Why do extremist muslim communities torture each other?

Question

I saw a video of a parade of Afgani Shiite Muslims who walking down the street in the thousands hitting each other over the head with razor sharp swords until they starting bleeding profusely.

There were even some mothers doing the same to their infants (some babies even died of blood loss and the mothers did not seem to care). Is this a cultural abberation or is there something in the Quran that might be misinterpreted to encourage this?

Note: I'm not going to show the video because it is too glory. You can check it out on Liveleak.com

Answer 1

Peace be with you,

This has NOTHING to do with Muhammed (peace be upon him)/ Muhammed brought us back to the ways of Abraham (peace be upon him).

Those are the Shiites and they do this on the Day of Ashura.

"For Shi'a Muslims, it commemorates the martyrdom of Husayn ibn Ali, the grandson of Muhammad at the Battle of Karbala in the year 61 AH (AD 680), and is a day for mourning.

Muslims believe that Moses fasted on that day to express gratitude to God for liberation of Israelites from Egypt. According to the Muslim tradition, Muhammad fasted on this day and asked other people to fast."

Answer 2

Yes,They do this by the numbers,1--2--3--4-
Their belief,they have to do it for Muhammed.

Answer 3

Some habits are not easy to change.Some thing learned more than 1400 years ago can not be changed.