BBC News | MIDDLE EAST | In pictures: Ashura celebrations

BBC News Online: World: Middle East

Thursday, 5 April, 2001, 23:22 GMT 00:22 UK

In pictures: Ashura celebrations

Shi'a Muslims have been taking part in the religious ceremony of Ashura which commemorates the death of the Imam Hussein at the battle of Kerbala in 680 AD.
The event marked the divide in Islam between Shi'as and the majority Sunnis.
Ashura is the peak of ten days of mourning during the Islamic month of Moharram.
In some Shi'a strongholds, men flagellate themselves in rituals in which they share the suffering of the Imam.

A Lebanese Shi'a Muslim man slashes the head of a three-year old boy with a razor.

A Shi'a Muslim woman holds her child with a cut forehead d

Hezbollah militants in Beirut

The leaders of Hezbollah display their emotions during recitations about the Martyrdom of Hussein

Amal movement members

Lebanese Shi'a boys

Ashura in Afghanistan

Related to this story:
Shia Muslims day of mourning (06 May 98 | Despatches) Bangladesh Muslim festival ends (08 Jan 01 | South Asia) Muslim festival disrupted (05 Mar 01 | UK)

Internet links: Shi'a homepage | Ashura homepage |
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