Posted on 03/24/2002 8:55:17 AM PST by TheOtherOne
Shiites in Lebanon and Bahrain mark Ashoura with bloody marches
By BASSEM MROUE
12:30 ET
Associated Press Newswires
Copyright 2002. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
BEIRUT, Lebanon (AP) - Thousands of Shiite Muslims staged religious marches on Sunday, some slashing their heads and beating their chest to mourn the 7th century death of one of their most revered saints, Imam Hussein.
Hussein was a grandson of Islam's prophet Muhammad killed in a battle in 680 A.D., the event which led to the split in Islam between Shiites and the majority Sunnis.
The commemorations, known as Ashoura, were held in southern Lebanon and Bahrain, while Iran, the world's largest Shiite nation, marks the occassion on Monday.
In Lebanon, more than 20,000 Shiites marched in the southern town of Nabatiyeh amid tight security because of concerns about violence between two Shiite rival groups, Hezbollah and Amal.
On Saturday, at least 15 people were wounded in a fist fight between the two groups. Two more demonstrations planned for Sunday were cancelled to prevent more trouble.
Hundreds of people slashed their heads as they marched through the streets of the town. Those who collapsed were rushed to hospitals while others were treated in tents set up by civil defense units.
Grand Ayatollah Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah, a senior Muslim cleric, urged fellow Shiites not to slash their heads, as is tradition, but to donate the blood to the Palestinians.
In Beirut, hundreds of thousands of Shiites, all clad in black, marked Ashoura with denunciation of Israel and the United States for its support for the Jewish state.
Waving Hezbollah and Palestinian flags, they chanted "Death to America" and "Death to Israel" as they marched in the streets and narrow alleyways of Beirut's southern suburbs, a Hezbollah stronghold.
Units of barefooted Hezbollah followers beat their chests in rhythm in a show of sorrow and pain over the death of Hussein.
A huge Hezbollah banner carried by the demonstrators read, "The Islamic nation will not abandon Palestine."
In Bahrain, where Shiites make a slight majority, religious songs eulogizing Hussein and his followers were broadcast on loudspeakers as thousands of men marched down the streets, beating their chests, heads and whipping their backs with chains.
Some bare-chested men revealed bruised and bleeding skin. A large sword-wielding crowd of white-clad mourners bled lightly from cuts on their shaven heads.
am-hd-bm-hhr
AP Photos BEI103-108
At any rate, what a bunch of 'chicken shiites'!!!
Your wish is my command: http://www.freerepublic.com/perl/caption/925/
YUCK
(you know, this blood stuff doesn't look so bad when one has a mountain of dustballs to clean...)
OR Jesus Christ will have found a way, even a Nuclear way perhaps, into the very heart of Satan's kingdom.
"You shall make no cuttings in your flesh as the heathen do..."
You shall not let your children pass through the fire to Molech..."
Christianity will clean this up like a white tornado, if we just unleash it! Jesus was the once-and-for-all sacrifice.
However, flagelants are in the Christian religion also. In Taxco, Mexico at Easter they march, men beating thier backs into bloody messes, carry sharp edge crosses that draw blood, wear thorn on thier heads while blood runs down thier faces. It is done in Spain and other nations too. But no little children to my knowledge are hurt. I find this horrifying and frightening!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
