Some Shia clerics are now recommending believers to donate their blood instead of shedding it in a ritual to commemorate the Imam Hussein.
Emad al-Sharei is a trainee journalist with IWPR in Baghdad.
This article was published in the Iraqi Crisis Report, N° 55, 31 March 2004. Posted on Religioscope with permission. Articles published by the IWPR on Afghanistan, Central Asia, the Balkans, the Caucasus, Iraq as well as other topics can be accessed on its website: www.iwpr.net.
© 2004 IWPR
