Discuss & Debate | Share | Learn

www.ask.or.tz

Our Partners
Any and all media that doesn't fall in any other category above, should be posted here.
#18640
Sectarian violence is ripping the Mid-East apart. The two sects of Islam, Sunni and Shia, are fighting against each other in Syria and Iraq. Tensions are rising across the region, but what's provoking this wave of violence? This documentary investigates the TV channels that fan the flames of sectarians and asks how influential they really are.
BBC Arabic travels to Iraq, Egypt and Kuwait to track down the most extreme TV channels. They find out who is behind them and how they're funded. They track down some controversial preachers and discover that some of the most offensive TV programs originate not just in the Arab world but in London too.
Free speech bloomed as the Arab Spring overthrew the dictators across the region. Dozens of new political and religious stations began broadcasting. But sectarian hate channels are also taking advantage of this freedom. BBC Arabic monitored dozens of Islamic religious channels over six months. In this program they focus on six of the most extreme. Some of their content is too inciteful to broadcast and much of it is highly inflammatory.
These channels exploit the tensions between Shias and Sunnis. The two sects formed more than 1400 years ago over a disagreement about who was the rightful successor of Prophet Muhammad. But the division hasn't been this widened for hundreds of years and nowhere is this division more visible than in Syria and Iraq.
Sectarian bloodshed in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, is worse now than it has been for years. Violence erupts almost every day, with explosions, car bombs, and assassinations. Hundreds of civilians are murdered every month. During a 24 hours time span there were 18 attacks, 91 people were killed and 150 injured. This is what Iraq has to face every day.
Under Saddam Hussein, Sunni minority ruled the mainly Shia population, but following the 2003 American-led invasion, the Shia took power leaving the Sunnis feeling marginalized and paving the way for years of sectarian bloodletting.
Watch the full documentary now

#18642
Sunnis not our brethren, but our souls, says Ayatollah Sistani

Iraq, Islamic Unity26 January 2013 17:18
Sunnis not our brethren, but our souls, says Ayatollah Sistani
Great Iraqi Shiite cleric (Marja) has stressed that Shiites should assume the Sunnis as their souls.
In 2007, Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, Iraqi Shiite marja issued a landmark message on Shiite-Sunni unity. Recently, with the outbreak of unrest in Iraq, he has reissued the message.

“There is no real difference between Shiite and Sunni beliefs, and I am the servant of all Iraqis [either Sunni or Shiite],” he emphasizes. “I love everyone, and this religion [Islam] is the religion of love,” he adds. He expresses his surprise that how the enemy could have succeeded to divide Islamic sects.

Sistani’s message, also sent to first Conference of Sunni and Shiite Scholars, asserts that “ this kind of conferences are highly important, since they help Shiites and Sunnis find out that there is no real difference between their beliefs, and the difference simply is on legal (Fiqh) issues.”

“Shiites should defend Sunnis’ social and political rights before defending their own rights, and we call [everyone] for unity,” Ayatollah Sinstani adds. “As I have said before, Shiites should not call Sunnis their brethren, but their ‘souls.’

“We should attend Sunnis’ Friday prayers more than Shiite’s. We do not discriminate between Arabs and Kurds, and Islam has collected all of us [under common umbrella],” he asserts.

Sistani also points to Sunni legal issues and says that “we [Muslims] are united in Kaaba (Holy Shrine), prayer, and fasting.”

“During Saddam’s era, I saw many Sunnis’ conversion to Shea’ism. When asked why they converted, they answered that they converted to Shea’ism in order to attain Ahlul-Bayt friendship,” Sistani accounts, and “I was telling them that Sunni Imams (four Sunni Scholars) had defended Ahlul-Bayt.

https://youtu.be/-3CI0FBr5ss?si=UNYS9HXtS24Gbr-P

Ramadan Daily Duas - # 7

*Dua for Day 7 | Holy Month of Ramadhan* O ALLAH,[…]

Suratul Mulk (The Kingdom)

Short Tafsir on Suratul Mulk (The Kingdom) - Part […]

Ramadan Daily Duas - Day 6

*Dua for Day 6 | Holy Month of Ramadhan* O ALLAH,[…]

Ask4help Counseling Helpline