Religion: the origins of the Shiite festival of Ashura

Minor to the Sunnis, who represent 85% of Muslims in the world, Ashura is a major religious event for Shias.

This is in Karbala in Iraq takes place the main pilgrimage. The celebration takes place on the tenth day of the Islamic month of Muharram. Will follow the forty days of mourning. That Shiites commemorate this day, this is the origin of the conflict between Shiites and Sunnis.

A conflict that goes back to Muhammad's death in 632 and the question of his succession. While Sunnis are in favor of an elected caliph governance, Shiites recognize only descendants of the lineage of the prophet. The day of Ashura is the anniversary of the assassination of Hussein, son of Ali, a descendant of the prophet.

The conflict between Shiites and Sunnis goes through the centuries. We find in the '80s with the conflict between Iraq and Saddam Hussein's Sunni Shiite Iran of Ayatollah Khomeini.

The fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003 will exacerbate even further the tensions between the two communities. Tensions found today Filigree many wars in the Middle East.