Self-flagellation is one of the rituals of the pilgrimage Posted on 04/22/2003 7:51:20 AM PDT by Mister Magoo
Religious fervour grips Iraq's Shia pilgrims
Self-flagellation is one of the rituals of the pilgrimage
Hundreds of thousands of Shia Muslims are thronging the streets of the central Iraqi city of Karbala for the climax of a religious pilgrimage that has been banned for a quarter of a century.
The Shia, who form the majority in Iraq, are using the occasion to celebrate both their faith and the end of Saddam Hussein's rule, correspondents say.
As many as 500,000 Shia have descended on the centre of Karbala, chanting as they pass the shrines sacred to their faith, while many more are filing down the main roads that lead to the city.
Some shouted anti-US slogans as they flocked to the centre, demanding the withdrawal of coalition forces from Iraq.
In Baghdad, thousands of people have been continuing an anti-American protest began on Monday as the new US administrator of Iraq, Jay Garner, spent his first day in the capital.
In other developments:
Chief UN weapons inspector Hans Blix goes before the Security Council on Tuesday for discussions on whether he and his team are ever to return to Iraq
US Brigadier General Vincent Brooks says US soldiers found some $600m in cash hidden behind a wall in a Baghdad building but that it was as yet unclear whether the money was real or counterfeit
US Central Command announces the capture of Muhammad Hazmaq al-Zubaidi - number 18 on the US list of most-wanted former Iraqi regime officials
US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld denies that America is hoping to establish a permanent military presence in the new Iraq
The US refuses to recognise Mohamed Mohsen al-Zubaidi as the new governor of Baghdad - Mr Zubaidi claims he was elected by a broad-based grouping
The pilgrims are in Karbala to visit the shrine of the Prophet Mohammed's grandson, Imam Hussein, to commemorate his death in the seventh century in a battle between Muslims over who should be the rightful successor to Mohammed.
ASHURA
Shia Muslims mourn Prophet Mohammed's grandson Imam Hussein Ashura marks 40th day after his martyrdom in battle at Karbala in 680 CE Imam Hussein's death at hands of rival Umayyad created split between Shia and Sunni Muslims Mourning includes self-flagellation and chest-beating Who are the Shia? Iraq's holy Shia cities
The event led to the sharp divisions within Islam which later developed into the split between Shia and Sunni Muslims.
Correspondents say some Washington officials are unsettled by the fact that what is moving to fill the vacuum created by the collapse of Saddam Hussein's regime appears so emphatically Islamic in character.
Many Shia clerics have taken on increasingly prominent roles, and have been urging their followers to take to the streets and demand the immediate withdrawal of coalition troops.
On Monday, protesters gathered outside the Palestine Hotel in Baghdad complaining that a Shia leader, Sheikh Muhammad al-Fartusi, and other clerics had been arrested by US forces.
Within hours of the protest, it was reported that the cleric had been released, although US military officials have never confirmed that he had been detained.
BBC News Online's Martin Asser, who watched the protests, says further disillusionment with the coalition could cause problems as US plans for post-Saddam Iraq would be near impossible if Shia co-operation was withdrawn.
Shia groups are already threatening to boycott a major civic meeting on Thursday being organised by Mr Garner.
But do they respect and fear us?
That's the main thing for me.
I've decided that I don't want any of this crowd to like us. If they like us, then something is terribly wrong and needs to be corrected.
Sorry, I meant a muslim that is not free.
I don't understand your replies. Shia Islam consists of less than 1 % of Islam just as do the fundamentalist in Islam. In almost every situation where there is violence associated with Islam, if you study the history the Muslims were attacked first, oppressed first by another's foreign policy or some tyrant put into power and their power maintained by a foreign power. That's in almost every situation. Muslims like Christians and Jews are far from being perfect, but are very undeserving of the media attack by the West. In Israel Palestinians were intruded upon by another people that claim “their” holy book said they are supposed to own someone else's land. Also, the intruders are European and have nothing to do with the region. In Iraq America's foreign policy supported and kept Saddam in power and now is attempting to do the same thing. In Saudi Arabia American and British foreign policy is keeping a criminal family in power. In Afghanistan America is there only to maintain the drug trade of the country's poppy crop.
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