Lecturers: Mohammad Sagha, Humanities Teaching Fellow, University of Chicago and incoming Lecturer in Modern Middle East History, Harvard University (affiliation at the date recorded); Sarah Mokh, PhD student in Islamic Studies, New York University (affiliation at the date recorded)

Duration: 1 Hour 53 Minutes

Date Recorded: July 2022

Subject: The legacy of Imam Hussain and the events of Ashura have been one of the most important and long-term impactful events in Islamic history. Ashura has been commemorated on an annual basis for well over a millennium across vast geographies, societies, languages, and contexts. But how have communities cultivated the memory of Hussain and how is the remembrance of his martyrdom related to the historical study of the sources discussing Ashura and Karbala? This discussion will focus on the multiple layers related to the remembrance of Ashura, the historiographical issues related to the primary historical sources, and communal processes of meaning-making for the martyrdom of Imam Hussain over time.