by Crescent online Saudi preacher, Muhammad al-Arifi, has issued a fatwa saying prostitution by Muslim girls to service takfiri fighters in Syria is permissible. Has the Ummah (Muslim world) fallen so low that such filthy fatwas can be issued and Muslims remain silent? At the same time, Arifi and Sheikh al-Qaradawi have launched an anti-Shia crusade leading to the lynching of four Shias in a village outside Cairo. Muhammad al-Arifi
In an interview with Russia Today Israel’s Deputy Prime Minister Dan Meridor has called Iran, Syria and Hezbollah, the “Axis of Unholy Lands”: Syria is the only Arab country that is ally with Iran. The axis that was built between Iran, Syria and Hezbollah, the Unholy Lands, should I call it. This is a very bad and dangerous axis against us and all the Arab countries. In that respect this
The BBC reports: Gunmen have killed at least 18 Shia Muslim bus passengers in a sectarian attack in the northern Pakistani district of Kohistan, officials say. The attackers are reported to have checked the identity cards of all the passengers before removing the Shias and shooting them. About 27 other passengers on the bus were spared. (…) Last month more than 30 Shias were killed in an attack on a
In Bahrain, human-rights workers say at least 50 medical staff are still missing after a crackdown on hospital care for injured anti-government demonstrators. There are fears that some of the detained staff could face stiff sentences for treating protesters. Among them is Dr al-Dallal, a prominent physician arrested on March 17 during a military raid at Salmaniyah Hospital in Manama. His wife, Fareeda al-Dallal, was also arrested and beaten under
by ‘Ya Baqiyatullah’ Very few open crimes against humanity are as disregarded as the assault against Shia Muslims in Parachinar, an area west of Islamabad. Many European and American media outlets have completely ignored the onslaught against Shia civilians at the hands of the Taliban and Sunni extremist militants. Parachinar is a town of 20,000 individuals, with almost all being exclusively Shiites and belonging to the Turi and Bangash tribes.
It is with great joy that I am publishing the first article in a series on a topic which is practically *never* seen anywhere: the Shia point of view on the events in the larger Middle-East. This is something of a pet project of mine every since I got involved, more than a decade ago already and quite by chance (the Middle-East never was my formal area of expertise), in
Press TV reports: A senior Shia cleric has issued a religious decree prohibiting Iraqis from signing a controversial security agreement with the US. Grand Ayatollah Seyyed Kazem al-Husseini al-Haeri issued a fatwa (decree) against the US-proposed Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA). The cleric said that the agreement was in violation of the Islamic law, calling it a humiliating pact that would undermine Iraq’s sovereignty. The US Joint Chiefs of Staff,
Press TV just published the following on its website: Iraq’s Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani has set four conditions for any security pact between the US and Iraq, top Iraqi politician says. “The cleric stressed that any long-term pact in Iraq should maintain four key terms including safeguarding Iraqis’ interests, national sovereignty, national consensus and being presented to the Iraqi parliament for approval.” leader of the largest bloc in Iraq’s parliament,
RIYADH, June 1 (Reuters) – Clerics in Sunni Muslim Saudi Arabia attacked minority Shi’ites in a statement on Sunday saying Lebanon’s Hezbollah was posturing against Israel to hide an anti-Sunni agenda. The Saudi government and religious establishment has watched with alarm as the Lebanese Shi’ite group’s popularity rose in the Arab world since forcing Israel to withdraw in south Lebanon in 2000 and surviving an Israeli military onslaught in 2006.
It’s official now: even the Iraqi government has rejected the US SOFA. The former Prime Minister, Ibrahim al-Jaafari also condemned the SOFA as “undermining the Iraqi sovereignty”. Of course, that rejection should not be seen as some sudden outburst of patriotic fervor: the Maliki regime is a US stooge and that did not change overnight. But even a US stooge cannot openly defy a united Shia opposition to the SOFA.
That’s it. Moqtada al-Sadr and Grand Ayatollah al-Sistani are demanding a popular referendum on the SOFA the US is trying to impose on Iraq. By demanding a referendum the Shias are achieving three results: a) they are completely by-passing the National Assemblyb) they are making the SOFA an election issuec) any referendum on the SOFA will be a de-facto referendum on the US presence in Iraq The Imperial Command is
Following the lead of Grand Ayatollah al-Sistani and Moqtada al-Sadr, Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim, head of the Badr Organization, has now voiced his opposition to the US SOFA. This means that every major Shia faction in the country is now openly opposed to the US proposal. The USA wanted up at least 13 permanent military bases in Iraq and it demanded that US citizens be granted immunity from legal prosecution. It will
One can love or hate Gary Brecher, a.k.a. the “War Nerd” for his style or the the magazine he usually writes for (the eXile in Russia). But I would argue that he has far more common sense that most of the talking heads on the TV, including the generals and so-called “specialists” of the Middle-East. Funny that a magazine like the eXile would have a better military analyst than, say,
Note: I believe that the AP story to which RNN is referring is this one.
Today I am beginning a series of publications of articles about the Shia faith, culture and history. I think that it is important, crucial in fact, to understand the uniqueness and specificity of this branch of Islam which so often either totally ignored or, worse, conflated with Saudi Wahabism. How often do we hear that Iran and Saudi Arabia are “Islamic states”? To a certain degree such a statement is
The past week saw two extremely important events take place simultaneously: the US occupation forces had to stop their offensive against the Sadrists in Baghdad and the complete collapse of the pro-US/Israeli regime in Lebanon. In the latter case it now appears that Hezbollah literally *owns* Lebanon and that the puppet regime of Siniora, Hariri and Jumblatt only was left alive because Hassan Nasrallah decided to deal with them on
The rumors about a US attack on Iran have been recently re-energized by the sacking of Admiral Fallon, the arrival of a new US Navy Carrier in the vicinity of the Persian Gulf, Cheney’s recent visit to the region, General David “Ass-kissing chickenshit” Petraeus’ testimony in Congress, Secretary Gate’s silly comments about Iran wanting nukes after all, nevermind the NIE, or the New York Times resuming some of its worst
Five Ways to Think about Iran under the Gun By Pepe Escobar for Tom Dispatch More than two years ago, Seymour Hersh disclosed in the New Yorker how George W. Bush was considering strategic nuclear strikes against Iran. Ever since, a campaign to demonize that country has proceeded in a relentless, Terminator-like way, applying the same techniques and semantic contortions that were so familiar in the period before the Bush
The Agenda Behind The Anti-Sadr Agenda by Muriel Mirak-Weissbach for GlobalResearch.ca When Gen. David Petraeus along with U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker gave their testimony to the Senate on April 9, they did nothing more than to confirm in spades what had been being mooted and duly leaked by the Washington-based press: that the Bush-Cheney Administration had officially endorsed the line that Iran should be set up for attack,
