Muharram mourning assemblies, majlis, center on retelling the death of Husayn ibn Ali, grandson of the Prophet Muhammad, at the Battle of Karbala, and the charitable distribution of food alongside that retelling is treated as an act of devotion in its own right rather than a side activity. Haleem suits that purpose particularly well: a single large pot, cooked overnight or over many hours by volunteers, can feed hundreds of people, and giving the food away rather than selling it, or eating it only oneself, is the point of the practice, since the food is understood as nazr, fulfilling a vow made to Husayn or given in his memory rather than an ordinary meal.
Community kitchens set up temporarily for the ten days of Muharram, sometimes attached to a mosque or an imambargah, a hall built for Shia devotional gatherings, may produce the dish in quantities meant to serve an entire neighborhood, and receiving a portion of the haleem is understood by many recipients as receiving a share in the blessing of the commemoration itself rather than simply a free meal. The atlas records this specific charitable, votive use inside Muharram as distinct from the dish's much broader popularity as an everyday iftar food, without suggesting the two uses are unrelated: the same qualities, an easily multiplied, filling, meat and grain dish that can be cooked ahead, make it suited to both.