Why do some Shi’a Muslims flog themselves during the month of Muharram?

Muharram, the month during which the blood conquered the sword.

by Sr. Jennah Heydari  

The intention of this article is to give insight into a ritual practiced during the month of Muharram by some Shi'a Muslims. This article was written from the perspective of a Reverted Muslim. The purpose of this article was to respond to those new Muslims who were concerned about the graphic images they viewed on the Internet of self-flagellation.

As a reverted Muslim, to Shi’a Islam, I can tell you that I was shocked when first viewing the images that are, plastered all over Google images of Shi’a Muslims harming themselves through self-flagellation, during the month of Muharram. It really took me back and left me a little confused, as it does many who first come into Islam.

When slowly realizing I was a Shi’a Muslim, after reading article upon article on the battle of Karbala and the Ahlulbayt(as), I came to recognize that some Shi’a Muslim’s choose to mourn this moment in time physically. 

Why do they do this?

First I should point out, to those researching the topic, that the percentage of Shi’a Muslims who deliberately self-mutilate, is very small in comparison to the total number of Shi'a Muslims in the world. However, you wouldn’t know that by the amount of attention it receives globally. In fact when typing in Shi’a Muslim on the Internet, under images, you can be sure a huge majority of those images will be of Shi’a during Muharram and those who flog. 

As Shi’a Muslims we mourn this moment in time, the month of Muharram to commemorate the sacrifices made by Imam Hussain (as) and his companions.  It is a time when Shi’a Muslims gather together in homes/majlis/mosques to listen to lectures and stories of the days leading up to the massacre that took place not far from present-day Baghdad. Our leaders bring forth the message of eternal struggle against humiliation and oppression.  It is a great time of sorrow for Muslims worldwide.

I really understood the whole process of mourning over this incredibly tragic event and I saw it not much unlike ‘Remembrance Day the Sunday nearest to November 11 when those who died in World War I and World War II are commemorated, a day in which I still commemorate.  It is a time when we consider those who sacrificed their lives for our freedoms. As in Karbala, we commemorate this unbelievable sacrifice made by Imam Hussain (as) and his followers as they fought against a tyrant.  If we do not commemorate these events in history then we will forget and if we forget then history will only repeat. We must remember so that we can continue to empathize for those lives lost and to fight against future/present-day oppressors.

However, there are some who take this mourning to a whole other level. They choose to commemorate and lament by physically harming themselves. Some Muslims flog their bodies with an instrument called (zanjir) consisting of a bunch of steel chains held together with a handle. The blood spilled on the day of Ashura (the tenth day) was sickening and incredibly brutal, having victims sliced and dismembered.  In the West we tend to hide the gory images that are inevitable of war. The images we see in the News are taken from a distance, of big bombs and debris flying up into the sky. We don’t zoom in to what really happens. This tends to make us a little squeamish when it comes to the brutal images we find on the Net of the aftermath of the badly wounded civilians. As for example the sickening events now happening in the Gaza strip, may Allah(swt) ease their suffering.

Muharram was a brutal event that is captured via Artwork and through reenactments and by those who deliberately spill their own blood.  Those who harm themselves claim they do not do any real permanent damage. The head will always bleed profusely even with the smallest razor cut and so they seek to spill the blood to symbolize Ashura but they do not seek to permanently hurt themselves.  Although its practice remains to give a look of extremism which in turn can give a negative impression of Shi’a Muslims.  

The images most disturbing are those of a mother cutting the head of her own infant child. It's hard to imagine why one would do this, how does this infant child mourn when they are not able to even comprehend they are bleeding? To deliberately cut the foreheads of infants seems to be the choice of only a handful of ignorant people.  Scholars tell us that we cannot harm ourselves because it is harram but yet they do not, usually, openly say Shi’a Muslims should not commemorate Ashura in this way. Most scholars are fine with it provided it's not doing any permanent damage or resulting in ones death. 

Shi’a Muslims consist of many different ethnic groups and cultures around the world. Our cultures and traditions can sometimes play a part in how we take on our Islamic months, those of which we must acknowledge. The month of Muharaam is commemorated by some in what appears to be a physically harmful fashion but this small amount does not represent the greater amount of Muslims who choose to commemorate Muharram through tears and remembrance by listening to the frightening, history-making events retold by a Mulla.

The majority of Shi’a Muslims mourn this time by taking their hand and gently placing it over their chest in a repetitive motion, saying out loud ‘Ya Hussain, Ya Hussain’.  A room filled with hundreds of Muslims commemorating this moment, in this way, crying and allowing their feelings to pour to the surface is rather moving and spiritually awakening.

Ayatollah Sayyed Ali Khaminai has issued a statement that the practice of drawing blood by flogging during Muharram is not an Islamic principle (usool), but a practice without roots in the scriptures. There are also some Iranian and Pakistani religious leaders who have also agreed that the Shias should have no need to express their identity through self-flagellation. Instead, the devout Muslim should use the occasion of Muharram to donate his blood to help the sick in the name of Imam Hussain (as). Blood is a scarce good and should not be wasted.