Iraq’s religious leaders issued a statement in March 2020 repudiating and condemning the violence of ISIS while underscoring the terror group's crimes impacted members of all religions
Tag: Shias
How Faith Helped Build Resistance Against, Defeat ISIS
The Iraqi clergy effectively tapped into the doctrine of martyrdom in the fight against ISIS by invoking the Battle of Karbala in which the Prophet's grandson Hussain and 72 of his companions and family members laid down their lives resisting an unjust ruler
Labbaik Ya Hussain: Among Faithful At One of Islam’s Holiest Shrines
The Imam Hussain shrine in Iraq's Karbala was packed as usual around the forenoon when we waded through a large crowd of people, who jostled to kiss its walls as a customary mark of reverence
Iraq Diaries: Bridge-Building And Liberation Of Tikrit From ISIS
Tikrit was a test case for Iraq’s ability to unite the country after ISIS massacred 1,700 air force cadets, mostly Shia, at Camp Speicher there to drive a permanent sectarian wedge for the Iraqi state’s implosion
Al-Hashd Al-Shaabi: Shock Troops Who Helped Defeat ISIS On Ayatollah Sistani’s Call
Volunteers of al-Hashd al-Shaabi were deployed as shock troops and negated ISIS's advantages of surprise, sudden attack, and ambush
Iraq Diaries: How American Invasion Ended Up Helping Iran
Iran built a corridor of influence extending up to the Mediterranean when the US left Iraq in 2011 and left the field open for its archfoe and helped Tehran keep Bashar al-Assad in power in Syria and support Hezbollah in Lebanon
Iraq Diaries: Bearers Of Prophet Muhammad’s Light
Ahl al-Bayt (people of the Prophet Muhammad's household) are known as nur-e-Muhammadi, or the bearers of his light, as well as his trustees ‘privy to his esoteric and religious knowledge'
Iraqi Ayatollah: Unlike Iran’s, Breath Of Fresh Air For West
The Iranian revolution and the captivity of 52 Americans crystalized dormant Islamophobia with ubiquitous Khomeini at its center decades before the US invasion of Iraq put another Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani under the global spotlight for entirely different reasons as someone unlike the Iranian revolutionary leader
Why Baghdad’s Al Rasheed Street Reminds Arabs Of British Betrayal
Colonnaded thoroughfare Al Rasheed Street was built to commemorate the Ottoman victory in Kut al-Amara during the First World War before the scales tipped in Britain’s favour and the British troops drove Ottomans out with the help of Arabs By Sameer Arshad Khatlani In March 2003, the United States invaded Iraq on the pretext of … Continue reading Why Baghdad’s Al Rasheed Street Reminds Arabs Of British Betrayal
Abdul Qadir Gilani: King of Saints, Kashmir’s Spiritual Hand Holder
12th-century saint Sheikh Abdul Qadir Gilani or Dastageer Sahib is integral to the spiritual life in Kashmir, the Himalayan Valley he never visited over 4,000 km from his burial site in Iraq