No offense to anyone of the Muslim faith, but I think I will keep my Christian background even though my mouth does not always reflect it. I understand that this is a mourning ritual, but it also is not something I would do in my right mind. It is true, not all Muslims are the same, so I am not trying to be dogmatic here. Only Shia Muslims participate in something like this. Today the world’s 1.6 billion Muslims all agree that Allah is the only God and Muhammad his messenger. They follow five ritualistic pillars of Islam, including Ramadan, the month of fasting, and share a holy book, the Koran. But while Sunnis rely heavily on the practice of the Prophet and his teachings (the “sunna”), the Shia see their ayatollahs as reflections of God on earth. This has led Sunnis to accuse Shia of heresy, while Shia point out that Sunni dogmatism has led to extremist sects such as the puritanical Wahhabis. Most Shia sects place importance on the belief that the twelfth and final imam is hidden (called in occultation) and will reappear one day to fulfill divine will. Meanwhile, their sense of marginalisation and oppression has led to mourning ceremonies such as ashura, when followers flagellate themselves to commemorate Hussein’s death at Karbala. youtu.be/8tRVOwNZoLU
Posted on: Sat, 14 Jun 2014 11:49:18 +0000