Ashurah (pics below)

What an amazing experience Ashurah was for me.  Now Im not advocating what they do, nor do I really respect it, but still it was a sight to behold.  Cars were parked in every nook and cranny (pretty much people park wherever they feel like with the exception of the middle of intersections).  I had to park about a half mile away and trekked to where I thought the procession would be.  I asked another guy that was walking behind me, a Bahraini named Abdullah, where to go.  He said..let me walk you there…it will be my honor.  So we walked and talked a half mile’s worth.  He told me in detail the whole story of Ashurah.  The commemoration of the regret from the murder of the prophet Mohammed’s grand children. 

We wove our way through the thin streets (alleyways) of the souk.  It was very cool, it really felt like the middle east.  I was soaking in the culture.  Khalifa earlier had let me borrow his Palestinian scarf just so I would fit in a little better.  With a festival with as much religious fervency as this, westerners are generally a little wary to venture forth.  Not me.  I felt completely safe and at ease.  I think the people I interact with Muslims and non-muslims alike know I respect and care about them very deeply.  Plus I have the peace of Christ flowing through me and that acts as a type of magnet. 

The closer we got to the procession the more crowded the streets became.  There must have been at least 100,000 people crammed into the alleyways and the street.  The scene (which I’ll post pictures probably tomorrow) can best be described as a religious country fair.  There were camels, horses, marching bands, actors, musicians, banner wavers, men with ceremonial swords.  There had to be at least 10,000 participants in the procession.  It just went on and on and on.  The people lined the sidewalks to watch the procession as it went by.  It was scheduled to go til around 3 or 4 in the morning after starting at around 9.  I didn’t want to just sit and watch, I wanted to see as much as I could as quickly as I could.  So I kind of walked along with the procession.  This allowed me to see so many people.  There were people crammed into their apartments watching out the windows, sections cordoned off for the women, people found every corner to sit and watch.  It was very very dense.  The musicians would play an Arabic song, the leader would chant something, the men with the swords would chant back, raise their swords and spin, the men and young boys with the chains, (which looked like a cat of nine tails) would beat themselves on the left shoulder in sync with the beat.  If you didn’t have the chains, you just beat your fist on the shoulder.  This was primarily a ceremonial procession.  The real beatings that have lots of blood take place in the smaller villages.  Everyone was taking pictures with their camera phones and there were several news crews there.  This was a big event.  The most disturbing thing I saw was a man in a thobe, with his face completely covered with a white veil, was holding a doll (baby) with a dagger through the doll’s neck.  He was showing it to the crowd, like…look what we have done.  The doll was supposed to symbolize the innocence of the people that were killed and the senseless nature of it.  Then even more creepy than that…I saw a statue of a woman in an abaya, holding a baby with a sword through the baby’s neck.  Out of the neck proceeded a fountain spraying out for 20 feet what was supposed to be blood.  Like my boy spencer would say…”That was Cweepy.”  Now this was a festival, so it had all the makings of a county fair as well with food vendors, arts and crafts etc.  It was very very different.  Even though I obviously don’t condone or believe in the ways of Islam, it was still a spectacular sight to behold.  The fervency and passion of the people were quite remarkable.  Now…I normally don’t see that fervency and passion with Christians.  My dear new Texas friend explained that it is because they are doing salvation by works not by faith.  That is true, but the level of commitment these Muslims have with their faith is something that all Christians should try to emulate with their own personal walks with God.  Im a victim of this too…Amateur Christianity.  Where you go to church, don’t really break any of the 10 commandments, pay tithes…and you’re good to watch football on Sunday.  This was my life for so many years.  A lukewarm Christian that had a mountain top experience every 2-3 years got on fire for six months then cooled off.  That was my cycle so I’m well aware of that.  Now I feel like Im feeding off the passion and commitment that the Muslims have only Im doing it worshipping my Christ.  They pray 5 times a day at all hours of the day.  How cool that would be for me to be able to stop everything and do that to pray to my God. 

Don’t discount everything about the Muslims because there are a few extreme fanatics.  There are many things they can learn from us…as well as we can learn from them.