One Million Shiites March In A Display Of Faith Through Karbala, Iraq, page 1

In a stunningly intimate and graphic display, over one million faithful believers of Islam marched through the city of Karbala, Iraq, a ritual that was banned under the rule of Saddam Hussein. Men walked the streets chanting and inflicting pain upon themselves to mourn the seventh century* death of their revered martyr, Imam Hussein. Meanwhile American unarmed UAV's patrolled to skies monitoring the streets and surrounding neighborhoods for any sign of trouble.

*-Referred article does not specify whether seventh century BC or AD

news.yahoo.com
In Karbala, about 20,000 men wearing white shrouds and waving swords above their heads began marching around 2 a.m. between the gold-domed Imam Hussein shrine and another dedicated to his brother, Abbas, less than a mile away.

Following dawn prayers, about 8,000 people, dressed in black as a sign of mourning and including children as young as 8, marched between the two shrines to the deep beat of bass drums.

Some slapped chains across their backs until their clothes were soaked with blood, while others beat their heads with the flat side of long swords and knives until blood ran freely in a ritual of grief that was banned under ousted dictator Saddam Hussein.

The United States military has been using unmanned, unarmed aerial drones to provide an overhead view of processions.

Please visit the link provided for the complete story.

This interesting ritual sure does display the physical tolerance of pain in Muslims practicing their religion. It should probably be taken into consideration for those who are unable to protect themselves before attempting to conquer their lands (in ancient times anyways). It should also be noted the source article does not state whether this will be an annual tradition in Karbala or not.

I personally would not mind taking a trip there next year to witness the tradition if it will be allowed. After all I did not see any cause for alarm. Obviously the pilgrims and citizens alike were not armed with guns. They probably had so many Aerial Drones in the sky watching the city remotely it gave them shade from the sun.

This is an interesting tradition of teaching manhood, as a child states in the article, compared to Buddhist, Hindu, Jewish traditions or Christians if they had one.

Related News Links:
hammorabi.blogspot.com
www.irib.ir

[edit on 2/9/2006 by DYepes]

[edit on 2/9/2006 by DYepes]