knife-whetting continues for mourners

LAHORE
Ignoring the flying fire particles, a large number of workers are busy in whetting different kinds of knives in a narrow street on the back of Masjid Wazir Khan and are working day and night to return the knives to their owners who have planned self-flagellation (Zanjeer Zani) on the 9th and 10th of Muharram (today and tomorrow).
Mochi Gate is one of the biggest markets for purchasing Zanjeers (Chains) used for self-flagellation. With the start of Muharram, besides regular shops, a large number of temporary stalls have also been established along the roads encircling Wazir Khan Mosque. Zanjeers are available from Rs 300 to Rs 10,000 (price depends on size, quality of blade and shape).
The length and weight of the blades vary and different types of chains are available in the market. There are four main types of Zanjeers which are called Tokka, Talwar, Mirch and simple knife and everybody has his personal preference to use any type of chain for self-flagellation.
Some three years back, Shabir Hussain, one of the workers who was busy in his work while wearing a dark glasses, lost his right eye due to a flying spark, said he wait for this day every year. “Not only because I earn a lot from my work in these two days, I feel satisfied that I have performed a religious duty,” he added.
Self-flagellation (Zanjeer Zani) is one of the most important features of Muharram and hundreds of thousands of mourners with no age limit perform the ritual every year to express sorrow and grief and recall the incident of Karbala. The main event of the Zanjeer Zani will take place in the Walled City on the 10th of Muharram but individuals and groups will perform this ritual at different Imambargahs of the city including Krishan Nagar, Iqbal Town, Bibi Pakdaman, Thokar Niaz Beig, Washing Line, Mohni Road, Abott Road, Model Town, Shadman, Defence, Cantt, Township, Mughalpura and other places of the city.
On the 10th of Muharram, Zanjeer Zani will

start at Azan-e-Fajar (morning prayer’s call) and continue till sunset. Mourners started gathering at the Walled City, especially near and around the Nisar Haveli and other imambargahs, with their curvy and straight, big and small sharp knives on the night of the 9th Muharram so that they can take part in the self-flagellation.
Majority of mourners, who are into the practice of penance in the past, strongly believe that there is no side-effect or harm in using old knives for the ritual, but the health experts believe that old knives may harm the users and can infect diseases to each other.
Majority of mourners, while talking with The News, claim that they have never sterilised their knives even once. “These unsterilied knives cannot put any harm on my body and this is my strong belief,” said Khurram Raza, a resident of Faisal Town. He said he has been practising self-flagellation since childhood and every time he performs the act and feels his religious spirits going higher.
“This is one of the greatest miracles on earth that wounds caused by self-flagellation are healed without any treatment and medicine,” said Murtaza, a resident of Thokar Niaz Beig. He said he and his brothers have been doing Zanjeer Zani for the past several years and they do not use any medicines to heal the wounds. “No mourner uses any medicine for wounds and we just rub simple mustard oil on the wounds and they heal,” he added.
However, a good number of mourners are of the view that knives should be sterilised properly or at least should be washed with warm water as soon as possible after the use. They added that knives should be whetted on a grinding wheel and the small/microscopic filings should be cleaned with a whetstone. They also ask other mourners to stop sharing their Zanjeers with anyone else.
Shabir Hussain, a worker, said that in old days people used a Vatee for whetting knives, a circular file which makes the edges sharper. He said using a Vatee was a traditional way to remove rust from the knives and blades and it also removed the small particles of metal torn from the main body of the blade which keep clinging to it due to small magnetic fields created while grinding. He said the particles if get lodged in the cuts could cause itchy scars while clean blades never cause any itch.