Public Drinking Water Dispenser
Tehran, Iran
Beautiful brass drinking water containers line the streets in Iran. Created in days before universal piped water, these were filled with cool drinking water and decorated with unique metalwork. Sometimes they had a cup dangling from a chain, ready for any thirty lips.
Share your story
Ashfaq writes:
These drinking water containers are a part of the remembrance of Imam Husain, the grandson of the Prophet Mohammed, who was slain in Karbala (in present day Iraq). He and 71 other companions and relatives (including his son, Ali Asgar who was only 6 months old at that time) were denied drinking water for 3 days before they were killed. All the other members of his entourage were also denied drinking water.
The drinking water container is a symbol of humanity that observant Shi'as place on the streets. You will find these in other places like India and Pakistan, especially during Moharrum, the first month in the Muslim calendar. It was on the 10th of Moharrum that Imam Husain was killed along with his companions.
Note: the hand symbol is the only asymmetrical object in the otherwise balanced design.
Jaffer B Almoosawi writes:
The story of the hand symbol:When everybody (including the babies) were thirsty, Imam Husain's youngest daughter, asked her uncle Abbas (also known as Abu AlFadel) to get her a drink.
He promised her he won't be back unless the brings some water for them.
He was able to make his way through the enemy’s lines of defence, and reached the river and stepped in it on his horse, and since the horse was thirsty too, Abu AlFadel allowed the horse to drink, but it didn't, since it knew its master was thirsty. So Abu AlFadel put his palm in the water and felt the coolness of it, it is at that time when he remembered his brother's thirst, so he spilled the water off his hand, filled a leather bucket with water and head back to their camp.
The enemy didn't want this water to reach the camp, so they tried to stop him, and while he was riding his horse back, a person hiding behind a trees cut his right hand with a sword, so Abu AlFadel picked the bucket with his left hand, and after a while it was cut too, then he held it with the remaining of both his hands to his chest, that’s when an arrow hit the bucket and made a hole in it, so the water started to spill out, and they killed him.
Because Abu AlFadel was the person who was to bring water for the thirsty, his cut hand is put in places where they offer water, as a remeberance that this water is from him to Imam Husain’s followers.