province covered their faces, and walked in silence as they knocked on the doors of forty houses and lit candles in forty spots as mourners beat their chests in their grief over the suffering and martyrdom of Imam Hussein (a.s.), along with 72 of his loyal companions in a place still called Karbala in southern Iraq, in 680 CE.

The tradition is upheld every year on Tasu'a, which falls on the ninth of Muharram, as a show of solidarity with the sister of Imam Hussein and one of the most knowledgeable Muslim women of her time, Hazrat Zainab (a.s.). The ritual starts after participants have said their dawn prayers and ends at dusk prayers.