Real Tashayyu blog had another interesting post on the Muharram Rituals of the Early Shias. I am reproducing the English translation of the quote (all rights reserved to the to the blog)

Rather, (any) reporter (historian) did not mention that anyone from the Shia public performed it (violent Muharram rituals such as tatbir) or that one of their scholars permitted it, in the era in which all the kings of the Islamic countries were Shia. That is the period in which al Buhaivi (founder of the Buyid regime) was the king of Persia and Iraq, and other countries were ruled by his family/progeny. And the Abbasid caliphs did not share the rule with them except by name (as figureheads). Syrian region and the Island was ruled by Bani Hamdan and the rulers of Egypt, Africa and the Maghreb were the Fatimids. And in their age there were great Shia scholars such as Shaikh Mufid, Sharif al Murtada and Syed al Radhi (ra), on top of that the extremism of the Buyids in propagating the establishment of Muharram's mourning ceremonies/rituals to the extent that on Ashura the markets of Baghdad would be closed and Muharram mourning ceremonies/rituals took place on the roads, despite this no one reports that anything such as injuring the heads with swords and its like took place in that period. (In the Risalah al Tanzih by Syed Muhsin al Amin)

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