Shiites split over Ashura commemoration (bloodletting)

The Daily Star (Lebanon) ^ | March 15, 2003 | Samer Wehbi & Mohammed Zaatari

[tessalu]

‘Does this please Imam Hussein and his followers who died with him in Karbala?’

Many mourners refused to heed calls from parties and clerics to donate ­ not spill ­ blood to remember the Prophet’s grandson

Some tens of thousands of Shiites re-enacted the slaying of Imam Hussein at the battle of Karbala, 13 centuries ago during bloody Ashura commemoration across the country Thursday. Ashura is the culmination of 10 days of mourning, beginning at the start of the Islamic month of Muharram, for the 7th century death of Imam Hussein bin Ali, the grandson of the Prophet Mohammed, who died at the hands of the Umayyads. In Nabatieh, the rituals started at 8am in the morning in the main square, with participants walking around the square chanting devotional prayers and hitting themselves to the shout of “Haidar, Haidar.” Haidar is another name for Imam Hussein, and the majority of the 1,300 marchers had cut their heads with razor sharp blades, which they continued to hit with the palm of their hand or the broad side of a blade to cause their blood to flow. Hundreds of observers lined the streets, foreigners and Lebanese, to observe the ritual along with a heavy presence of Red Cross members. The self-flagellation occurred despite calls by political and religious leaders in the Shiite community for an end to the practice as a public health hazard. Speaker Nabih Berri called on mourners this week to refrain from “bloody rituals,” saying that blood shedding should serve a cause, and not be wasted. But most mourners didn’t heed the call of Berri and others, including Hizbullah and leading Lebanese and Iranian clerics. At 11am, a three-hour official re-enactment ceremony took place and the smell of blood filled the streets, covering marchers’ clothes and the white sheets around their necks and heads. Some of the participants received first aid after suffering from blood loss and nausea. In the early afternoon local children put on a traditional play depicting Imam Hussein’s death and there was a procession of men on camel and horseback dressed in historical Arab costumes. Hizbullah, which has condemned self-flagellation, conducted a blood donation campaign in the middle of Nabatieh, with more than 300 blood units donated. In Nabatieh’s main square some men, young and old, were standing with razor blades, waiting to make incisions on the marchers. Around 60 male children had head wounds given to them by friends or ritual officials, some even by their own fathers, who “wanted to initiate them into martyrdom.” Mustafa Jaber described the process of cutting his two-year-old son Mohammed. “The incision is done by a sharp razor blade movement, after which I touch the head to allow some blood to flow,” he said, holding the young boy in his arms. Razor sharp blades, or sometimes swords or daggers, were used to make the incisions in the hair line above the forehead, with the blades cleansed by alcohol after each incision. Commenting on what was taking place in Nabatieh, observer Hussein Harb questioned the point of the ritual, asking: “Does this please Imam Hussein and his followers who died with him in Karbala?” One blood donor called on the media not to take pictures of what he called the “backwardness” of self-inflicted blood-letting and “sensationalism” of the day’s procession. He urged journalists to reserve their pictures for something more “civilized,” such as the blood donation campaign. In Tyre, around 10,000 people marched in the streets waving Palestinian and Hizbullah flags, among them hundreds of barefoot young men beating their chests. Similar re-enactment ceremonies were conducted by Shiite marchers throughout the entire country, including Sidon, Bint Jbeil, Beirut, Baalbek and Khiam.

[tessalu]

Islam is a backword cult, and America is in danger of being caught up in this savagery in the name of religion. Elizabeth Smart was allowed to roam from Salt Lake City to California and back, because she was dressed as one of the backward peoples. Shame on the USA for being so foolish as to be caught up into backward ways, for it did not allow law enforcement to do their job. What a shame.

[Centurion2000]

A Lebanese Shi'ite Muslim mother helps her son beat himself with a sword during a ceremony of Ashoura held in Nabatiyeh, March 13, 2003.

A Shiite Muslim man holds his son as another man in the left slashes his head with a razor during the annual ritual to mark Ashoura Day in the southern Lebanese town of Nabatiyeh, on Thursday, March 13, 2003.

A Lebanese Shi'ite Muslim father help his son beats himself with blood during a ceremony of Ashoura held in Nabatiyeh, Lebanon March 13, 2003.

BUNCH OF BARBARIAN CHILD ABUSERS .....

[DannyTN]

I watched Ghosts of Mars this week.

It seemed eerily similar to these Islamic rituals. People were cutting themselves, and their goal was to dominate the planet.

[Moose4]

I Kings 18:25-29, New International Version of the Bible:

²⁵ Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, "Choose one of the bulls and prepare it first, since there are so many of you. Call on the name of your god, but do not light the fire."

²⁶ So they took the bull given them and prepared it. Then they called on the name of Baal from morning till noon. "O Baal, answer us!", they shouted. But there was no response; no one answered. And they danced around the altar they had made.

²⁷ At noon Elijah began to taunt them. "Shout louder!", he said. "Surely he is a god! Perhaps he is deep in thought, or busy, or traveling. Maybe he is sleeping and must be awakened."

²⁸ So they shouted louder and slashed themselves with swords and spears, as was their custom, until their blood flowed.

²⁹ Midday passed, and they continued their frantic prophesying until the time for the evening sacrifice. But there was no response, no one answered, no one paid attention.

The more things change, the more they stay the same, for these wonderful modern-day prophets of Baal.

Islam...The Religion of Peace(tm). The peace of the grave.

}:-)4