Lebanese Shiites take part in a flagellation ritual for Ashura Lebanese Shiite Muslims take part in a self-flagellation procession, beating their backs with knives and metal chains, on the tenth day of the mourning period of Muharram, which marks the day of Ashura, in Lebanon's southern city of Nabatiyeh. The Ashura rituals commemorate the killing of Imam Hussein, the grandson of Prophet Mohammed, by armies of the Sunni caliph Yazid in 680. IMAGES