Muslims Slashing Babies’ Heads With Knives As Part of Annual Islamic Ritual

Muslims have been slashing the foreheads of infants and children this week as part of an annual Islamic ritual that seeks to commemorate the death of the grandson of Mohammed.

Online photos that capture images of terrified children and babies provide a glimpse into Muslim traditions surrounding the Day of Ashura, which marks the death of Husyn ibn Ali approximately 1,300 years ago. He was the son of Fatimah, Mohammed’s daughter, and was beheaded during the Battle of Karbala in 680 A.D.

To remember his death, many  Shi’a Muslims observe the Day of Ashura each year, generally in October or November. In countries such as Iran, Iraq, Turkey and Pakistan, the observance is considered a national holiday, which to some also is a time when Muslims seeks to shed blood as a means to obtain forgiveness for sins.

In addition to cutting a gash in the forehead of children and babies, some children and adults voluntarily slash their bodies with knives or flagellate themselves with whips in order to reinact the death of Ali. One saying claims, “A single tear shed for Husayn washes away a hundred sins.” Participants are seen in some cities walking the streets with blood staining their clothing and dripping from their head, chest and back.

On Monday, Muslims in Kabul, Afghanistan gathered for a public Muharram ceremony, during which scores of observers whipped their backs with chains until they bled. The controversial practice has been discouraged in some countries, where Muslims are advised to rather donate blood rather than engage in self-flagellation activities.

The Associated Press reports that some fathers take a razor blade to their son’s forehead as a part of the Day of Ashura, despite their objections and screams.

“We’ve been doing this since we were kids. I started when I was three,” Mahmoud Jaber, 43, who brought his seven children for the observance, told the outlet. “It doesn’t hurt because the cry of pain goes away with the faith.”

Hajj Khodor said that he has cut children as young as one year old for the ritual, and has slashed the heads of those as old as 100.

“The child doesn’t understand what’s going on,” he stated. “The parents are faithful and believe by doing this, their children will be protected and will enjoy a long life.”

The site Alwababa also provides photographic images of the various ways that Muslims observe the Day of Ashura around the world, including walking on hot coals, covering their bodies in mud or dressing their infants to look like the slain Ali. Some women additionally participate in a march of mourning, chaining their wrists together like a prisoner.

The Day of Ashura began on Tuesday of this week, and although the blood-letting rituals were not a part of American observances this year, mosques are commemorating the holiday with special meals or public processions. Some consider the day to also mark when the Jews were freed from their slavery in Egypt.

Those opposed to the baby-slashing rituals of the Muslim holiday view it as child abuse.

Jordan Executes Two Islamic Terrorists After Barbaric ISIS Group Burns Jordanian Pilot Alive

Jordanian officials have reportedly executed two Islamic terrorists after the barbaric group ISIS, which also identifies itself as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, released video on Tuesday of a captured Jordanian pilot being locked in a cage and burned alive.

Sajida al-Rishawi, a female would-be suicide bomber, and Ziyad Karboli, a former top aide to a now deceased Al Qaeda leader, were both put to death shortly before dawn on Wednesday. Both are from Iraq.

Japanese journalist Kenji Goto—who was beheaded over the weekend—was featured in a video last week holding a photograph of Jordanian First Lt. Moaz al-Kassasbeh, and warning that ISIS would kill both of them if al-Rishawi was not released. Jordanian officials had retorted that if anything happened to al-Kassasbeh, they would execute the terrorists responsible for his death.

On Tuesday, ISIS released video and photographs that purportedly showed the pilot locked in a metal cage while surrounded by jihadist fighters. As with other captives, al-Kassasbeh was dressed in an orange jumpsuit, but his clothing was wet with what was believed to be gasoline or some other kind of accelerant. There was also trail of powder leading from outside the cage to the pilot.

ISIS member Emir Ahmed is then seen bending down to light the fire with a torch, and al-Kassasbeh screams in terror before falling to his knees. Moments later, he is engulfed in flames as he dies. Another ISIS member driving a tractor then dumps rocks and sand onto the cage to extinguish the fire.

The 22-minute video was entitled “Healing the Believers’ Chests” and is in the process of being authenticated. The beginning of the video shows footage of King Abdullah of Jordan meeting with Barack Obama, vowing to join the fight against the Islamic State.

But in an ironic twist, Jordanian officials announced after the release of the footage that al-Kassasbeh had been executed by ISIS a month ago—on Jan. 3, and so the video released by the terrorist group last week offering an exchange of prisoners was all a deceitful charade as the Jordanian pilot was already dead.

al-Kassasbeh’s father told reporters following word of the executions of the Islamic terrorists that the deaths of two prisoners is not enough to avenge his son.

“I demand the revenge be greater than executing prisoners,” he said. “I demand the ISIS organisation be annihilated.”

Jordan’s King Abdullah had been visiting the United States when the video was released, and has since returned to his country.

“[The murder of al-Kassasbeh] is just one more indication of the viciousness and barbarity of this organization,” Barack Obama said to the press during a meeting with Abdullah on Tuesday. “It, I think, will redouble the vigilance and determination on the part of a global coalition to make sure that they are degraded and ultimately defeated. It also just indicates the degree to which whatever ideology they’re operating off of, it’s bankrupt.”

Both Obama and Abdullah have stated that they do not believe that ISIS is representative of the Islamic religion.