(Daily Signal)—Hundreds of Iranian mothers lifted their babies above their heads in a symbolic act of sacrifice during the annual Hosseini Infants Ceremony in Tehran on Friday.
The ceremony, with similar celebrations held across Iran on June 27, takes place on the first Friday of the Islamic month of Muharram and commemorates the death of Shia Islam leader Husayn ibn Ali’s 6-month-old son in 680 A.D.
The large crowd of women holding their babies chanted “death to America” and “death to Israel” during the event, according to CNN’s Frederik Pleitgen, who reported from the gathering in Tehran.
Israel and America “need to know that Imam Hussain is our everything, and we should sacrifice our lives for Imam Hussain,” a mother holding her baby told CNN.
Husayn ibn Ali, often referred to as Imam Hussain, was the grandson of Islam’s Prophet Muhammad. During the Battle of Karbala in 680 A.D., it is said Husayn ibn Ali and his fellow fighters were cut off from the Euphrates River—their only water source. Husayn ibn Ali held up his infant son to the enemy in a plea for water for his child, but the enemy is said to have killed the child instead.
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