the news in arabic

In February 2006, two bombs were detonated inside the Askariyya Shrine in Samarra, destroying its gold dome. In 2007, several more explosions destroyed the shrine’s two minarets. Reconstruction has now begun on the mosque, which is the final resting place of the 10th and 11th Imams — al-Hadi and al-Askari.

Here is a RealPlayer video of the aftermath of the Askariyya bombings.

Al-Manar reports that the reconstruction will take place in two phases. The first will involve clearing the rubble and collecting salvageable pieces of the gold dome. In the second stage, a Turkish company, specializing in reconstruction will restore the building’s shape under the supervision of UNESCO. The cost is estimated at $50 million dollars.

(Map of Baghdad from the PCL Library.)

Al-Hayat spoke with Farha al-Neel, a mother of 13 sons and 3 daughters, who is currently lying in her death bed in a Baghdad hospital. Farha’s story is unique because her children have adopted different religious-sectarian identities as a way to cope with increasing sectarian violence. Before the war, the family was not inclined toward Sunni or Shi’i Islam, but after the US invasion triggered sectarian conflict, members of the family adopted whichever sect was predominant in their area. The sons that live in Sunni areas are now Sunni, and those who live in Shi’i areas are now Shi’a.

Farha said she was always frightened of Shi’i militias targeting her Sunni children and of al-Qaeda targeting her Shi’i children. Two of her sons were killed in an explosion at the Askarayn Shrine in Baghdad. Al-Hayat interviews the sons. The eighth-eldest Yusuf lives in a Shi’i area of eastern Baghdad and has photos of the Shi’i marji’iyya hanging on his wall. The fourth-eldest Adnan lived in the Abu Ghraib area amid growing Sunni extremism, he escaped the area after he found out that followers had killed his brother.

The article says that after 2003, people separated along sectarian lines and this led to more divided neighborhoods.

The new flag will be raised tomorrow, according to Aswat al-Iraq. Here’s the old flag…

Aswat al-Iraq reports (via the Shi’a news network al-Tariq ila Karbala) that two Sistani representatives were kidnapped by unknown gunmen in Basra. Their kidnappers have demanded $100, 000 for their release. British troops withdrew from Basra in September 2007.

Al-Quds al-Arabi reports on a “new massacre” committed by American forces on Iraqi civilians. Sources indicate that American airstrikes on the city of al-Mada’in, near Baghdad, killed 20 civilians — 17 were members of the ‘Abd al-Salim family. After the airstrikes, 50 Iraqis were arrested. I could not find this story in any English-language news source.

Furthermore, the US military announced that it accidentally killed nine Iraqi civilians south of Baghdad in Iskandiriya. The official statement said that the civilians were killed while US forces were targeting followers of al-Qaida in an airstrike. Unlike the story above, this was covered by a few English-language outlets, including CBS.

Al-Hayat reports on a gathering of Shi’i and Sunni religious figures in Baghdad organized by the Union of Muslim ‘Ulama. A wide range of representatives came, including Sadrists. Those who attended stressed the unity of Iraq and called for an end to the violence between religious sects. Several ‘ulama who were interviewed said that they wished to end terrorism and stop all takfiri fatwas, meaning fatwas that label another sect a “kafir” or infidel.

Shaykh Samada’i said, “Today, there is no difference between Omar or Ali or between this sect or that sect…”

Shaykh Mahmoud al-Aysaawi, Imam at the Abd al-Qadir mosque, said that he held, “American forces and regional countries responsible for the sectarian strife (fitna) that Iraq has witnessed.” Many echoed similar sentiments.

(Image from the Baghdad Conference of Shi’is and Sunnis praying side by side, from al-Jazeera)

The conference resulted in more than 13 orders (tawsiyya), including:

• Islam is a religion of life, and its roots and principles are one between the Sunni and Shi’i schools of thought.
• Freedom and justice are the primary rights of all peoples.

Here’s today’s cartoon from al-Hayat:

Caption reads: One million Iraqi martyrs since the American invasion of Iraq (Bush and Cheney).
In case you missed the visual connection…

(The above image is of souq al-ghazal in Baghdad, from al-Jazeera.net)

Al-Arabiya reports that 64 were killed and 85 injured in two explosions in Baghdad. One explosion targeted souq al-ghazal, a bird and animal market in central Baghdad and the other targeted a popular market. Security forces say that in January 2008 alone, 541 Iraqis have died in explosions and other acts of violence in all Iraq’s provinces.

The first time I read the name of Iraqi Ayatullah al-Sayyid al-Hasni was during the clashes between the Shi’i fringe group Jund al-Samaa and Iraqi security forces in Basra and al-Nasiriyya. Al-Hasni denied having any role in the clashes or of supporting Jund al-Samaa. But I was curious why al-Hasni would even be implicated in the clashes. English-language sources detailing his life are slim to none, so I’ve compiled some information on his political stances in an attempt to better understand his role in Iraq. (In the future, I hope to give a biographical and doctrinal overview of al-Hasni.)

My first impression of al-Hasni is that he is a younger marja’ and that he is somewhat arrogant. On his own site, his name is not mentioned without a praise afterward. For example, there will be a reference to his name and then immediately after, it will say Dam Dhillu al-Aali or May his Shadow Remain. I interpret this as arrogant because Sayyid Fadlallah, who is undoubtedly more accomplished, refrains from such self-praising on his website, demonstrating a more humble and confident attitude.

I came to the following conclusions based on an interview he did with the newspaper al-Ilaf which was then re-published (and probably re-edited) on al-Hasni’s personal website:

• Based in Karbala
• Opposes US occupation in all its forms — economic, land, political. Claims that he would refuse a Muslim or Kafir (non-believer) occupation; foreign countries or neighboring countries
• Relationship with Sistani is somewhat rocky
• Opposes the division of Iraq
• Definitely not in an alliance with Iran since his followers occupied and burned the Iranian consulate in Basra
• Does not express support for the government of Nuri al-Maliki
• Seemingly not affiliated with the group Jund al-Samaa since in the interview he says he does not give their beliefs much “credibility” or saha
• Many of his followers have been arrested and kidnapped in southern Iraq
• Calls for the end of US occupation by way of exposing its corrupt implementors and politicians. People should do this by supporting the Resistance. Note: He calls the Resistance “al-quwa al-wataniyya al-munahidda” or the national resistance forces.

(Image of the Iraqi Turkmen Front flag.)

Al-Arabiya reports that the Iraqi-Turkmen Front — a group which represents the largest Turkman parties in Kirkuk — has demanded that the Iraqi government establish a Turkman unit in the Iraqi army in order to protect the Turkmen from a “collective genocide” (al-ibaada al-jamaa’iya).  There are no official counts of the Turkmen population in Iraq, but it is estimated to be between three million and 800,000.

Police discovered the decapitated heads of two Turkmen in a city in northern Iraq and the police say that the Turkmen have been the target of numerous kidnappings in the area — more specifically, over 300 individuals kidnapped in a given amount of time, most of them are killed.

Here’s a semi-informative wikipedia entry on the Turkmen in Iraq. Here is an album of photos from Kirkuk.

(Sistani and Sleepy Bear.)

I can sum up the Western media portrayal (or more accurately, stereotype) of Grand Ayatullah Ali al-Sistani with one sentence: He’s just so quiet! I think many journalists have confused the characteristic of being “quiet” with the actual philosophical and religious trend of “quietism”– which actually doesn’t mean someone who doesn’t talk a lot. Sistani didn’t become the most widely followed marja’ because he had nothing to say, but because he had a lot to say about things that are relevant to his followers. So, yeah, Sistani is a quietist (as are many top Shi’i religious figures) in terms of his religious philosophy. This means that he does not involve himself too deeply in worldy, political issues.

In their coverage of Sistani, the press is also building on another common stereotype of Shi’i Islam propagated in the West — that all Shi’i clerics are politically volatile, spew hateful rhetoric, and are antagonists to the system. Not every single Shi’i leader is another Khomeini looking to establish a religious state. In fact, there is much disagreement within the marji’iyya on the role that Shi’i religious figures should have in affecting change on a political level. Sistani, obviously, is committed to a text-based study of Islam as opposed to becoming a figure for people to rally around for political change.

This brings us back to the paradigm of “Good Muslim” vs. “Bad Muslim.” Sistani is quiet, keeps to himself, and doesn’t incite folks to action therefore he is Good. Folks like Fadlallah who are outspoken politically (yet not actually involved) and criticize US policy in the region are bad.

(Muqtada al-Sadr and Angry Bear.)

(Image of the Imam Ali shrine, located in Najaf, from Sistani.org.)

Al-Hayat reports that the Sadr wing (al-tiyar al-sadri) is holding the Iraqi government responsible for the appearance of fringe religious movements in Iraq. A Sadr rep said that the government is so preoccupied with chasing down members of the Mehdi army (jaysh al-mehdi) that they have not been monitoring the growth of certain groups, such as Jund al-Samaa and Ansar al-Mehdi. The rep said that the Sadr wing is committed to a fatwa issued by Muqtada al-Sadr that says not to deal with these groups.

In Najaf, 13 followers of the Ansar al-Mehdi group (which is considered to be an extension of Jund al-Samaa) were arrested in a week-long operation, including the group’s spiritual leader — Hasan al-Hamami. A rep for the police said that the group’s members admitted to planning terrorist attacks (‘amliat irhabieh) during Ashoura in Najaf. Iraqi marja’ Mahmoud al-Hasani al-Sorkhi (aka this guy) denied any connection to the recent events in Basra and Nasiriyya. (Note: The article does not explain why al-Hasani would be connected with these fringe Shi’i groups.)

Have you seen the Other Iraq?

It’s spectacular.
It’s peaceful.
It’s joyful.
Fewer than two hundred US troops
are stationed here.
Arabs, Kurds and westerners all vacation together.

Welcome to Iraqi-Kurdistan!

(Image and text from The Other Iraq, a website affiliated with the Kurdistan Regional Government that seeks to encourage investment.)

Kurdistan is an area which encompasses land from Syria, Turkey, Iraq, and Iran.

Iraqi Kurdistan (aka northern Iraq) is particularly attractive for investors because of the potential for booming oil production. An article from al-Hayat reports that the Kurdistan Regional Government has entered into a binding investment agreement with foreign companies regarding drilling for oil in the north.

Khalid al-Salah, a spokesperson for the Kurdistan Regional Government, said that the agreement was “legit” (qanooniya), yet the central government in Baghdad considers the agreement “null” (batilla) since the Parliament has not yet decided on the oil laws. A Kurdish official responded that the agreement has no relation to Parliament and said that the central government should not interfere with Kurdish issues.

(Image of Iraqi PM Nouri al-Maliki from here.)

Al-Zaman reports that the Iraqi government is still trying to get it’s story straight regarding the recent clashes in Basra and Nasiriya. Members of religious parties have blamed the Shi’i fringe group Jund al-Samaa for being involved in the clashes that killed over 75, but others have said that followers of the former Iraqi Army were the ones actually involved in the clashes. A source told al-Zaman that current Iraqi police forces unleashed random, heavy gunfire in residential areas and trapped residents who were adverse to Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.

Al-Hayat details a new national campaign launched by al-Maliki to fight financial and administrative corruption in the Iraqi government. Al-Maliki said it is necessary to develop a legal framework to ensure that corruption stops and that perpetrators will not be protected. Al-Maliki also said that the relative calm experienced during this year’s Ashoura ritual is proof that security is becoming a reality in Iraq.

Blah, blah, blah. Assholes.