Spilling blood for their religion: Tiny Shi'ite Muslim boys whip themselves with sharp blades to mourn the death of Prophet Muhammad's grandson

Shi'ite Muslims all over the world have been beating themselves with sharp blades, covering their bodies in mud and lighting bonfires in the streets to mourn the death of the Prophet Muhammad's grandson today.

Photographs from Delhi, India, showed shockingly young boys lashing their own backs with small knives and chains. 

Thousands of men performed the same brutal practice in Lebanon, Bangladesh, Iraq, Pakistan and Myanmar and even Athens, Greece.

The bloody rituals were part of the holy Day of Ashura, when Shi'ite Muslims remember the death of Imam Hussein at the Battle of Karbala in 680 AD.

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Shi'ite Muslims all over the world, including in India (pictured), self-flagellate to mourn the death of Imam Hussain

Photographs from Delhi, India, showed shockingly young boys lashing their own backs with small knives and chains to mark the holy Muslim Day of Ashura

Shi'ite men and young boys in Lebanon, Greece and Bangladesh (pictured) perform the same brutal practice today

Men in Lebanon are drenched in their own blood after beating themselves with sharp blades to commemorate the Day of Ashura

Men in Athens, Greece (pictured), lash their own backs with sharpened knives and chains to mourn Imam Hussein who died in the Battle of Karbala in 680 AD

Pakistani Shiite Muslim boy is silhouetted against the sky as he flagellates himself with chains and blades in Karachi, Pakistan

Shia Muslim devotees self-flagellate during Ashura, outside Mogul mosque in Yangon, Myanmar

Blood drips from the head of a young Shi'ite Muslim in Myanmar - one of thousands to self-flagellate on the holy Day of Ashura today

Some Muslim clerics have criticised the holy day because they believe it gives a negative image of their religion

A Shi'ite Muslim flagellates himself during a Muharram procession to mark Ashura in Bengaluru, India






(Source: dailymail.co.uk)