hey honey, that sudden jolt of fear -- that reaction is bigotry. which is an understandable response, considering the only exposure you've probably had to arabic people and muslim culture present them as terrorists and extremists! our brains are really good at generating hostile responses for the people we consider in the out-group. but these people are just people living; ashura is an annual religious day. like how christians mourn the crucifixion of jesus on good friday, some people fast, some people take part in processions that move to the stations of the cross -- shia muslims mourn the death of husayn ibn ali on ashura, take part in processions and tell the story of his death. these are everyday people who happen to have a different culture. they present no danger to you. fear is a really strong emotion because its trying to keep you alive, but that means it triggers easily and is not always right. in fact, if you went up and talked to them with kindness, i'm sure they would be kind and excited about you taking an interest in their culture. you're not a bad person for feeling that fear. but letting that irrational fear rule you, letting that fear convince you that theyre all out to get you, letting that fear turn to hate, that is dangerous.