IRNA - Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif in a message recalled great sacrifices of Imam Hussein (AS), saying it has established resistance in heats of his followers.

"Since 680 CE, millions of Muslims have commemorated martyrdom of Imam Hussein," Zarif wrote in his Twitter account on Saturday.

"Honoring his great sacrifice has ingrained resistance to tyranny and injustice in hearts and souls of his followers for centuries:"I do not see death but bliss, and life under tyranny but misery," he added.

Around 680 AD, Imam Hussein (PBUH) along with his 72 followers were massacred in the battle of Karbala in Iraq by the forces of the tyrant ruler of the time, Yazid, the second Umayyad caliph.

The mourning ceremonies reach their peak on the 9th day of Muharram, or Tasua, and the 10th day, or Ashura, when Imam Hussein (PBUH) and his companions were martyred.

Muharram ceremonies symbolize the eternal and unwavering stance of truth against falsehood and humanity’s struggle against tyranny, the cause for which Imam Hussein (PBUH) was martyred.

Shia rituals and observances on Ashura consist primarily of public expressions of mourning and grief such as beating one’s chest as well as beating one’s back with light chains to remind the mourners of the pain and suffering of Imam Hussein (PBUH) and his followers on that day.