The Wahhabi Code by Terence Ward

Author:Terence Ward
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Arcade Publishing
Published: 2018-10-01T16:00:00+00:00

8

THE SHIA PASSION

Every day is Ashura, every place is Karbala.

—AYATOLLAH KHOMEINI

WINTER 2016

“Tell me more about the Shia,” asked Fioretta. “How did they gain such a foothold in Iran?”

“It’s simple. Shias are followers of Ali. Ali was Muhammad’s son-in-law. He welcomed the newly conquered Iranians to Islam. In him they found their spokesman, their defender, their martyr, their saint,” I explained. “As partisans of Ali, they could mourn their tragedies and pray for justice. Ali asked his Arab followers battling the Zoroastrians (the pre-Islamic religion of Iran), ‘Have you read their holy book, Avesta? They have own faith and worship only one God just as we do.’ Then his son Hussein married a Persian princess.”

Imam Ali’s wise words and nonviolent teachings were not loved by all. Some of his Arab brothers revolted against him, accusing him of being weak of spirit and loving foreigners. They killed him and then took the lives of both his sons, Hassan and Hussein. Hassan was buried in Medina in 670 in the famed al-Baqi cemetery—where his shrine would later be destroyed by Wahhabi hands. Ali and Hussein are both buried in southern Iraq, which explains why most of the country became Shia—followers of Ali. But to the east in Iran, the great conversion from Sunni to Shia Islam took place between the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries. Today, Iran remains the spiritual bastion of the Shias.

I described the Shia “passion play” (taziyeh) which is similar to the Passion of Christ. It begins each year in memory of the martyrdom of Hussein in the month of Muharram.

A lonely caravan travels east. Trudging across the desert of Arabia, noble Hussein, grandson of the Prophet, is on a holy mission. Citizens of the city of Kufa in southern Iraq have beseeched him to return and rule like his father Ali as the rightful heir to the Prophet. His caravan numbers seventy-two persons, including women and children.

The spiritual legacy of the Prophet is at stake. The new caliph, Yazid, is comfortably seated in opulent Damascus, new capital of the Islamic Empire. No one, not even the grandson of the Prophet, can stand in his way. Hussein knows that the caliph plans to kill him, but he does not turn back. He considers Yazid’s rule unjust. Hussein’s act of defiance is harrowing. He is prepared to die to save the purity of Islam.

Tragedy strikes on Ashura, the tenth day of the month of Muharram in the Islamic calender. The year is 680.

The caravan of Hussein will never reach Kufa. At Karbala, they face 10,000 warriors sent by the Caliph Yazid. Under the blazing sun, these soldiers mercilessly slaughter Hussein and his followers. This betrayal and butchery lies deep in the Shia psyche.

I described to Fioretta how the surviving women and children were taken to Damascus along with Hussein’s severed head to be shown to the caliph. In a legendary scene of high drama, the great heroine of Islamic history, Zaynab—the sister of Hussein—was dragged into the caliph’s court

“Who is this arrogant woman?” asked the angry Caliph.

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