Dana Smillie

themes: faith

A Shi'a pilgrim, bloody after cutting himself with a knife during the Ashura observances in Karbala, prays outside the Shrine of Imam Hussein. The rituals involving self-inflicted pain are a prominent feature of Ashura as pilgrims wish to emulate the pain felt by the martyred Imam Hussein, who was killed in battle in Karbala in 680AD.
Karbala, Iraq
A Shi'a pilgrim, bloody after cutting himself with a knife during the Ashura observances in Karbala, prays outside the Shrine of Imam Hussein. The rituals involving self-inflicted pain are a prominent feature of Ashura as pilgrims wish to emulate the pain felt by the martyred Imam Hussein, who was killed in battle in Karbala in 680AD.