Baby Martyrdom Culture among Shiites in Iran and Lebanon

The following are excerpts of reports on Ashuraa ceremonies in Iran and Lebanon, which aired on Al-Manar TV (Lebanon) on December 11, 2010.
 

Speaker: Tens of thousands of mothers in the Islamic Republic of Iran marked what is known as “the Day of the Infant Abdallah,” after the youngest martyr of Karbala. The ceremonies, which were held in over 1,000 Iranian towns and villages, reenacted the killing of Abdallah, the son of Imam Hussein, while in the hands of his father in the desert.
 

Mother #1: Imam Hussein took his children to Karbala, and they were martyred there. We have come here today to commemorate them.
 

Mother #2: We will complete the path of Jihad. We hope that our children will continue along the path of Imam Hussein.
 

Speaker: Children of all ages in their mothers’ arms, participated in these grand ceremonies. There were mourning sessions and Ashura ceremonies. A model of the cot of the martyred child of Imam Hussein was passed around by the participants in memory of the childhood slaughtered at Karbala.
 

Mother #3: The infant was killed unjustly. He is a symbol of the childhood that is killed on a daily basis, by the Front of Falsehood.
 

Speaker: These ceremonies were held simultaneously in thirty cities worldwide, under the heading “International Infant Day.” It is a day of identification with the Muslim children who are killed by the occupation in Palestine, in Iraq, and in Afghanistan, and a day of solidarity with the blood that is being shed unjustly.
 

[…]
 

In green shrouds and red headbands, the infant children were brought by their mothers in order to console Hussein, son of Ali, for the death of his six-month-old son, who was martyred by the arrow of injustice, which slaughtered him, piercing (his throat) from one vein to the other, on the day of blood, while he was in his father’s lap.
 

Mother #4: We have to come to console Imam Hussein, our Prophet Muhammad, and our lady, Sayyida Fatima, after whom my daughter and I are named.
 

Mother #5: We have come here today in order to say to Imam Hussein: We will all make sacrifices for you. We will sacrifice our children for you, Imam Hussein.
 

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