Alpha Inventions .com, originally uploaded by firoze shakir photographerno1.

My referrals from Alpha Inventions have gone up to 12%..overtaking Yahoo , Google , and other search engines.
Thanks to Cheru Jackson the whiz kid..he single handedly has revolutionized the concept of blog trafficking ..free enlistment but there is a paid service that keeps your blog 100 times [...]

Photographerno1.com, originally uploaded by firoze shakir photographerno1.

I began blogging earnestly since August 2005 , my earliest tryst with blogging began at Buzznet, Fotothing and Blogspot. Webshots.
Due to unavoidable reasons , I deleted my Buzznet accounts , I had two, photographerno1 and commentatorno1.
I deleted my old blogspot account.
So Webshots and Fotothing are my two oldest surviving [...]

Our House Majlis Finale, originally uploaded by firoze shakir photographerno1.

Our house being not large enough, we took the premises of our Shia neighbors, the ladies sat at my house and at the house of my dear friend Abbas Dodhiya, the gents sat at Tehseen Mukadams house.
A lot of folks we invited did not turn up, [...]

Fatiah for the Soul of my Parents, originally uploaded by firoze shakir photographerno1.

Maulana Hasnain Karari asking the members in the crowd to recite a fatiah for my parents late Mohomed Shakir ibn Bashir Hussain and Late Shamim Shakir binte Syed Ali Abidi..

Bibi Zainab The Indomitable Spirit of Islam, originally uploaded by firoze shakir photographerno1.

Maulana Hasnain Karari reciting the masaib.
The masaib is the finale of a majlis where the Maulana speaks about the events of Karbala and the tragedy of the Martyrdom of Imam Hussain..
It is the masaib that is considered the soul in a flesh of [...]

My House Majlis, originally uploaded by firoze shakir photographerno1.

Today was my house majlis, the gents were accommodated at Tehseen Mukadams house, the ladies at my house and my friend Abbas Dodhiyas house.
Before the majlis Alireza Ladiwala recited Ghabrayegi Zainab and after the majlis he recited a matam…
Maulana Hasnain Karari recited the majlis.
There was lunch served [...]

My House Majlis, originally uploaded by firoze shakir photographerno1.

Today was my house majlis, the gents were accommodated at Tehseen Mukadams house, the ladies at my house and my friend Abbas Dodhiyas house.
Before the majlis Alireza Ladiwala recited Ghabrayegi Zainab and after the majlis he recited a matam…
There was lunch served as Niyaz e Hussain,

Bandra East Juloos 2009 Finale, originally uploaded by firoze shakir photographerno1.

With this post I end a 438 picture segment of Bandra East Juloos 2009 at Flickr.
I posted all this as a tribute to one of the organizers Sartaj Bhai who died recently , he was a very kind man, sat at the Zainabia Imambada , [...]

Hussain the Saviour of Islam, originally uploaded by firoze shakir photographerno1.

ankhon ke behte pani ko
yazid rok na paya
hamare sar pe
hai
mazloom hussain ka saya
insaniyat ke sat sat
hussain ne islam ko bachaya
ek nayi disha
ek naya rasta dihkaya
jab bhi naam liya
toh abbas alamdar ka
jhanda lehraya
kata hue hathon par
dariya ki maujon ko behlaya

The Deadly Dangerous Hockey Blades, originally uploaded by firoze shakir photographerno1.

Among the custom made flagellating blades that the Shias use in Mumbai, the most deadly dangerous is the hockey shaped blades ..
I have never scourged with this..
Habib Nassar Baqar Nassar Jalal Mamu Ali Shah use this mercilessly..

These are quite expensive too made by a guy [...]

You Get Upset-Because We Bleed?, originally uploaded by firoze shakir photographerno1.

1400 years
we screamed
we shouted
against terrorism
the father of terrorism
accursed yazid
than came
9/11
26/11
but the world paid no heed
suicide bombers
killing of innocent people
eunuch silent
as we plead
karbala the beginning
of terrorism
the evil deeds
sadly
you get upset
because we bleed
you call us heretics
but pardon
the terrorists
glorified martyrdom of a
serpent seed
followers of accursed yazid
a khalnayak [...]

Lanat on the Killers of Imam Hussain, originally uploaded by firoze shakir photographerno1.

this is not a drama or a skit
cutting the head
is a question of faith
beyond fear guts or grit
with the dagger
the spirituality of your scalp
you hit
as the blood flows
on the accursed body of yazid
you spit
shimr harmullah
ibn saad part
of a snake pit
no the shias
wont give [...]

Moharam is a Pain.. Where the bleeding does not stop, originally uploaded by firoze shakir photographerno1.

Moharam is a pain
where the bleeding does not stop
cotton swabs
an eternal
pain wont mop
on the sands of karbala
flow every drop
a harvest of pain
a bleeding crop

The Dagger Matam of Mumbai, originally uploaded by firoze shakir photographerno1.

This guy uses the dagger to cut his chest…deft strokes..this is seldom seen performed any where else…though instead of the dagger guys use razor blades, cut in half within their fingers ..and beat the chest with a chant of Ya Sakina Ya Abbas ..

Kama Zani The Art of Head Cutting, originally uploaded by firoze shakir photographerno1.

He cut his head and he did it quite fiercely , so the guys snatched the dagger from his hands..
The dagger is washed in water for the next applicant..
The head is washed with water …
This ritual of cutting of the head is known [...]