As predicted

Saudi Arabia declared the Eid for Sunday (08/19) as I anticipated yesterday.

What about the rest of the world?

I am anticipating

A bunch of people will be going on a moon sighting trip tomorrow (Friday) after sunset. Of course, they would not see the moon. Coming back home, they would confidently assert that since the new crescent was not visible, so the Eid should be on Sunday (08/19).

As you can see from the moon sighting maps (shown below) the crescent is not going to be visible either on Friday or Saturday for most of the world. It will only be visible on Sunday. The earliest day for moon-sighting would be Saturday. And on Saturday, the moon would not be visible at all, which mean the Eid is technically on Monday 08/20/12.

Friday -- To Early to See the Moon

Saturday - The new moon would not be visible

Sunday - Moon would be visible for everyone

I came across an interesting paper

The Role of Hadith as Cultural Memory in Shi'i History by RAINER BRUNNER

I can't figure out how to save it on the computer. They probably don't want you to do that anyway. The complete paper is available online for reading so it doesn't really matter.

The central theme of the paper is about the Safavid Dynasty in Iran.

Briefly

• The Safavids were a Shafii Sunni Sufi Order founded by Safi al-Din
• Establish Shia Imamiah as the state religion
• Performed openly the practice of tabarra (disassociating from the three caliphs; Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman) and publicly cursing their names
• Safavid's main rival was the Turkish Ottoman Empire (Guardian of Sunnism)
• Shah Ismail II of the Safavid reversed the action of his predecessors and forbid the cursing and reviling of the Sunni companions. He tried to revert the empire to Sunnism but didn't succeed.

The author posed an important question about the Safavid's belief system
Did the Shah (King) Ismail, the conqueror of vast lands, adhered to a right form of Shiism (Twelver Shiism)?

Moving on, the author posed another question.
How is it possible to convert an entire country to Shiism, when two third of its population was originally Sunnis?

The Safavid ruled Iran and neighboring areas for 200 years and in that short period of time, they managed to promote a sustainable version of Shiism. Even the Sunni Afghani dynasty that ruled later on couldn't erase Shiism from Iran.

So, what exactly made Shiism so sustainable?
You won't know until you read the paper.

Reference

Shah Ismail of the Safavid Empire

He invited the Arab Shia clerics to establish their religious movement in the newly created Safavid Empire in the fifteen century. Almost all of the clerics did not respond to the king except one, the Lebanese Shi'i cleric, Ali al-Karaki al-Amili, who visited Iran multiple times and finally settled there.

Here's the reasoning provided in the book as to why the Arab Shi'i clerics declined Safavid King's invitation

The great majority of Arab Shi’i clerics held firm to the traditional Shi’i refusal to serve any government, even one that claimed to be Shi’i, in the absence of the Hidden Imam. Others were put off by the extremist manifestations of Safavid Shi’ism.

They objected to the deification of Ismail, the practice of prostration before the king – a practice they believed should be reserved for prayer before God alone – the cavalier attitude towards the precepts of the Sharia (Islamic law), such as the prohibition on drinking wine, and the ritual cursing of the first three caliphs of Islam who, in the eyes of the Shi’a, had usurped the office that rightly belonged to the Imam Ali.

Ismail had officials go through the streets carrying axes over their shoulders and crying out: ‘Cursed be Abu Bakr! Cursed be Omar! Cursed be Uthman!’ – the names of the first three caliphs. Anyone who heard this was obliged, on pain of death, to express their approval. Arab Shi’i clerics feared that this practice would provoke retaliation against Shi’a living under Sunni regimes. Ismail does seem to have made some attempt to distance himself from the extremism of his Qizilbash followers.

Reference

Women have almost Avengers like Super Powers

Two large quakes with magnitudes of 6.4 and 6.3 struck East Azerbaijan province (in Iran) on Saturday afternoon, flattening villages and injuring thousands around the towns of Ahar, Varzaghan, and Harees, near the provincial capital of Tabriz. The death toll is around 300 with thousands of injured. (Reuters)

Iran is located on several seismic fault lines and is very prone to earthquakes. It experienced at least one earthquake per-day, too minor to make any serious damages.

Two years ago, a Muslim cleric from Iran speculated that Iran's earthquakes are caused by immodestly dressed women.

That's very powerful. Women have almost Avengers like super powers to shake and move earth rocks and craters.

To be fair, this 'blaming of the natural disasters on women/group of people' is not unique to Muslims.

In 2004, When Asian Tsunami hit countries in South Asia, the religious folks from world's major religions were quick to point out that this was God's wrath.

Religious people are just that way. They always need more supernatural reasons to explain natural disasters.

The Safavid Sufi Order

A thirteen century Orthodox Sunni Sufi Order. Named after Sheikh Safi ud-Din (he was the ancestor of the Safavid Kings, Shah Ismail, Shah Abbas).

The order was based in the Iranian city of Ardabil. The Sufi order had a large following among the Turkoman (Qizilbash) who were the military wing of the Sufi order.

The Sufi Shaykhs fabricated their genealogy to descent from Ali and Fatima (Prophet daughter).

Shah Ismail, crowned himself as the Persian King of the Safavid Empire at 14 years of age. Although he was/used to be a follower of the extremist Qizilbash sect, he made a tactical decision to establish Shia Imamiyah as the state religion.

Reference

Libya has a New President and a Parliment

Seems like they could have done worse than this guy. At least the guy is not a fanatic fundamentalist.

TRIPOLI, Libya — Libya’s newly formed national assembly elected former opposition leader Mohammed el-Megarif as the country’s interim president on Friday

El-Megarif, who authored a series of books on Gadhafi’s repressive policies, lived as a wanted fugitive for years, and was the leader of the country’s oldest armed opposition movement, the National Front for the Salvation of Libya. The movement made several attempts to end Gadhafi’s 42-year rule, sometimes by plotting assassination attacks including a well- known and daring 1984 assault on Bab al-Aziziyah, the late dictator’s fortified compound in Tripoli.

The regime cracked down on the group, executing and arresting many of its members. Many fled abroad where they worked as political activists. El-Megarif’s movement organized the first Libyan opposition conference in London in 2005 and called for the overthrow of Gadhafi’s regime at a time when other groups, including the Muslim Brotherhood, accepted Gadhafi’s outreach to the opposition.

Upon his return to Libya after last year’s armed revolution, he formed a new party, the National Front, which sees Islam as a broad guideline to the state’s affairs, but does not mention the implementation of Islamic Sharia law.

Link.

Girl Killed By Family Members in an Exorcism Ritual

A three-year-old Malaysian girl died of suffocation during a lengthy exorcism ritual in which seven family members and a maid piled on top of her, a police official said Tuesday.

The ritual, which included the child’s parents, was held by the ethnic Chinese family late Sunday in the northern town of Bukit Mertajam, local police chief Azman Abdul Lah told AFP.

“Acting on a tip-off, police entered the house and broke down a bedroom door only to find eight people including a foreign maid covered with a blanket and with the victim pinned under them,” he said.

“They were chanting in the room. Police believe they were involved in an exorcism ritual to drive away evil spirits.”

The Star newspaper said the ritual had lasted 20 hours. Azman said the ritual had continued for many hours but could not confirm how many.

The eight suspects, aged between 16 and 67, have been detained and are being investigated for murder, he added. They included the family’s Indonesian maid, the Star said.

The brother of the child’s father had alerted the police, Azman said.

The others detained were the victim’s grandmother, uncle, aunt, and two cousins.

link

The Second Saudi Woman in the Olympic Games

The second Saudi woman in the Olympic games is Sarah Attar.

The deeply misogynist Saudi Arabian's society where girls’ sports and gym are effectively banned in public schools and where women are not allowed to participate in sports activity, had to concede and allow two women to participate in the London Olympic Games[1].

The Olympic committee gave an ultimatum to the Saudis. Do not discriminate on the basis of the gender. Either allow the female to participate just like the men or everyone from the country would be bar from the Olympic. An official for Human Rights Watch, one of the groups that called last week for the IOC to bar Saudi Arabia’s male team, said Thursday’s announcement should be a starting point. [1]

“Allowing two women to compete in the London Games is an important precedent that will be hard for Saudi hard-liners to roll back,” Minky Worden wrote in an email. “But the fundamental problem in Saudi Arabia remains legal gender segregation that restricts women’s basic rights, freedoms, and space to participate in public life.”

“They’ll be role models for girls,” said Eman al-Nafjan, a Saudi educator, writer and blogger in Riyadh. “There are a lot of girls who do love to play sports in Saudi Arabia.…They do actually love to play. But it’s very hard. There are no facilities for them.” [1]

“Just the fact that the Olympics committee is pressuring Saudi Arabia will get the dialogue going,” on easing prohibitions on gyms and sports and physical education for Saudi women and girls, Ms. Nafjan added.

Reference
[1] http://stream.wsj.com/story/london-olympics-2012/SS-2-13789/SS-2-33247/

A Pointless TV Station in Egypt

Maria TV, an Egyptian channel, has fully veiled female anchors.

Egyptian Channel, Maria TV is an Islamic TV that will cater to women. They have fully veiled female anchors, who are veiled from head to toe. Even their faces are covered (eyes would be visible under the face covering).

Even the female guests who would appear on the TV station would be covered from head to toe, including wearing the face covering. Very extreme.

Here's the mission of the TV station

"I want to give children the ability to see these women and say `I want to be like that'... to create a generation that wants this and wants to be like this," Abu Islam said.

I doubt children would willingly watch such a boring TV station, especially a station where human don't have any TV presence.

Abdallah, known by his nickname Abu Islam, said his goal is to show women that they do not have to reveal their beauty to the world in order to be seen.

This Abdallah doesn't seem like the brightest guy around. Did he not know that he could have easily started a broadcast radio station where he wouldn't need to go to such extreme to make his point.

Of course not. His propaganda won't really work. Female anchors on radio would just be like everyone else. And then no one would pay much attention to these women.


Pretty scary.. would you really let your kids watch this?

Alevi vs Alawite

They are not the same.

Alevi is a Turkish Sufi order/sect. The name Alevi is Turkish for the Arabic word Alawi. It should not be confused with the Alawite of Syria. The Alawite of Syria is also known as the Nusayris.

Due to some similarity in the name (Alevi vs Alawi), most people think they are the same but in fact they are not.

Here's a mistake a journalist made in his report.

As Syria’s civil war degenerates into a bloody sectarian showdown between the government’s Alawite-dominated troops and the Sunni Muslim majority, tensions are increasing across the border between Turkey’s Alawite minority and the Sunni Muslim majority here.

Many Turkish Alawites, estimated at 15 million to 20 million strong and one of the biggest minorities in this country, seem to be solidly behind Syria’s embattled strongman, Bashar al-Assad, while Turkey’s government, and many Sunnis, supports the Syrian rebels [1] (The New York Times).

As you can see, the author used Alawite in Syria interchangeably with the Alevi in Turkey. That is incorrect. They are not the same.

Reference
[1] Article name: As Syria War Roils, Unrest Among Sects Hits Turkey
Author: JEFFREY GETTLEMAN
Published date: August 4, 2012
URL: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/05/world/middleeast/turkish-alawites-fear-spillover-of-violence-from-syria.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all

First Saudi Woman in Olympic

Wojdan Ali Seraj Abdulrahim Shahrkhani had raised the scorn of the kingdom's ultraconservative Islamic clerics, who said she was dishonoring herself by fighting in front of men, including the male referee and judges.

The zealot Mullahs want to protect her honor

Saudi preacher Sittam al-Dusri told The Associated Press that Shahrkhani's family should have protected her "as a precious gem" from the eyes of men.

Some have urged her not to jeopardize her place in the afterlife for a fleeting bit of fame on earth. Others warned that she and her family could face ostracism when she goes home. Others cast doubt on whether she was really Saudi, saying her appearance looked Central Asian. [1]

Rafid Fatani, a Saudi who pulled out all the stops to make sure he could attend Shahrkhani's match in London, walked out of the stadium afterwards proudly waving his nation's flag.

Some in Saudi Arabia use criticism of participation by women in society "just so they can empower their cause, and their cause is just to put women down."

"They have been brought up to believe women are subordinates, are second class citizens and should not have the same opportunity as men," he added.

The 16-year-old judo athlete, has already been referred to as an "Olympic prostitute" on a website at home. [2]

Reference

[1] Link

[2] http://www.suntimes.com/sports/14348897-419/scarf-wearing-sarah-attar-represents-hope-for-progress-in-saudi-arabia.html

Gruesome Honor Killing

Iftikhar, 52, and Farzana Ahmed, 49 (resident of UK, originally from Pakistan) is sentenced to life in prison (minimum 25 years) for killing their daughter, Shafilea, in 2003.

Families have sometimes lashed out at their children on the belief that they have brought their household shame by becoming too westernized or by refusing a marriage.

Shafilea was only 10 when she began to rebel against her parents’ strict rules, according to prosecutor Andrew Edis. The young girl would hide make-up, false nails and western clothes at school, changing into conservative clothes before her parents picked her up. But it was the last year of her life that proved to be the most traumatic.

During the trial that began in May, jurors heard from Shafilea’s younger sister, Alesha, who said she witnessed the murder when she was 12.

After an argument about Shafilea’s dress, her parents pushed her down on a couch, stuffed a thin white plastic bag into her mouth and held their hands over her mouth and nose until she died, Alesha testified.

As she was struggling, her mother said, “just finish it here,” according to Alesha’s testimony.

Full news.

ShiaChat is on the maintenance mode

You can't access the forum because it's on the maintenance mode. It was up a few hours ago.

I'm off to bed now. Hopefully it's up by morning.

Largest Bank Fraud in Iran

I was reading about a huge corruption case in Iran. Thirty nine people have been convicted of a bank fraud/scam. Four bankers are set to be hanged.

Another banker, Mahmoud Reza Khavari, managed to dodge the bullet by fleeing to Canada.

Name of the convicted felons are not released to the public.

But one of the defendents complained that, while the judiciary had pursued some low-level players in the fraud vigorously, senior officials involved in the scandal had gone unpunished.

Based on comments from a news site, many seem to agree that it's about time people who are involved in bank frauds get harsher punishment than just a slap on the wrists.

Halting my reading

I'm halting reading of the book Secret Sects of Syria.

I've finished reading chapter one to eleven. The next chapter will be about the Ismailis.

I'm slightly bored now, so I have to stop reading the book. I'm definitely going to continue reading sometime in the future.

Summary of the teaching of the Karmatian / Qaramite

Here's a summary of the teaching of Karmat.
- Four inclinations daily: two before sunrise, and two before sunset
- Two days worth of fasting in a year (one of the days is the Nawrooz)
- Allowed the consumption of wines made from grapes
- Abstain from Ghusl (ritual shower), wudu is okay
- Allowed killing of all who fight against him

The chapter ended with stating that not much was heard of the Karmatians of Iraq and Syria after the year 989 AD, but they were found in Bahrain until the year 1037 AD.