Shi'a Pundit
Devoted to the viewpoint of Islam of Muhammad SAW and Amir ul-Mumineen, Ali ibn Abi Talib SA, in the Shi'a Fatimi Ismaili Dawoodi Bohra tradition.
Devoted to the viewpoint of Islam of Muhammad SAW and Amir ul-Mumineen, Ali ibn Abi Talib SA, in the Shi'a Fatimi Ismaili Dawoodi Bohra tradition.
RIYADH: Saudi authorities have detained a leading Ismaili activist after he complained to the king over alleged rights abuses against the Shiite minority, a fellow activist said yesterday. Security police detained Ahmed Turki Al-Saab in Riyadh on Tuesday, days after he and five other Ismaili Shiites from the southern province of Najran handed to King Abdullah a 300-page report over alleged abuses by its governor, seeking to have him removed, said Mohammed Al-Askar. “They (security services) did not say why he was arrested without being charged,” he told Reuters.
Saab played a key role in issuing the report, Askar said. Najran, bordering Yemen, is a centre of the Ismailis, a Shiite sect which has long complained of victimisation by the prevailing school of Sunni Islam followed by the Saudi state. It was the scene of violent clashes in 2000, when hundreds of Ismailis clashed with police over plans to dilute their presence with Sunnis.
The Ismailis have said they had successfully petitioned King Abdullah two years ago to halt settlement of up to 10,000 Yemeni tribesmen outside Najran city. The Ismailis sent a protest letter in January to Najran governor Prince Mishaal bin Saud, complaining of marginalisation and demanding an end to plans to settle another Yemeni tribe. The report that was presented to the king, which was signed by 77 Najran citizens, carried the same grievances.
Labels: Saudi
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A female suicide bomber attacked a group of Shiite worshippers near a mosque in Karbala on Monday, killing at least 32 people and wounding 51, officials said.
The worshippers were gathered about half a mile from the Imam Hussein shrine, one of the holiest sites for Shiites.
Karim Khazim, the city's chief health official, said the 32 killed included seven Iranians.
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So last month, an Iraqi Shia community center -- a Husseiniya -- in the suburbs held its own underground Ashura ceremony, in the basement late at night. The PG-rated portion of the evening -- during which scores of boys beat themselves with chains and slapped their chests pink -- ended around midnight. Once they left, a rump faction of the older men shut the doors -- like a British pub lockdown after-hours -- and waited until a few hours before dawn.
Then, after wolfing down tea and Turkish Delight, they passed out long knives, and donned tunics made from white bed sheets, all the better to show bloodstains. Cutting their scalps with straight razors, and hitting their heads to make the blood rush, they shouted "Haidar!" which means lion, and is one of the nicknames of Ali, the father of Hussein the martyr of Karbala. The Haidar ceremony continued for perhaps an hour, until the celebrants collapsed from exhaustion and emotion, many of them breaking into tears.
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Shi'a Pundit was launched in 2002 during the run-up to the invasion of Iraq. The blog focuses on issues pertaining to Shi'a Islam in the west and in the Islamic world. The author is a member of the Dawoodi Bohra Muslim community. Bohras adhere to the Shi'a Fatimi tradition of Islam, headed by the 52nd Dai al-Mutlaq, Syedna Mohammed Burhanuddin (TUS).
