Shia phobia
Abbas Khadim writes:
“The demonisation of the Arab Shia wherever they live in the Arab world is not new. In modern times, this practice began by the ideologues of Arab nationalism who revised history and created a scapegoat for the failing of their ideology, having been supported by intolerant religious leaders. The symptoms of this folly then moved fast to the mostly semi-illiterate part of the Arab masses and finally found its way to the corridors of politics. The Shia were said to be responsible for the killing of the third caliph, Othman, the wars against the fourth caliph, Ali, the killing of Imam Hussein, the fall of the Umayyad state and the fall of Baghdad in the hands of the Mongols. Hence, Shiism came to be considered, as Ahmed Amin put it in his book Fajr Al-Islam, “a refuge for anyone who wanted to destroy Islam”.
In the current times, this practice is on the rise. The most recent accusation by Egypt’s President Hosni Mubarak that the Shia “are mostly always loyal to Iran and not to the countries where they live” were preceded by statement of King Abdullah of Jordan alleging the rise of a “Shia Crescent” threatening the region as he perceived it. While the allegation of the Jordanian king was a novelty so absurd that even he did not stand by it, President Mubarak’s statement is more deep-rooted in the minds of many people who suffer from the Shia scare.”
abandoning Palestine and Muslims.
“In what country will a huge peace coalition hold an anti-war rally have nothing to say about Iran, Israel and Palestine or Afghanistan? Is the answer Israel? Turkey? Micronesia? Sadly it’s the USA.
Unstated in the UFPJ rally call is a rush to the Democrats. After grassroots activists pushed the UFPJ and ANSWER coalitions into having one successful giant demonstration on September 24, 2005, UFPJ passed a resolution to never work with ANSWER again! Instead it found new allies with liberal environmental groups, feminists and Jesse Jackson’t PUSH. Jesse Jackson, father confessor to war criminal Clinton, is going to teach us morality. Grand. Dump all the bleeding hearts who sympathize with the Arabs and Muslims and the Dems will pick up votes in the heartland.”
see also Salma Yaqoob on Common Ground from Cairo to Caracas
Soumaya Ganoushi onThe Birth of a Global Civil Society
and…is the antiwar movement anti-Palestinian? (audio)
honor crimes
“Since the US bombing of Afghanistan in 2001, the Bush Administration has resurrected the hackneyed colonial notion that Western intervention is intended to “save” Muslim women from their oppressive societies. Few Muslim women believe this (the line is really intended for people in the US). Women in Muslim countries know that their work against “honor crimes” — and for women’s rights generally — has always been undermined by European colonialism and, more recently, by US intervention. That’s because foreign rulers prefer to see conservative, repressive local leaders for whom “honor crimes” are a facet of the status quo that maintains their power. These people have proven to be reliable junior partners in the project of controlling colonized and occupied peoples.
At the same time, we need to recognize that in the US, any discussion of “honor crimes” occurs in a climate of extreme hostility towards Muslim countries; often these discussions are little more than racist diatribes. That’s why strategies against “honor crimes” need to also combat anti-Arab racism and recognize the ways that sexism and racism have been conscripted into the US “war on terror.” Perhaps most importantly, combating “honor crimes” requires listening to and supporting the leadership of women in Muslim countries — women who are struggling for rights within their countries and for their countries’ right to freedom from US intervention.”
the religion of love
The term walayah has been used frequently, and we know that Shi’ism is a religion of walayah. …The contexts in which it appears and the Persian term used most frequently to translate it (dusti) as well as the Arabic terms that sometimes are paired with it and sometimes are substituted for it (hibb, mahabbat, muwaddat) all enable us to grasp at once its basic meaning: The religion of wlayah is the religion of spiritual love.
(Imams and Imamate by Henry Corbin, Shi’ism Doctrines, Thought, and Spirituality edited by Seyyed Hossein Nasr).
this world
The Prophet (peace and blessing upon him and his family) said, “A place in The Garden, as small as a bow, is better than all that on which the sun rises and sets . ”
