Meanwhile, in Pakistan, Another Mosque Blows Up

" Bombs rips through Pakistan mosque"
CNN (June 16, 2008)

It's a Shiite mosque, so the odds are that some Sunnis are going to be killed now. Four people died in this attack, with five wounded.

The news is treating this as another incident in the Shiite-Sunni feud. And, pointing out that many Shiites and Sunnis don't kill each other on a regular basis. What I most appreciate, though, is the background this article gave: "The Sunni-Shiite schism originates in a dispute dating back to the seventh century over who was the true heir to Islam's Prophet Muhammad."

Think of it as a sort of spiritual turf war?

Given the way its more enthusiastic proponents have been acting for the last few decades, I don't think this is one of Islam's proudest periods.

Iraqi Shiites to Iran: 'Get Out of Our Country'

"Petition condemns Iran for "disorder" in S.Iraq"

This Reuters article lead paragraphs read:

"More than 300,000 Iraqis including 600 Shi'ite tribal leaders have signed a petition accusing Iran of sowing "disorder" in southern Iraq, a group of sheikhs involved in the campaign said.

"The sheikhs showed Reuters two thick bundles of notes which contained original signatures. The sheikhs said more than 300,000 people had signed the pages."

This is a genuinely big deal. Iran is Shiite (Shi'ite, in the Reuters article). The Iraqis signing the petition are Shiite. Apparently, Iran has been messing with Iraq so much that they've managed to alienate their fellow-Shiites.

One of the comments on this story makes, I think, a point that the writer may not have intended: "If this is such a solid story, why wasn't it given wider play when the MeK was last pushing it in June? Then, the number claimed were 450,000 signatures."

It's quite possible to argue that covering this apparently massive public outcry against Iran's meddling in the affairs of Iraq would require an admission that the U.S. military's claim that Iran has been meddling in the affairs of Iraq - and that this admission would be against the editorial policy of most traditional western news outlets.

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Shi'te? Shiite? As usual, I've selected one of the Roman alphabet versions of a word which comes from a language using another alphabet. I could write شيعة (sia or shia, more or less), but since the rest of these posts is in English, and since that's the only language I am truly fluent in, I'm sticking with "Shiite," for the most part.

It's Arabic, Is It Islamic?

Islam sometimes seems to be a wholly-owned subsidiary of the House of Saud. Saudi Arabia contains Mecca, the city all Muslims must visit at least once, if possible. And Saudi Arabia is one of the most prominently and proudly Islamic country in the world.

Islam is closely identified with the Arab world, and the Middle East.

That may be why it's so hard to sort out what's Islamic and what's Arabic, or Middle Eastern.

I think it's important to figure out where Islam ends and Middle Eastern cultural standards begin. It's easy to assume that

• Outfits like the Taliban and Al Qaeda, which claim to be defending Islam, represent typical Islamic beliefs
• Saudi Arabia represents the best and brightest that Islam has to offer, in terms of a government following Islamic beliefs

I sincerely hope that these assumptions are not true. Here's why:

• Not long ago, the local Taliban told a teenage boy in Afghanistan was told to stop teaching English after school. When he disobeyed them, the Taliban members dragged him into the street and executed him. Unpleasantly.
  • The Taliban have killed teachers and students before, for attending government-run schools. The Taliban think those schools are un-Islamic.
• Meanwhile, back in Saudi Arabia, a young woman was raped. She's going to be lashed 200 times, and do jail time.
• It took "six heavily-armed men" - maybe seven - to carry off the assault. They were sentenced to between one and five years.
• The young woman was sentenced to 90 lashes first, for being in a car with a man who isn't an immediate relative. The 200 lashes came after she talked to the press about what was being done to her.
• To be fair, the rapists' sentences were increased, too: Now they're supposed to serve two to nine years.
• Shiite Muslims aren't happy about this little matter. She's Shiite. The rapists are Sunni. Sunni Muslims run Saudi Arabia.

I hope that executing teenagers for teaching English and flogging rape victims is not part of Islamic belief. I want to believe that this sort of barbarity is a cultural quirk, not something supported by the five pillars of Islam.

I'll be back to this topic again.

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