An Afghan student chooses to celebrate Halloween during the somber Islamic holiday of Muharram

I had a choice to make this year.

I'm a Shia Muslim living in the US, so I had to choose among two holidays to celebrate this year. Muharram is a 10-day period of mourning that coincides with the start of the new year, according to the Islamic calendar. This year, Muharram started Oct. 24 — and eight days later was Halloween. What's an American Shia Muslim to do?

Both of these holidays are, originally, religious celebrations: Muharram is a Shia Muslim commemoration of the death of Imam Hussain, the Prophet Muhammad's grandson who was martyred during the Battle of Karbala. Halloween was originally a feast for Western Christians to remember their dead, known as All Hallow's Eve.

This year, I chose to go to a Halloween party, while many of my friends and family mourned for Imam Hussain back home in Kabul.

Both of these holidays take place annually: one is celebrated in most Western countries, and the other in most Muslim countries. But Muharram doesn't follow the Gregorian calendar. The date for the 10-day period of mourning moves each year and is set according to the Lunar calendar, called Hijri Qamari.

During both events, people dress differently. For Muharram, Muslims dress in a certain type of costume that indicates the sorrows and mourning of Muslims for the martyrdom of their Imam — usually black attire. Muslims also traditionally attend mosques and perform poetic recitations to honor Imam Hussain's memory. Men strike their chests or whip themselves with chains as a means of displaying their mourning for Imam Hussain's tragic martyrdom.

And Halloween here in the US is a totally different story. No one mourns or hurts themselves on Halloween. The costumes are usually comical, not representations of sorrows or mourning. People go nuts at Halloween parties and children dress up and go trick-or-treating, collecting candy from people in their neighborhoods.

In the two years that I have lived in the US, I joined my host family in handing out treats to kids that stopped by our house — a truly fun time. Then I would go to a Halloween party with my Norwich friends. But this year was different.

Halloween fell on the eighth day of Muharram, close to the Ashura day — the actual day when Imam Hussain was martyred.

Born in Afghanistan and raised in Iran, I have commemorated Muharram every year for most of my life. I struck my chest and flagellated myself with chains. I went to mosques and mourned for Imam Hussain.

But this year, I had to make a choice between these two major holidays: Should I mourn for Imam Hussain, or go to a party and celebrate Halloween, a common holiday with roots in a religion that I am not even a part of? My family and friends back home are mourning for Muharram. My elder brother in Turkey has a key role in organizing the nightly event in his community during the ten day holiday.

I took a different path.

I decided to dress up as Aladdin and go to a Halloween party with my friends. We danced, laughed, and enjoyed our time — a practice that is absolutely a taboo and forbidden during Muharram. Nonetheless, this doesn't indicate that I have lost my faith in Imam Hussain, or his cause. He fought tyranny in the pursuit of justice at the time and his message still inspires me. I have faith in his cause, and will forever cherish that.

But this year, I chose to apply his message in my life, rather than beat myself for his martyrdom. Perhaps, next year, I'll be able to celebrate Halloween and honor Muharram.