Traditional Sala ritual held at Imam Reza shrine (photo)

A number of servants at the holy shrine of Imam Reza (AS) held the 300-year-old traditional Sala ceremony to show the beginning of the mourning month of Muharram. Muslims, mainly Shias, across the globe commemorate the third Shia Imam and grandson of Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) who was martyred, together with 72 of his household members and close companions, in the Battle of Karbala fighting the tyrant ruler of his time Yazid ibn Muawiayh in 680 A.D.