Good article on Shi'ite holy sites in Iraq

[stillsmallvoice]

Hi all!

I saw this in today's Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (my hometown paper) & thought that our CF family might find it interesting:

Allied forces respecting Shiite Muslim
holy sites

Sacred locations in Karbala and Najaf

Monday, April 07, 2003

By Ann Rodgers-Melnick, Post-Gazette Staff Writer

Imagine that in early Christianity Paul had murdered Peter and that, to this
day, Christians who revered Peter were buried near him so he could plead
their case on Judgment Day.

That would be a rough analogy to the Shiite theology and passion concerning
the Shrine of Ali in Najaf, and the tomb of Ali's son Hussein in Karbala. Most
Shiites consider them the first and third of 12 successors of the Prophet
Muhammad, successors whose intercession assures their salvation.

That explains why coalition forces have been careful not to damage the Shrine
of Ali -- even when Iraqi snipers holed up there -- and have avoided battle in
Karbala. Damaging the tombs would unleash unparalleled grief and rage in the
Muslim world.

The world's 120 million Shiites account for 10 percent of the world's
Muslims. About 14 million of them live in Iraq, where they are the majority
ethnic group. The road to Baghdad runs past their holy cities of Najaf and
Karbala.

At Najaf, a spectacular gold-domed mosque enshrines the tomb of Ali ibn
Abi Talib, Muhammad's cousin, one of his first followers and the husband of
Muhammad's beloved daughter, Fatima. The word Shi'a is a contraction of
the Arabic for "the party of Ali." But all Muslims, not just Shiites, remember
Ali for chivalry in battle, scholarship -- he wrote the first Arabic grammar --
piety and generosity.

Shiites believe that Muhammad chose Ali to be his successor, or caliph. But
because Ali, then 30, was at the Prophet's deathbed, he was not present
when other leaders elected an older man as caliph.

Ali was finally elected as the fourth caliph in 656. One of Muhammad's
widows then joined a revolt against him, but Ali defeated it. Tribal and
sectarian troubles continued, however, and Ali was assassinated in 661 by
one of his former soldiers who was angry that Ali had negotiated an end to a
long battle. The Shrine of Ali in Najaf is known as "the wondrous place of
martyrdom."

In mainstream Shiite theology, Ali is the first of 12 Imams, and the word
means far more than its Sunni usage of "prayer leader." Most Shiites revere
12 Imams as successors and descendants of Muhammad.

The imams have divine powers to intercede between God and the believer.
The 12th Imam is believed not to have died in the ninth century but to have
been "hidden." He is expected to return as the Mahdi, a powerful messianic
figure.

"Among Shiites the Imam is not just the religious leader, but he inherits the
comprehensive religious authority of the Prophet," said Liyakat Takim, a
professor of religious studies at the University of Denver, and an authority on
Shiite doctrine.

The second and third Imams were Ali and Fatima's sons, Hassan and
Hussein.

Hassan succeeded Ali as the fifth caliph, but surrendered his title to a rival
who had threatened war. Hassan was assassinated a few years later,
purportedly by one of his 130 wives so she could marry the son of the new
caliph. Ali's son, Hussein, then led a revolt but was let down by Muslims who
promised support and never delivered.

Hussein's death in battle at Karbala in 680 is so important to Shiite Muslims
that some writers compare it to the crucifixion in Christianity. On the
anniversary of Hussein's death, Shiites recall their ancestors' failure to support
the Prophet's grandson, sometimes beating themselves in repentance.

Ali's shrine in Najaf is the third-largest site of Muslim pilgrimage after Mecca
and Medina because Sunni Muslims also revere Ali. But Hussein's shrine in
Karbala is the most sacred site to Shiites. Many Shiites rest their foreheads on
small blocks of clay from Karbala when they pray.

So far coalition forces have largely bypassed Karbala, but they have taken all
of Najaf except for the shrine. Damaging it would incur the wrath of Muslims
worldwide. A graveyard outside Najaf is the world's largest, because so
many Shiites are buried there.

"Shiites believe Imams have the capacity to act as intercessors between
Shiites and God on the day of Resurrection. That is why a lot of Shiites prefer
to be buried in cemeteries in Najaf and Karbala -- to be in close proximity to
the Imam so they will be among the first resurrected," said Yitzhak Nakash,
professor of Middle Eastern Studies at Brandeis University and author of
"The Shi'is of Iraq."

Today Shiites view their grand ayatollahs as representatives of the 12th
"hidden Imam," Takim said.

"There can be many ayatollahs at one time. What is important is that the lay
person who is not capable of discerning the intent or will of God can follow
the rulings of the ayatollah," he said.

Many Americans associate the word "ayatollah" with Islamic militancy and the
Iranian hostage crisis. But the Iraqi ayatollahs reject the idea of a government
ruled by religious jurists, Takim said. Iraqi ayatollahs confine their rulings to
religious questions ranging from fasting to cloning, and oversee the foundation
of mosques, seminaries, hospitals and other institutions.

"Most of them are not political," Takim said.

Each Shiite can choose which ayatollah to follow. Among the most important
is Najaf's Grand Ayatollah Sayyid Ali al-Husseini al-Sistani.

Saddam Hussein's regime had kept Sistani under house arrest for years.
According to U.S. Central Command, he has issued a fatwa, or ruling,
instructing Shiites not to interfere with coalition forces.

Iraq's Shiites have suffered under Saddam -- a Sunni nationalist ruler. When
the Shiites revolted after the first Persian Gulf War, Saddam's forces
slaughtered tens of thousands. But a bloodbath between Shiites and Sunnis
after this war is unlikely, nor will Iraqi Shiites press for an Iranian-style
theocracy, experts believe.

Despite historic tensions with Sunni rulers, Shiite and Sunni Iraqis have good
relationships in everyday life. "There are a good number of mixed marriages,"
said Nakash.

For government purposes, the biggest difference between the two groups is
their political vision. The Sunni minority embraces pan-Arabism, which would
tie Iraq's future to that of surrounding Arab states, which all have Sunni
majorities. But while Iraqi Shiites are Arabs, they are nationalists who only
want what is good for Iraq, Nakash said.

They do not want to seize control of Iraq, but to participate in a broad-based
democracy, the experts said.

"They are keen to ensure democracy, freedom of expression and an end to
the tyranny," Takim said.

Link: http://www.post-gazette.com/World/20030407shiites0407p5.asp

Be well!

ssv