Lebanon: Blood Flows on Ashura as Boys Cut Their Heads to Mark Shia Festival

Hundreds of Muslim men self-flagellated to commemorate the Shia Muslim festival of Ashura in the southern Lebanese city of Nabatieh, Saturday.

Iran: Millions in Tehran Take to the Streets to Mark Ashura

Millions of Iranian took part in Ashura commemorations in Tehran, Saturday, as nationwide ceremonies took place in streets and mosques across the entire country in a day of tribute for the third Imam of Shia Muslims, Husayn ibn Ali.

Ashura Celebration Takes Place in Iraq

Thousands of Shia Muslims gathered today in Karbala, Iraq to commemorate the Day of Ashura. Ashura, which takes place on the tenth day of Muharram in the the Islamic Hijri calender, is a day of mourning which commemorates the killing of Husayn ibn Ali, the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad, as well as his family and companions, at the Battle of Karbala on 10 Muharram, 61 AH (10 October 680 AD).

Shi’ite Muslims Around the World Celebrate Ashura

An Afghan Shi'ite beating himself with chains and blades

TIME: Shi'ite Muslims from Lebanon to Afghanistan mark Ashura, a day of mourning, celebration and remembrance

Shi’ite Muslims celebrated Ashura on Thursday, marking a day of pain, pilgrimage, and pageantry that is one of the holiest in their religion.

The word Ashura means 10, and the holiday is the tenth day of Muharram, the first month of the Islamic calendar. For Shi’ite Muslims, those ten days are a period of mourning and remembrance, where they commemorate the death of Hussein ibn Ali, the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad. One of the central figures in the Shi’ite denomination, Hussein was beheaded in the Battle of Karbala in 680 AD, and his martyrdom was a defining event in the split between Sunnis and Shi’ites. » | Nate Rawlings | Thursday, November 14, 2013

Afghan Shia Muslims Flog Themselves for Ashura Festival
Hundreds of Shia Muslims in Afghanistan's capital, Kabul, flog themselves to mark the festival of Ashura on Wednesday. The festival marks the martyrdom of Hussain, the Prophet Muhammad's grandson, in the battle of Karbala in Iraq in the year 680. Shia Muslims mourn for a month as part of the festival

Shi'ite Muslims Mark Ashura Festival
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: Shi'ite Muslims commemorate the festival of Ashura - one of the religion's most important holy days. Video courtesy of Reuters.


THE DAILY TELEGRAPH PICTURE GALLERY: Shi'ite Muslims flagellate themselves to commemorate Ashura >>>

Muslims Cut Bodies for Faith
THE SUNDAY EXPRESS: ISLAMIC fanatics are mutilating themselves at a British mosque in a bloody ceremony carried out only yards from a busy high street.

Shia Muslims use a five-bladed chain called a Zanjeer to whip their own backs and make cuts in their foreheads with razor blades in homage to their faith.

Bare-chested men were left bleeding heavily during the ritual known as Matam – self-flagellation – which a witness described as being “like a scene from a horror film”.

The Sunday Express found that up to 800 men performed the bloody ceremony in secret at the Imamia Mosque in Forest Gate, east London, last year.

The Matam takes place during the annual Shia Ashura ceremony and commemorates the death of Husayn, a grandson of the prophet Muhammad. It is practised largely in Pakistan, Iran, Iraq and India as well as Yemen and Afghanistan but this is the first time it is known to have taken place in Britain.

Huge wooden screens were put up around the mosque to keep the event secret and prevent passers-by on busy Romford Road seeing the bloodletting.

The Sunday Express visited the mosque last week and learned that the ceremony took place last December and is due to be repeated next month. One man who witnessed the ceremony last year was so alarmed by what he saw he nearly passed out. He said: “There was blood everywhere. There were pools of blood on the ground and my clothes were splattered with blood. It was very scary. >>> David Jarvis and Shekhar Bhatia: Exclusive | Sunday, November 07, 2010

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’Boys Forced into Muslim Flogging Ritual’
TIMESONLINE: A devout Muslim encouraged two teenage boys to flog themselves until their backs were covered in bloody cuts, a jury was told yesterday.

Syed Mustafa Zaidi, 44, a Shia Muslim, was celebrating the traditional Ashura festival, a ritual act of lamentation commemorating the slaughter of the Prophet Muhammad's grandson, Husayn, and his followers in the 14th century. It involves Shia Muslims flailing themselves with a zanjeer zani, an implement with a wooden handle and five chains attached to sharp knives. The men whip themselves to recreate the suffering of the martyrs.

After flogging himself, Mr Zaidi was said to have forced the two boys, aged 15 and 13, to join in the annual ceremony that took place last January at a community mosque in Levenshulme, Manchester. The boys were left with bloody cuts across their backs.

It is the first case of its kind, involving the religious practices of Shia Muslims, to be brought to trial in Britain. Mr Zaidi denies two counts of child cruelty amounting to “wilful ill-treatment”. ’Boys Forced into Muslim Flogging Ritual’ >>> By Russell Jenkins | August 19, 2008

The Dawning of a New Dark Age – Dust Jacket Hardcover, direct from the publishers (US) >>>
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Ashura
BBC: Ashura in Pictures
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Ashura: Shia Holy Day in Iraq – Violent
Photo courtesy of The Guardian
THE GUARDIAN: Around two million pilgrims today marched through the Iraqi city of Karbala in blood-soaked processions - beating their heads and chests in unison and whipping themselves with chains - to mark Ashura, one of the holiest events in the Shia Muslim calendar.

The processions were marred by violence with a deadly bombing in northern Iraq and clashes in the south involving members of a radical cult.

Shias across Iraq observed the Ashura holiday by marching, singing and beating their chests to honour the martyrdom of Imam Hussein, grandson of the Prophet Muhammad, in 680 AD. Security was stepped up in Karbala with 30,000 policemen and soldiers deployed in the city, including reinforcements from Baghdad.

But street battles between a messianic cult, the Soldiers of Heaven, and Iraqi troops raged for a second day in two predominantly Shia southern cities. Iraqi authorities said at least 36 people were reported killed in Basra and at least 32 in Nasiriyah, including Iraqi security forces, civilians and gunmen. Seven Iraqis were killed in a rocket attack after observing Ashura in Tal Afar, 260 miles north-west of Baghdad, police Brigadier General Najim Abdullah said. Shia holy day in Iraq marred by violence >>> By David Smith and agencies

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