Shiites Mark Ashura With Fasting, Marches And Bloody Rituals

Millions of Muslims around the world marked the day of Ashura Tuesday, the annual commemoration of the martyrdom of Hussein, the grandson of Prophet Mohammed, whose death in the Iraqi city of Karbala set off the division between Sunni and Shiite Muslims that persists to this day.

The day is marked with marches and fasting and Shiite pilgrims often flagellate and cut themselves, as they seek to emulate the suffering of Hussein, one of Shiite Islam’s holy imams, who was killed in battle in Karbala in 680 AD.

Processions took place across Iran, Iraq, Bahrain and Lebanon. According to Iraqi media, millions of pilgrims from inside and outside Iraq arrived Karbala, home to Hussein’s shrine.

The historical rift between Shiites and Sunnis is stronger than ever across the Middle East, as largely Shiite Iran and Sunni Saudi Arabia seek to extend their influence across the region. Proxy wars in Lebanon, Iraq, Syria and Yemen are funded and supported by Tehran and Riyadh in their bid for power.

Riyadh and Tehran broke diplomatic ties this year after Saudi Arabia executed a prominent Shiite cleric and sparked outrage across the region. Tension was already high following the deadly stampede in the holy city of Mina during the 2015 Hajj, in which hundreds of pilgrims were killed, many of them from Iran.

Source:vocativ.com