What is the origin of the ritual of Ashura? (part 11)

The author maintain that the Qizilbash had copied the flagellation (done in remembrance of Imam Husayn (as) with a slight influence from the Sufis) from the Armenian Christians who used to revere Jesus (as) in the same manner.

The earliest record of Christianity points the start of the flagellation in Italy (year 1260 AD) lead by the Franciscans. According to the author, there were over a hundred fraternities in Italy between the thirteenth to sixteenth centuries that practiced flagellation. At least one of the fraternities had between 500-600 memberships.

Flagellation in reverence of Christ and as a form of sharing his sufferings constituted an important ritual in the religious life of these fraternities, and this activity was believed to procure the salvation of those who engaged in it

The author suggested two ways in which these ceremonies could have spread among the Muslims

• When the Ottomans started invading territories in the Mediterranean and Aegean Sea in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries.
• War captives or locals transmitted the ritual to eastern Anatolia or the Caucasus (through trade).