Kamangir (Archer)

An Iranian looking at Iran as a foreigner…

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Picture of the Day: Religion of “Peace”

By Kamangir • Jan 19th, 2008 • Category: Children, Human Rights, Islam, Picture of the Day

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A Lebanese Shi’ite Muslim prepares to cut a four-month-old baby’s head with a razor during the Ashura ceremony held in Nabatiyeh town in south Lebanon January 19, 2008 - Reuters

7 Responses »

  1. Holy cow!@ are you serious?? cutting for what? My Goodness, is this for real? does this have any root in Islam?

    Kamangir: It is practiced by some Shia’s.

  2. I assume it has some deeply held religious connotation. It still sound like a gruesome practice, though I also find the practice of child circumcision gruesome.

  3. Kamangir, but is its significance? specially on a child

  4. *cringes*

    #2: Ashura is, for the Shia, a day of mourning for the martyrdom of Hussein ibn Ali at Karbala. In connection with this, some Shiites flail themselves, beating themselves until blood flows. Some pictures of Ashura from southern Iraq are rather horrifying.

    I wasn’t aware that anyone cut open the heads of children every year, starting at such young ages, though. This is child abuse, plain and simple.

  5. this is called “ghale zanee” and for your information, Ayatollah Khomeini passed a verdict declaring it “haram”, meaning forbidden.

  6. Well, it’s often very difficult to judge when out of a sudden you jump into conclusion regarding ANY culture or religion. Many behaviours rooted deep in different cultures are now considered absurd and even crime. With regard to “ghame zani”, Almost all Shia’s leaders have forbidden it yet practised. This unfortunately has roots in a blind culture which is very difficult to change. To change everything, first we must understand it and I can see how hard this is to understand. I hope someone from their own culture would be wise enough to educate these people as unfortunately it’d be a difficult task for anyone outside the culture to advise them.

  7. So sorry! Some of Shia claim that they are not real Shia and it is forbidden in Shiism, but they do nothing to stop it.

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