Blood Feud

From Blood Feud:

The Shia holiday of Ashura, which celebrates the martyrdom of the Imam Hussein at Karbala in 680 CE, generates an endless supply of gruesome images: thousands of enraged young men slicing their foreheads with swords, beating themselves with chains, and screaming their allegiance to Allah in the streets of Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Pakistan, and across the Muslim world - scenes that perfectly encapsulate Western fears of militant Islam. While you won't see
any self-flagellation at Hizbullah's Ashura ceremonies, the movement has appropriated the ancient rite for its own political ends, and it is actually promoting a more dangerous form of violence. In the southern suburbs of Beirut, Hizbullah supporters marched and chanted "Death to America!" and "Death to Israel!" and adorned the streets with revolutionary quotes from Ayatollah Khomeini.

Never Too Young to Bleed

From FrontPage via FactsOfIsrael.com:

This week many Muslims around the world celebrated the holiday of Ashoura. I have found a page, Ashoura in Lebanon, that explains what this barbaric ritual is all about:

The observance of Ashoura is one of the most important events in the Shia calender. Ashoura marks the anniversary of the martyrdom of Husayn, grandson of the Prophet Mohammad, in what is now Kerbala, Iraq. The death of Husayn was the beginning of the Sunni/Shia split, which persists in Islam to this day.

In the past, many Shia men have demonstrated their devotion to Husayn by letting their blood flow freely from self-inflicted wounds. Today, however, many governments have tried to ban this practice, with varying degrees of success. In Lebanon, the practice is permitted, and a bloody commemoration of Ashoura takes place in Nabatieh every year.

Most participants make a small cut on their head, and then beat the wound with their palm--or in this case a sword--to keep the wound open and bleeding. Participants then march in groups around the town, yelling chants to express their devotion to Husayn and the Prophet.

The article above fails to mention that participants also call for the death of Jews, America and Israel. In my opinion, there's a direct link between this culture of blood and death, and the hate and terrorism executed by certain Muslims around the world.