Monday, October 8, 2007

INDIANS HATE INDIANS

photocourtesy
newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/42480000/jpg/_42480360_taj...

It’s a genetic aberration
DNA oriented a hate filled
Sense of insecurity that
Indians hate Indians
Don’t ask me why
My words bombast
Says a photographer Panditji on the sly
Hidden behind a smoke screen
Of cybernetic hate little podgy
Hands reaching the sky
He could not find his dictionary
Hard he did try
Threatened from Day one
Of my arrival a tsunami
A breezing blogger
This confused Muslim Indian guy
Bitter Photography Forum
Men turned Women they cry
Yes I unsubscribed
Bad Rubbish Good Bye
Racism exists in our backyard too
This bitter truth can’t deny
Photographers selling their mothers
Money is more important
Whatever trade you ply
Juvenile jujubes with diapers
Milking the system of a Cow
Udders gone dry
God save you brother
Pictorial prejudice
Inferiority of spirit
Waspish woes
Indians hate Indians
From the frying pan
Into the fire your
Soul they will fry
If they sense you are
More talented than them
Collectively bottled crabs
Will stab you by and by

firoze shakir

Happy Columbus Day Mr Trade Martin..

Happy Columbus Day Mr Trade Martin..
Allen James Saywell was born as trash
in a recycle bin

his mother a serpentine whore
his father double headed Moroccan Djinn
he was born cicumsized the midwife
ate up his pinkish foreskin
before you say columbus
he the rajah of multi colored hate
to this forum will just breeze in..
a pen drive of uploaded original sin
faaaaaaark me as a 78 rpm record on a spin

HUBCAP SHITHEAD

Forum of Disillusionment

posted at better photography forum
Posted: Mon Oct 08, 2007 11:23 am

I was seduced by the Photo Blog in August 2005.
I joined PhotoBlogs.Org
I joined Bloggerspot
I joined Fotothing
I joined Buzznet
But before all this I think I joined Fan art Review .
This is a site for those photographers who shoot great pictures, want them to be appraised, and also showcased for Sale.
I had just left analogue photography and salon participation , and this was almost an online extension.I became an ordinary member , reviewed other people photographs, but could not post my own, as a upgrade was required of US$2.80.
I was not interested and I dont sell pictures, my pictures are of human bondage and pain, blood, religiosity.
I give it free..
So check out this site.I knew an India Painter whose work is here on Fan Art Review Gajanan..
The pictures I reviewd at Fan Art are a learning experience, and even as an ordinary member you atleast see amateurs as digital craftsman.And this is Knowledge that you store and will never end in recession..I have not gone there for almmost 8 months..





www.fanartreview.com/index.jsp

www.fanartreview.com/index1.jsp
free membership

www.fanartreview.com/formregister.jsp


Fotothing I stopped posting because they deleted my Moharam pictures but is a good site to display your pictures .

www.fotothing.com/

I will continue giving you all tips if you have any query dont hesitate to ask me, all this is without any ulterior motive ..but you have safe passage unlike me.
Buzznet is the best social net working photographer site..no pangas about what you post, your best pictures if liked by everyone there is a poll are featured on the main page of the site.. great good friends I have there..fantastic photographers..Its very easy to become a member Free..whatever recognition on Google Search as a Photo Blogger is because of Buzznet..this site made me a writer and a poet too besides being a street photographer.And dont fall in love online must of the women are guys who love playing doubles, will drive you to the loony bin..its happened to me beware..


www.buzznet.com

www.photoblogs.org/


Firoze Shakir

Bitter Photography

Posted at Better Photography Forum Posted: Mon Oct 08, 2007 10:26 am



When a child is born he is totally vulnerable , at the mercy of his parents who nurture him, make him aware of his social environment , teach him to take his first step, toilet training and other forms of behavioral etiquette .Later as he grows goes to school, you all know that.
Now to photography, the enthusiasm of newbie framez, his cry for Help on the forum, he knows none of us we respond, taking cue from Gopal, my own inputs.
None of us unless our fathers are photographers really know the depth and range of a passion called Photography .Each of us expect a certain pecuniary benefit from photography, this is the Indian school of a selfish thought, of getting something out of nothing.,. Why cant we just attain knowledge at the feet of the Goddess of Photography .Yes I know we all are under financial constrains , and photography is not a poor mans hobby..at PSI Mumbai the older lot of washed out photographers hate my talks or views, you can write a poetry on an empty stomach but you need money to buy a roll, develop it
photography demands money, and once you hone your skills it showers you with money.
Atul Kasbekar and I am not just dropping names, listen to his talks , he talks sense this illumine of Brookes Institute of Photography, there was a time he detested the 35mm format it was medium format for him, and than came the digital boom and he switched over to Canon Mach II .
I never miss his talks that he gives as a Canon Pro, we don’t need to be swallowed up in the footsteps of old masters we have to learn to create our own.
Atul is more than photography his sheer knowledge, his anecdotes, yes he is a Master and he defied the system and pushed his way up with sheer grit and determination..
I went to another Canon lecture just to listen to Prabhudas Gupta he used to shoot B/W and process and blow them himself till he saw the work of Pallon Daruwalla digital stuff and he switched from a wet lab to a dry one on the computer. He said if he put his manual print by the side of his digital you will never know the difference..
Today there are lot of us eager to learn but Masters are in short supply. Masters are a dying race, we don’t respect them when they are alive and on 19th August Photography Day we remember them, is one big joke.
The Mitter Bedis, Bhardwaj, Phanibandas, Unwallas, Sam Tata all forgotten..the living ones well the celebrity ones are unavailable.
I am not a magazine writer now you know what I mean by a Blogger words flow in the direction of an ocean called human consciousness
.My first Guru Shreekanth Malushte teaches at Vivekananda Classes Dadar , I joined his Rapid one week course. The ABC Basics whatever you call it, I knew nothing, I hate classroom stuff and writing notes, I am a field man, but I strove ,picked up knowledge. It was his trip to National Park with Venay Paralkar his brilliant student and now Mumbais finest, who gave us tips, and this is shooting with a B /W roll in the camera..
I was given a certificate, and Mr Malushte made me join PSI Mumbai Photographic Society of India as a regular member. He taught me to shoot Bullock Cart Races at Alibagh Murud and the art of Panning.
Here at PSI I met Professor BW Jatkar a man with a baritone voice who was a faculty at JJ School of Arts and when I met him President of PSI Mumbai
They all took to me not because I could shoot well but because I dressed well exotic, filmy, rings on my hands, turbans.,silver sticks the works.
I don’t think I will ever get a more colorful or photogenic model than me, those days I dressed three times in a day. This was attitude unbound.
Mr Jatakar took me to shoot Seagulls off Mumbai coast lying stretched on my back with the sun filtering through wings I shot Seagulls , he taught me portraiture, he introduced me to Mr KG Maheshwari , I touched his feet the rest his history.
So a good environment of a photography Club, outings, competitions within the Club, are healthy attributes. We three Jatkar Saab Maheshwariji were a Troika , they made me join
AIPC Delhi, and FIP Kolkatta , I began under them my steward ship as a Salon Exhibitor, we missed none we took home Acceptances Merits and Awards National International. But the high was not the Awards but my pictures went in the same package with these stalwarts,, their heart beat and mine in resonance.
So back to my premise, don’t search to hard for a Guru he will search you out..
There is no Gyan without a Guru..
This is my first heart rendering that after posting at the Forum becomes my latest Blog Post at Flickr, Word Press Bloggerspot..
Normally my Intros at the Forum are not recorded anywhere else..
So coming to the Forum to sell my cameras because of a sudden cash crunch I became a part of all you in body and soul.
Now don’t ever ask me is Photoblogging better than Print Media..?
I am far too opinionated to answer in the favor of Main Stream Media..
And photobloggers don’t need to kiss editorial you know what.
We give, we are paid through the kindness of a comment by the person who reads us from his heart and not through his wallet.
Take Care
Firoze Shakir

C words


C words
Originally uploaded by flickr photographerno1
Cybernetic love
c words
a technorati tag along

cadaverously cosmic
cantankerously capricious
cataclysmic cataleptic
catalytic catastrophic
catatonic caucasoid cockeyed
combative combustible
concentric consequentially
corkscrewed claustrophobic
culpability conclude


to tai chi italy,

I am a Broken Hearted Blog

her figure of speech
an hour glass
her body a wine glass
her thoughts through
my minds spyglass
hoveringly harrowingly pass
a mumbaikar walking barefeet
american land mass
yes i do through
enemy country
of a marital impasse
poetically tresspas
beyond web borders
beyond online osmosis
my love for her
cybernetically surpass

picture shot by shabir the gemstone man, bhendi bazar

synesthesia synthesized

Synesthesia means I paste words
Anesthesia to my untasted words
Amenesia to my finger fucked words
Unclicked poetry forming buzzwords
her weblocked window sill food for birds
birds of bloggers cybernetic nerds
find their way here from flickerd blizzards
Australian seagulls some sea birds
clambering to her like clikckety click herds
searching for lost sheep these blog shepherds
some tangible frangible twisted turds
some milked, some whey laid buttery curds
some sore throated singing in silence song words
buzznets magical land of jailbirds
claws on her soul of Indian leopards
squarely spotted multicolored
falling in love almost backwards..
shia thug hidden in word press cupboards
user name changing passwords
1000 unclicked poems to her
from this wizard…stealing thoughts
from her orchards
blog goddess a living tail
of this lizard.

Cock Eyed Man


Cock Eyed Man
Originally uploaded by flickr photographerno1
Perched on a Hand Cart
Man fragmented life
a broken heart
a cock a hen watch him
wondering that they will end
in his rich brothers stomach
tandoori chicken rumali roti
unchewd bones as spared part
man searching for peace
a piece that eludes him when
his soul departs.

Thank You President Bush…Saddam

photo courtesy AP

Posted on 06/08/2006 9:05 posted at Buzznet

MISPLACED MARTYRDOM

The Arab world is a house divided among itself.

They just watch lips sealed as atrocities take place in their backyards.

I am not talking about todays trying times, the Arab gods gift to the Desert, stands deserted by his own kind.

Killings are nothing new, and if you really have to see Arab lack of empathy just turn a few pages and out will flow the innocent blood on the sands of Karbala.

The Islamic world watched, and also tried its best to erase all this as a myth, doctored history, Caliphate after Caliphate tried to clean the blood stains on the sands, those committed by their forefathers but it remained.

Moharram that comes each year is what keeps it Alive, reminds the Oppressors that Good always prevails over Evil.

Terrorism is not new, it’s the same as it was at Karbala 1400 years back, the progeny of Yazid, Shimr go on with their task, of plundering innocence, beheadings, suicide bombings, some Arab states would love to see Iraq disappear from the face of the world, the Shia Iraq, and the Shia Iran..And this is a global mischief, a conspiracy aggrandized by petrodollars and Wahhabism.

Zarqawi, Bin Ladens, of the World garbed in Deceit, preach everything that is against the tenets’ of Islam. Global Peace.

The Sunni World has everything but Martyrs.

They can create everything but Martyrs,

Imam Hussein comes once in a life time.

Karbala is more than a life time.

A leader is one who heals, and that is how leaders are remembered, for their touch, and leaders like Gandhi, Martin Luther King preach a Gospel that nobody wants to hear, people love War cries, the black rains, the cacophony of the cries in bombs.

Nobody will remember the Bushes of the World, this is my soul speaking a universal language, Saddam Hussains, Tony Blairs, Hitlers, were non existent will remain so much after we are all gone and a new generation walks in to take our place.

Zarqawis should be stamped out of this world before they take up cudgels against Man and Mankind…but the Arab world wanted a Hero…a Martyred Hero… but we remember those heroes that lay their lives for Truth Justice and Peace.

Ya Hussain Ya Hussain.



update Jan 11 2006

The Sunnis have finally got a Martyr a Hussain all be it Saddam Hussain, my words were written much before Saddam was hanged , the United States of America courtesy President Bush has been instrumental, in transforming the Butcher of Baghdad into a Saint,, no devils advoicate shortcut to more terrorism ,Bush played Pontius Pilate wahsed his hands slept , before the hoodlums strung him up, hoodlums in the pay of the CIA,,,


A Martyred Messiah was born..

smelling like roses

that was once a Thug of a Thorn..

says he from up there

Thank You

President Bush

I am reborn

A Sunni Karbala

A New Sunni Dawn

Weapons of Mass Destruction

now as more suicide bombers

will also be reborn…

come next election

you dear President will be gone

a seminal stain on a Political Porn..

this was reposted at word press where i am creating a short cut to my buzznet journals..

Muslim Woman Sacrificial Goat

muslim woman
marriage is sweet sorrow
talak talak talak
3 words borrow
mullah says its over
no today
no tomorrow

Sacrificial Goat


Sacrificial Goat
Originally uploaded by flickr photographerno1
parting is sweet sorrow
the butchers blade
a feast
new clothes borrow
here today
gone tomorrow

12000 Blogs at Flickr

I joined flickr June 10 2007
With this post I complete 12000 photo blogs

My archives
June 1356
July 5560
August 1787
October 146

Flickr is where I live
Cybernetically ensconced
Cocooned
In a Photo Blog
A thought my wife won’t forgive
Through my blogs
My unborn grandson
My life will relive
This gift to him
I give

Shh Dont Wake Him


Shh Dont Wake Him
Originally uploaded by flickr photographerno1
he is asleep
in a nether world
the angels
his dreams sweep
when he wakes up
he will be on a mound
his fucked
karmic garbage heap
neck deep

I am a Blog Shadow Boxer

born without shoes
i run barefeet,,
yes i am a blog
womans dead meat
her fragrance
i am on heat
on her heart
lies my drapered
winding sheet
my fuckless fate
i could not cheat
nor her hybrid hate
i could unseat
sucked up system
could not beat
bitterness
giving birth to sweet

to the shadow boxer
a love one sided
i could never
outfox her
or on the page
of her journal
ever out box her
a trembling door
one sidedly locks her
poem pounding fate
poem hunter mocks her
she too a blog
a goddess rocks her
primordial faith
unfaithfully defrocks her

Muslim Women Bakra Idd Mubarak

its about 3.30 am, i am disturbed by a little muslim girl and her mothers picture ,as they come to my shop to beg, these are pictures i have on my computer unworked and no time to post …i am not very net savvy and find it difficult to upload to word press directly from my computer as i do at buzznet or bloggerspot.

so i have to post elsewhere and than copy to word press.

my new poem…is not to offend any one but a thought for change …atleast with regard to a better life of education and self reliance to the unprivilged muslim women…interpreting spirituality that makes life on earth wholesome too…for women particularly.

They spend millions
Slaughtering bakras
To appease Allah
We all agree
A hotelier
Will sacrifice
a lac rupee goat
money matters
to spirituality
on the roads
the muslim mother and child beg
Islamic born never ending tragedy
Women get a raw deal
Whether rich or born to powerless poverty
The mullah happy in his rhetoric’s
We all can see
Adding insult to injury
Zainabs rida a shame on
Islamic Umayyad history
A blessed fruit
of a the Holy Prophets
Family tree
This they reluctantly agree
Women were born to suffer
Allah ho Akbar
Is this not Islamic women’s destiny.
Should she die before she is born
To set her enslaved soul free
Motherhood thy name is adversity
Its not the hijab but the Muslim man
That robs women of her inherent modesty
She covers herself to hide her scars her wounds
With man not at all on parity
Muslim society
No remorse simply
Masculine Pride and Vanity.

posted at word press

at the master s feet

mary magdalene

with her virginal tears

washed the masters feet

flowers bloomed

within a heart beat

snatching a spiritual victory

from the jaws of defeat

who says death you cannot cheat

jesus is alive in the misery of the meek

the bruised the battered and the weak

who on a highway lost

lesser god of children seek

silence sealed sorrow that cannot speak

carved legs of agony in burma teak

CRY MY BELOVED COUNTRY

i was bound hand and feet mouth gagged

a photographer unlearning photography

i was seduced by a photo blog goddess

prometheus unbound

she who taught me poetry

knighted me a blogger

set my multi colored soul free

i saw the pain the sorrow

train bomb blasts

cry my beloved country

cloud bursts, tsunami

could not crush the spirit

the resillience of a mumbaikar

born to a womb of mumbai city

a decapitated head of hussain

blood flowing on the sand of karbala

destroying ummayad pride and vanity

yes we are shias followers of hazrat ali

ya hussain ya hussain a chant

a severed branch still rooted

to the grandeur of the

holy prophets family tree

www.photographerno1.com

my new poem

picture shot lying sprawled on a ship deck off mumbai harbour…

elysabeth faslund


elysabeth faslund
Originally uploaded by flickr photographerno1
The most humane
Loving everyone
A Viking goddess
Full of fun
Yes she did touch me once
This Bollywoods Most Haunted
Photographerno1
At the poem hunter forum
She is the light ever flowing
Like the rays of hope
This raising sun
Her tenderness of touch
Through her poems
Her jokes her anecdotes
Binds everyone
She could not hurt a fly
This lady of lambeth
With a chirpy southern drawl
Poem hunter mornings begun
From East my Cupid arrows
She is not easily Won

firoze shakir

Dont Touch Me 2


Dont Touch Me 2
Originally uploaded by flickr photographerno1
how dare you
even think of
touching me
how dare you
even think of
clutching me
you degenerate
son of a demented blog
a serpent seed of a web log
dont you dare forget
i a blog goddess
you a undistempered
rabid pariah dog
stilted poetry
in a putrid bog
an emerald
on the head
of a poisonous frog

woman wanton wicker worked

Woman wall papered
Woman wall flowered
Woman wasted
Woman wanting
Woman wall to wall walloped
Woman warehoused
Woman washed out
Woman waterlogged
Woman water marked
Woman way laid wax museum
Woman weather beaten
Woman web-footed
Woman weak kneed
Woman weightless weirdo
Woman well read well bred
Woman whip lashed
Woman wholesale
Woman whole hearted wild cat
Woman wisdom tooth wise cracked
Woman witch witchcraft withdrawn
Woman woe be gone workbook
Woman worn out wormwood
Woman wrongheaded wretch
Woman worshipped worthless
Woman’s workmanship witless
Woman winning wireless
Woman wildcat wonderment
Woman water spouting wash board
Woman walkie talkie watched word
Woman weapon wedged wed locked
Woman whetstone witticism
Woman wind instrument
Woman wild fired wilderness
Woman wool gathering
Woman woozy worded wrong headed

woman alliterated unaltered
woman a womb of confusion unfaltered

a freedom loving door

this is not a poets
locked from within
in mortal sin
trembling door
this is a picture of a
free dumb loving door
kicked around
posterior very sore
unwashed depressive
highly regressive
keeps asking
to be fucked some more
while she in
journalistic slumber snores
permissive dismissive
benumbed door
for sale at the flea market
a badly broken hearted
humped dumped slumped stumped door
so damned trick writ hanging door
will soon be eulogized in fabled lore
a pimp of a poet prostituted poetry
prosecuted whore
distempered dick head
waiting eagerly footsore
for her to change the Venetian
blinds of her mindless windows
that peep into her boudoir
the languishing lacerated soul
of her fleshy indoor
this so finely choreographic
Californian condor
an encyclopedic blog goddess
on my hearts brochure
cockeyed cock teasing
supinely sleeping stock still door
an incurable cybernetic love
for my muse and no fucked cure

a word pressed mind messed
photo blogger bolllywoods most wanted epicure

january 3rd, 2007

Pain of a New Year

When sufferings come they do not tell
we cry, we bemoan, we scream shout and yell
a product we got life that we cannot re gift or sell
the resonance of pain the waiting grave
the story of man from the cradle to a death knell
god and his magic spell
a new year born to an old year unwell
on crushing sounds of despair
on a planet of pain that we dwell
a calamitous cat of catastrophe
that we cannot bell…
astrologically absurd
interplanetary pell-mell

SHIITES AND SHIAISM, Shi'aism, Shia, Shias, Shî'ah, sheee, shi ...

SHIITES AND SHIAISM, Shi'aism, Shia, Shias, Shî'ah, sheee, shi ...
Sunni Islam and Shia Islam are the two major divisions of Islam. Approximately 85% of Muslims are Sunni and 15% are Shi'a, with a small minority belonging to other sects. The historic background of the Sunni-Shia split lies in the schism that occurred when the Islamic prophet Muhammad died in the year 632, leading to a dispute over succession to Muhammad.

Over the years Sunni-Shia relations have been marked by both cooperation and conflict. Today there are differences in religious practice, traditions, and customs in addition to religious belief.

Differences in beliefs and practices
The Shia believe that Muhammad divinely ordained his cousin and son-in-law Ali (the father of his only two grandsons Hasan ibn Ali and Husayn ibn Ali) in accordance with the command of God to be the next caliph, making Ali and his direct descendants Muhammad's true successors. The Sunnis hold that Abu Bakr was Muhammad's rightful successor and that all caliphs should be chosen by consensus of the Ummah, Muslim community, and that this method of choosing or electing leaders (Shura) is endorsed by the Qur'an.

Sunnis follow the Rashidun (rightly-guided caliphs), which were the first four caliphs who ruled after the death of Muhammad (Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman Ibn Affan, and Ali). Shias discount the legitimacy of the first three caliphs and believe that Ali is the second-most divinly inspired man (after Muhammad) and that he and his descendents by Muhammad's daughter Fatimah, the Imamah (Shia imans) are the sole legitimate Islamic leaders.

The Shias accept most of the the same hadiths used by Sunnis as part of the Sunna and to argue their case. In addition they use hadith narrated by the Ahl al-Bayt (the prophet's family through Ali), that Sunni do not consider hadith. Some Sunni-accepted hadith are less favored by Shia, for example, because of Aisha's opposition to Ali (whom they believe to have been divinely appointed by Mohammad), hadith narrated by Aisha are not given the same authority as those by other companions.

A rift also still exists between Sunnis and some small Shia branches who curse Aisha (RA) and the first three Caliphs. Sunnis strongly disagree with this practice. Mainstream Shias do not consider the cursing of the first three caliphs as a sin, but neither do they consider it helpful to the Shia cause, and hence do not endorsing it.[1]

When prostrating during ritual prayer, (Salah), Shia place their forehead onto a piece of naturally occurring material (usually clay, or sand from Kerbala, the place where Imam Hussain was martyred), instead of directly onto the prayer mat, as the majority Sunni do. (There is some question as to how different this is from Sunni practice, since the Prophet prayed on soil or earth, not synthetic materials, and since it is always preferrable to do as the Prophet did, and since most mats and carpets nowadays are made of semi or partially synthetic material.[2])

Some Shia perform prayers (Salah), back to back, sometimes worshipping two times consecutively (1+2+2), thus praying at three separate times during the day instead of five as is required by Sunni.[3]

Most Sunni and Shia believe that the Mahdi will appear at end times to bring about a perfect and just Islamic society. Twelver Shia believe the Mahdi will be Muhammad al-Mahdi, the twelfth Imam returned from occultation where he has been hidden by God since 874 AD. Sunni do not accept this.

Some Shia permit mutah - fixed-term temporary marriage - which is not acceptable within the Sunni community. Sunnis do not allow it due to the Prophet's ban of it, but according to Shia it was banned by Umar.


[edit] History

[edit] Abbasid era
The Umayyads were overthrown in 750 by a new dynasty, the Abbasids. The first Abbasid caliph, As-Saffah recruited Shiite support in his campaign against the Umayyads by emphasizing his blood relationship to the Prophet's household through descent from his uncle, Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib. The Shia also believe that he promised them that the Caliphate, or at least religious authority, would be vested in the Shiite Imam. As-Saffah assumed both the temporal and religious mantle of Caliph himself. He continued the Umayyad dynastic practice of succession, and his brother al-Mansur succeeded him in 754. The sixth Shi'a Imam died during al-Mansur's reign, and there were claims that he was murdered on the orders of the caliph.[4].

However Abbasid persecution of Islamic lawyers was not restricted to the Shia. Even the Sunni scholar and founder of the biggest Sunni school of law, Abu Hanifah, was imprisoned by al-Mansur and tortured. Al-Mansur also had Ibn Hanbal, another one of the four major schools of Sunni law, flogged.[5]

Shia sources further claim that by the orders of the tenth Abassid caliph, al-Mutawakkil, the tomb of the third Shia Imam Husayn ibn Ali in Karbala was completely demolished,[6] and Shias were sometimes beheaded in groups, buried alive, or even placed alive within the walls of government buildings still under construction.[7]

The Shia believe that they thus continued to live for the most part in hiding and followed their religious life secretly without external manifestations.[8]


[edit] Shia-Sunni in Persia
Main article: Islam in Iran
Sunni was dominant form of Islam in most part of Iran from the beginning until rise of Safavids empire. According to Mortaza Motahhari the majority of Iranian scholars and masses remained Sunni till the time of the Safawids.[9]

Nizamiyyas were the medieval institutions of Islamic higher education established by Khwaja Nizam al-Mulk in the eleventh century. Nizamiyyah institutes were the first well organized universities in the Muslim world. The most famous and celebrated of all the nizamiyyah schools was Al-Nizamiyya of Baghdad (established 1065), where Khwaja Nizam al-Mulk appointed the distinguished philosopher and theologian, al-Ghazali, as a professor. Other nizamiyyah schools were located in Nishapur, Balkh, Herat and Isfahan.

The domination of Sunnis doesn't mean Shia was rootless in Iran. The writers of The Four Books of Shia were Iranian as well as many other great Shia scholars.

According to Mortaza Motahhari[9]:

The majority of Iranians turned to Shi'ism from the Safawid period onwards. Of course, it cannot be denied that Iran's environment was more favourable to the flourishing of the Shi'ism as compared to all other parts of the Muslim world. Shi'ism did not penetrate any land to the extent that it gradually could in Iran. With the passage of time, Iranians' readiness to practise Shi'ism grew day by day. Had Shi`ism not been deeply rooted in the Iranian spirit, the Safawids (907-1145/ 1501-1732) would not have succeeded in converting Iranians to the Shi'a creed and making them follow the Prophet's Ahl al-Bayt sheerly by capturing political power.


[edit] Shiaism in Iran before Safawids
The domination of the Sunni creed during the first nine Islamic centuries characterizes the religious history of Iran during this period. There were however some exceptions to this general domination which emerged in the form of the Zaydīs of Tabaristan, the Buwayhid, the rule of Sultan Muhammad Khudabandah (r. Shawwal 703-Shawwal 716/1304-1316) and the Sarbedaran. Nevertheless, apart from this domination there existed, firstly, throughout these nine centuries, Shia inclinations among many Sunnis of this land and, secondly, original Imami Shiism as well as Zaydī Shiism had prevalence in some parts of Iran. During this period, Shia in Iran were nourished from Kufah, Baghdad and later from Najaf and Hillah. [10] Shiism were dominant sect in Tabaristan, Qom, Kashan, Avaj and Sabzevar. In many other areas the population of Shia and Sunni was mixed.

The first Zaidi state was established in Daylaman and Tabaristan (northern Iran) in 864 C.E. by the Alavids[11]; it lasted until the death of its leader at the hand of the Samanids in 928 C.E. Roughly forty years later the state was revived in Gilan (north-western Iran) and survived under Hasanid leaders until 1126 C.E. After which from the 12th-13th centuries, the Zaidis of Daylaman, Gilan and Tabaristan then acknowledge the Zaidi Imams of Yemen or rival Zaidi Imams within Iran.[12]

The Buyids, who were Shi'a and had a significant influence not only in the provinces of Persia but also in the capital of the caliphate in Baghdad, and even upon the caliph himself, provided a unique opportunity for the spread and diffusion of Shi'a thought. This spread of Shiism to the inner circles of the government enabled Shias to withstand those who opposed them by relying upon the power of the caliphate.

Twelvers came to Iran from Arab regions in the course of four stages. First, through the Asharis tribe at the end of the first(AH)/seventh(CE) and during the second(AH)/eighth(CE) century. Second through the pupils of Sabzevar, and especially those of Shaykh Mufid, who were from Ray and Sabzawar and resided in those cities. Third, through the school of Hillah under the leadership of Allama Hilli and his son Fakhr al-Muhaqqiqin. Fourth, through the scholars of Jabal Amel residing in that region, or in Iraq, during the 10th(AH)/16th(AH) and 11th(AH)/17th(AH) centuries who later migrated to Iran.[13]

On the other hand Ismailis sent Da'i (missionaries) during Fatimid caliphate to Iran as well as other Muslim lands. When Ismailis divided into two sects, Nizaris established their base in Iran. Hassan-i Sabbah conquered fortresses and captured Alamut in 1090 CE. Nizaris used this fortress until Mongol raid in 1256CE.

After the Mongol raid and fall of the Abbasids, the Sunni ulema suffered greatly. In addition to the destruction of the caliphate there was no official Sunni Madh'hab for a while. Many libraries and Madrasahs were destroyed and some of the Sunni scholars migrated to other Islamic lands like Anatolia and Egypt. In contrast Shia where unaffected as their center was not in Iran at this time. For the first time Shia could invite other Muslims openly.

Several local Shia dynasties like Sarbadars were established during this time. The kings of the Aq Qoynlu and Qara Qoynlu dynasties ruled in Tabriz with a domain extending to Fars and Kerman. In Egypt the Fatimid government ruled (al-Ka-mil of Ibn Athir, Cairo, 1348; Raudat al-safa'; and Habib al-siyar of Khwand Mir).

Shah Muhammad Khudabandah, the famous builder of Soltaniyeh, was among the first of the Mongols to convert to Shi'aism, and his descendants ruled for many years in Persia and were instrumental in spreading Shia thought.[14]

Sufism played a major role in spread of Shiism in this time. According to Hossein Nasr

After the Mongol invasion Shiims and Sufism once again formed a close association in many ways. Some of the Ismailis whose power had broken by the mongols, went underground and appeared later within Sufi orders or as new branches of already existing orders. In Twelve-Imam Shiism also from Seventh(AH)/thirteenths(CE) to the tenth(AH)/sixteenth(CE) century Sufism began to grow within official Shiite circles.[15]

Nasr insists on the role of Sufis orders on spread of Shiism.

The extremist sects of the Hurufis and Shasha'a grew directly out of a background that is both Shiite and Sufi. More important in the long run than these sects were the Sufi orders which spread in Persia at this time and aided in the preparing the ground for the Shiite movement of Safavids. Two of these orders are of particular significance in this question of the relation of Shiism and Sufism:The Nimatullahi order and Nurbakhshi order.[16]


[edit] Shiaism in Iran after Safawids
Ismail I initiated a religious policy to recognize Shi'a Islam as the official religion of the Safavid Empire, and the fact that modern Iran remains an officially Shi'ite state is a direct result of Ismail's actions. Unfortunately for Ismail, most of his subjects were Sunni. He thus had to enforce official Shi'ism violently, putting to death those who opposed him. Under this pressure, Safavid subjects either converted, or pretended to convert, but it is safe to say that the majority of the population was probably genuinely Shi'ite by the end of the Safavid period in the 18th century, and most Iranians today are Shi'ite, although there is still a Sunni minority.[17] Safavids systematically sought to establish Shiism as the religion of the state.

Immediately following the establishment of Safavid power the migration of scholars began and they were invited to Iran ... By the side of the immigration of scholars, Shi'i works and writings were also brought to Iran from Arabic-speaking lands, and they performed an important role in the religious development of Iran ... In fact, since the time of the leadership of Shaykh Mufid and Shaykh Tusi, Iraq had a central academic position for Shi'ism. This central position was transferred to Iran during the Safavid era for two-and-a-half centuries, after which it partly returned to Najaf. ... Before the Safavid era Shi'i manuscripts were mainly written in Iraq, with the establishment of the Safavid rule these manuscripts were transferred to Iran.[13]

This led to a wide gap between Iran and its Sunni neighbors until 20th century. During the early days of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Khomeini endeavored to bridge the gap between Shiites and Sunnis by declared it permissible for Shiites to pray behind Sunni imams and by forbidding criticizing the Caliphs who preceded Ali — an issue that had caused much animosity between the two sects.[18]


[edit] Shia-Sunni in Levant
Shias claim that despite these advances, many Shi'as in Syria continued to be killed during this period merely for being Shi'ah. One of these was Muhammad Ibn Makki called Shahid-i Awwal (the First Martyr), one of the great figures in Shi'a jurisprudence, who was killed in Damascus in 1384CE (al-Ka-mil of Ibn Athir, Cairo, 1348; Raudat al-safa'; and Habib al-siyar of Khwand Mir).

Shihab al-Din Suhrawardi was another eminent scholar, killed in Aleppo on charges of cultivating Batini teachings and philosophy (al-Ka-mil of Ibn Athir, Cairo, 1348; Raudat al-safa'; and Habib al-siyar of Khwand Mir).


[edit] Modern Sunni-Shia relations
Western scholars have agreed that a realistic measure of Sunni Shia numbers is 85% Sunni, 13% Shia with the remaining 2% forming other groups. [citation needed]In addition to Iran, Iraq has emerged as a major Shia government when the Shi'a achieved political dominance in 2005 under American occupation.

The two communities have often remained separate, mingling regularly only during the Hajj pilgrimage in Mecca. In some countries like Iraq, Syria, and Bahrain, communities have mingled and intermarried. Shias have been treated harshly in some countries dominated by Sunnis, especially in Saudi Arabia, while Sunnis have been treated likewise in Shia-majority Iran.


[edit] Iraq

A heated talk show where a Sunni Iraqi member of parliament attacks a Shia journalist, while claiming that "these same people that killed Saddam are the same people that killed the Khulafa al-Rashidun".See video footage:[19]According to most sources, including The CIA World Factbook, the majority of Iraqis are Shi'ite Arab Muslims (around 65%), and Sunnis represent about 32% of the population.[20] However, Sunni are split ethnically between Arabs, Kurds and Turkmen. Many Sunnis hotly dispute their minority status, including ex-Iraqi Ambassador Faruq Ziada,[21] referring to American sources.[22] They claim that many reports or sources only include Arab Sunnis as 'Sunni', missing out the Kurdish and Turkmen Sunnis. Some argue that the 2003 Iraq Census shows that Sunnis were a slight majority.[23] Various monarchies, and secular regimes sourced mainly, but not exclusively, from Sunni areas, controlled the government for nearly a century until the 2003 Iraq War. The British, having put down a Shia rebellion against their rule in the 1920s, "confirmed their reliance on a corps of Sunni ex-officers of the collapsed Ottoman empire". It was when the Sunni and Shia united against colonial rule that it ended.[24]

The Shia suffered indirect and direct persecution under independent Iraqi governments since 1932, especially that of Saddam Hussein. In 1969 the son of Iraq's highest Shia Ayatollah Muhsin al-Hakim was arrested and allegedly tortured. Shia religious leaders were particularly targeted. "Between 1970 and 1985 the Baathist regime executed at least 41 clerics",[25] and Shia opposition to the government following the first Gulf War was reportedly suppressed.


[edit] Iraq War
Some of the worst Shia-Sunni sectarian strife ever has occurred in the Iraq War, which has built up steadily following the 2003 American invasion of that country.[26] While thousands have been killed by American and allied military collateral damage,[27] this has become overshadowed by the cycle of Sunni-Shia revenge killing -- Sunni often using suicide bombing, Shia favoring death squads. [28]

Sunni suicide bombers have targeted not only thousands of civilians, [29] but mosques, shrines, [30] wedding and funeral processions. [31] Sunni militant organizations that the US state department describes as the "terrorists" include Ansar al-Islam.[32] "Radical" groups include Al-Tawhid Wal-Jihad, Jeish al-Taiifa al-Mansoura, Jeish Muhammad, and Black Banner Organization. [33]

Takfir motivation for many of these killings may come from Sunni insurgent leader Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi. Before his death Zarqawi was want to quote Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab, especially his infamous statement urging followers to kill the Shi'a of Iraq,[34] and calling the Shias "snakes".[35] Wahabi suicide bombers continue to attack Iraqi Shia civilians,[36] and the Shia ulema have in response declared suicide bombing as haram:

"حتي كساني كه با انتحار مي‌‏آيند و مي‌‏زنند عده‌‏اي را مي‌‏كشند، آن هم به عنوان عمليات انتحاري، اينها در قعر جهنم هستند"
"Even those who kill people with suicide bombing, these shall meet the flames of hell."[37] Some believe the war has strengthened the takfir thinking and may spread Sunni-Shia strife elsewhere. [38]
On the Shia side, in early February 2006 militia-dominated government death squads were reportedly "tortur[ing] to death or summarily" executing "hundreds" of Sunnis "every month in Baghdad alone," many arrested at random. [39] [40] [41]

"Over the last eighteen months [2005 through early 2006] these commandos [ Badr Organization militiamen controlling the Ministry of the Interior] - who are almost exclusively Shia Muslims - have been implicated in rounding up and killing thousands of ordinary Sunni civilians"Channel 4 program Dispatches

In addition to the killing, it is reported that Shia "death squads" of the government's Interior Ministry and the Badr Organization militia, have used intimidation to drive the mainly Sunni intelligentsia from their posts, jobs and neighbourhoods, to replace them with poorer, and less educated Shias often from the poorer south. Many Sunnis register themselves as Shia for identification cards to avoid being targeted by the 'death squads'.


[edit] Pakistan
Pakistan has seen serious Shia-Sunni discord. Almost 77% of Pakistan's population is Sunni, with 20% being Shia, [40] but this Shia minority population is larger than that of the Shia majority in Iraq. In the last two decades, "as many as 4,000 people are estimated to have died in sectarian fighting in Pakistan", 300 in 2006."[42] Amongst the culprits blamed for the killing are Al Qaeda working "with local sectarian groups" to kill what they perceive as Shi'a apostates, and "foreign powers ... trying to sow discord."[43]

Anti-Shia groups in Pakistan include the Lashkar i Jhangvi and Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan, offshoots of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI). The groups demand the expulsion of all Shias from Pakistan and have killed hundreds of Pakistani Shias between 1996 and 1999.[44]


[edit] Afghanistan
Shia-Sunni strife in Pakistan is strongly intertwined with that in Afghanistan. Though now deposed, the anti-Shia Afghan Taliban regime helped anti-Shia Pakistani groups and vice versa. Lashkar i Jhangvi and Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan, have sent thousands of volunteers to fight with the extreme Deobandi Taliban regime and "in return the Taliban gave sanctuary to their leaders in the Afghan capital of Kabul." [45]

"Over 80,000 Pakistani Islamic militants have trained and fought with Taliban since 1994. They form a hardcore of Islamic activists, ever ready to carry out a similar Taliban-style Islamic revolution in Pakistan." According to Pakistani journalist Ahmed Rashid[46]

Shia-Sunni strife inside of Afghanistan has mainly been a function of the puritanical Sunni Taliban's clashes with Shia Afghans, primarily the Hazara ethnic group.

In 1998 more than 8000 noncombatants were killed when the Taliban attacked Mazar-i-Sharif and Bamiyan where many Hazaras live.[47] Some of the slaughter was indiscriminate, but many were Shia targeted by the Taliban. Taliban commander and governor Mullah Niazi banned prayer at Shia mosques[48] and expressed takfir of the Shia in a declaration from Mazar's central mosque:

Last year you rebelled against us and killed us. From all your homes you shot at us. Now we are here to deal with you. The Hazaras are not Muslims and now have to kill Hazaras. You either accept to be Muslims or leave Afghanistan. Wherever you go we will catch you. If you go up we will pull you down by your feet; if you hide below, we will pull you up by your hair. [49]

Assisting the Taliban in the murder of Iranian diplomatic and intelligence officials at the Iranian Consulate in Mazar were "several Pakistani militants of the anti-Shia, Sipah-e-Sahaba party." [50]


[edit] Iran & Shia Statehood

In this letter purporting to be from the International Islamic University Malaysia, the university is denying employment to a person based on what it claims to be government policy "against employing staff from a particular denomination, Shiite". Other sources present similar accounts of discrimination in Malaysia. [39]Iran is unique in the Muslim world not only for being overwhelmingly Shia (approximately 90% of the population), but having a theocratically Shia constitution. Sunnis there have complained of discrimination, particularly in important government positions. [51] For instance, while calling for unity with Iranian Shia Rafsanjani, Sunni Shiekh Yusuf al-Qaradawi complained that no ministers in Iran have been Sunni for a long time, that Sunni officials are scarce even in the regions with majority of Sunni population (such as Kurdistan, or Balochistan).[52] Sunnis claim to be heavily persecuted, claim they were regarded as second class citizens under the Shah of Iran, and suffered arrest, torture and execution and after the 1979 revolution. They claim that currently there is not a single Sunni mosque in the capital of Iran Tehran, despite having Christian churches, and that their mosques and schools have been demolished by the current regime, despite constituting a third of the population (not about 10% as most believe) and initially supporting the revolution of Khomeini in 1979.[53](dead link)

Soon after the 1979 revolution Sunni leaders from Kurdistan, Balouchistan, and Khorassan, set up a new party known as Shams, which is short for Shora-ye Markaz-e al Sunaat, to unite Sunnis and lobby for their rights. But six months after that, they were closed down, bank accounts suspended, and had their leaders arrested by the government on charges that they were backed by Saudi Arabia and Pakistan.[54]

A UN human rights report states that

...information indicates Sunnis, along with other religious minorities, are denied by law or practice access to such government positions as cabinet minister, ambassador, provincial governor, mayor and the like, Sunni schools and mosques have been destroyed, and Sunni leaders have been imprisoned, executed and assassinated. The report notes that while some of the information received may be difficult to corroborate there is a clear impression that the right of freedom of religion is not being respected with regard to the Sunni minority.[55]

Members of the 'Balochistan Peoples Front' claim that Sunnis are systematically discriminated against educationally by denial of places at universities, politically by not allowing sunnis to be army generals, ambassadors, ministers, prime minister, or president, religiously insulting Sunnis the media, not allowing the one million Sunnis in the capital Tehran to build a mosque or pray Jumuah (Friday prayers in congregation), economic discrimination by not giving import or export licenses for Sunni businesses while the majority of Sunnis are left unemployed.[56]

There has been a low level resistance in mainly Sunni Iranian Balouchistan against the regime for several years. Official media refers to the fighting as armed clashes between the police and "bandits," "drug-smugglers," and "thugs," to disguise the true nature of the conflict. Revolutionary Guards have stationed several brigades in Balouchi cities, and have tracked down Sunni leaders and assassinated them inside Iran and in neighboring Pakistan. In 1996 a leading Sunni, Abdulmalek Mollahzadeh, was gunned down by hitmen allegedly hired by Tehran as he was leaving his house in Karachi.[57]

Members of Sunni groups in Iran however have been active in what the authorities describe as "terrorist" activities. Balochi Sunni AbdulMalek Rigi continue to declare the Shia as Kafir and Mushrik.[58] These Sunni groups have been involved in violent activities in Iran, and have waged "terrorist"[59] attacks against civilian centers, including an attack next to a girl's school[60] according to government sources. The "shadowy Sunni militant group Jundullah" has reportedly been receiving weaponry from the United States for these attacks accoridng to a think tank.[61] The United Nations[62] and many countries worldwide[63] have condemned the bombings (See 2007 Zahedan bombings for more information)

Non-Sunni Iranian opposition parties, and Shia like Ayatollah Jalal Gange’i have criticised the regimes treatment of Sunnis, and confirmed many of the things sunnis complain of.[64]

Relations between Sunni Sufis and the Shi'a establishment are also tense. In February 2006, Qom witnessed a violent standoff between the two groups in which many Sufis were arrested[65][66]


[edit] Yemen
See Human rights in Yemen article.

Muslims in Yemen including Shaf'i (Sunni) majority and Zaydi (Shi'a) minority. Zaidi are sometimes called "Fiver Shia" instead of Twelver Shia because they recognise the first four of the twelve Imams (Ithna-asharī Imams) but accept Zayd ibn Ali as their "Fifth Imām" rather than his brother Muhammad al-Baqir.

Both Shia and Sunni dissidents in Yemen have similar complains about the government -- cooperation with the American government and an alleged failure to following Sharia law[67] -- but it's the Shia who have allegedly been singled out for government crackdown.

During and after the US-led invasion of Iraq, members of the Zaidi-Shia community protested after Friday prayers every week outside mosques, particularly the Grand Mosque in Sana’a, during which they shouted anti-US and anti-Israeli slogans, and criticised the government's close ties to America.[68] These protests were led by ex-parliament member and Imam, Bader Eddine al-Houthi [69]. In response the Yemeni government has implemented a campaign to crush "the Zaidi-Shia rebellion,"[70] and harrass journalists.[71] These latest measures come as the government faces a Sunni rebellion with a similar motivation to the Zaydi discontent.[72][73][74]


[edit] Bahrain
See Bandargate scandal

The small Persian Gulf island state of Bahrain has a Shia majority but is ruled by Sunni Al-Khalifa family as a constutitional monarchy. "Al Wifaq, the largest Shi'a political society, won the largest number of seats in the elected chamber of the legislature. However, Shi'a discontent has resurfaced in recent years with street demonstrations and occasional low-level violence." [75][76]


[edit] Syria
Syria is approximately three quarters Sunni[77], but its government is predominately Alawi. The government is controled by the dictatorial secular Arab nationalist Baath Arab Socialist Party, which is dominated in Syria by the Alawi sect which makes up less than 15% of Syria's population. Alawi are often considered a form of Shia Islam that differs somewhat from the larger Twelver Shia sect. [78] Others claim that Alawis "perceive themselves as the unique and only true monotheistic faith, distinct from the rest of Islam, including the Shi’a",[79] and that both Sunni and Shia do not consider Alawis Muslims. [41][42] [43].

A very serious 20th century conflict in Syria with sectarian religious overtones was the 1982 Hama Massacre, where an estimated 10,000 to 25,000 were killed by the Alawi-dominated Syrian military following an uprising by the Islamist Sunni Muslim Brotherhood. How much of the conflict was sparked by Sunni v. Shia divisions and how much by Islamism v. secular-Arab-nationalism, is in question.


[edit] Saudi Arabia & Salafis
Main article: Sunni fatwas on Shi'as
The Wahabi or Salafi movement of Saudi Arabia, have made no secret of declaring that the Shi'a are "not Muslims",[80] or "Kafir". (Wahabis consider themselves "true Sunnis" but are considered "pseudo-Sunnis" by some other Muslims.[81]) The Shia minority in Saudia Arabia has no political power or rights,[82] and edicts by the wahabi clerics have declared "Shia blood to be halal, i.e. permissible to be shed."[83]

According to a report by the Human Rights Watch:

"Shia Muslims, who constitute about eight percent of the Saudi population, faced discrimination in employment as well as limitations on religious practices. Shia jurisprudence books were banned, the traditional annual Shia mourning procession of Ashura was discouraged, and operating independent Islamic religious establishments remained illegal. At least seven Shi'a religious leaders-Abd al-Latif Muhammad Ali, Habib al-Hamid, Abd al-Latif al-Samin, Abdallah Ramadan, Sa'id al-Bahaar, Muhammad Abd al-Khidair, and Habib Hamdah Sayid Hashim al-Sadah-reportedly remained in prison for violating these restrictions."[84]

And Amnesty International adds:

"Members of the Shi‘a Muslim community (estimated at between 7 and 10 per cent of Saudi Arabia’s population of about 19 million) suffer systematic political, social, cultural as well as religious discrimination."[85]

While Shia make up only a small percentage of Saudi Arabia's population, they form roughly one-third of the residents of the eastern province of Hasa where much of the petroleum industry is based, and make up the majority of the work force there. Following the 1979 Iranian Revolution, Shia in Hasa ignored the ban on mourning ceremonies commemorating Ashura. When police broke them up three days of rampage ensued -- burned cars, attacked banks, looted shops -- centered around Qatif. At least 17 Shia were killed. In Feb. 1980 disturbances were "less spontaneous" and even bloodier.[86] Meanwhile broadcasts from Iran in the name of the Islamic Revolutionary Organization attacked the monarchy, telling listeners, `Kings despoil a country when they enter it and make the noblest of its people its meanest ... This is the nature of monarchy, which is rejected by Islam.`[87]

The arresting of Shias for commemorating Ashura continued as of 2006.[88] In December 2006, amidst escalating tensions in Iraq, 38 high ranking Saudi clerics called on Sunni Muslims around the world to "mobilise against Shiites".[89] In return, Grand Ayatollah Naser Makarem Shirazi in 2007 responded:

The Wahhabis ignore the occupation of Islam's first Qiblah by Israel, and instead focus on declaring Takfiring fatwas against Shias.[90]

Saudi Arabia being an absolute monarchy generally recognizes no rights by law or plurality to any political participation outside the ruling family and its supporters. And being an absolute monarchy, the ruling elite have tried to portray a homogenous society in culture and religion. Since the religion of the rulers is Wahhabi, they have tried to create a uniform wahabi society thus leaving out Shi'as, Sufis and other Sunnis from the homogenous mainstream.


[edit] On the Internet
Many other Wahabis have waged a virtual war of information on the internet against the Shi'a, with the Salafis and Saudi Arabia as the major sponsors of this movement.[91] Examples:

Shi'ism and Islam are indeed different religions..[92]
Shiaism and Islam are indeed different religions. This sect has developed into what we now know as the Shia whose beliefs and thoughts are repugnant beyond belief.[93]
The protracted contrariety between Islam and Shi'ism is but a clear reflection of fundamental differences between the two. The only common denominator between Islam and Shi'ism is the Islamic Kalimah. The rest of Shi'ism has very little in common with mainstream Islam. The unbridgeable divide between the two is entrenched in some of the core fundamentals of this sect...[94]
In some cases, wahabis have dedicated entire websites like ansar.org with the single purpose of attacking the Shias. Shias have answered with sites like answering-ansar.org In turn SUnnis have responded with sites like ahlelbayt.com


[edit] Al Qaeda
Some wahabi groups, often labeled as extremists, linked to Al Qaeda, have even advocated the persecution of the Shi'a as heretics[95] Such groups have been responsible for violent attacks and suicide bombings at Shi'a gatherings at mosques and shrines, most notably in Iraq during the Ashura mourning ceremonies where hundreds of Shias were killed in coordinated suicide bombings,[96] but also in Pakistan and Afghanistan. However Al-Qaida deputy Dr Ayman al-Zawahiri in a video message directed Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, of Al-Qaida in Iraq, not to attack Muslims but to focus on the occupation troops. His call seems to have been ignored, or swept away in the increasing tensions of Iraq under occupation.





[edit] Efforts to foster Sunni-Shia unity

[edit] International Islamic Unity Conference
This article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

[edit] Saudi-Iran Summit
In a milestone for the two countries' relations, on March 3 2007 King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia invited President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to Saudi Arabia and held a summit meeting to discuss among other things the rise of sectarian problems in the region. King Abdullah received Ahmadinejad personally at the airport in Riyadh. Both leaders agreed to work towards better relations, and prevent sectarianism now threatening the region. They commented that divisions between Muslims only serves the interests of foreign powers in the area

Ahmadinejad declared on his return to Tehran that

"Both Iran and Saudi Arabia are aware of the enemies' conspiracies. We decided to take measures to confront such plots. Hopefully, this will strengthen Muslim countries against oppressive pressure by the imperialist front."[44]

Saudi Arabia's official government news agency added.

"The two leaders affirmed that the greatest danger presently threatening the Islamic nation is the attempt to fuel the fire of strife between Sunni and Shia Muslims, and that efforts must concentrate on countering these attempts and closing ranks,[45]"

Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal said

"The two parties have agreed to stop any attempt aimed at spreading sectarian strife in the region"[46]

This could be construed as either directed at either Al Queda or at the United States, depending upon ones point of view.

This meeting ran counter to what was envisioned by many pro-Bush neo-cons in the current US administration - Shia Iran and the Sunni Saudi Arabia intensifying their rivalry to the point of funding and training sectarian militias in Iraq to engage in a debilitating Islamic civil war.[47]. The two countries have shared economic interests, and both have a history of private meetings, which came to the fore when previous Iranian president Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani had a meeting King Abdullah in March 1997 when he was crown-prince, and was invited to undertake the Hajj pilgrimage in Mecca the following month. This led to no objection for Iran to host the OIC conference for the first time soon afterwards.[48]

Hung High Strung


Hung High Strung
Originally uploaded by flickr photographerno1
A new dawn
A new hope
The world
That kept
Quiet
As Iraq burnt
No new lesson learnt
Are hurt
To see the Great Sunni Martyr
Dangling by the Rope
Eyes that have gone myope
A cauldron simmering
Brew Bush Blair a face saving Pope
Manuel II Paleologus forgotten
At the Turkish Mosque the Blue Dome
Memory is short lived
At much needed times does elope
In today’s world battle ridden
Through the eyes of a bioscope
In the darkness it is the aromatic ass
the voluptuous tits of Truth
That we lasciviously grope
A world going to the dogs
Peace by piece
Bad days outnumbering the
Good in our hellish horoscope
Saddam Hussain at the doors
Of Saint Peters hoping
To see the other two also
on a tight rope
blog stats at word press
on an uprising slope
a monitor keyed
to a sloppy television soap.
Internetted couch potato mope
Kinetic cybernetic kaleidoscope

Lost Illusions


Lost Illusions
Originally uploaded by flickr photographerno1
The grass is always green
on the other side
We multiply hate,
with a resultant hate we love divide
Our inner feelings we often hide
We take sides
We distort truth conveniently
We love to misguide
Yes we were born human
Yet take Humanity for a ride.
We have two handmaidens
At our beck and call
Venomous Vanity and Prejudiced Pride
We fight wars we are superhuman
In our pretentious godly stride
Imperialistic Hegemony ..
devouring the freedom of a nation
to keep them chained and allied
Prostituted Peace..whoring a politicians bedside
Religious animosity, bleeding values.
Human degradation
We leave for the next generation
Hopefully a just god will be by their side,
A better world provide
In the years to come this political
chaos and corruption will subside

Happy New Year


Happy New Year
Originally uploaded by flickr photographerno1
A new year 2007 is going to start
No problem with your fucking
Just see that you have enough
Condoms in your apple cart
Make less babies the
World is falling apart
Fuck your wife don’t
Spare your mistress
Give her a good head start
You fucked up sucked up
Sanctimonious fart
Spend less time on the internet
Finger fucking minimalist
New pathways to her heart chart
Try to be dumb and dumber
Let her think she was born smart
Retarded she calls you time and again
no problem lifes computer too needs a restart
Ignominy of a penile complicated body part
Rope trick man from India ..
Friendly new years greeting
in a banana leaf of wisdom impart

misplaced martyrdom 2

picture google images.

he came he saw he went

no remorse no added time to repent

a lesson in political misfortune

echoless winds in an empty flapping tent

sunni homes have finally found a martyr

for a cause a hero they wont have to invent

a statue in the market place that came crashing

will live on long after all this is forgotten

to catch up with an impeachment of a new event

monotonous moments , enliven , a ravaged war scenario

an intermission in a iraqi theatre of unliving , god sent

in the white house a new year new gates a new spirit of joie de vivre

a foreign policy no dent

directional light of a single source returns on the millions that were spent

a few died to keep the apsidistra alive stars spangled in good intent

Saddam is dead what next?

photo courtesy google images.

my poem written just now at word press

I am a military man

The President ofRepublic of
Iraq


He said

I have been denied fair trial and justice

Don’t hang me

Shoot me in the chest

Or a bullet to my head instead

To the gallows

By masked men he was led

To the Maker to present

his account he was dead

those who live by the sword

die by the sword its said

the pages of the same Holy Koran

that his victims had in their hand

no trial , no justice a bullet in the head

some had their eyes gouged

some in ovens fried

some his men did behead

some limbs , body and soul shred

even pain wept tears before

it was pronounced dead

he would have not been born

had his mother committed suicide

a thought widespread

but the butcher of
Baghdad

did live

a new brand of Yazidiyat spread

a gun in hand the devils death head

where will
Iraq go from here

a fragmented soul of a Nation

confusion chaoss vulnerability

of being made a scapegoat

by the Evil Axis of Matrix

a thought that lies ahead

hunger for peace

tears and bleeding sorrow

inscribed on a piece of bread.

America ,
UK, western powers

Israel , Iran, Syria Sunni
Saudi Arabia

All wanting to grab a part

Of a heart that for centuries

on the Sands of Karbala has bled

The Butcher of Baghdad

courtesy google images

He an evil hearted man
A man with a devilishly
Corrugated shrewd brain
Died a death without pain
The death he meted out to others
Was not at all humane
The genocide the inhuman pain
For those who lost their loved ones will forever remain
Even a self confessed testimony
That he was not given justice
Won’t explain ..
Was he really Saddam or his stand in
An innocent man killed to keep
The world happy for
Conspiratorial political returns and gain
A sacrificial lamb for Idd ul Aza
And the actual Saddam laughing
All the way to the bank
On some Brazilian beach
Believably plain
A new identity a new life
The butcher of Baghdad
Reading his obituary
Softly massaging
A safe neck proud like an Iraqi Crane
Death where is thy sting..
I am alive..a Sunni Martyr
A Mujhaideen Bartered to gain.
Everyone is happy
Alls well that ends well
So why complain

Two more dictators you must detain
A peaceful word without war and war planes
A conscience of a nation and the ensuing blood stains.
Man born free a captive in chains

Gandhi on my Bank Note

Scripture less faith
skewered silence emote
Chancawalli Sufis
Rafaees
Love Of God
is how they emote
The Holy Fire of the Dhuni
The Chillum Smoke remote
Cutting tongues, over bulging
Eye balls,
Peace through Harmony
They promote
Ya Ali Ya Ali
They invoke in every quote
Some see them as heretics
The way to Puritanism
saudi scarred excuse needs
a few scape goats
I shed my blood too
in Moharam
No proselytizing
Of my faith that
in flowing blood
is of an Indian
no Terrorist Turncoat
I am a lover of Hussain
also says Gandhi
his face
smiling on
my bank note

The Sword of the Sufi Samurai

Shahenshah baba
Golden henna
Colored hair unique
“Mun Kunto Maulaho Fe Haaza Ali-yun Maulah”
cutting tongue
piercing eye balls
at his peak
Maun Baba
for 11 years
wont speak
just silence
no hebrew hindi or greek
Handi the shrewd
wont ever give
the other cheek
Don jaun baba
two swords
in his eyeball
a sight
not to be seen
by the weak
Faiyaz ali
a new preview
of his cutting tongue
that looks like
an orphaned beak
would make a layman
shriek
The Chancawalli sufis
The Rafaees
smoking chillum
a peace pipe
of mystical spirituality
mind over matter blowing
technique
sikandar wali baba
now in celestial skies
handed over to Handi
his earthly mystique
bhandari baba may he perish
for causing me grief
his presence in my
pictures I don’t need to tweak
yes they have promised
to do their acts
in bollywoods most wanted boutique
among my 300 old cameras
and myself photographerno1 antique
shia thug, romancing a stone
a blog goddess voluptuously
unaging in the best of physique
says this poet pip squeak
blessed are those who havoc wreak
even in the end after
hanging privately by the noose
so damned to a winning streak
American height of enchantment
Weapons of Mass Destruction
Asymetrical warfare engineered
in a white house to play hide and seek
An empty platter awaiting a bubble and squeak
Poetic disillusionment in love
Where hate is a new form of love gone oblique

Made for Each Other

picture of the nuptials of Marc and Azzie Brown founder Buzznet

this is a picture of a happy couple

my favorite couple

indeed

on the sands of a sunny sunday morning

that by a photographer

they were married

love for blogs photoblogging no greed

blue eyed cybernetic thorough breed

in actions words and deed

i firoze shakir blogger no 1

wish them

years of togetherness and god speed

aljie the merlin of wales

churns out gold for this couple

from ancient welsh mountains

that this rare yellow powder bleed

photo blogging a form of universal expression

beyond caste color or creed

untarnished love of internet wires

unstymied

word press another pilgrimage

by the poet journaler journied

save cut paste dont delete

she a goddess my thoughts

lip read

on some other planet

some other time

i am certain i will succeed

my new poem at word press

dedicated to marc and azzie their 1st wedding anniversary.. in advance

28 dec 2006

Dear Poet..


Dear Poet..
Originally uploaded by flickr photographerno1
From: Erhard Hans Josef Lang (Genaral Santos City, Mindanao Philippines; Male; 50)
To: Firoze Shakir

Date Time: 10/7/2007 1: 11: 00 AM (GMT -6: 00)


Subject: ....my lift gift for you...

Dear poet,

in my admiration and recognition of all the few of your good works I have so far seen and enjoyed a great deal, I have duly felt enticed to be giving to you now one little gift from my heart, as a token of my love for your extra-ordinary style in your very confessional photos and professional poems alike, the embodiments of an outstandingly unique character, your very own Self, dear Mr. Firoze Shakir.

I have made a Nokia SMS picture message portrait of yourself, dear poet, converted from one of the latest of your very own portrait colour photos that you regularly publish on your Photographerno site, with my purpose being to make you as a poet even yet better known here in this island country of cheaper fish and vegetables, where I live, that but holds also a great many poetry and arts lovers, too.

As I am frequently sending out, on SMS text messages from cell phone to cell phone, to a host of regular, interested receiving readers of classical and modern poetry and other texts alike (there's one lawyer, one elderly ex-revolutionary rebel leader, a house-wife, a young homosexually inclined teacher of sociology, one smart driver of his own taxi-cab from Davao City, an unknown friend of a friend of mine from before, who once sent me a reply by text mssge from Rome, Italy, [the one & only reply ever from almost all the eight recipients in two years of sending, aside from a regular thank-you by my lawyer]) many-colored bouquet strings of early-morning posts of one or two sets of poems, shorter and longer ones, after sending one initial hymn 'from the most glorious Vedas', I also sometimes include Nokia SMS messages with a simple picture message portraiting one of the 'poems of the day' with a little picture and a note on or a quote by the poem.

My little gift to you, dear poet, is to also show to you the message picture that I have just newly made of yourself on this lovely Sunday morning today, which I will be sending on of the next few days to my regular and maybe some extra recipients, too, whenever I'll choose to include in the sendings any of your good poems, dear poet.

You may now see for yourself, a copy of your very nice black/white SMS picture portrait, exactly as the cell phone recipients will see it on the internet address under

http: //www.webimagesearchengine.com/upload/Firoze-Shakir-Nokia-SMS-picture-message-portrait.jpg

The undertitle of the picture message (in the version that I have already sent today, after it was made, to one of my friends here on Mindanao, who had once been for many years in India some time ago, and who there had lost one of his two legs by falling off the door of the train to Varanasi) :

'Firoze Shakir -Mumbai's outstanding extremist photographer poet- dressed & decorated in traditional Muslim Indian style'


Wishing you would enjoy this little gift of mine, dear poet!

Erhard Lang


Subject: .. have already chosen...

...the poem of yours to go along with your SMS picture portrait.

For tomorrow morning at 5: 45 a.m. I have decided to send your SMS picture portrait to my 8 regular poetry readers on cell phone text messages, along with your wonderful poem LOVE MADE IN USA. Nice, indeed, the beautiful experiences in your life, dear poet, that you have presented to the public through your well-styled works.

Thanks also for this work of your from my side.


Yours sincerely

Erhard Lang


Thank you erhard
You humbled me
In all my humilty
Your poetic gesture
The best reward
Better than
Trade martins
Perverted poets award
That he wanted me
To share with howlin
Tunisia lativia..
Battle scarred
Poem hunter poets
Peace brotherhood
Live and let others live
Best Regards
With racist comments
My multi colored ass don’t
Bombard
For if I hit back
To get back to living
You will need more than a get well card
Says this
Bollywoods most wanted
Avante- garde

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