Ashura practices (religious practice) Research Paper

Ashura practices (religious practice) - Research Paper Example gious practice may depend on the commitment that a follower ascribes to the act as well as the pledge to keep practicing that act even among future generations. Usually, meaning increases when members of the faith agree the symbolic value of the happening on, and if it is associated with the historical roots of the religious group. Typical examples of religious practices include baptism, where members are immersed in water and transformed into new spiritual beings; this mostly happens in Christian groups. Fasting is also common among a series of faiths such as Islam, Buddhism and Christianity; it involves abstinence from food for a certain period in order to focus and strengthen one’s religious conviction. Even a simple act like attendance of a religious ceremony in a Jewish temple, mosque or church may also be regarded as a religious practice. Islam, just like other religions, has a series of practices; some may differ depending on one’s sect or religious conviction but others are common to all. The five pillars of Islam are religious practices that all believers in the faith agree on, and they include shahada, salat, zakat, sawm and hajj (Chibli 34). The first one refers to acknowledgement of the supremacy of the God Allah and his prophet Muhammad while the second one focuses on five obligatory prayers. Giving the poor alms, fasting in the holy month of Ramadan and visiting Mecca at least once are the other shared religious practices respectively (Wheeler 59). Ashura is a religious practice that is also common to all Muslims, but the meaning of the day and its manifestation are significantly different between the two predominant religious groups. Sunni Muslims largely centre on the Prophet’s interpretation of the day; it commemorates the day that Noah‘s ark was rescued as well as the day when God gave Moses the ten commandments (Wilfrid and Nourallah 141). It is also historically significant because it is believed that this was the day when several