Fascinating, Eye-Popping Cultural Diversity By James Reed
Being an ignorant person, I did not know about the following cultural practice, but I wonder how long one could practice it, if one has only two eyes to pop?
“A festival started in India today that was marked by devoted Muslims poking out their eyeballs with knives.
The Urs festival is held every year in Ajmer, a city in India’s Rajasthan state.
It is a memorial to the death of Sufi saint Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti, who established the Chishtiya Sufi order in the country around 800 years ago.
The festival will last for another five days, and features devotees performing stunts such as making their eyeballs bulge while flags are raised.
Unlike other branches of Islam, Sufis devote themselves to particular saints.
It is a concept other strands of Islam do not always recognise.
It traces its principles from the prophet Muhammad through his cousin and son-in-law Ali ibn Abi Talib.
Sufis believe they are practising ihsan, the perfection of worship, as revealed by Angel Gabriel to Muhammad.
Sufi Muslims consider themselves as the original advocates of a true, pure and original form of Islam.”
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