The Role of Ashura and Mourning Ceremonies during the Fourteen Infallible's Lifetime in the Fall of the Umayyads and Rise of the Abbasids

Although the Umayyads considered the bloody and tragic event of Karbala as a turning point in the history of their caliphate it, in fact, prepared the ground for their fall; because although the Muslims who joined Imam Hussein in Karballa were few at the beginning, people's revolutionary spirit revived and successive uprisings took place after his martyrdom against the Umayyad caliphs and, later on, against the 'Abbasid caliphs. Using a documentary approach to the traditions and historical findings, the present paper points to the most important factors of the Umayyads fall and the 'Abbasids’ rise, and investigates the role of 'Ashura and mourning ceremonies during the Fourteen Infallible's lifetime in the fall and rise of the two caliphates.Due to the significance of Imam Hussein's uprising in the history of Islam and Shiite, any study of the revolutionary and martyrdom-seeking movements which the followers of the Fourteen Infallibles launched and which led to the fall of the Umayyads and rise of the 'Abbasids should be a attributed to the 'Ashura Uprising. In the meantime, the efforts made by the Shiite imam's to promote and propagate the aims of 'Ashura by holding mourning ceremonies, going on piligrimage to holy shrines, etc had an important role in this regard.