Shias Mark Holiday With Flagellations, Cursing Israel, U.S.
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BEIRUT — Thousands of black-clad Shia Muslims marked the feast of Ashura today with public self-flagellation, cursing Israel, the United States and Lebanon’s President Amin Gemayel as blood spattered from their heads.
At a mosque in a Shia suburb, young men cut their heads with knives in a sign of mourning and beat the wounds frantically as thousands more women, men and children beat their chests and chanted “God is great.”
About 25,000 people also took part in mass flagellations in the southern town of Nabatiyeh, spiritual home of Lebanon’s Shias.
The flagellations climaxed the 10-day Ashura, the most solemn feast in the Shia calendar, which marks the 7th-Century martyrdom of Hussein, grandson of the prophet Mohammed. Hussein’s father, Ali, is venerated by Shias as the true successor of the prophet.
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