This week’s issue of The Economist features an excellent update on Sunni-Shia sectarian strife. Aslan, one of your text authors this semester, is exceptional on the origins of the split. The article linked below is equally good on the current situation, and it contains a superb chart summarizing the positions and dogmas of the leading contenders:
The Economist, “Sunni-Shia Strife: The Sword and the Word,” May 12, 2012
In celebration of “Islamic Week” (started in 1994 by the Islamic Society of Britain to raise awareness and try to take away misconceptions that surround Islam) salerooms in London were full of art pieces and antiques from various parts of the Islamic World.
Claude Piening, who is the head of Sotheby’s Orientalist department said that the works depicting Turkey and the Arab World — “has enjoyed robust growth over the past 10 years … because of new interest from North Africa and the Middle East.” This pick up in interest has increased sales that have gone to help education. “At Christie’s, the proceeds of one of several Islamic and Indian themed sales will go to Oxford University’s Bodleian Library, to fund the creation of a research post in Sasanian (early Iranian) studies.” These auctions are one part of increasing knowledge and admiration of the Islamic world and its creations.
Is Islamic Week a possibility for the US and other nations? Is this appreciation and awareness of Islamic art progress?
Libya is set to hold elections in June. These polls are important because they will be the first since last year’s overthrow of Muammar Gaddaf. Now this is not the only point of interest surrounding them, recently Libyan authorities have decided to ban the formation of any political party that is based on religious principles. This law was passed on Tuesday The National Transitional Council said that this law was passed to keep “national unity”. He also said that this makes it so “Parties are not allowed to be based on religion or ethnicity or tribe”
At the moment it is unclear of how this law will affect the already existing parties such as The Muslim Brotherhood. “The party is Libya’s most organized political group and was expected to emerge as an influential player in the country where Islamists, like all dissidents, were harshly suppressed for 42 years.” The upcoming elections had given them a chance to rise up, but this law may push them back in the dark. At the moment the meaning of banning religious parties is still unclear so people are unsure how this will develop. “This kind of clause is only useful in countries where there exists many religions, not in Libya where most people are religious Muslims,” Mohammed Sawan told Reuters.This is a change that could bring up controversy and lead to protest.
What is the drive behind this new law and will it last? Will this help control and stabilize the country or spur protests? Finally, should this affect the preexisting organizations or only those yet to be formed?
Not nearly enough, says historian Tom Holland:
Tom Holland, “Islam’s Origins: Where Mystery Meets History,” History Today, April 24, 2012
An article in today’s New York Times profiles one of Africa’s great architectural treasures (albeit heavily restored in recent times). Much of the most recent work has been done by the Aga Khan Trust for Culture. Attention to the mosque comes at a time of great uncertainty over the political future of the host country, Mali.
Holland Carter, “A Tribute to Islam, Earthen but Transcendent,” New York Times, April 18, 2012
Basharat Peer, “Modern Mecca: The Transformation of a Holy City,” The New Yorker, April 16, 2012, 75ff. — Excerpt on the Web
Christopher de Bellaigue, “In the Supreme Shrine,”The New York Review of Books, April 26, 2012, 17ff. – Web version
This is the question behind recent protests at Mount Moriah in the center of Jerusalem’s Old City, site of what some Jews and Christians call the Temple Mount and what Muslims call Haram al-Sharif, “The Noble Enclosure,” an area that is home to the Dome of the Rock and the Al-Aqsa Mosque, third holiest site of pilgrimage for Muslims after Mecca and Medina. The area sits above Judaism’s holiest site, the Western Wall, the only part of the Jewish temple remaining since the building was destroyed by the Romans in 70 C.E. Muslims call Jerusalem Al-Quds, “The Holy.”
These troubles coincided with The International Conference for the Defense of Jerusalem, convened in Doha, Qatar to address what some call the “Judaization of Jerusalem.”
Daniela Deane, “Faiths Clash at Jerusalem’s Sacred Site,” Washington Post, Feb. 28, 2012
Background – On the legal questions surrounding who has sovereignty, compare the following pieces:
John V. Whitbeck, “Words Matter: A New Language for Peace,” Al-Jazeera.com, Feb, 1, 2012
Israeli Government Press Office, “History of Jerusalem,” ShalomJerusalem.com, (no date)
Additional Resource: IME Study Guide to the Arab-Israeli Conflict
“Like his fellow Shiites in Iraq, Abu Ali, who used his nickname to protect his family back in Syria, said he regards the Syrian rebels as terrorists, not freedom fighters, underscoring one of the complexities of a bloody civil conflict that has persisted as diplomatic efforts have failed. In spite of President Bashar al-Assad’s willingness to unleash a professional military on a civilian population, with lethal results, Mr. Assad retains some support at home and abroad from allies, including religious and ethnic minorities who for decades relied on the police state for protection from sectarian aggression…
The insurrection in Syria, led by the country’s Sunni majority in opposition to a government dominated by Alawites, an offshoot of Shiism, is increasingly unpredictable and dangerous because it is aggravating sectarian tensions beyond its borders in a region already shaken by religious and ethnic divisions…
Some Shiites here see the burgeoning civil war in Syria as the ominous start to the fulfillment of a Shiite prophecy that presages the end of time. According to Shiite lore, Sufyani — a devil-like, apocryphal figure in Islam — gathers an army in Syria and after conquering that land turns his wrath on Iraq’s Shiites.”
Tim Arango, “Syria’s Sectarian Fears Keep Nation on Edge,” New York Times, Feb. 29, 2012
UPDATE — March 3, 2012 — See also: David Enders and Jonathan S. Landay, “Syria Splits Along Sectarian Lines, Shaking MidEast,” Bradenton.com, March 2, 2012
Following a week of subsequent disputes and conflicts at the Temple Mount, police used force to disperse a crowd of alleged Palestinian rioters. Reportedly, the Israeli police retaliated with stun grenades and tear gas to ward off and disperse hundreds of Palestinian “rioters” who had allegedly been throwing stones at the authorities. One news site reported that the alleged rioters were simply worshippers and that at least one Palestinian was killed during the police assault. Moreover, close to a dozen people were injured. In addition, four people were arrested.
All week, the Temple Mount has been the scene of Palestinian-Israeli conflict. The conflict was incited by threats made by Israeli radicals who earlier this year attempted to organize the destruction of Muslim holy sites via pamphlets, etc. However, the Israeli perspective is quite distinct. One Israeli official claimed, “What happened today was a continuation of tension in and around the Old City and Temple Mount due to what was put out on the Internet by both right wing extremists and terrorist organizations.”
Should the Temple Mount and al-Aqsa Mosque be closed since there has been violence on both ends? Information was gathered from Press TV and J Post; which report are you more inclined to believe?
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