BANGLADESHI SHI'ITES PARTICIPATE IN RITUAL SELF-FLAGELLATION TO HONOUR IMAM HUSSEIN, GRANDSON OF PROPHET MOHAMMAD, IN DHAKA. Bangladeshi Shi'ites participate in ritual self-flagellation in Dhaka, March 2, 2004. Shi'ites form a small number of the country's population of over 130 million people and perform the ritual to mourn the martyrdom of Imam Hussein, grandson of the Prophet Mohammad said to have lived approximately 1,300 years ago. REUTERS/Rafiqur Rahman.