Why do we sit on the mourning mats and weep?

Answer

In the name of Allah, be advised my son that the custom for long ages in the Indian subcontinent - India, Pakistan and Bangladesh - is that when a person has a misfortune of the death of a loved one, he sits on a mat or something like that, and on this mat he receives his mourners, even if he has chairs and couches and other confortable furniture. A Shiite person does not know someone who is more loved than Hussein and Ahlulbait (PBUT); thus, he sits on such mats conforming to the customs in those areas. Allah knows best.