A man offers prayers during a sermon session on Ashura, mourning the death of Husain in the war of Karbala seven centuries earlier.
In Pakistan, the Shia community makes up around 20 percent of the population. They engage in a variety of mourning rituals during the Ashura period, including self-flagellation. This time is observed to mourn the death of Husayn ibn Ali, the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad. The 40-day period lasts until the end of the mourning period known as Chehlum or Arbayn.
Lahore, Pakistan, 2006