Iraqi Shi'ite Muslims crawl on their hands and knees as part of procession to the holy shrine of Iman Hussein in Kerbala, yesterday. Marking one of the most important events of their year, some men slashed their heads with knives and left bloody wounds in a ritual display of readiness to die for Imam Hussein, grandson of the Prophet Mohammed. The imam was killed in Kerbala in 680 AD. - Reuters KERBALA, Iraq, (Reuters):
DRUMMING THEIR chests and whipping their backs, hundreds of thousands of Iraqi Shi'ite Muslims swarmed through the holy city of Kerbala yesterday on a pilgrimage suppressed for decades by Saddam Hussein.
Marking one of the most important events of their year, some men slashed their heads with knives and left bloody wounds in a ritual display of readiness to die for Imam Hussein, grandson of the Prophet Mohammad. The Imam was killed in Kerbala in 680 AD.
ANTI-AMERICAN SLOGANS
Also flexing their political muscle for the first time in years, some pilgrims chanted anti-American slogans on their way to pray at Imam Hussein's gold-domed shrine, echoing a second day of anti-US protests by Shi'ites in Baghdad.
"Yes, yes to Islam, no to America, no to Israel, no to colonialism and no to occupation," chanted men marching in Kerbala behind a portrait of Mohammed Sadeq al-Sadr, a Shi'ite cleric killed with his two sons in 1999.
A protester in Baghdad, Ahmed Abdel-Zahra, said: "We are against colonisation and occupation, we have finished with one oppressive regime and we don't want another."
US helicopters flew over Kerbala but troops kept their distance on the outskirts, hoping to avoid any friction.
"Our intention right now is to stay out of the way," Major Michael Purcell, operations officer of the US Marine 1st Tank Battalion, said at a command post near Kerbala. The Marines had received no reports of any disturbances during the pilgrimage.
Shi'ite leaders say more than a million people may flock to Kerbala, 110 km (70 miles) south of Baghdad, for the climax of the pilgrimage, Arbaiin, commemorating the 40th day after the death of Imam Hussein.
Shi'ites make up 60 per cent of Iraq's population of 26 million people but were suppressed by Saddam, whose Sunni Muslim community forms the majority in the rest of the Arab world. They are keen now to have a slice of power in postwar Iraq.
Traffic ground to a halt as the pilgrims, many with chests, heads and faces bloodied, made their way through intense heat past crates of live chickens and hillocks of tomatoes. The chest-thumping ritual scared off flocks of pigeons.
Men who had slashed their heads wore bandages splattered with blood after they repeatedly beat their wounds. Many limped and grimaced with pain after walking to Kerbala and doctors in makeshift clinics lanced blisters on the pilgrims' feet.
One man who had no hands beat himself with the stumps of his arms. About 10 were so exhausted they were carried to the shrine sitting on a horse-drawn cart, weakly slapping their chests.
Mohammed Jabal, a 55-year-old former soldier, hobbled more than 100 km (60 miles) to reach Kerbala even though his foot was blown off by a mine in the Iraq-Iraq war in the 1980s.
"This is the first time here for me. It is as if I am waking from a nightmare," said Jabal, leaning on a thin walking stick and wiping sweat from his face as he rested.
Some men waved black flags for mourning, others the green flag of Islam. Black-robed women sat by the road beating their chests. Many had walked barefoot to Kerbala.
Street hawkers laboured through the roads, shoving carts loaded down with crates of soft drinks as other men stood watching, chewing bread, smoking or thumbing worry beads. Children threw rose water at people to keep them cool.
Many men entered the shrine of Imam Hussein. Some fell to their hands and knees, while others shuffled along, muttering prayers. Many sobbed, holding their heads in their hands.
